In the mailbox - Romanian edition

Recently I discovered a very interesting and meritorious initiative of the Romanian Science Fiction and Fantasy Society (Societatea Română de Science Fiction și Fantasy). It is an initiative in the benefit of both Romanian Science Fiction and Fantasy writers and readers, but not for the sole benefit of them. SRSFF together with the Eagle Publishing House have as their goal the publication of a single collection for the Romanian speculative fiction, from its beginnings until the modern days. The collection already started with the first five titles you see above and which I ordered immediately I found about them. Another interesting aspect of this wonderful initiative is that the titles released by the SRSFF and Eagle Publishing House are available on the Amazon site as well, in the original language, but maybe this will be a first step in bringing them, or at least the best of them, in an English translation someday. I really hope that will come to happen. Here are the first titles available and which I ordered for my personal library:

“Phreeria” by Mihail Grămescu - The world became a strange place. A place where the human civilization tries to survive in closed, industrial cities where the recovered technology is used on large scale in order to maintain life and in Phreeria, the melted South Pole, where the savagedom immigrants fight for their lives, eat quicho and search for a job. The Great War has ended. The Eternal War begun. The metamorphosis, too. Using the Great Game rules, the survivors try to enforce the Peace before the Condor's Conquista extends to the galaxy.

“Întâlnire cu meduza” (Meeting with medusa) by Mircea Opriță – The volume of short fiction “Meeting with medusa” was published in the old collection, “Isosceles Triangle”, of Tineretului Publishing from Bucharest; the book registers, consubstantial, on the “poetic” coordinate which, later, Mircea Opriță will define and highlight as a more ample movement in the science-fiction literature of a time.

“Efectul P” (The P Effect) by Gheorghe Schwartz - Our conscience, our education, our way of life prepare us for death. We are conceived for a limited existence. What if, one day, the entire population became aware of the immortality perspective and nobody will must die on Earth? And what if, ourselves, must take a decision to maintain or to cease these perspective?

“Așteptând în Ghermana” (Waiting in Ghermana) by Dănuț Ungureanu - Waiting for redemption in a future world obsessed by sex and violence, rock music and deafening noises, the escape of Yablonski is more and more dificult. The masses are abrutized and manipulated and Ghermana is the endless purgatory...

“Lumea lui Als Ob” (The World of Als Ob) by Voicu Bugariu – The mental living of countless lives, at choice, through the conservation of the body on the unlimited time (“Noapte bună, Sophie” – Good night, Sophie), cosmic journeys through worlds unseen yet, but imagined, of the universe (“Lumea lui Als Ob” – The World of Als Ob), parallel SF or fantasy worlds described by Voicu Bugariu in moral stories and aesthetical parables, published in this wonderful volume in which, says the author, “I’ve started to aim for the clarity, even the condensation, I tried to save words, and above all, to express myself clearly. Also, I searched, as much as I could, to reach a certain elegance of the style.”

Reviews to follow soon.

"… şi la sfârşit a mai rămas coşmarul" (… and at the end remained the nightmare) by Oliviu Crâznic

"… şi la sfârşit a mai rămas coşmarul" (… and at the end remained the nightmare)

by Oliviu Crâznic

Format: Paperback, 384 pages

Publisher: Editura Vremea

Review copy received through the courtesy of the publisher, Editura Vremea

Invited to a stranger’s wedding in a castle haunted by the devil, the fallen noble Arthur de Seragens finds himself caught in a terrible web of madness, betrayal and crime. While the guests die around him one by one in a mysterious way, cut down by an inhuman enemy, Arthur witnesses with horror at the noose getting tighter around the only person he cared about, the gorgeous Adrianna de Valois, the young daughter of the dark and feared chief of Police. Panicked and confused, Arthur is forced to make a fragile and controversial alliance with the strongest of the survivors, who already began together an investigation in the dark, but suspecting each other: the Viscount of Vincennes, Arthur’s childhood friend, versed in the saloon intrigues, logician and skillful hunter; the German Baron Von Walter the Traveler, who’s wanders through places forgotten by the world brought him face to face with unbearable truths; the beautiful and immoral Giulianna Sellini, who is said to have seduced the God and the Devil at the same time; the ex-priest Huguet de Castelnove, now a dangerous swordsman, with a road strewn with bodies behind him that leads to a mysterious mistress; the Duke of Chalais, the strong and cruel master of the land, refined, handsome and unable to abstain from his violent bursts; and, especially, the man who leads the investigation and who is feared by all, because one word from him can bring the stake – Albert de Guy, the Inquisitor…

It is difficult to talk about the Romanian horror fiction, mainly because it barely exists. It is difficult to make references to past Romanian horror titles and even more difficult to find modern ones. Trying to bring a change in this bitter state of things is Oliviu Crâznic, who makes his debut with a gothic novel, “… şi la sfârşit a mai rămas coşmarul” (… and at the end remained the nightmare).

Considering the tremendous efforts and the courage of Oliviu Crâznic to write and Vremea Publishing to publish such a novel on a market that seems a bit too conservative my mission becomes ingrate, because my experience with the book is not among the fortunate ones. Oliviu Crâznic chooses to make his debut with a gothic fiction, a sub-genre that it is rather dead on the outside markets, but I do not have a problem with. It is true that we are a little late to this party, but it is a party which was attended by heavy names, such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard or Shirley Jackson to name a few.

The story is told in the first person perspective and the character who tells the story is Arthur de Seragens. Arthur is invited to a wedding, but he finds the invitation strange and the company even stranger. The events that occur will turn out to be not only strange, but horrifying. Besides Arthur de Seragens the reader meets from the early stage a large cast of characters and that proved to be a challenge for me from the start. The story takes each into account but nothing in the beginning helped me to identify every character properly. Contributing to the confusion are the titles of each character, cavalier, count, viscount, baron or duke, deepens the state of confusion I was in. Especially since not always the title goes with the name and therefore at the start I had to go back and forth in order to make a hold on the characters. Because of the large cast, the characters fail to properly develop too. I couldn’t find any strong presence with the cast, the positive or negative ones looking flat and making me totally indifferent to their eventual destiny. There were a couple of things about the characters that didn’t hit me in the proper way either. For example, there is a reference to something in Arthur’s past for which I couldn’t find any relevance within the story. Also at some points some of the characters court each other although I believe that the events around them will rip away any desire for romance.

The wedding party is held in a castle, The Castle of Last Towers, near the village of Nuit-aux-Bois (which can be approximately translated as Night in the Woods) and Oliviu Crâznic manages to create a dark setting for his novel. The descriptions of the castle together with the pieces of information from its past create a chilling atmosphere, a proper setting for this gothic story. Unfortunately, there are descriptions that will warm the atmosphere back up and will take away the tension from the story. The author gives too much attention to the attire and jewelry of the characters. I am not saying that there is no need for these details, but if I go through every piece of clothing the characters wear there is the risk of feeling myself at a fashion show rather than in the presence of supernatural events that induce tension and discomfort.

The author makes constant promises of the events and horror to come with almost every chapter, but he doesn’t manage to deliver the tension and the terror as often as it is promised. There are a few tensioned and grotesque scenes, with a bit of action and surprising turn, but not enough for a supposed edgy novel. There is one chapter though, the best by far, the one involving a burning on a stake, dramatic, tensed and involving quite a lot of human error. If I come to think of it, I believe that the novel would have benefited from more of such moments. I mean there is human error at almost every step, but totally misplaced since the characters fail to find the responsible for the events around them until the respective is the last one left from the suspects. This proved to not be much fun for me. There is another thing that bothered me constantly. The characters make references to Slovakia throughout the story, but I am not sure that Slovakia existed under this name in the medieval times. I am no historian, but looking for information I could find that the territories of modern Slovakia were part of other empires at the time of the story. So it feels a bit strange to refer to it as Slovakia. Or so I believe.

Finishing Oliviu Crâznic’s novel I discovered a very interesting and quite uncommon element of it. The volume ends with an afterword written by the author that lengths almost as much as half of the novel. Although a bit strange for me I have to say that this is the part I enjoyed from this book. The afterword shows a lot of commitment from Oliviu Crâznic for his novel, a documentation thoroughly and carefully made, with very interesting facts and stories. Unfortunately, those proved to be more interesting for me than the actual story written by the author.

I am sorry that my review turned out as it is, because Oliviu Crâznic and Vremea Publishing made a praiseworthy effort, “… şi la sfârşit a mai rămas coşmarul” (… and at the end remained the nightmare) being the first step for the modern Romanian horror fiction. But sadly, I cannot shake the feeling that this novel is not exactly the proper way to encourage the Romanian horror fiction.

Cover art - "Canticle" (Cantique) by Ken Scholes

Since I’ve talked about Marc Simonetti’s works and new blog this week, here is one of his latest cover artworks. I mentioned in Marc’s blog presentation about the cover artwork he made for the French edition of Ken Scholes’ “Lamentation” and we can see now the cover artwork for the second novel in Ken Scholes’ “Psalms of Isaak” series. “Cantique” (Canticle) will be released by Bragelonne on November, 19th and once again the French edition has an excellent cover artwork. The details on the background of Marc Simonetti’s artwork, the warm colors that the predominate the cover and the central figure, a cloaked one true, but one that doesn’t steal anything from the viewer and reader imagination, make this book cover another good example of how a book can catch the attention of a reader who wanders the bookshop aisles.

The Portal

The Portal is a new website, dedicated to reviews of speculative fiction in its short form, but covering the entire world. The readers are introcuded to The Portal’s presentation and goals from the first post:

The Portal is a free, volunteer-run, online review of short-form science fiction, fantasy, and horror from around the world. We review work in English and also provide English-language coverage of short fiction markets, anthologies, and genre literary activities in many language communities.

We concentrate on short-form fiction for several reasons. First of all, short fiction is a prime place for new writers to develop their artistry and discipline. It’s also a source of development for editors and publishers, who can learn to work with authors, build their business skills, and make a reputation. Finally, the abbreviated length of short fiction makes it conducive to translation.

Our mission is to benefit authors, editors, bureau heads and reviewers, and fans around the world.

- Authors will gain public feedback on their work, increased exposure, and usable pull-quotes.
- Editors will get a quick way to survey their field and experience work in other languages.
- Bureau heads and reviewers will have a venue in which to share insights, build their portfolios, explore new work, and keep their critical skills sharp.

- Fans will have a place to read about work released in languages they may not know.

The first post on The Portal was made half a month ago, but already the articles on the site are very interesting and they captured my attention instantly. We already can find reviews of a few magazines such as Ideomancer, Bull Spec, Strange Horizons, Fantasy and Science Fiction and Sybill’s Garage, but also a Russian science fiction magazine, Polden. Also, The Portal reviews “Paraíso Líquido” (Liquid Paradise), a collection of short stories by the Brazilian writer Luiz Bras and “Mount København”, the debut book of the Danish writer Kasper Collins Nielsen and has articles about the speculative fiction of Denmark, France and Bolivia.

The Portal is already proving to be an excellent source of information and reviews, but also a place that hopefully will encourage the translation of the writers outside the English language too.

Good luck, The Portal!

Blog spotlight - Marc Simonetti's

Marc Simonetti is one the best fantasy artists, one that continues to impress with high standard works. Marc Simonetti also gave life to many amazing covers with his artwork, books that are complemented by his works. It is true that mainly the French editions benefit from Marc’s work, but I hope that someday the other editions will have the same benefit too. We have seen in the past Marc Simonetti’s works on the covers of the French editions of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, Patrick Rothfuss’ “The Name of the Wind” or Ken Scholes’ “Lamentation” as a few examples, but also new ones such those above for Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” books, J.V. Jones’ “A Sword from Red Ice” or Michael A. Stackpole’s “Fortress Draconis”. After having the pleasure to interview Marc Simonetti here on my blog, now I am happy to spotlight his newly created blog. I am happy to see Marc’s blog because it is great to be updated with his works, especially since Marc posts about his latest cover artworks, for Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” series of novels for example, videos showing us an insight in the process of creation and an update of his other works. It is an excellent place to visit and enjoy.

ConJour, a new convention for 2011

Science Fiction and Fantasy comes to Leeds

On Saturday March 12th 2011, Leeds will be hosting its first Science Fiction and Fantasy event in many years - ConJour.

The one day event is being sponsored by Tor UK and SFF fans will have the opportunity to attend guest talks and panels, and meet some of their favourite authors at signing sessions taking place throughout the day.

Confirmed guests attending the event are Mike Carey, Kate Griffin, Mark Charan Newton, Justina Robson, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Freda Warrington.

The venue is the Leeds Park Plaza hotel which is set in the heart of Leeds city centre, with nearby bus and train transport links, and it is very close to a host of shops, bars and places to eat.

“I’ve been to many conventions and events over the years,” said Stephen Aryan, one of the event organisers. “But the majority of them tend to be in the south, which is a long way to travel for some people. So I’m hoping that by setting ConJour in Yorkshire it will attract fans from all over the country.

“I also appreciate that full weekend events can be a bit intimidating, especially if it’s your first time or you’re attending on your own. This way, by running a one day convention fans can enjoy the event, maybe make some new friends, and they won’t miss out on anything.”

For more information about ConJour visit the website http://www.conjureevents.co.uk/ or email conjour@hotmail.co.uk or follow on twitter conjour1

2010 World Fantasy Awards

This week-end, at the World Fantasy Convention held in Columbus, Ohio, the winners of the 2010 World Fantasy Awards have been announced. As we can see, after being nominated for the 2009 Nebula Award and winning the 2010 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the 2010 Hugo Award and the 2010 BSFA Award for best novel, China Miéville’s “The City & The City” was awarded with the 2010 World Fantasy Award for the Best Novel too. To see China Miéville’s excellent novel on the winning list is not a surprise anymore, but it still gives me the same delight, because “The City & The City” is indeed a wonderful book.

Best Novel: “The City & The City” by China Miéville (Pan Macmillan / Del Rey)

Best Novella: “Sea Hearts” by Margo Lanagan (X6, Coeur de Lion)

Best Short Story: “The Pelican Bar” by Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three, Night Shade Books)

Best Anthology: “American Fantastic Tales” edited by Peter Straub (Library of America)

Best Collection: Tie – “There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby” by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin Books) & “The Best of Gene Wolfe”/“The Very Best of Gene Wolfe” by Gene Wolfe (Tor Books / PS Publishing)

Best Artist: Charles Vess

Special Award – Professional: Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies

Special Award – Non-Professional: Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons

World Fantasy Life Achievement Award: Brian Lumley, Terry Pratchett and Peter Straub

Congratulations to all the winners!