An Inauspicious Visit and A Preposterous Plight, by Christopher Kastensmidt

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to Amazon Rain Forest, by The Planet Forest Champions (Spotify). 

Last year, I had the pleasure of reading (and reviewing) the first three stories in The Elephant and Macaw Banner, by Christopher Kastensmidt and I completely loved them. Thus, I am really happy to have the chance of reviewing today, simultaneously with my good friend Leticia Lara from Fantástica Ficción, the next two instalments in the series: An Inauspicious Visit and A Preposterous Plight.  

In An Inauspicious Visit, Gerard van Oost and Oludara, the protagonists of these stories, decide to leave behind the comfort they have been enjoying lately to go in search of more adventures. And boy do they find them! In these two novelettes, they will fight new enemies, they will confront new dangers and they will meet new friends while, of course, fighting old enemies, confronting old dangers and meeting old friends once again.

Reading An Inauspicious Visit and A Preposterous Plight was, once again, a complete delight. Kastensmidt does an excellent job of telling new stories but with some recurrent elements that make you feel like you are returning to a well-known, favourite place. For instance, the initial and final paragraphs of all five novelettes share a common motif (always a wild animal just about to interact with a human) and with just a few sentences you are, again, completely immersed in the fascinating universe of The Elephant and Macaw Banner. Also, the beautiful cover illustrations give a unifying feel to all the wonderful series. 

And, of course, in these two new stories I had the chance of enjoying, once more, all the elements that I really loved in the three previous ones: excellent prose, fun adventures, intelligent dialog, charming characters, fascinating Brazilian folklore and a wonderful sense of humor.  But there is also place for some new surprises, like the final part of An Inauspicious Visit, alternating scenes between Gerard and Oludara, or the smart solution that our protagonists find for the dire situation they face in A Preposterous Plight. 

All in all, these are two excellent additions to a series that is quickly becoming my favourite in the genre of sword and sorcery. And the best of it all is that Kastensmidt is really committed to keep the saga growing, with a new instalment called A Tumultuous Convergence coming later this month. If you are not reading The Elephant and Macaw Banner you are missing some of the most entertaining and fun stories out there. Do yourself a favor and start reading them now.

(You can also read this review in Spanish/También puedes leer esta reseña en español)

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, by Ken Liu

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to the first movement of Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto in C minor, Il Sospetto (Spotify, YouTube). 

There is no doubt that Ken Liu is one the most important short fiction writers of the 21st Century. He's published well about hundred stories and has won virtually every award in the field. But, oddly enough, his short work hadn't been collected in a book until now. Even his (amazing) first novel, The Grace of Kings, came out before The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, a volume that finally will pay justice to the author's impressive talent for short stories.    

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is a perfect showcase for Liu's wide variety of styles and topics. From pure science fiction as in "The Perfect Match" to historical fantasy, as in "All the Flavors"; from magical realism ("The Paper Menagerie") to alternative history ("A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel"); from weird fiction ("State Change") to cyberpunk ("The Regular"); from generation starships ("The Waves") to mythology ("Good Hunting"). Also, together with more traditional storytelling, there is place for stories with a more experimental form, such as "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" or "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary".

Throughout all these stories, Liu uses tropes from fantasy and science fiction to explore, in a profound, intelligent and, many times, deeply emotional way, lots of different and important topics that, ultimately, seek to shed light to the big question of what it means to be human. Thus, Liu interrogates for instance, our relationship with technology and how it affects our identity ("The Waves", "Good Hunting") and our right to privacy ("The Regular", "The Perfect Match"), the role of family in an ever changing world ("The Paper Menagerie", "Simulacrum"), the magic of language ("The Literomancer", "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King", "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species") and the many ways in which History can be written and interpreted ("A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel", "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary"), to name but a few.     

But even more important that this amazing variety is the overall quality of the stories. In this collection you will find Liu's most celebrated stories ("The Paper Menagerie", "Mono no aware", "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary", "The Regular"...) but also others that may be not so well-known but are, nonetheless, excellent as, for instance, "State Change" or "Good Hunting". There is even a wonderful surprise for those of us who are already huge fans of Liu's work: "An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition" is a previously unpublished story and a fantastic one at that, with a captivating exploration of memory and many echoes of Ted Chiang and Liu Cixin. 

My only concern with this collection is that, given Liu's vast production, most of his stories had to be left out the book. Some of my personal favorites are included ("The Waves", "The Regular", "Good Hunting", "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary", "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species"...) but I miss many others: "The Algorithms for Love", "Staying Behind", "Tying Knots", "None Owns the Air", "The Plantimal" (written in collaboration with Mike Resnick), "The Call of the Pancake Factory", "Cuttin'", "Maxwell's Demon", "Single-Bit Error"... With them, you could easily fill another volume as good as this one. And now that I think of it... that would be a wonderful idea, wouldn't it? So, editors at Saga Press, please make it real, will you?

This was a very easy review to write for you cannot possibly go wrong with this wonderful book. Either if you're already familiar with Ken Liu's short fiction or if you are new to it and have been wanting to try it, you know you need this book. It is an impressive collection of excellent stories and you should not miss it. 

(You can also read this review in Spanish/También puedes leer esta reseña en español)      

Can & Can'takerous, by Harlan Ellison

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to Sarsaparilla, by Unkle Ho (Spotify).

When I was a child I loved to read Isaac Asimov's Hugo Awards anthologies and I remember finding many stories by Harlan Ellison. Titles such as "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman", "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" or "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38º 54' N, Longitude 77º00'13'' W" simply blew my mind away, although I must confess that I did not always understand the contents of the stories. I have also fond memories of Dangerous Visions, which I remember carrying with me across the ocean on a trip to visit my family in Mexico when I was 13 (though, again, some of the stories where too complex or subtle for me at that time).

Oddly enough, for more than twenty years, with the exception of one or two short stories read here or there, I had no other contact with Harlan Ellison's work, something that, being a hard-core SF, fan really puts me to shame. In fact, last year I bought The Top of the Volcano as part of the Subterranean Press Humble Bundle and I've had the intention of reading it for some time now. However, I had the chance of getting a review copy of Can & Can'takerous, newest Ellison's collection, and decided to give a try instead. I think it was not the best of the ideas.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that Can & Can'takerous is a bad book by any means, but maybe it is not the best place to start if you are not familiar with the work of Harlan Ellison. The stories included in the book are the most recent written and published by the author (the oldest of them is from 1999) and many of them are related to other, previous ones as, for instance, "Never Send to Know for Whom the Lettuce Wilts" or "From A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet". What is more, several reproductions of original typescripts (with handwritten notes, in some cases) of stories are included in the appendices. All this, probably, will be especially appreciated by long-time fans of Ellison.

To my taste, however, most of the stories were good or just OK, but not excellent. Some of them, in fact, were too strange, too derivative or too parodic (as is the case with "The Toad Prince, or, Sex Queen of the Martian Pleasure-Domes", the longest piece of the book, that I was unable to finish). I did like "How Interesting: A Tiny Man", possibly the best story of the collection (it did win the Hugo Award) and the short interludes in which the author explains the experience of his heart-attack almost as it was just another tale. And, of course, I must say that the edition is very beautiful and the bonus material (the typescripts I mentioned above) is really interesting from a historical point of view.

All in all, Can & Can'takerous is a book that I think will be better enjoyed by those familiar with Harlan Ellison's work. For the rest of readers, it might be a better idea to start with The Top of the Volcano and then come back to this other collection.

(You can also read this review in Spanish/También puedes leer esta reseña en español)         

Collected Fiction, by Hannu Rajaniemi: Fairy Tales of the Singularity

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to Ain't Your Fairytale, by Sonata Arctica (Spotify, YouTube)

I consider Hannu Rajaniemi to be one of the most interesting short fiction writers currently publishing in the science fiction field. Thus, I approached his Collected Fiction with great expectations. I was looking forward both to reading the stories that I didn't know and to re-reading those that I had encountered before. I was surprised, for different reasons and in different ways, by both groups.

I had previously read stories such as "Deus Ex Homine", "The Server and the Dragon", "His Master's Voice", "Tyche and the Ants", "Invisible Planets" or "Elegy for a Young Elk" on different anthologies and magazines and over a period of several years. Now that I've had the chance of reading them one after another, I've found that they are better experienced and enjoyed as a whole, like pieces of a much bigger puzzle.

Indeed, there are many themes and ideas that are common to almost all of them and even some shared background events that lead to believe they are mostly set in the same universe or timeline. But what I appreciated the most in my re-reading them is how Rajaniemi approaches, through all of them, the topic of Singularity in a particular, original and extremely suitable way. In fact, I think that this set of stories can be aptly described as Fairy Tales of the Singularity.

The Singularity is, because of its own nature, impossible to grasp by us, puny humans. This is at least, one of the most popular and extended ways of thinking about it, especially after Vernor Vinge's foundational writings on the topic. Rajaniemi is, obviously, quite aware of the fact:

"So how are you, these days?" he asked. "Keeping busy?" 

Marja smiled. "Your wife grew up. She's a big girl now. You don't want to know how big." 

"So... you are not her, then? Who am I talking to?" 

"I am her, and I am not her. I'm a partial, but a faithful one. A translation. You wouldn't understand." ("Elegy for a Young Elk")

But that we can't fully comprehend something doesn't mean that we can't write about it. If it were so, then literature would be quite limited indeed. Do we understand love completely? Or friendship? Or beauty? Of course not, and we probably never will, but that doesn't stop us from thinking, talking, writing about them. On the contrary, it only makes it more urgent to use tools other than cold logic to explore them. Maybe we can't discuss the Singularity directly, but we can always approach it indirectly, through analogies and metaphors:

During the millennia of its journey, the darkship's mind has expanded, until it has become something that has to be explored and mapped. The treasures it contains can only be described in metaphors, brittle and misleading and distant, like mirages. ("Invisible Planets")  

Rajaniemi chooses, in most of the stories I've mentioned above, to explore the Singularity using the language and images of fairy tales:

The city was surrounded by a halo of glowing fairies, tiny winged moravecs that flitted about like humanoid fireflies and the waste heat from their overlooked bodies draped the city in an artificial twilight (...). Innumerable quickbeings shimmer in the air like living candles, and the suits of the fleshed ones are no less exotic. A woman clad in nothing but autumn leaves smiles at me. Tinker Bell clones surround the cat. ("His Master's Voice")

This approach may seem strange at first, with all the talking animals, dragons, gods, hunters that live in the woods, trolls and so on. But, in fact, once the Singularity comes, the computers will become something so above us that talking about them as if they were gods or fantastic beings could be closer to the truth than trying to describe them in terms of circuits and algorithms. Rajaniemi's writing style, with so much left unsaid and unexplained, can be a little demanding on the reader, but once you accept the rules of his game, it becomes fascinating. I dare to say that his way of dealing with the Singularity is not only one of the most original out there, but probably one of the most adequate as well.

As I mentioned above, there were also a number of stories in this collection, approximately half of the total, that I hadn't read before. I was also surprised by them, but in a not so pleasant way as with my revisiting the ones I had encountered before. Maybe my expectations were a little off, but I didn't imagine Rajaniemi wrote horror ("Ghost Dogs", "The Viper Blanket"), plain fantasy ("Satan's Typist") or folklore-inspired tales ("Fisher of Men"). Unfortunately, I was left quite cold by them and also by those stories with a more experimental edge ("Snow White Is Dead", "Unused Tomorrows and Other Stories").

Of the tales that I didn't know before I did like "The Jugaad Cathredal" (which reminded me somehow of Neal Stephenson and Charles Stross), "The Haunting of Apollo A7LB" (simple but nice story) and "Skywalker of Earth" (a little too pulpy for my taste, but with some memorable scenes). However, after the super-strong first half of the book, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed by these comparatively weaker stories. This is one of these cases in which less would have been more and, in my humble opinion, the collection would have benefited had some of the tales not been included.

Anyway, I recommend Collected Fiction, especially if you haven't read Rajaniemi's short fiction before. There are quite a few superb stories here ("Deus Ex Homine", "The Server and the Dragon", "His Master's Voice", "Invisible Planets" or "Elegy for a Young Elk", for instance) and the book is worth for them alone. And even if you have read them before in other places, the experience of watching them interact and form a bigger, more complete whole is very rewarding.

(You can also read this review in Spanish/También puedes leer esta reseña en español)

Guest post: Anthology "Alucinadas", by Cristina Jurado

Anthology “Alucinadas”: 10 selected authors, 11 stories

(by Cristina Jurado)

Cristina Macía

María Leticia Lara

Thanks to Alucinadas, 185 female authors found the perfect excuse to write the stories that were nagging at them, craving to become printed words. With Cristina Macía from Palabaristas as an accomplice, and the connivance of María Leticia Lara Palomino from the blog Fantástica Ficción, yours truly started to work on organizing a compilation of science fiction stories written by women in Spanish, soon available through the online platform  Lektu. We wanted to show the interest of female authors in this genre, in which the lack of publishing venues is well documented. This scarcity is due in part to the current penurious publishing landscape in the literary market, even though few emerging initiatives are trying to change things.

We present to you 10 plus 1 selected female authors -further information will be shared later about the 11^th- most of them already with a publishing history, and one that we can consider a new talent. We got 205 submissions from 12 countries: Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Rumania. Sadly, the origin of some of them was untraceable.

Ana Díaz

Most of the submissions can be classified as dystopias (a very fashionable genre category, thanks to the last YA best-sellers), followed by fantasy stories, which were disqualified because they didn´t respect the terms and conditions of our call. Biopunk, horror science fiction, time travelling, cyberpunk, romance science fiction and post-apocalyptic stories were less popular. The uncommon were hard science fiction, steampunk, exploration fiction, social science fiction, military science fiction, humor science fiction, alternate history, science fiction thriller, weird and comics. Fortunately, our final selection showcases a wide variety of narrative styles and topics, illustrating the interests of female voices in science fiction. Special mention deserves the wonderful cover art by Ana Díaz, which reflects perfectly our objectives and the rationale behind Alucinadas.

Teresa P. Mira

The anthology opens with the winner of the submission call: “La Terpsícore” by Argentinian author Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría. This is the story of Captain Stephana Yurievna Levitánova´s static travelling in a singular spacecraft, whose artificial brain is incarnated in the body of a dead teenager. This is an example of quantic science fiction, as part of hard SF, because the expedition takes place not by moving the vessel from San Petersbourg, but reuniting inside several versions of the Captain from different alternate time lines. Levitánova has to face an ethical dilemma, reflecting the existentialist questioning in tune to Teresa´s professional carrier. She has a Phd in Philosophy and works as a professor and a researcher, exploring the relations between science fiction, philosophy and mythology. Some of her works have been published in magazines such as  “Próxima”, “Axxón”, “NM”, “Valinor” and “Opera galáctica”. Her short story “Memory” was included in the anthology Terra Nova by Sportula (both in the English and the Spanish versions) and was one of the finalists of 2013 Ignotus Awards. You can visit her blog to learn more about her literary carrier and personal interests. “La Terpsícore” won our call because of the range of its proposed ideas, as well as for offering all the elements –plot, characters, setting and narrative style- required to provoke the sense of wonder in the reader.

Felicidad Martínez

Felicidad Martínez is an industrial engineer from Valencia, and the author of the second story: “La plaga”. Alternating first and third person, Felicidad uses a very agile style in composing a militaristic space opera. Her incisive Lieutenant Rosenbaum squanders honesty and humor, and narrates the complications in a mission to a distant colony, after a mysterious indigenous insect attack. Even though she considers herself still as an amateur writer, Felicidad already has published works in her space opera universe of UC-Crow, developed also as a role-play game. Her novella “The texture of words” was included in Akasa-Puspa anthology by Aguilera y Redal, a finalist in the 2013 Ignotus Awards. Translated into Spanish, this story also appeared in the English anthology Terra Nova and in its Spanish version, Terra Nova 2. Her first novel “Horizonte Lunar” has been recently published by Sportula, and her short stories appear regularly in numerous science fiction anthologies.

Laura Ponce

“La tormenta” by Argentinian author Laura Ponce is set in planet Arkaris. It explores the effects of Arkarian environment in human destiny through the experiences of two military men. Stanisław Lem comes immediately to mind after reading it. The author credibly recreates a simple world, where the desert hides unsuspected secrets, strongly influencing its inhabitants. Laura is a writer, an editor, the director of “Revista Próxima” magazine and Ediciones Ayarmanot. She contributes every month in “Amazing Stories” with a feature on women in science fiction. Not only she collaborates with radio shows and traditional and online publications, but also her short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies in Argentina, Perú, Cuba and Spain. She is part of the Argentinian Center for Science Fiction and Philosophy, along with her countrywoman Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría. Both authors organize workshops and talks about the genre.

Yolanda Espiñeira

Yolanda Espiñeira, the Galician author of  “El método Schiwoll”, has conceived a science fiction thriller through two time lines: in the first, Mariana is being interrogated; in the second, we learn the details of her life in a luxurious district of planet Talití, which will help us unravel the raisons of her detention. Reflecting Yolanda´s passion for crime novels, she applies in this story the tropes of the genre to science fiction. It is the use of a circular structure, alternating first and third person, what allows the reader to be witness and accomplice at the same time. Yolanda is Spanish Philologist, specialized in the writings of José Ángel Valente. She currently combines her work as a teacher with her interest in Philosophy, in reading and in writing. She has published reviews and articles in the blog El almohadón de Plumas, in the online magazine El Fantascopio and in Prosa Inmortal magazine.

Nieves Delgado

The fifth story is “Casas Rojas” by Nieves Delgado. She is a Physicist from Galicia, where she teaches. Her interest in science fiction has leaded her to explore the influence of technology in society. Her emerging body of works, limited to short stories for now, is achieving the recognition of the science fiction community. Her story “Dariya”( Ellos son el future, Web Ficción Científica and Revista Terbi nº 7) is nominated to the 2014 Ignotus Awards, granted by the Spanish Association of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (AEFCFT). Her stories usually analyze the limits of being a human, questioning the essence of our species. In “Casas Rojas”, a government commission investigates CorpIA, a powerful company that produces androids for sexual use. Failures in some of the sexbots, which have started to attack their owners, are the premise to expose the impact of artificial intelligence in society and vice versa.

Lola Robles

Lola Robles is a feminist, pacifist and queer activist, and the author of “Mares que cambian”, the sixth story in the anthology. She is a Spanish Philologist and a writer, and since 2006 organizes Fantástikas, a workshop that discuses the role of women as authors and characters in science fiction and fantasy. She has published three science fiction novels: La rosa de las nieblas, El informe Monteverde y Flores de metal, and the anthology Historias del Crazy bar –co-written with Mª Concepción Regueiro-, as well as the realistic novel Cuentos de Amargarita Páez. Her short stories and articles have appeared in numerous anthologies and Internet venues. “Mares que cambian” is a transgender space opera, in which society presents a multiplicity of sexual genders. In planet Jalawdri, intersexuality (hermaphroditism) is a normative reality that articulates a very sophisticated social framework. One of the most attractive aspects of this story is the use of male adjectives to refer to the main character, even when she is still a female, breaking grammar rules of gender agreement in Spanish. 

Sofía Rhei

“Techt”, the story of Sofía Rhei, is a semiotic dystopia with a touch of cyberpunk, recalling novels such as Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. The development of a condensed version of the language has important cultural and social consequences. The cyberpunk twist at the end of the story brings those consequences under a new and more disturbing light, and urges the reader to question the use of technology as a way of existential escapism, the same way the main character –Ludwig- does. Sofía is an author, experimental poet, editor and translator. As poet, she has published Las flores de alcohol (La bella Varsovia), Química (El gaviero), Otra explicación para el temblor de las hojas (Ayuntamiento de granada), Alicia Volátil (Cangrejo Pistolero), Bestiario Microscópico (Spórtula), and La simiente de la luz (Lapsus Calami). Her works have appeared in international publications and have been translated to other languages, achieving numerous honors. Part of her novels are intended to children and YA such us the Krippys (Montena) or El joven Moriarty (Fábulas de Albión) sagas, stand alone books like Olivia Shakespeare (Edelvives) or La calle Andersen –co-written with Marian Womack (La Galera)-, Flores de sombra (Alfaguara) and its sequel, Savia negra. She also writes science fiction and dark fantasy stories, which have appeared in Casatomada, Calle 20 and in anthologies such as Más allá de Némesis (Spórtula), Presencia humana (Aristas Martínez), Crónica de Tinieblas (Spórtula), Retrofuturismos (Fábulas de Albión) and TerraNova 3 (Fantascy).

Layla Martínez

Layla Martínez signs “Bienvenidos a Croatoan”, a story mixing time traveling and horror. Layla has a BA in Political Science and Sexology. She maintains her own blog, and works as translator and writer for different magazines and webs, contributing regularly in  “Culturamas” and “Diagonal”. Her experience as an editor, corrector and translator for various e-zines and alternative publications has leaded her to coordinate her own e-zine imprint: Antipersona. Her first poetry book, El libro de la crueldad (LVR Ediciones, 2012), combines prose poems with false biographies and verses. Some of her texts and poetry have been published in anthologies such as Sangrantes (Origami, 2013), Serial (El Gaviero, 2014) or Réquiem por Lolita (Fundación Málaga, 2014). “Bienvenidos a Croatoan” is set in an underground city, mirroring Madrid, in a post-apocalyptic future. Consuming dextralina allows drug customers to break the rules of physics, triggering unexpected consequences in the mental and physiological integrity of Hakim, the main character. Horror arrives through the inflamed love and guilty feelings Hakim has towards his sister, a dangerous cocktail set for the progressive disintegration of his personality.

Marian Womack

“Black Isle” by Marian Womack is a CliFi (Climate Change Fiction) story that analyzes the mutual influence of technology and nature, and its impact on humanity. The account of Dr. Andrew Hay questions our control over the environment and proposes a possible reactive answer. Marian (here you can visit her blog) is a writer, translator and editor from Cádiz, alumnae of Universities such as Glasgow and Oxford. She has published Memoria de la nieve (Tropo, 2011) and the YA book La calle Andersen (La Galera, 2014) co-written with Sofía Rhei. As an editor, she has been responsible of Beyond the Back Room: New Perspectives on Carmen Martín Gaite (Peter Lang, 2010) and her “New Gothic Weird” short stories have been included in anthologies such us Akelarre (Salto de Página, 2010), Presencia Humana3 (Aristas Martínez, 2014), or Steampunk. Antología Retrofuturista (Fábulas de Albión, 2012). She is the author of forewords and afterwords for genre books, such us the first English edition of La torre sin fin by Silvina Ocampo. She has worked in the selection of ghost stories by Charles Dickens or Mary Shelley, and has translated the works of Lord Dunsany, Gladys Mitchell, Henry James or Daphne du Maurier, among others. As an editor she is responsible of the publication of important European female authors within the weird genre in Ediciones Nevsky.

Carme Torras
(Photo © by Pere Virgili)

The last original story in Alucinadas is “Memoria de equipo” by Catalan author Carme Torras (you can access her literary blog here). She has a Phd in Computer Science and currently works as a research professor in Instituto de Robótica (CSIC-UPC). She combines her passion for scientific research with her love for literature and has published numerous books and articles about neuronal models, computing vision, artificial intelligence and robotics, and being praise by her peers. In the scientific field she has published: Pedres de toc (Columna, 2003) and Miracles perversos (Pagès, 2011), which were awarded with Primera Columna and Ferran Canyameres awards. Her science fiction novel La mutació sentimental (Pagès, 2008), was translated into Spanish (Milenio, 2012), obtaining awards such as Manuel de Pedrolo 2007 and Ictineu 2009.

Some of her stories about machines, like “Zac i el rellotge de l’ànima”, “La vita e-terna”, “Una arítmia silenciada” and “El joc de jocs” have been included in anthologies like Els fills del capità Verne (Pagès, 2005), Catarsi magazine (2013), Elles també maten (Llibres del Delicte, 2013) and Científics lletraferits (Universidad de Valencia, 2014). Robbie, the pioneer robot nanny (Interaction Studies, 2010) is an essay about the impact of science fiction in Ethics. “Memoria de equipo” is a cyberpunk story in which virtual reality technology is used within a legal framework. This is a collective tale articulated around a crime, attributed to the pivot of a University basketball team, which questions human capacity to manage memories.

Angélica Gorodischer

“A la luz de la casta luna electrónica” by Argentinian Angélica Gorodischer is included in this anthology out of the call for submissions. It can be considered as a generous endorsement to our project, delighted to be benefiting from Angélica´s talent and notoriety. For that reason, all the people involved in Alucinadas want to thank her, and honor her as one of the most important science fiction authors in Spanish. Hers are numerous novels: Opus dos (Minotauro, 1966), Kalpa Imperial (Minotauro, 1984 y Emece Editores, 2001), Floreros de alabastro, alfombras de bokhara (Emecé, 1985), Jugo de Mango (Emecé, 1988 y Emecé Editores, 1995), Fabula de la virgen y el bombero (Ediciones de la Flor, 1993), Prodigios (Lumen, 1994), La noche del inocente (Emecé, 1996), Doquier (Emecé, 2002), Tumba de jaguares (Emecé, 2005), Tres colores ( Emecé, 2008), Tirabuzón (Editorial Fundación Ross, 2011), and Las señoras de la calle Brenner (Emecé, 2012). Angélica has written numerous collections of short stories, such as Cuentos con soldados (Club del Orden, 1965), Las Pelucas (Sudamericana, 1969), Bajo las jubeas en flor (Ediciones de la Flor, 1973), Casta luna electronica (Andrómeda, 1977), Trafalgar (El Cid, 1979), Mala noche y parir hembra (La Campana, 1983), Las Repúblicas (Ediciones

de la Flor, 1991), Técnicas de supervivencia (Ed. Municipal de Rosario, 1994), Como triunfar en la vida (Emecé, 1998), Menta (Emecé, 2000), and Querido amigo (Edhasa 2006). She has participated in many anthologies, written essays, cultivated the biography genre, and her works have been even adapted to the big screen. Some of her books are available in other languages: Ursula K. Le Guin translated into English Kalpa Imperial in 2003. Along her carrier, she is been honored by numerous international awards, like the 2011 World Fantasy Award, presented by the World Fantasy Convention to praise a lifetime achievements. Those who still don´t know the adventures of the intergalactic merchant Trafalgar “Traf” Medrano will be able to meet him thanks to “A la luz de la casta luna electrónica”. This story uses a very subtle and intelligent humor to question social actuality: from gender and social classes relations and the role of women in society, to patriarchal traditions. The bumpy sexual encounter, between the main character and a female high government representative of an aristo-matriarchal planet, will trigger a chain of events that will prevent Trafalgar´s commercial pursuits.

Ann VanderMeer

The foreword of this book is by an international celebrated editor: Ann VanderMeer. She was the fiction editor of “Weird Tales” when the magazine won the Hugo Award in 2009, and he co-edited –together with husband Jeff VanderMeer- The Weird (Tor Books, 2012), which also won the British Fantasy Award. Founder of Buzzcity Press, Ann has co-edited: The New Weird (Tachyon Publications, 2008); Best American Fantasy (Prime Books, 2007) y Best American Fantasy v.2 (Prime Books, 2009); Last Drink Bird Head: A Flash Fiction Anthology for Charity (Ministry of Whimsy, 2009); Steampunk (Tachyon Publications, 2008), Steampunk II, Steampunk Reloaded (Tachyon Publications, 2012), Steampunk  III, Steampunk Revolution (Tachyon Publications, 2012); Fast Ships, Black Sails (Night Shade Books, 2008); The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (Harper Voyager, 2011); The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues (Tachyon Publications, 2010); The Time Traveler´s Almanac (Tor Books, 2014); y Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology (coming out in 2015 in PM Press). Ann not only has shared the objectives of this anthology, but also has get involved in the project, offering much needed advise and answering many questions, despite her numerous professional endeavors.

Alucinadas is a road we just started to take. Now we only need for the readers to walk with us, enjoying the outcome of our female authors´ imagination. We hope this will be a prosperous and ever growing initiative that will allow women to claim a much-deserved visibility in the Spanish science fiction field.

Cristina Jurado

About Cristina Jurado:

Cristina Jurado Marcos writes the sci-fi blog Más ficción que ciencia. Having a degree in Advertising and Public Relations by Universidad de Seville and a Masters in Rhetoric by Northwestern University (USA), she currently studies Philosophy for fun. She considers herself a globetrotter after living in Edinburgh, Chicago, Paris or Dubai. Her short stories have appeared in several sci-fi online magazines and anthologies. Her first novel From Orange to Blue was published in 2012.

(You can also read this article in Spanish at Fantífica/También puedes leer este artículo en español en Fantífica)

The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume 2, edited by Gordon Van Gelder

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.) 

Review Soundtrack: I suggest reading this review while listening to I'm My Own Grandpaw by Lonzo and Oscar (Spotify, Youtube). 

There is no denying that the table of contents of The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume 2, is simply impressive. Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, Gene Wolfe, Stephen King, Brian Aldiss... Looking at all those names it is impossible not to harbor great expectations for this collection. After having read it, I can say that the book (almost) lives up to all the hype.

In fact, the first 40% of the collection is nearly perfect. I enjoyed each and every one of the stories, and I eagerly read one after another. "The Third Level," by Jack Finney; "The Country of the Kind," by Damon Knight; "Green Magic," by Jack Vance; "The Prize of Peril," by Robert Sheckley... are all excellent stories. But I was especially delighted by "Narrow Valley" by R.A. Lafferty and, above all, by "The Anything Box" by Zenna Henderson. Henderson's story is sweet, surprising and touching and it is easily my favorite one among those included in the book. Simply marvelous. 

It is certainly curious how several of these stories focus on variations of the same topic, though they approach it quite differently. I'm thinking of the stories by Henderson, Finney, Lafferty, Ellison and even Silverberg, in which the characters are able to perceive something that might just not be there. I was very pleasantly surprised by this (possibly unintentional) connection among a number of really remarkable stories and it made enjoy them even more.      

After this first excellent half, the book becomes more uneven. The average quality is still good, and you can find some gems ("The People of Sand and Slag," by Paolo Bacigalupi, for instance, is one my favorite stories of the last few years), but there were others that I couldn't get into or that I simply didn't like or care for. Your mileage may very well vary, for I'm talking about very famous and beloved stories such as "The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh or "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling. 

The anthology, despite some weaker (in my humble opinion) stories, gives an excellent taste of the quality and variety of the tales that Fantasy & Science Fiction has been publishing over its 65 years of existence. The highest praise I can give to this book is that, even if it is by no means short, I finished it in less than four days (and that is a lot to say for me, since I am no fast reader).     

All in all, I highly recommend reading The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume 2. Those fans that are more veteran would surely have already read (probably many times) timeless  (no pun intended) classics such as "- All You Zombies -" by Robert A. Heinlein or "Jefty is Five" by Harlan Ellison, but I'm sure they won't regret the chance of reading them once again. And those who still haven't enjoyed these and all the other stories included in the book are certainly in for a treat.

(You can also read this review in Spanish at El Fantascopio/También puedes leer esta reseña en español en El Fantascopio)

Interview with Alex Shvartsman

As a part of the series of posts that El Fantascopio and Cuentos para Algernon are devoting to humorous SF&F, Leticia Lara (from the wonderful Fantástica Ficción) and this humble blogger have the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alex Shvartsman, author, Magic: The Gathering player and editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects series of anthologies (you can also read the Spanish translation of this interview at Fantástica Ficción). So I tap nine lands and summon Alex and Leticia. Hope you enjoy it!

Leticia Lara & Odo: When did you know you wanted to become a writer? Which authors have influenced you the most? Is there any current writer that you admire?

Alex Shvartsman: I knew that I wanted to write fiction by the tender age of ten. I began composing some very bad stories and would have very likely remained on this path, had my family not emigrated from the Ukraine a few years later. I gave up my literary aspirations because I never expected to become proficient enough in English to write fiction. It took two decades, but I was happy to eventually prove myself wrong.

I grew up on the steady diet of Clifford Simak, Mike Resnick, Bob Sheckley, Harry Harrison, Bob Silverberg, Edmund Hamilton, and Fredric Brown. Their short fiction especially very much influences my own.

Among newer/current writers, some of my favorites are Ken Liu, John Scalzi, and Simon R. Green. They couldn’t be more different from each other, but I enjoy their work and hope to be a little bit like them as a writer, if and when I manage to grow up.

LL&O: Do you think that living in a different country to the one you were born gives your writing something special? For example, not being English native-speaker may change the words you choose.

AS: Absolutely – I think that speaking another language, and having been immersed in another culture definitely informs one’s writing in all sorts of ways. 

There are certain challenges – my English still isn’t perfect (for example, I get consistently tripped up by the Past Perfect tense, and have to rely on the kindness of my beta readers and editors to fix up the manuscripts) and every once in a while I end up using a wonky turn-of-phrase where a straightforward one could have done better. However, there are also advantages. I get to draw on the rich culture of not one but two of the world’s great literary traditions, two sets of tropes and mythologies. Sometimes I can “borrow” an expression from Russian that will sound fresh and original in English, while all I’m really doing is translating an idiom.

LL&O: How long does it take you to write a story? Where do you draw inspiration from?

AS: A typical short story can take anywhere from an afternoon to a couple of weeks to write. Then there are revisions, feedback from beta readers, and clean-up, of course.

Every writer is asked about their ideas. The truth is, ideas are everywhere. They are in the popular science article you found linked on a friend’s Facebook profile, in a “what-if” concept or an idea discussed at dinner, or even in a dream you manage to recall upon waking up.

Every serious writer has more ideas than they know what to do with, and more plots and concepts planned out than they could write in a lifetime.

The real value isn’t in the idea itself, but in the skill and effort necessary to turn it into a page-turner.

LL&O: What can you tell us about earning a living playing cards? 

AS: I spent a number of years playing Magic: The Gathering trading card game professionally. Over the course of approximately five years (1996 – 2001), I traveled to over thirty countries, won approximately $100,000, and had an enormous amount of fun playing the game.

At one point I was ranked as highly as third in the world, but my real claim to fame was as the champion of the Grand Prix circuit. I managed to place in the top 8 of 21 Grand Prix championships, more than anyone else in the world. My record was finally beaten by another excellent player (and I still remain 2nd), but it took him nearly ten years of continuous play to catch up.

I won four of these events, and was the first foreigner to win a Grand Prix in Japan. 

Gaining some notoriety on the gaming scene also allowed me to break into game design and consulting for game manufacturers, which I still occasionally do to this day.

LL&O: What can you tell us about the origins of Unidentified Funny Objects (UFO), your series of anthologies of humorous genre short stories?

AS: When I discovered that it was often easier for me to write a funny story than a serious one, I also learned that there weren’t very many professional markets interested in such fare. I was already thinking about the possibility of editing an anthology, and then realized that there was no general humor anthology. There exist some very specific, theme-based humor anthologies (such as the “Chicks in Chainmail” series edited by Esther Friesner” and “Deals with the Devil” collection from a few years ago, but nothing that seeks to explore different styles and facets of humor.

I reached out to a number of top-tier pros and was grateful to see that they loved the idea. So did the fans – they helped fund our Kickstarter campaigns and continue to support the series in various ways. I haven’t made a dime on the UFO series (and, in fact, have invested a decent amount of my own money in addition to what was raised on Kickstarter), but being able to create something with the goal of making it become a mainstay of the SF/F community is tremendously gratifying.

LL&O: You translated a Sergei Lukyanenko story for UFO 1. How did you work with the translation? Did you talk with him while you were doing it so he can help you with the choices you had to make?

AS: Sergei was incredibly easy to work with. He pretty much let me have the creative freedom when it came to translating his story, and required no changes once I sent him the complete manuscript.

When I approached him, I already knew exactly which story I wanted to translate, and selected something that would work well for the English-speaking audience. The hardest part was negotiating with his foreign rights agents (who wanted to provide only very restricted rights in exchange for a wheelbarrow of money). In the end, I gave them the copyright to my translation as part of the deal, because it’s not like I could reprint it elsewhere myself, anyway. I hope they put it to good use, and get the story read by more people.

LL&O: Many puns are strongly language-based. Do you think it is more difficult to translate humorous stories than non-humorous ones?

AS: It’s definitely more challenging, but usually the problem isn’t the puns. So much of the humor is culture based. If I’m writing a funny story in English and mention the Three Stooges, an average American or British reader will get the reference, but an average Russian reader has never heard of them. So, as a translator, I have a few choices. I can try to phrase it in the way that will let the reader infer who they are through context (the most common solution), I can explain the reference with a footnote, or I can replace the Stooges with another reference that would be meaningful to a reader who grew up in Russia/the Soviet Union. 

When it comes to puns, you are pretty much forced to do the latter, or the author’s intent in using a pun is completely lost. There are a few other cases where you have to undertake this extreme approach, but it has to be handled carefully to make certain that you’re sticking as closely as possible to what the author intended to relate to his or her readers.

LL&O: Why did you choose to use Kickstarter for UFO 2 and UFO 3?

AS: Putting together a quality anthology is expensive, if you intend to pay everyone (authors, editor, illustrator, etc.) a fair wage. Although the series is doing pretty well for something released by a micro-publisher, I wouldn’t be able to make the books quite as good without the additional funding. Kickstarter is a great platform as it allows people who like the project and want it to exist to put up some of the money up front. The backers aren’t just helping me out – they are also helping fellow readers, because everyone will get a better book in the end than they would have without the money.

LL&O: Are social networks important for you relationships with other authors and with your readers?

AS: Social media is hugely important. It’s still possible to just write great books and stay off the social media, but such cases are an exception rather than the rule. A successful author these days should be able to interact with their fans and their colleagues online.

For me, Twitter and Facebook were invaluable. When I started writing fiction in 2010, I knew practically no one in fandom. I met many great writers on social media who have since became real-life friends.

LL&O: What are you working on right now? Could you give us a sneak peek on your future projects? 

AS: As an editor, I’m almost done with UFO3. This volume will be our biggest yet (82,000+ words of fiction) and it includes original stories from Piers Anthony, Gini Koch, and Kevin J. Anderson in addition to the cast of the usual suspects you may have read in UFOs 1 and 2. The book will be out in October.

As a writer, I’ve been concentrating on my novel, titled “Eridani’s Crown,” which I like to describe as the politics and warfare of “Game of Thrones” meeting the character arc of “Breaking Bad.”

I’m also working on putting together my first short story collection, “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma” (because, why not name the collection after your most popular/successful story?). I’m looking at late 2014/early 2015 for this one.

LL&O: Where can our readers learn more about you and your work?

AS: I blog (rather sporadically) at www.alexshvartsman.com – but there is also a link to my complete bibliography, and plenty of those stories are free to read online. You can also follow me on Twitter (@AShvartsman) and/or Facebook.

LL&O: Any other thing you’d like to add? 

AS: While I’m working on the novel, I still love short stories, and especially flash fiction, even more. If you’re putting together an anthology and would like me to contribute a story, or if you’re interested in translating something of mine for publication in another language, I’d likely be very excited to hear from you.

(You can also read this interview in Spanish at Fantástica Ficción/También puedes leer esta entrevista en español en Fantástica Ficción)