"East of a Known Galaxy" (an Anthology of Romanian Sci-Fi Short Stories)
By Péter MARTON
** Join the European Science Fiction group on Facebook for related discussions. **
Review of "East of a Known Galaxy" – An Anthology of Romanian Sci-Fi Short Stories, edited by Daniel Timariu and Cristian Vicol. București (Bucharest): Tritonic, 2019.
Get ready for a journey... into the unknown.
A journey into the known is a semantic paradox, of course.
You can only journey into the unknown.
The long-established greats of sci-fi can certainly take you on such a journey and, if you're a fan, no doubt many a great English-language work has already done that for you. But — exactly in the same vein as this blogzine's introduction did back in the day — the editors of this anthology of Romanian sci-fi challenge you to read what people from very different cultural, social, political and historical circumstances might tell you in the framework of your beloved genre. No one should be so naive as to think that one only finds talent for sci-fi (or anything else) in the English-speaking parts of the world. Talent is due to many factors not present exclusively in that part of the world. Success may be (due to a machinery of success), but talent isn't. So get out and scout.
As your spaceship approaches what you may find east of your usual destination, the first thing you come across is the cool title above. East of a Known Galaxy. It should be registered as a trademark and turned into a series, it's that good, really. Sums up a lot in a very brief way, just perfect.
You can now accelerate, reassured that you're headed in the right direction. The computer onboard gives you a forecast of what you can expect in this unknown galaxy. Diverse climes and genres await on the planets to be visited, most of all sci-fi.
First up is Silviu Genescu's Transformation, a story using futuristic nanotechnology to weave a dark tale from the cruel earthly realities of the psychiatric ward of an underfinanced Eastern European hospital and the encounter with... something else. Sci-fi that begs to be made into a short film at least.
Next up is a set of twin planets. Daniel Timariu's Bodies to Let and Florin Purluca's The First Man to Walk on the Moon may remind you of some very good old sci-fi, for example by J.G. Ballard (The Concentration City) and Ray Bradbury (Martian Chronicles). Not at all in the sense of these stories being imitations but rather because they have a similarly strong atmosphere, with a focus in Timariu's case on what extremes of posthumanism transhumanism can take us to, in a world where the highly abnormal is increasingly the new normal, and a great reflection on the emotional aspects of a world stuck in the heroic age of space travel in the case of Purluca's story of a son left behind by his astronaut father.
Another set of twin planets follows. Cristian Vicol's Radio Killed the Video Star and Lucian-Vasile Szabo's Mary Stenton Returns to the Motherland give you a glimpse of recent Romanian history, from before and after the political transition at the end of the communist era. That Vicol's story is eloquently presented as sci-fi is a great expression of irony, reflecting on what lengths people needed to go to, just to be able to listen to real actual news back when fake news was the official news of the day. Szabo's is an excellent take on the reality-bending power of love, taking us back to past days of Timișoara/Temesvár, to a past with a possibly different future in that time of transition when wild expectations filled people with hopes and fears all at once.
Further sci-fi planets to visit include Tiger-Men by Miloș Dumbraci, Bug by Alexandru Lamba and The Dinner by Liviu Surugiu. Tiger-Men and Bug have some interesting twists and concepts but they are the kind of stories that could benefit from additional world-building that could leave less questions unanswered, but which cannot take place within the confines of a short story as such. The Dinner is my personal favorite from the volume, a real classic with a great, tense ending. Again, one to be made into a movie! Great character-building and drama, fused with action and philosophy, with the plot reaching all the way out to faraway points in the solar system.
If you feel like your journey could benefit at this point from some scary and mysterious scenes to give you the suspense and the adrenaline rush that can keep you going, there is Beyond the Night's Veil by Cătălina Fometici, where you can feast on werewolves and vampires in Transylvania, The Story of Xieng Baohui by Lucian-Dragoș Bogdan, a surprisingly Ken Liu-esque Chinese tale, and Cursed Night! by Teodora Matei with much in the way of ominous signs to get you in the mood in case your spaceship breaks down when you blast past the local asteroid belt, only to see, all of a sudden, a decrepit house pop up as a place where you might try and get some help.
Concluding your visit to the galaxy, that is, if you don't open airlock doors when someone comes knocking, you come across Ciprian-Ionuț Baciu's Serpents among the Scent of Algae, a strong and intriguing story of mystery and philosophy with a captivatingly bitter and bored character at its centre, who may still get a chance to recommence his life... in a fitting ending for the volume.
Go recommence your own life to the east, south, west and north of known galaxies, traveler!
And before you do, take a glance at the centre of the galaxy you have just visited: that's my photo (from 2004) of Timișoara/Temesvár/Temeschburg/Темишвар's old-town main square, its background (watch to the right) made eclectic by the same history that molded some of the material of the stories in this colourful anthology.
Contents
Silviu Genescu – ”Transformation”
Daniel Timariu – ”Bodies to Let”
Cristian Vicol – ”Radio Killed the Video Star”
Florin Purluca – ”The First Man to Walk on the Moon”
Miloș Dumbraci – ”Tiger-men”
Teodora Matei – ”Cursed Night!”
Liviu Surugiu – ”The Dinner”
Alexandru Lamba – ”Bug"
Lucian-Dragoș Bogdan – ”The Story of Xieng Baohui”
Cătălina Fometici – ”Beyond Night’s Veil”
Lucian-Vasile Szabo – ”Mary Stenton Returns to the Motherland”
Ciprian-Ionuț Baciu – ”Serpents among the Scent of Algae”
Get ready for a journey... into the unknown.
A journey into the known is a semantic paradox, of course.
You can only journey into the unknown.
The long-established greats of sci-fi can certainly take you on such a journey and, if you're a fan, no doubt many a great English-language work has already done that for you. But — exactly in the same vein as this blogzine's introduction did back in the day — the editors of this anthology of Romanian sci-fi challenge you to read what people from very different cultural, social, political and historical circumstances might tell you in the framework of your beloved genre. No one should be so naive as to think that one only finds talent for sci-fi (or anything else) in the English-speaking parts of the world. Talent is due to many factors not present exclusively in that part of the world. Success may be (due to a machinery of success), but talent isn't. So get out and scout.
As your spaceship approaches what you may find east of your usual destination, the first thing you come across is the cool title above. East of a Known Galaxy. It should be registered as a trademark and turned into a series, it's that good, really. Sums up a lot in a very brief way, just perfect.
You can now accelerate, reassured that you're headed in the right direction. The computer onboard gives you a forecast of what you can expect in this unknown galaxy. Diverse climes and genres await on the planets to be visited, most of all sci-fi.
First up is Silviu Genescu's Transformation, a story using futuristic nanotechnology to weave a dark tale from the cruel earthly realities of the psychiatric ward of an underfinanced Eastern European hospital and the encounter with... something else. Sci-fi that begs to be made into a short film at least.
Next up is a set of twin planets. Daniel Timariu's Bodies to Let and Florin Purluca's The First Man to Walk on the Moon may remind you of some very good old sci-fi, for example by J.G. Ballard (The Concentration City) and Ray Bradbury (Martian Chronicles). Not at all in the sense of these stories being imitations but rather because they have a similarly strong atmosphere, with a focus in Timariu's case on what extremes of posthumanism transhumanism can take us to, in a world where the highly abnormal is increasingly the new normal, and a great reflection on the emotional aspects of a world stuck in the heroic age of space travel in the case of Purluca's story of a son left behind by his astronaut father.
Another set of twin planets follows. Cristian Vicol's Radio Killed the Video Star and Lucian-Vasile Szabo's Mary Stenton Returns to the Motherland give you a glimpse of recent Romanian history, from before and after the political transition at the end of the communist era. That Vicol's story is eloquently presented as sci-fi is a great expression of irony, reflecting on what lengths people needed to go to, just to be able to listen to real actual news back when fake news was the official news of the day. Szabo's is an excellent take on the reality-bending power of love, taking us back to past days of Timișoara/Temesvár, to a past with a possibly different future in that time of transition when wild expectations filled people with hopes and fears all at once.
Further sci-fi planets to visit include Tiger-Men by Miloș Dumbraci, Bug by Alexandru Lamba and The Dinner by Liviu Surugiu. Tiger-Men and Bug have some interesting twists and concepts but they are the kind of stories that could benefit from additional world-building that could leave less questions unanswered, but which cannot take place within the confines of a short story as such. The Dinner is my personal favorite from the volume, a real classic with a great, tense ending. Again, one to be made into a movie! Great character-building and drama, fused with action and philosophy, with the plot reaching all the way out to faraway points in the solar system.
If you feel like your journey could benefit at this point from some scary and mysterious scenes to give you the suspense and the adrenaline rush that can keep you going, there is Beyond the Night's Veil by Cătălina Fometici, where you can feast on werewolves and vampires in Transylvania, The Story of Xieng Baohui by Lucian-Dragoș Bogdan, a surprisingly Ken Liu-esque Chinese tale, and Cursed Night! by Teodora Matei with much in the way of ominous signs to get you in the mood in case your spaceship breaks down when you blast past the local asteroid belt, only to see, all of a sudden, a decrepit house pop up as a place where you might try and get some help.
Concluding your visit to the galaxy, that is, if you don't open airlock doors when someone comes knocking, you come across Ciprian-Ionuț Baciu's Serpents among the Scent of Algae, a strong and intriguing story of mystery and philosophy with a captivatingly bitter and bored character at its centre, who may still get a chance to recommence his life... in a fitting ending for the volume.
Go recommence your own life to the east, south, west and north of known galaxies, traveler!
And before you do, take a glance at the centre of the galaxy you have just visited: that's my photo (from 2004) of Timișoara/Temesvár/Temeschburg/Темишвар's old-town main square, its background (watch to the right) made eclectic by the same history that molded some of the material of the stories in this colourful anthology.
Contents
Silviu Genescu – ”Transformation”
Daniel Timariu – ”Bodies to Let”
Cristian Vicol – ”Radio Killed the Video Star”
Florin Purluca – ”The First Man to Walk on the Moon”
Miloș Dumbraci – ”Tiger-men”
Teodora Matei – ”Cursed Night!”
Liviu Surugiu – ”The Dinner”
Alexandru Lamba – ”Bug"
Lucian-Dragoș Bogdan – ”The Story of Xieng Baohui”
Cătălina Fometici – ”Beyond Night’s Veil”
Lucian-Vasile Szabo – ”Mary Stenton Returns to the Motherland”
Ciprian-Ionuț Baciu – ”Serpents among the Scent of Algae”
Comments
Post a Comment