Castles in Spain: An Anthology of Spanish Science Fiction and Fantasy

I am really pleased to announce that Mariano Villarreal (editor of the award-winning Terra Nova anthologies) and Sue Burke (author and translator) are launching a crowdfunding campaign today to publish Castles in Spain, an anthology that will include some of the best science fiction and fantasy stories ever written in Spain. There will be print editions in both English and Spanish and also a English-Spanish bilingual edition in ebook.  

In the words of Sue Burke:

Science fiction, fantasy, and horror – our genre – captures hearts, minds, and pens worldwide, but language barriers keep our literature from being truly global. 

We want to take a step toward changing that. We want to bring an anthology of the stories that have served as milestones in Spain to English-language readers, but we need a little help to pay for the translation. 

To do that, we’re going to hold an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that you can find here. 

The goal is to translate and publish at least five stories and, hopefully, up to ten from the following:

• “La estrella” (The Star) by Elia Barceló, a short science fiction story from 1991, the first to win the Ignotus Award, the Spanish equivalent to the Hugo.
• “El rebaño” (The Flock) by César Mallorquí, a post-apocalyptic novelette written in 1993.
• “El Bosque de hielo” (The Ice Forest) by Juan Miguel Aguilera. This hard science fiction novelette won the 1995 Alberto Magno Award and the 1997 Ignotus Award.
• “Mi esposa, mi hija” (My Wife, My Daughter) by Domingo Santos, a science fiction novelette about clones that won the Ignotus Award in 1998.
• “Mensajero de dios” (God’s Messenger) by Rodolfo Martínez, a 1997 cyberpunk story from his Drímar series.
• “En las fraguas marcianas” (In the Martian Forges) by León Arsenal, a science fiction story that pays tribute to The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. It won the 1998 Pablo Rido Award and the 2000 Ignotus Award.
• “La canica en la palmera,” (The Marble in the Palm Tree) by Rafael Marín, a fantasy story that won the 2001 Ignotus Award.
• “La nave de los albatros” (The Albatros Ship) by Félix J. Palma, a tale of fantasy and horror written in 2002.
• “The Sword of Fire” by Javier Negrete, a prelude written especially for this anthology to the 2003 novel of the same name.
• “Víctima y verdugo” (Victim and Executioner) by Eduardo Vaquerizo, a 2006 alternate history novelette.

You can find more information about the stories, the authors, the rewards and the stretch goals of the campaign at the IndieGoGo page for the anthology. You can also find information in Spanish at this website (including how to contribute to the project if you live in Spain).

This is a project I am really excited about and I am really grateful to have been able to collaborate with Sue and Mariano, helping a little bit with some tasks. This are a collection of really great stories and they deserve a wider readership that they will surely achieve if translated into English. So, please help spread the word (and contribute to the crowdfunding if you want and can). 

Thanks! ¡Gracias!