"Rich and entrancing. This collection is not only a conversation between two literary impressionists-it is a narrative of art. With their words, Eugen Bacon & Dominique Hecq paint landscapes, both inner and outer, and all in stunning detail. In this book I delighted in finding messages and warnings relevant to the questions of today. Earth in existential crisis. Reefs formed within a human body. A Martian's dialogue reflected in its public art. Eugen & Dominique riff delightfully off each other as they offer up a speculative fiction smorgasbord of thoughtful insight-small dishes served with literary flavour.
This is a highly recommended read for those who love language and find delight in morsel-sized fiction and prose poetry. " -Pamela Jeffs, author of Saloons & Stardust and Five Dragons "A witty collection of dialoguing micro-fictions, "Speculate" associates the best of two of the most original voices of the moment. Highly intriguing and enjoyable, and as sharp as a dangerous kitchen knife." - Seb Doubinsky, award-winning author of the City-States Cycle "In Speculate, Bacon and Hecq fence with fragments of fiction, and parry with paragraphs of prose poetry, in an elegant to-and-fro and that slashes language into surprising patterns with each progressive action. Without winners or losers, and without beginning, middle, or end, this is collaborative writing that doesn't score points, but exalts in the honed reflex of feint and riposte. Allez!" - Oz Hardwick, award-winning poet and academic "Bacon and Hecq's call and response collaborative approach creates prose poems that echo and inform, entwine and correlate. Speculate is a pervasive pattern of democratic participation." - Andrew Hook, award-winning editor and author of Frequencies of Existence.