Archive for 2010
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DECEMBER 2010
Contemporary socially engaged SF

Firstly, a collection of feminist and queer SF Svetovi drugih (The Worlds of Others), edited by Tea Hvala on the basis of stories, created at collaborative writing workshops: the book will be presented on 16 December at 8 PM in Kulturni center Q (AKC Metelkova mesto).

More: Vabilo na predstavitev knjige Svetovi drugih in stripovsko razstavo (Tea Hvala; in Slovenian)

On queer science fiction, the great masters of socially engaged ZF, researching gender roles and alternative forms of social order, and the above mentioned workshops:

And what was written last Saturday during the workshop in front of Škratova čitalnica? Starring in lead roles were Smola (Resin; a 500-year-old intelligent fluid), Črvuza (Wormfish; a jellyfish which exchanged snakes for worms), Joža, a stray, and a bamboo tree, under which they all gathered. The stories: some funny and unconnected, others sensible yet politically incorrect, then fantastic but not scientific, as well as anarchistic and comical; some feature motherboards, interfaces and biomechanical structures with non-linear semantic codes, others feature sentimental love scenes. This is what happens when five participants, five voices and writings of different and diverse identities merge into one merrily non-uniform, but friendly joint flow. You can read them at the blog of the organiser Tea Hvala, you can change, continue, copy and share them, print and draw on them – anything you choose. Collaborative writing is a way to play with and bet on human interaction, says Hvala, and if our world is determined by terms such as individualism, authorship and copyright, then it is also truly a small way to change the world.

More: Znanstvenofantastični "jam session" z meduzo, klošarjem in bambusom (Iva Kosmos, dnevnik.si; in Slovenian)

Also fresh off the press: Odlagališče, a novel by Vesna Lemaić, the winner of the Zlata ptica and Fabula awards:

The dystopic story unfolds in a female labour camp at an electronic garbage dump, such as the ones spreading through Africa, Southeastern Asia and South America today. The novel is actually a reaction to the aberrations of contemporary society, which assigns the social margins to producing products and eliminating waste, while politicians and economic magnates satisfy themselves with consumption and overall prosperity. One side features trashers, physically ruined due to the toxic components of dumped TVs, computers, cameras, cellphones etc., and the other supervisors, who control the 'penal colony' with violence and the help of psychodogmatics. Both are overseen by the watchful eye of Base, which poses as a recycling company. The three protagonists meet by chance in the amusement park Delta Zero, pledge a pact against the abusive corporation and attempt to overturn the dreadful situation with shock brigade action.

From Slovenski roman v letu 2010 (mag. Eva Vrbnjak, Bukla, December 2010 – January 2011, p. 31; in Slovenian)

It is a genre mix, rarely found in the field of Slovenian literature. This is a science fiction thriller with action fiction and feminist elements. Its main purpose is to afford the pleasure of suspenseful and interesting reading and to invoke dystopian sensation.
The explicitly socially critical Odlagališče is geared against the owners of social power, against the exploitation and the killing of the innocent in the name of profit, against pollution, the increase of waste and other irregularities of the capitalist world. [...]
Lemaić skilfully created socially engaged genre literature, which will, with its action-hero themes, probably attract especially readers not prone to wondering whether the novel's exposed ideas conceal any other, bashfully hidden beneath the literary garments.

More: Feministično-akcijski triler (Tina Vrščaj, Pogledi, 1 December 2010, p. 29; in Slovenian)

Vesna Lemaić writes well. A whole other question is what she writes about and how she makes sense of her heroes. If we judge the novel by the criteria for top-level literature which receives awards, this is merely ridiculous. But if we lower the criteria somewhat and view Odlagališče as an attempt to write a genre novel with activist elements, we remain confused and unsatisfied.

Več: Penis kot jedro zla (Dijana Matković, dnevnik.si)

The Ljutomer Grossmann film & wine festival has been accepted as a member of EFFFF, the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation! (More: Grossmannov festival postal mednarodno priznan, siol.net; in Slovenian)

On the topic of the genre's subversive potential; I recommend this clip of a speech by Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Killjoy on the anarchist take on fiction, focusing on the inherently vital relationship between freedom and responsibility. A couple of excerpts I liked:

Killjoy on why fiction can be relevant in this aspect:

I actually absorb most of my philosophical ideas through fiction.

Le Guin on utopias:

[Utopias] are highly necessary. It's very depressing that all the utopias turn into dystopias. It means people have kinda lost faith, that no one is even trying to think about running things differently, that there can't be any alternatives. That if we can't get there right away, we can't get there at all. Well, okay, maybe utopia is too good to get to entirely, but it's got some good ideas in it. How are we ever going to have better ideas if we don't talk about them? And what better way is there to talk about them than fiction?

... And on writing from the individual's viewpoint as the most frequently used; is such individuality in fiction opposed to the collectivism in anarchistic thought?

We live in a highly individualistic society at the moment. But there are many cultures that have their epics and so on that are more about the people than a person. There's different ways to come at it, just depends on what culture you're trapped in at the moment.

Killjoy on achieving equality with heteronormative literature:

It's not that individual heternormative books are bad, because clearly it is also normal to be hetero, but it is also totally normal to be queer. How do we normalise that? [...] I'd like to have that happen with anarchism as well.

Le Guin's take on it:

This basically begins to require science fiction. Well, it used to. But things are changing, fiction is loosening up. Science fiction is working pretty close to being normal, watch out. It won't be fun anymore.

And one of his anecdotes:

Kurt Vonnegut was giving a talk one time. Someone stands up in the audience and they ask him a question; 'Mr. Vonnegut, why are you ruining the youth of America?' or some other such horrible nonsense. People actually say that? [...] He gets flustered and walks off stage, he's like, I don't want to deal with this, and just leaves. And the next day he talks to the media about it and he says: 'I don't understand what's so hard to figure out about my ideas, I'm a world citizen, a pacifist, and an anarchist.'

A few recommendations for the readers of more traditional hard SF – famous socially engaged novels: Top 10 SF Novels for a Thinking Woman (or man, we add).

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NOVEMBER 2010

November finally sees The Guide translated into English. Also, an updated three-column website design! Widescreen monitors will cheer. We are now bravely moving from the early nineties to... the late nineties, at least. Ahem, we like to keep things a bit archaic and bring some irony into SF. Content over form!
Also new: the list of Slovenian SF&F translators, which still requires a lot of work.

Of the links section only a selection remains, thematically linked to each sub-page. Due to an overabundance of websites dealing with the most easily accessible (and the most easily consumed) forms of SF, this list will eventually focus on literary, theoretical, alternative and experimental sources, and keep just the most inventive television and film production links of the best quality or relating to Slovenian production.

On the Guide's YouTube channel you can view a selection of the earliest cult SF&F films, among them the very first, Le Voyage dans la lune directed by Georges Méliès in 1902.

A new book by Vid Pečjak has been published: Kataklizma ali Selenino maščevanje (Cataclysm or Selena's Revenge):

While the elites possess either enough money or appropriate education to have locked themselves into glass domes, most of humanity is at the mercy of climate change and bands of thieves. Selena is kidnapped by Wild Maks, the most bloodthirsty gangleader, but she soon escapes and roams the deserted world with Mark, her childhood sweetheart, as they play out a role of postapocalyptic knight-errants. This story, with its frequent use of "Damned ancestors!", reminds us in every possible way to finally begin to look after our planet better.

More: Kataklizma ali Selenino maščevanje (Jure Preglau, Bukla)

Svetlana Makarovič: Every art begins with »No!«, only polkas and waltzes begin with »Yes ...«.

Milena Mileva Blažić enthusiastically presented the author's young adult and children's books and, based on ten characteristics of her YA opus, argumented the thesis that she is the most inventive Slovenian author. According to Blažić, Makarovič is, among other things, especially excellent at creating new imaginary spaces and characters (eg. Kosovirs or animals Ščeper and Mba), language use (just remember the monkey swearword "300 darwins!"), social critique of all ideologies and motif-thematical elements, with which she broke through the taboos of YA literature [...]

More: Umetnica, ki je »ravno dovolj čez les«: simpozij o Svetlani Makarovič (Iva Kosmos, dnevnik.si; in Slovenian)

Listverse has published several top 10 lists of SF&F works, which you can use as book recommendations – from the most underrated SF stories before 1864 to the 10 creepiest tales of Edgar Allan Poe; all relevant links can be found here.

Future Shorts – "the next generation film organisation"
Many of the several hundred well-chosen short films are SF&F themed, for example Synesthesia, The Black Hole, Jojo in the Stars etc.

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OCTOBER 2010
Science fiction sound theatre?

Catch the repeat performance of SCI FI..., directed by Hanna Preuss, on 17 and 18 October on Ljubljana Castle:
Znanstvena fantastika, kanček ljubezni in evolucija (rtvslo.si; in Slovenian).

In the spirit of multimedia we finally present a list of Slovenian SF&F in Other Media – additions and corrections are very welcome. All the lists are now easier to read.

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SEPTEMBER 2010
Visuals

We are building up a gallery of book covers on Picasa. The list of authors has been updated.

A link to Wikivir: odprto skladišče izvornih besedil (the free library; you can save texts as PDF). The English Wikisource is far more comprehensive, of course, but the Slovenian version is constantly developing. Several full texts of SF&F and precursor works have been published (in Slovenian):

• Ivan Tavčar: 4000
• Nejc Gazvoda: Fasunga
• Janez Mencinger: Abadon
• Svetlana Makarovič: Kosovirja na leteči žlici in Kam pa kam, kosovirja?
• Vid Pečjak: Kam je izginila Ema Lauš ter Aleks in robot Janez
• Ivan Sivec: Pika in hišni robot xy-13 ...

Wired has published a broad Syllabus and Book List for Novice Students of Science Fiction Literature with links to works, available online.

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AUGUST 2010
Summer Apathy

I sincerely apologise for the lengthy absence; the space-time continuum is to blame. Birth data and several freshly published works have been added to the list of Slovenian SF&F Literature. Links have been checked, and the information on series and publishers has been added to all editions. You can also read the newly added Dawkins' severe, but sound critique of sloppy television SF.

From Dnevnik, 7 August: Milena Mileva Blažić and Jakob J. Kenda on fantasy literature
Some excerpts:

Contemporary forms of fantasy literature are the latest step in the line of development which began with myth, continued through folk story to authorial story and developed into classic fantasy, the precursor of fantasy saga, explains Kenda. The genre family is connected by a common characteristic, the well-known narrative structure: "Hero leaves home, meets with the field of magic, gains helpers and adversaries, completes tasks and tests, and finally returns home, wealthier in one way or another." [...]

Where hides their successor, the first contemporary Slovenian fantasy? There isn't any, says Kenda, probably because such a work requires immense intellectual abilities of processing a huge amount of data, as well as literary talent. "I don't know whether Slovenia has a person, capable of both." This might also answer numerous opinions that fantasy is an inferior literary form. "Anyone who shares that opinion should sit down and attempt to write something similar. Soon they will realise the contrary," Kenda is convinced.

A short while ago, an author with the pen name Margit Belani published the first part of a trilogy called Varuhi skrivnosti, Obzidano mesto (The Keepers of Secrets, The Walled City) at Mladinska knjiga and answered the long awaited search for Slovenian fantasy. This project does not only sport a strong publisher, but also leans on contemporary advertising tricks, has an interactive website, a perfected visual image of the imaginary world, an author, exposed to the media, and even an amulet, enclosed to the book; all of this points to the possibility of finally getting a contemporary Slovenian fantasy author.
But Milena Mileva Blažić thinks otherwise, if we judge by her critique of Belani's book. "Based on reading the text it is clear the author relied on already known and above all popular literary texts, however she did not exceed the established pattern, she did not introduce any innovations and she evades deeper meaning. Therefore the question is whether the international pen name and the publisher's support alone suffice for the book's success."
If there's anyone we could expect a development of Slovenian fantasy narrative from, continues Blažić, it would be one of the talented female authors who have entered a new sensibility and fantastic elements into the genre of contemporary short story. She mentions Majda Koren, Anja Štefan, Desa Muck and Ida Mlakar as especially excellent authors who have otherwise not attempted writing more comprehensive fantasy worlds. Additionally, Milan Dekleva, Milan Jesih, Boris A. Novak, Andrej Rozman Roza and Evald Flisar have undertaken fantasy worlds in the form of prose, poetry or drama.
"Numerous readers of fantasy literature get the impression that they could write such literature themselves. But many write and only several create," states Milena Mileva Blažić. [...]

Fan communities are not only a consequence of the popularity of certain fantasy literary works; thanks to them, the fantasy genre has been gaining recognition, explains Kenda. "Literary researchers often avoid fantasy literature, therefore it is not unusual for fans to launch into work themselves. Thus John Clute and John Grant, famous fandom critics, who have never studied literature, wrote the basic reference work on fantasy, Encyclopedia of Fantasy!" A point of interest: Slovenian critiques of fantasy literature can be found in magazines Joker and Otrok in knjiga, as well as on fans' websites.

More: Od vile Čiračara do Bradavičarke (Iva Kosmos, dnevnik.si; in Slovenian)

Incidentally: to those interested in narrative structure and the rules of the genre's precursors that Kenda mentions, I recommend the work of the indisputable authority on the subject, Vladimir Jakovlevič Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale (in Slovenian: Morfologija pravljice; Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis, 2005).

Arwen Curry: we can look forward to a documentary on Ursula K. Le Guin! Moreover, this great blog, The Rejectionist, has dedicated an entire week to feminist science fiction.

Margaret Atwood on The Birthday of the World, the second most recent story collection by Le Guin.

Wonderful news: the cult television series Max Headroom has finally been released on DVD!
The five DVD collection comes out on 10 August.

Some reasonably useful association-based book recommendation websites for dilligent bookworms who have already devoured books they prepared for summer:

What should I read next?
70.000 titles with more than a million recommendations.

Which book...
A great idea – determine the type of atmosphere, plot, characters and setting with a slider. Is the database extensive enough to work in practice already? It contains English prose and poetry (and translations into English) in paperback, published after 1995.

Goodreads
An online community with many additional functions.

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