EUtopias and Other Futures: A European Journal of Science Fiction

Scene from Pervye na Lune (First on the Moon) By Péter MARTON Just a quick piece on mockumentaries. I recently had the chance to watch two such films and it may be good to pass the information on in case you might have an interest in tracking them down, especially if you're a fan of the (sub)genre. One is Trollhunter , a Norwegian movie from 2010, described as dark fantasy by some, written and directed by André Øvredal. The other is Pervye na Lune/First on the Moon ( Первые на Луне ) from 2005, directed by Alex Fedorchenko -- an alternative history piece. Both films focus on conspiracies of different sorts: a benevolent one in the case of Norway where the conspiracy is keeping people protected, and a cynical one in the case of Russia where the mockumentary mentions even one of the interviewees appearing in it as having disappeared during the shooting of the documentary. (A documentary about a supposedly long-past event, at that, which was probably a way for the fi

A Brief History of Life, the Universe and Everything... By Péter MARTON ** Join the  European Science Fiction group  on Facebook for related discussions. ** Sapiens is a very popular and (somewhat less flatteringly) a fashionable book these days. It's really not bad, even if it is at least in part a summary of earlier works and research by others and certainly  not unprecedented in its theme and scope. As I was reading it, back in January, I was already thinking about how easy it would be to tag further readings to it from the field of speculative fiction, works that have already explored some of the core ideas discussed in Harari's book, and how that could be turned into a blogpost. This is that post now. So, a brief reading list. I could think of more items to list here, of course, but five is the kind of number that looks good in a click-baiting headline... My aim is to bring up some new and also some lesser known works, so this is not even an "ultim