There are things that go on in this city at night that are far weirder than the leather-clad teenagers on Queen West. Did you know that vampires stalk High Park? Or that Toronto Police Services crossed into another dimension to investigate a suspicious death? No? Then you should check out Karen Bennett’s Fantastic Toronto project.

Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing drew our attention to Bennett's labour of love. Bennett, a writer, photographer, panelist, and fixture in Canada’s speculative-fiction community has posted the results of a literary survey she’s been working on for the past four years. For this survey, she has combed hundreds of novels and stories of the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres for any mention of our fair City of Toronto.

The results are, well, magical. The list of authors alone is impressive, but Bennett has gone far beyond that by including publishing information, plot synopses, and descriptions of Toronto’s place (whether the city is the centre of the action, or just mentioned in passing by a secondary character) in the story.

The project is still ongoing, so if you have any suggestions for stories or books Bennett might have missed, submit the info. And if you’re looking to read some of the books listed in Fantastic Toronto, check out the Merril Collection of Science Fiction at the Toronto Public Library.

Photo by sdfrederiksen from the Torontoist Flickr Pool