Toronto is a great city for writers and
readers, and in it science fiction never takes a back seat to other forms of literature.
Want a quick
tour of some highlights? The main Torcon 3 hotel is the Royal York; it has direct access
to Union subway station. Take a fifteen-minute subway ride north on the University line to
Museum Station, then head up to the surface. Here, at the corner of Queens Park and
Bloor, youll find the Royal Ontario Museum, Canadas largest (and,
incidentally, the setting for my novel Calculating God and Margaret Atwoods Life
Before Man). The ROM has the worlds best collections of duckbilled dinosaurs and
textile art, and the largest collection of Chinese artifacts outside China. (Dont
miss the T. rex; its in the Discovery Gallery, not the Dinosaur Gallery.)
When
youre finished at the ROM, exit and walk just north to Bloor Street. At the corner,
youll find the Park Plaza Hotel. Its Roof Lounge is a popular literary hangout,
frequented by novelists, editors, and journalists. Caricatures of famous habitués adorn
the walls.
Head east on
Bloor Street a long block to the beautiful flagship store for Chapters, Canadas
largest bookstore chain. Note that the Canadian prices on books are often less than the
fair conversion of the American prices; you might want to stock up on new releases here.
When you leave
Chapters, head back west along Bloor, then south on Queens Park, passing the front
of the ROM again. (Youll also pass one of Torontos great embarrassments, the
husk of the McLaughlin Planetarium, once the finest in North America, now closed, thanks
to provincial funding cutbacks.)
Your next stop
is Hart House, the wonderful old student centre at the University of Toronto; its
named for Hart Massey, scion of one of Canadas leading industrial families and a
cousin of Raymond Massey, who starred in the classic flick Things to Come.
Hart House is,
logically enough, on Hart House Circle, which is south of Hoskins Avenue and west of
Queens Park. The Hart House Library is worth seeing for its ambiance. Its
always been a favourite literary hangout. Canadas master ghost-story writer,
Robertson Davies, used to hold forth there; the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Foundation chose it as the venue for their Phyllis Gotlieb Celebration; and SF writer
Terence M. Green had his first date there with the woman who is now his wife.
Hart House is also where OSFiC, the late lamented Ontario Science
Fiction Club (which was involved with running Torcon 2), met in its later years. Many of
us filthy SF pros with fannish roots were often seen at its meetings, including authors
Robert Charles Wilson, Tanya Huff, and myself (club moderator, 1981-82), Hugo nominated
artist Taral Wayne, and editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Don Hutchison. (Hart House is
also home to the Taddle Creek Writers Workshop, where I teach SF writing the first week of
July each year.)
On alternate
Sunday afternoons throughout the academic year, the Algonquin Square Table poetry workshop
meets at Hart House; many of its members write SF poetry, including Analog contributors
David and Carolyn Clink, and On Spec contributors Mici Gold and Sandra Kasturi. Also a
regular is Susan Manchester, wife of best-fanzine Hugo-winner Mike Glicksohn.
Head back down
Hart House Circle, and find number 39a, the famed Coach House. This is the
home of the McLuhan Institute, devoted to the study of pioneering Canadian communications
theorist Marshall McLuhan.
Then walk into
Queens Park (the park, not the street), and look at the British-style Ontario
Parliament buildings to your south. Continue across the park, and youll come out at
Wellesley Street.
Two blocks
farther east, Wellesley crosses Yonge, the longest street in the world. Head a half-block
north on Yonges west side and youll find yourself at Bakka, the worlds
oldest science-fiction specialty store (Bakka [noun, myth]: In Fremen legend, the weeper
who mourns for all mankind).
There
youll encounter the elfin John Rose, longtime proprietor, plus a staff who knows the
stock inside and out; youll get honest recommendations to buy or skip a book, and
youll find some British editions not available in the United States. While
youre at it, pick up copies of Bakkas own line of handsome books, featuring
reprints of classic Canadian SF, and copies of the Canadian SF magazines On Spec and
Parsec. And check out the wall of fame: photographer Tom Robes gallery of writers
who have signed at Bakka over the years.
Working at
Bakka has long been a rite of passage for Canadas SF&F authors. DAW mainstay
Tanya Huff was manager for many years, I worked there in 1982, Campbell Award winners Cory
Doctorow and Nalo Hopkinson have been on staff more recently, and Michelle West, a
fantasist for DAW and a columnist for F&SF, still works there.
Upstairs from
Bakka is Glad Day, Torontos leading gay-and-lesbian bookstore. Pick up a copy of
Michael Rowes Lamda-award-nominated anthology Queer Fear here for a selection of
great horror stories by leading gay and straight genre writers including Edo van Belkom,
Nancy Kilpatrick, and Dave Nickle. (For those who are interested, Canadas biggest
gay neighbourhood starts here at Wellesley and Yonge and continues on to the east.
Now, if you
walk north on Yonge Street for four blocks, youll come to Bloor and Yonge, the
crossroads of Toronto, and the most expensive intersection in all of Canada. One block
farther north on the west side, youll find Book City, one of Torontos great
independents, and well worth a browse. Across the street, youll see the red pyramid
of the Toronto Reference Library, a startlingly modern building designed by Canadas
leading architect Raymond Moriyama (who also designed the Ontario Science Centre, a
lengthy trip from the Royal York, but well worth seeing).
On the
librarys ground floor, youll find the Canadian-authors collection, enhanced
with clipping files on all your favourite Canadian writers. Upstairs is the Sherlock
Holmes room, a recreation of the study at 221B Baker Street, housing a great collection of
Doyle first editions and Sherlockiana. Many a science-fictional event has taken place at
this library, including the launch of the most-recent volume of Don Hutchisons
acclaimed Northern Frights anthology series.
In the lobby
of the library (or at just about any other store or pub in Toronto), pick up free copies
of Now, eye, and The Word. The first two are weekly arts-and-culture newspapers, both with
comprehensive events calendars; The Word is a monthly guide to literary happenings in
Toronto, including readings, signings, and more.
Walk a block
south to Yonge and Bloor, and hop on the subway again, going three stops south on the
Yonge line to Dundas station. Just south of the station is Torontos shopping mecca,
The Eaton Centre, but more interesting are the things youll find to the north. If
you go up one block, youll come to Edward Street on the west side. A half-block
along Edward takes you to The Worlds Biggest Bookstore. It isnt really the
worlds biggest anymore, but it was in the late 1970s, when it first opened. Indeed,
it was Earths first book superstore: Barnes and Noble, Borders, and others copied
the idea from it. Science fiction takes pride of place here; its the best-selling
fiction category in the store, and the copious SF shelves, appropriately, are the first
ones on your right as you come in.
Once
youre finished at Worlds Biggest, head back out to Yonge and go one more block
north to Elm Street. Its worth ambling in a half-block to gaze at the facade of The
Arts and Letters Club, a private, members-only club that historically was the hangout of
Canadas great authors and painters. If there ever was a Canadian counterpart to the
Algonquin Round Table, it was within these walls. But, in typical Canadian fashion, genre
fiction is as welcome as the more highfalutin stuff here; the Crime Writers of Canada hold
their open meetings at the club on the first Thursday of each month (drinks at 6:30;
meeting, usually with a great speaker, at 7:00; if youre still in town on September
6, feel free to drop by).
Hungry
yet? Torontos most famous steakhouse, Barberians, is right across the street
from the Arts and Letters Club (the restaurant is named after its Armenian owner, by the
way, not the table manners of the clientele). Torontos writers often celebrate a
sale or an award here.
There are many
other great literary sites in Toronto. If you like walking tours, you might order a copy
of Writers Map of Toronto by John Robert Colombo (who edited the first Canadian SF
anthology, 1979s Other Canadas); its a bargain at Cdn$6.00 postpaid from Colombo & Company, 42 Dell Park Avenue, Toronto,
Ontario M6B 2T6. Among other things, itll show you how to find 997 Briar Hill
Avenue, where A. E. van Vogt wrote most of Slan.
Also a great
reference is the book Toronto: A Literary Guide by Greg Gatenby, artistic director of
Torontos Harbourfront International Festival of Authors, the finest literary
festival in the world (held in late October each year; again, in Canadian fashion,
its long embraced SF writers: Ursula Le Guin, Torcon 3 toastmaster Spider Robinson,
myself, and many others have read there). This 622-page compilation is just Cdn$19.95; the
publisher is McArthur & Company, and Canadas leading online bookseller,
Chapters.ca, will ship it anywhere in the world.
And speaking
of reference, although theres little to actually see here, if youve been
trying to track down an obscure work of SF or an old fanzine, drop by The Merril Collection of Science
Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, the worlds largest public-library collection
of SF, named in honour of the great SF editor Judith Merril, who founded it. The stacks
are no longer open for public browsing (a real pity), but the cheery librarians, led by
Lorna Toolis, will happily get any specific item out for you. Many fine readings and book
launches have been held here, sponsored by Torontos highest-profile fan group, The Friends of the Merril
Collection. Also meeting there regularly is Torontos current SF literary club, The Space-Time Continuum.
I hope you
have a great time in Toronto.
Last updated: 13 March 2003
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