EUtopias and Other Futures: A European Journal of Science Fiction

See what I did there? By Péter MARTON ** Join the European Science Fiction group on Facebook for related discussions. ** More reviews will ultimately follow -- Sam Miller's Calved and Transmissions by John Bonello are in the pipe. For now, just a brief mission statement. I am reviewing here mostly either pure science fiction or works that contain pure science fiction as a key element beside other things. I am aware of the term "speculative fiction" and how it conveniently encompasses both fantasy and science fiction; very conveniently indeed from a publisher's perspective, given that audiences of the two genres significantly overlap. To me, however, vampires, demons, dragons and fairies being involved is fantasy but not necessarily speculative fiction to any extent. I like to read speculative fiction, rather than just pure science fiction, exactly for the reason that there is not necessarily a major difference between the two. What I mean by this ...

By Péter MARTON ** Join the European Science Fiction group on Facebook for related discussions. ** Definitely a book I can recommend to be translated into English. The story is set in the far future of 2140. Biotechnology and genome-editing have seen huge advances, just in time to compensate for the effects of a pandemic which made most humans sterile. Designed humans co-inhabit Earth with some of the leftover as well as the ageing populations of the more "traditional" political entities... which are so traditional that successor clones are designed and imported for the wealthy among them -- and these traditional entities need working hands, too, of course, to avoid going extinct. Hybrid servants are designed for the fun of it (lion-human hybrids, for example), as well as hybrid and intelligent pets. The incel movement wasn't so much on the radar at the time of the writing of the book as it is now, but they have their equivalents in the plot in the ...

By Péter MARTON ** Join the European Science Fiction group on Facebook for related discussions. ** Snowpiercer is a 2013 movie directed by Bong Joon Ho of South Korea. It is relevant for EUtopias and Other Futures because it is often referred to as SF due to its premise, and because it also has key European connections and elements. The premise is that humanity had reached a point where climate engineering had to be tried, which then badly backfired. "Backfroze" may be a better word as a new ice age was brought about. There are survivors to be found on a very long train that is powered by a perpetum mobile (perpetual motion) engine and is going eternally in circles, clearing the track ahead of snow, extracting water in the process, and so on. It functions as a near-closed ecological system. Still from the comic (the English-language edition)... European connections include that the film was loosely (as in real loooooosely) based on Le Transpercen...