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Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
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entirety, and without charge.
Updated 3 June 1998: science fiction films of many countries
Updated 13 May 1998
Updated 9 and 16 April 1998
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
KOREA
KUWAIT
LATVIA
LIECHTENSTEIN
LITHUANIA
LUXEMBOURG
MALAYSIA
MALDIVES
MALTA
MEXICO
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
NORTHERN IRELAND
NORWAY
POLAND
PORTUGAL
Next:
Countries R - Z
Major Update of 9 April 1998: Lithuania, Poland
Minor Updates of 5 March and 9 and 16 April 1998: Korea
Major Updates of 17 November 1997 and 4 March 1997: Portugal
For further information, see:
"Bibliography of Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Sam J. Lundwall, 1964,
which I believe has been updated in at least three editions. He also
provided important information in "Science Fiction: fran begynnelsen till
vara dagar", commissioned by Radio Sweden, and published in 1969. The
English translation is "Science Fiction: What It's All About", Sam J.
Lundwall, New York: Ace, 1971.
"Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction", Brian W.
Aldiss, (New York: Doubleday, 1973; Schocken Paperback, 1974)
"Asimov on Science Fiction" (New York: Avon, 1981)
KOREA
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Korea, except for two
writers:
H. B. Drake, full name Henry Burgess Drake (1894-1963): British author and
teacher of English in Japan, China, and Korea:
* The Remedy [1925; US: 1928 as "The Shadowy Thing"]
* "Yak Mool San" [1949] short story about Korean monster/ghost
* Chinese White [1950]
* Hush-A-Bye Baby [1952] ghosts of twins who died in miscarriage
* The Book of Lyonne [1952] illustrated by Mervyn Peake
(according to "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy", John Clute & John Grant,
St.Martin's, 1997, p.296)
Sharman Horwood: Associate Member of Science Fiction Writers of America
Foreign Language Training and Research Center
Hankuk University, Foreign Studies
Seoul, South Korea
e-mail Sharman Horwood
Sharman Horwood writes as follows:
"Tracking the faint trail of fantasy and science fiction in Korea
is a bit like being in a science fiction novel itself, or more
to the point, like a believer who's trying to find the latest UFO
trail only to discover it's vanished without a trace."
"Even though Korea has a very strong and rich folklore tradition,
both fantasy and science fiction in movies or literature are
relegated to juvenile obsessions, and therefore insignificant.
When I talk about it with my students, I quickly face what I call
the excessive-patience-of strange-foreigners looks. If I talk
about Korean folktales, especially the ones that begin with "A
long, long time ago when tigers used to smoke . . .," the
Korean equivalent of "Once upon a time . . .," they laugh and
become interested, but again, these stories are regarded as
children's fairy tales at best."
"I once heard of a graduate student at one women's university who
was doing her degree in fantasy literature. She complained that
she was having to invent terms and phrases for herself (and she
didn't speak English to be able to read our reference books on
the subject). I offered to meet with her and an interpreter to
help, but she couldn't be found. Even the graduate department
couldn't tell me because there were too many graduate students
to search through and find the right name."
"Most bookstores don't have a science fiction section. In the
English section of one store there are a few Asimov, Tolkien,
Clarke, and the omnipresent Stephen King novels, but little
else. I also saw in the Korean section a display of science
fiction novels translated into Korean. This was surrounded
three deep in teenage boys, but the display has since
disappeared."
"Nowadays, I simply expect the polite but uncommunicative faces
when I bring up the subject. I get frustrated with tolerance
and patience of my enthusiasms, I'm afraid. But I'm hoping I
will somehow, someway, find the footprints of a small, but
interested science fiction and fantasy audience before they
fast fade away."
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Korea.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
South Korea, by the way, is one of the 15 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain roughly once a week on the average.
South Korea first "hit" this domain in April 1996.
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KUWAIT
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Kuwait.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Kuwait.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Kuwait, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Kuwait first "hit" this domain in May 1996.
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LATVIA
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Latvia.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Latvia.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Latvia, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Latvia first "hit" this domain in July 1996.
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LIECHTENSTEIN
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Liechtenstein.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Liechtenstein.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Liechtenstein, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Liechtenstein first "hit" this domain in December 1996.
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LITHUANIA
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Lithuania, other than that the
great author and editor Algis Budrys was a citizen of Lithuania who became
a naturalized American citizen in 1996. Algis Budrys father was the exiled
Consul to America from the Lithuanian government in exile after the Red
Army occupied the country in 1940.
John Clute and John Grant, in "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" [New York:
St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.584-585] suggest that when Lithuania was under
the heavy-handed control of the U.S.S.R., fiction was compelled by
censorship to be Realist, Hard (i.e. Materialist) Science Fiction,
or Utopian. Clute & Grant are the
primary source for much of the following.
Before that era of Marxist dogma, and shortly before it crumbled,
there were elements of Fantasy and Science Fiction as follows.
* Ricardas Gavelis
* Jurga Ivanauskaite
* Romualdas Kalonaitis
* Saulius Tomas Kondrotas
* Loreta Latonaite
* Anelius Markevicius
* Kazys Paulaskas
* Mindaugas Peleckis
* Justas Piliponis
* The Brothers Tomdykas
* Vydunas
Ricardas Gavelis (1950-):
* Zvaigzdziu Kvepejimas [1982] "Astral Scents"
King Belerofontas defeats a mythological Chimera,
but it comes back to life and chases him forever
* Vilniaus Pokeris [1989] "Poker -- Vilnius Style"
three people are reincarnated as a dove, tree, and dog
and have a new view of human foibles
Jurga Ivanauskaite (1961-): surrealist/Twilight Zone-ish Fantasy:
* Apie tai, kaip... [1985] "How Abot This...?"
sudden telepathy [as in famous Twilight Zone episode]
* Regejimai geltonoje sviesoje [1985] "Yellow Illumination Spectacles"
Naked Japanese woman with no shadow is, to some people but not
others, Invisible
* Labai nemalonus atsitikimas [1985] "Quite Nasty Accident"
3-D human transforms into 2-D photograph
* Diena, kurios nebuvo [1985] "The Day That Never Was"
girl inexplicably sprouts wings
* Kada ateis Godo? [1985] "when will Godo get here?"
science fictional treatment of "Waiting for Godot"
* Koncertas Nr.1 [1985] "Concert No.1", the future is scary
* Pakalnuciu metai [1985] "Time of the Lilies"
flower-children and hippies
Romualdas Kalonaitis (1941-): drew on legend and computer games in:
* Saunusis ketvertukas prasmegusioje pilyje [1988] "The Courageous
Four in the Missing Castle" -- Lake Plateliai is the setting of a
legendary castle that disappeared; now four youngsters swim to a lake
island and enter a vast maze requiring logico-mathematical puzzles to
be solved to allow them to leave
Saulius Tomas Kondrotas (1953-):
* Kentauro herbo gimine [1978] "Centaur Symbol Family"
adulturous duke and duchess turn to lizards whom their son in a
Oedipal/Hamlet manner sets out to kill
* Ruke mano siela [1977] "My Soul in the Mist"
youngster can run as fast as an automobile (like "The Flash" in
American comic books, or "Forrest Gump") but that causes a
car crash
* Vejas [1977] "Wind" -- wind blows outwards from a girl, compare
to the Greek myth of Aeolus and Greg Bear's "Wind from a Burning
Woman"
* Kolekcionierius [1976] "Collector" man puts sunsets in collection
* Ir apsiniauks zvelgiantys pro langa [1985] "Frowning Window-Lookers"
tale of alternate reality narrated by a deceased protagonist
Loreta Latonaite (1934-):
* Paskutinysis faraono Cheopso paslapties saugotojas [1983]
"Mystery of Pharaoh Cheops' Last Guard" protagonist falls under
a curse from ancient Egyptian gods
* Prisiminimu ezeras [1983] "Reminiscience Lake"
genre: THERE AND BACK AGAIN: leave our world for a more magical one
* Akmens asaros [1990] "Stone Tears" living creatures in or of rock
Anelius Markevicius (1923-): several Deals-With-The-Devil stories:
* Vienaragio isdaigos [1982] "Tricks of the Unicorn"
genre: Unicorns
* Triragio Pinkles [1988] "Triple-Horn's Plots"
Kazys Paulaskas (1951?-):
* Laukesos aitvaras [1983] UFOs explained as from Little People
(brownies of Lithuanian folktales)
Mindaugas Peleckis (1977-): mainly a fantasy author, sometimes ventures
into science fictional adventures
* Svarbiausias [1990] "The Primary Discovery"
Kids wake up on the Neon Robot Planet
Justas Piliponis (1907-1947): adventure novels set in exotic locales which,
although presented as geographically real, were Fantasy, in the sense
of H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs:
* Kunigaiksis be praeities [1936] "Knight Without A Past"
* Amzinas zydas Kaunce [1934] "the Wandering Jew in Kaunas"
The Brothers Tomdykas, pseudonym for Alfonsas Buzcikas (1906?-)
and Jonas Buzcikas (1912?-):
* Meiles prakeiktos sielos [1934] "Damned Souls in Love", resurrection
story in which those purportedly resurrected actually find themselves
in Hell
Vydunas, pseudonym of Vilhelmas Storosota (1868-1953): novels which
intermixed Mystery and Fantasy symbolic genres, including:
* Amzinoji ugnis [1913] "perpetual fire"
* Ragana [1918] "Witch"
* Juros varpai [1920] "Sea-Bells"
The outstanding Science Fiction/Fantasy painter in Lithuania was:
Mykalojus Konstantinas (1875-1911): orchestral composer and artist with
broad popular appeal, with musical works and paintings based on fairy
Tales and Astrological/Astronomical landscapes and themes
Won't somebody who knows something more e-mail an entry to put here?
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Lithuania.
Lithuania, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Lithuania first "hit" this domain in July 1996.
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LUXEMBOURG
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Luxembourg, other than that
is where Hugo Gernsback came from. Hugo Gernsback, born in Luxembourg in
1884, emigrated to the USA in 1904, got deeply involved in radio and then
in magazine publishing, and is widely considered
"the father of American Science Fiction" through his vigorous editorship
of various magazines, including "Amazing Stories" (founded April 1926) and
his advocacy of the field. The "Hugo Awards" are named after him.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Luxembourg.
Won't somebody who knows something more e-mail an entry to put here?
Luxembourg, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Luxembourg first "hit" this domain in June 1996.
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MALAYSIA
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Malaysia. Malaysia, on the
other hand, is a very futuristic country. Kuala Lumpur is just now
completing construction of the world's tallest building, and initiating
construction of the world's largest airport. In between these two
mega-projects, the President of Malaysia has made a commitment to building
"Multimedia Strip" -- intended to be the world capital of the Internet,
CD-ROM, DVD, computer game universe. A total of $20,000,000,000 has been
allocated to these projects. In addition, Malaysia intends to be so fully
computerized as to have a "paperless government" by the year 2000. Very
much like a science fiction story!
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Malaysia.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Malaysia, by the way, is one of the 16 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain every day, or very nearly every day.
Malaysia first "hit" this domain in June 1996.
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MALDIVES
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in the Maldives.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Maldives.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Maldives, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Maldives first "hit" this domain in October 1996.
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MALTA
I don't know anything about Science Fiction in Malta.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Malta.
Won't somebody who knows something e-mail an entry to put here?
Malta, by the way, is one of the 45 countries that accesses the
Magic Dragon web domain occasionally, but less than once a week on the average.
Malta first "hit" this domain in May 1996.
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MEXICO
There's a remarkable article by Professor Miguel Angel Fernandez-Delgado (a
lawyer/historian/author in Mexico City) entitled " A Moon Voyage Inside an
Astronomical Almanac in Eighteenth-Century Mexico." Published in The New
York Review of Science Fiction, Vol.9, No.1, September 1996, pp.17-18.
It strongly makes the case that Manuel Antonio de Rivas, a Fransiscan friar
in Yucatan, wrote and published a science fiction story as a preface to his
astronomical atlas of 1775.
This story, about a Frenchman named Onesimo Dutalon flying to the moon in
some sort of machine, meeting with intelligent "Anctitones" (moon-men).
The story also includes space demons carrying souls to a hell inside the
sun. The result? Friar Rivas was charged with heresy, but granted mercy
and set free.
It seems fair, therefore, to declare Manuel Antonio de Rivas to be the
father of Mexican Science Fiction!
Mexican science fiction seems to me to be schizoid, torn between the very
popular comic book tradition and the highly intellectualized criticism of
Octavio Paz and his colleagues.
As one Mexican president has said (in another context) "Alas, Mexico! So
far from God, so close to the United States."
And yet Mexico has a vibrant world-class literature, with science fiction
being caught up in the flood stream of Magical Realism.
Mexico is a film and television powerhouse, with an uneasy connection to
American media. For many years in Hollywood, Mexican versions of American
films were made on the same sets as the American films. In at least one
case (Dracula) the Mexican version is said to be superior.
I know of seventeen science fiction films shot on location in Mexico:
* Alien Terminator (1995)
* The Arrival (1996)
* The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
also known as La Bestia de la Montana
also known as El Monstruo de la Montana Hueca
* The Black Scorpion (1957)
* Caged Heat 3000 (1995)
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
* Contact (1997)
* Dune (1984): According to "The Making of Dune", the shooting was done
in a garbage dump outside of Mexico City, a decision by the
Producers which had negative health impacts on the cast and crew
* Earth 2 (1994) TV
* Earth Versus the Spider (1958)
also known as The Spider
* The Incredible Invasion (1968)
also known as La Invasion Siniestra
also known as Alien Terror
also known as The Sinister Invasion
* Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
* The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) with a remarkable performance by David Bowie
* Predator (1987)
* Tank Girl (1995) which was better as a comic book
* Total Recall (1990) establishing the equation Mexico = Mars ?
* The Two Way Mirror (1990)
Won't someone who has expertise in Mexican science fiction and fantasy
film and telenovellas please e-mail me with more information?
Mexico City has a good shot at being the largest city in the world within
this decade, a source of both utopian and dystopian speculation. The
split between rich and poor, with a techno-elite and a midle class being
squeezed out by economic policy dictated from Washington and New York makes
a Cyberpunk future seem to be present right now.
Magazines have included:
* Antologia de Cuentos Fantasticos
* Ciencia y Fantasia
* Enigmas
* Fantasias del Futuro
* Los Cuentos Fantasticos
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NETHERLANDS
My bias is that I so much enjoyed visiting the Netherlands for the World
Science Fiction Convention at the Hague. In my all-too-few days in
Holland, I saw a genuinely civilized country, so much so that I felt, upon
returning to America, that I was stepping out of a utopia into a violent,
dirty, irrational, and schismatic dystopia.
Also, I had ancestors living in Amsterdam, so that when I opened the
telephone directory, I found a whole page of "Post" (pronounced "Poost")
and a whole page of "Vos."
An important reference book on the science fiction of the Netherlands is:
"100 Jaar SF in Nederland" by D. Scheepstra, (Harlingen:
self-published, 1968)
D. Burger made the international scene with "Sphereland"
Other authors of note include:
* Hans van Assumburg
* Koert de Haan
* Edward Multon
Magazines include:
* Fantasie en Weyenschap
* Planeet Science Fiction
* Space Fiction
I know of one fiction film shot on location in the Netherlands:
* Diamonds are Forever (1971)
yet I strongly suspect that there must be more.
Indeed, the Internet Movie Data Base lists 4 more science fiction films/TV series:
* 2040: Possibilities by Edward de Bono (1995)
* Blokkade (1934)
* Habitat (1997)
* Insekt, Het (1989) (TV)
The story "Pairpuppets" by Manuel Van Loggem, translated by the author, appears
(pp.278-285) in "The World Treasury of Science Fiction", edited by David G.
Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released by Book of the Month
Club).
Hartwell comments "Translated by its author from the Dutch, this story deals
with one of the grand themes of modern SF, the future of love....
'Pairpuppets' is notably a plotted story, in the manner of, say, Robert
Sheckley, influenced by by and written in imitation of American SF. Dutch
SF has developed in recent decades in constant reference to American SF and
only under the influence of translations of the contemporary flowering of
SF in English."
The story "The Lens" by Annemarie Van Ewyck, translated by the
author, appears (pp.545-553) in "The World Treasury of Science Fiction", edited by David G.
Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released by Book of the Month
Club).
Hartwell comments "It is interesting to contrast Van Ewyck's story with Van
Loggem's [see above]; while the latter reflects the mood, tone, and
concerns of primarily 1950s American SF, 'The Lens' seems more in tune with
Anglo-American post-New Wave works. It is darker, more heterogeneous in
its influences (here a touch of [Ray] Bradbury or [Roger] Zelazny, there a
touch of [James] Tiptree or [Theodore] Sturgeon). And 'The Lens,'
translated from the Dutch by its author, is told in the first person
rather than in the conventional third. The author is an active member of
World SF, an international body, and she is a participant in fan activities
internationally.
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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand has had its own Science Fiction tradition both helped and hurt
by a flood of British and American imports. My sister-in-law lives in New
Zealand (Otago) and I look forward to visiting this futuristic, beautiful,
and sophisticated -- albeit highly isolated -- country. Other authors whom
I respect, including Robert Heinlein and David Brin have set scenes and
novels in New Zealand.
Bee Baldwin made an international splash with "The Red Dust", S. Butler (a
noted utopian novelist) lived in New Zealand for many years, and Thomas
Cockcroft is a widely-admired weird fiction bibliographer.
I know of three fiction films shot on location in New Zealand:
* The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
* The Quite Earth (1985) a surrealistic film of an experiment gone
awry which seems to have made verybody in the world vanish, except
for one scientist. The Last Man on Earth eventually discovers
what he takes to be The Last Woman on Earth, and thgen a few
more folks are located, who must cope with jealousy and other
powerful emotions to attempt to undo the experiment. The final
shot, of something like a giant Saturn in a colored sky, still
puzzles me, but I did enjoy this film.
Produced by: Mr. Yellowbeard Productions Limited & Company
Director: Geoff Murphy
Screenplay: Bill Baer, Bruno Lawrence, Sam Pillsbury
From: the novel by Craig Harrison
Cast includes:
Zac Hobson -- Bruno Lawrence
Joanne -- Alison Routledge
Api -- Peter Smith
Api's Mate -- Anzac
Perrin -- Norman Fletcher
Scientist -- Tom Hyde
* Space Nuns (1995)
The Internet Movie Database list 9 science fiction films/TV series of New Zealand:
* "Mirror, Mirror II"(1997) (mini)TV Series
* "Mirror, Mirror" (1995) (mini)TV Series
...aka "Mirror Mirror" (1995) (mini)
* "Mysterious Island" (1995)TV Series
* Boy From Andromeda, The (1991) (TV)
* Lord of the Rings, The (1998)
* Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey, The (1988)
...aka Navigator, The (1988)
* Quiet Earth, The (1985)
* Space Nuns (1995)
* Warlords of the 21st Century (1982)
...aka Battletruck (1982) (US title)
Television shooting in New Zealand has included:
* Ray Bradbury Theatre
* Xena: Warrior Princess
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NORTHERN IRELAND
One Northern Irish member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
James White
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NORWAY
The Norse Eddas are a body of what we would today call epic fantasy/SF
poetry, and had a profound impact on English and world literature.
J. R. R. Tolkien, for example, claimed the Norse Eddas to be his primary
inspiration.
e-mail R. Nybo points out that
author Ludvig Holberg is to be regarded as Danish-Norwegian
(or Norwegian-Danish they might say in Denmark) as he was born
in Norway but got his education in Denmark. (Denmark and Norway
were in union and there were no universities in Norway. Danish was
the official language.)
Modern authors include:
* Jon Bing, a leader of the "New Wave" in Norway
* Tor Age Bringsvaerd, author/playwright/anthologist
* Axel Jensen, "Epp" won the Woursell European Literature Award for 1966
One Norwegian member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
* Liv Margareth Alver
e-mail Liv Margareth Alver
I know of two science fiction films shot on location in Norway:
* The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
* Last Border -- viimiesella rajalla (1993)
also known as The Last Border
The Internet Movie Database lists 4 science fiction films/TV series of Norway:
* "Blindpassasjer" (1979) (mini)TV Series
* "Ta den ring" (1982) (mini)TV Series
* Jakten på nyresteinen(1996)
* Sweetwater (1988)
The story "Codemus" by Tor Age Bringsvaerd, translated by
Steven T. Marray, appears (pp.769-781) in "The World Treasury of Science
Fiction", edited by David G. Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released
by Book of the Month Club).
Hartwell comments "Tor Age Bringsvaerd, with his friend and collaborator
Jon Bing, is credited with creating the current spate of SF in Norway.
Since the 1940s, magazines with translations from English-language SF have
appeared in Scandanavia, but they inspired only an audience, not an
indigenous group of writers.
"Then, in the late 1960s, Jannick Storm in Denmark, followed by Bing and
Bringsvaerd in Norway and Sam J. Lundwall in Sweden, sparked a renaissance
of SF in Scandanavia with new translations, a publishing boom, and the
encouragement of Scandanavian authors through story contests and
anthologies.
"Bringsvaerd, an important contemporary Norwegian writer, has
published more than twenty works of nonfiction, drama, children's stories,
novels and short fiction.
"'Codemus,' written in 1967, shows the strong influence of the British
New Wave. At that time New Wave writers tended to number their
paragraphs, as [J. G.] Ballard often did. 'Codemus' reverses a
conventional 1960s plot; it is a mirror image of the repressive future
society run by computers with everyman as the central character. As with
most non-English-language science fiction, there is nothing distincyively
Scandanavian in the setting. This is a boon to international
communication at the outset, but it also means that Scandanavian SF has
developed no distinctive traditions over its twenty-year history."
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POLAND
News flash! 3 October 1996: POLISH FANTASY POET WINS NOBEL PRIZE!
Wislawa Szymborska, a literary and political intellectual much beloved as
the most popular poet in Poland, won the Nobel Prize in Literature on 3
October 1996. Although Czeslaw Milosz, Zbigniew Herbert, and Tadeusz
Rozewicz are better known overseas, and have also been considered to be
Nobel contenders, Wislawa Szymborska is closer to the hearts of many Poles,
who regard her as a peoples' poet. One can argue that she is the SECOND
Polish science fiction/fantasy author to win a Nobel prize, the first being
W. St.Reymont, a Nobel Laureate who also wrote a vampire novel.
But is Wislawa Szymborska really a Science Fiction or
Fantasy poet as well? Read these examples below, and judge for yourself.
**********************************
IN PRAISE OF FEELING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF
by Wislawa Szymborska
The buzzard never says it is to blame....
When the piranha strikes, it feels no shame....
Why should they when they know
they're right?
...
ON THIS THIRD PLANET OF THE SUN
a clear conscience is Number One.
**********************************
IN PRAISE OF DREAMS
by Wislawa Szymborska
In my dreams
I paint like Vermeer van Delft.
I speak fluent Greek
and not only with the living.
I drive a car
that does what I say.
I am talented,
I write epic poems.
I hear voices
no less often than saints do.
You would be amazed
at my skill in piano playing.
I fly properly
all by myself.
Sliding off the roof
I fall onto soft grass.
I do not find it hard
to breathe underwater.
I cannot complain:
I DISCOVERED ATLANTIS.
It's a relief to wake up
just before dying.
I turn sideways comfortably
when wars break out.
I am, but am not forced to be,
a child of this age.
SOME YEARS AGO,
I SAW TWO SUNS.
And the day before yesterday a penguin.
I saw it quite clearly.
-- from "Views With a Grain of Sand"
translated from Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak
and Clare Cavanagh, copyright Harcourt Brace & Co.
**********************************
Nobody can write about Science Fiction in Poland without mentioning
Stanislaw Lem. Lem bestrides Polish SF like a colossus, and his works are
translated into many languages. "Solaris" {hotlink to be done} was made
into a very fine film by Tarkovski, distributed world-wide.
Stanislaw Lem, interestingly enough, was friends as a young man with the
priest who became the current Pope. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of
the taverns where they drank beer and debated metaphysics!
Lem made some injudicious critical writings in English which essentially
dismissed all English-language science fiction since H. G. Wells as
philosophically uninteresting. This resulted in the epic tempest in a
teapot of expelling him from Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America,
the only such expulsion fo which I know, which calls into question the
American commitment to Free Speech. But I digress...
Other notable writers include:
* Jaroslaw Grzedowicz (1965):
* "Twierdza trzech studni" [1982] "The Three-Wells Keep"
popular Fantasy story
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Zofia Kossak-Szcczucka (1890-1968):
* Krzyzowcy [1935] "The Crusaders", epic novel of the Crusades in
which Islamic science/magic battles Slavic magic for the
conquest of Jerusalem, and an exotic/alien Islamic
culture is dangerously seductive for Christian knights
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Zygmunt Krasinski (1812-1859): politically-tinged Fantasy
* Irydion [1836] the demon Massynissa helps the Greek hero Iridion
in open rebellion against a corrupt Roman Empire, but is
stopped by a Bishop who puts him to sleep magically for
several centuries, at which point he arises and leads Poland
to freedom
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Feliks W. Kres, pseudonym of Witold Chmielecki (1966-):
* Prawo sepow [1991] "Vultures' Reign" linked collection of stories
* Krol bezmiarow [1992] "King of the Endless Seas" novel
* Strazniczka istnien [1993] "The Guardian of All That Lives" novel
* Serce Gor [1994] "Mountain-Heart" linked collection of stories
* Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855): exiled to Russia in 1824
* Ballady i romanse [1822] "Ballads and Romances" collection of
poetry considered the origin of the Romantic movement in
Polish literature, filled with ghosts, gods, and folk-tales
taken literally and figuratively
* Dziady [Part 1: 1823, Part 2: 1823, Part 3: 1832, Part 4: 1823]
"Ancestor-Spirit Eve" a major verse-drama encapsulating the
conflict between Catholicism and Paganism
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Zbigniew Nienacki, pseudonym of Zbigniew Nowicki (1929-1994):
Young Adult author os some popularity
* the "Dagome Index" Trilogy with Fantasy, Sex, Myth, and Religion:
* Ja, Dago [1989]
* Ja, Dago Piastun [1989] "I, Dago the Guradian"
* Ja, Dago Wladca [1989] "Ja, Dago the Ruler"
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Jacek Piekara (1965-): many short stories since 1982, plus
* Imperium ( a trilogy which has been appearing in bits and pieces)
* J. Potocki (1761-1815)
* Andrzej Sapkowsi (1948-):
* "Wiedzmin" [1986] prize-winning story in Fantastyka
which introduced his popular genetically-engineered hero who
battles post-apocalypse supernatural monsters, as continued in:
genre: Genetic Engineering
* Wiedzmin [1990] story collection
* Miecz przenaczenia [1992] "Sword of Destiny" story collection
* Ostatnie zycenie [1993] "Dying Wishes" story collection
* Krew elfow [1994] "Elfblood" novel
* Swiat Krola Artura/Maladie [1995] "Arthur's World, and Malady"
essay plus story based on legend of Tristan and Isolde
* Oko Yrrhedsa [1995] "The Eyes of Yrrhedsa"
Fantasy Role-Playing gamebook
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916): Nobel Prize in Literature, also wrote:
* Ogniem i mieczem [1884; US: 1991 as "With Fire and Sword"]
Fantasy Quests in historical 17th Century
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* Juliusz Slowacki (1809-1849):
* Balladyna [1839] vast complex tragedy drawn from the myths and
legends of Poland, and imaginary episodes of the Poland's
history (sometimes indistinguishable from legend)
(according to John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
[New York: St.Martin's Press, 1998, pp.770-772])
* W. St.Reymont, a Nobel Laureate who also wrote a vampire novel
* Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939): Absurdist playwright
with sometime Fantastic themes
* Rafal A. Ziemkiewicz (1964-): anthologist and author
Clute & Grant recommend "The Dedalus Book of Polish Fantasy" [UK: 1996]
translated into English, edited by Wiesiek Powaga (1958-)
One Polish member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
* Wiktor Bukato
Magazines of Science Fiction and Fantasy in Poland:
* Fantastyka
* Fenix
I know of 9 Polish science fiction films/TV series or films shot on location in
Poland:
* "Spellbinder" (1995) (mini)TV Series
* "Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord" (1997) (mini)TV Series
...aka "Spellbinder 2" (1997) (mini)
* Klatwa doliny wezy (1988)
...aka Curse of Snakes Valley (1988)
...aka Zaklyatie doliny zmei (1988) (Russian title)
...aka Madude oru needus (1988)
* Na srebrnym globie (1987)
...aka Silver Globe, The (1987)
* Przekladaniec (1968) (TV)
...aka Roly Poly (1968) (TV)
...aka Layer Cake (1968) (TV)
* Schweigende Stern, Der (1959)
...aka Stille Stern, Der (1959)
...aka Planet of the Dead (1959)
...aka Silent Star (1959)
...aka Milczaca gwiazda (1959)
...aka First Spaceship on Venus (1962) (US title)
...aka Molczaci Krzydla (1959)
...aka Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply (1959)
* Seksmisja (1984)
...aka Sex Mission (1984)
* Signale - Ein Weltraumabenteuer (1970)
...aka Signals: A Space Adventure (1971)
...aka Signals: An Adventure in Space (1970)
...aka Sygnaly MMXX (1971) (Polish title)
* Test pilota Pirxa (1979)
...aka Test Pilot Pirx (1979)
...aka Navigaator Pirx (1979)
...aka Pilot Pirx Tested (1979)
[from the tales of Stanislaw Lem]
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PORTUGAL
Portugal has a surprisingly strong SF scene, split over the fact that
Brazil now dominates Portuguese-language book and magazine publication.
Portuguese SF Authors
24 Portuguese SF authors and editors/academics of note include:
* Mario Amado Alves
* Jose Anes
* Joïo Aniceto
* Joïo Barreiros, co-author with Luis Filipe Silva on novel Terrarrium
* Francis Carsac
* Carlos Filhais
* Pedro Foyos
* Carlos F. Jorge
* Alvaro de Sousa Holstein
* Antùnio de Macedo
* Joïo de Mancellos
* Carlos Martins
* Fernando J. de Mascarenhas
* Igor Maslowski
* Maria de Menezes
* Luis Miranda
* Maria Rosario Moneiro
* Jose Manuel Morais
* Jose M. Mota
* Alverado Pina
* David Prescott, British author now resident in Lisbon
* Oliver Sechan
* M. Sandoz
* LuÆs Filipe Silva, 1991 story collection O Futuro a Janela
novels including: Cidada da Carne and Vingancas (combined as
GalxMente)
e-mail LuÆs Filipe Silva
* Daniel TÄrcio
Portuguese SF Publishers
* Caminho ["Road" or "Path"]
Portuguese SF Awards
The Caminho Awards have been given annually since 1983. LuÆs Filipe Silva
e-mailed me the following summary.
The Caminho Awards:
- 1983: Os Caminhos nunca Acabam (The Roads never end), by Joïo Aniceto
Honorable mention: A Vocaìïo do CÆrculo (A Gift of the Circle), by
Daniel TÄrcio
- 1987: Universal, Limitada (Universal, Inc.) by Isabel Cristina Pires
No honorable mentions
- 1989: A espinha dorsal da memùria (the backbone of memory), by Brçulio
Tavares
No honorable mentions
- 1991: O Futuro ê Janela (the Future at the Window), by LuÆs Filipe
Silva
H. m. : O limite de Rudzky (Rudzky's Limit), by Antùnio de Macedo
- 1993: BeduÆnos a Gasùleo (Arabs and motorcars), by Joïo Botelho da
Silva
no honorable mentions
Since then, the Award has been in a hiatus, which will end next year,
with the awarding of new authors. LuÆs Filipe Silva will email the information
to me when it becomes official.
Portuguese Science Fiction and Fantasy Association
We now have an Association: Simetria, The Portuguese SF and F
Association.
Site: Simetria, The Portuguese SF and F
Association (still undergoing construction)
e-mail to Simetria
LuÆs Filipe Silva will shortly provide complete bibliographies on those authors.
Portuguese SF Artists
Portuguese SF artists of note include:
* Manuel Dias
* Milhais Res
Portuguese SF Conventions
The First Portuguese National Convention took place 26-29 September 1996
in Cascais (a resort town 25 km west of Lisbon), as part of a week-long
city-sponsored "First Encounters on Science Fiction and Fantasy" festival.
The conference published a paperback book Non-Events on the Edge of Empire,
collecting 7 original Portuguese stories, with English translations added.
Some 120 people attended the convention, including: Americans Charles N.
Brown, Beth Gwinn, Joe & Gay haldeman, Joan Vinge; Brits Brian & Margaret
Aldiss, Christopher Priest, David & Ann Pringle, David Prescott; Neyir
Gokce from Turkey; Leonid Kouritz from Ukraine; Jaroslav Olsa from the
Czech Republic; Elia Barcelo from Austria; Pierre J. Brouillaud from
France; Renato Pestriniero from Italy; and the Spanish editors of BEM
Magazine. The larger festival (which included films) had several thousand
attendees.
Magazine Articles
See "SF in Iberia. Locus, January 1997, pp.38-41.
Portuguese SF Films
I know of one science fiction film shot on location in Portugal:
* Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)
also known as Until the End of the World
The Internet Movie Database adds:
* Emiss%E1rios de Khalom, Os (1987)
Web Stuff
Portugal first "hit" this web site in XXX 1996.
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ROMANIA
The 1960s and 1970s marked an explosion of science fiction in Romania. For
example, the solidly established mainstream magazine "Viata Romaneasca"
had an issue devoted to translated and local science fiction.
Currently, Romania is experiencing a tourism boom keyed to the vampire
legend, with hotels springing up like mushrooms within a short distance of
the castle of Vlad the Impaler, the historical origin of Bram Stoker's
immortal novel "Dracula."
Major authors include:
* Vladimir Colin
* Victor Kernbach
* Adrian Rogoz
I know of two science fiction films shot on location in Romania:
* Oblivion 2: Backlash (1996) yet another Sci-Fi Western, a sequel
to Oblivion (1994).
Produced by: Full Moon Entertainment
Executive Producer: Charles Band
Producers: Albert Band, Peter David, Debra Dion, Oana Paunescu,
Vlad Paunescu
Director: Sam Irvin
Screenplay: Peter David
Story By: Charles Band, Mark Goldstein II, John Rheaume, Greg Suddeth
Cinematography: Adolpho Bartoli
Editor: Any Horvitch
Cast:
Zack Stone -- Richard Joseph Paul
Mattie Chase -- Jackie Swanson
Sweeney -- Maxwell Caulfield
Petrified Cowboy -- Gunter David
Jaggar -- Andrew
Stell Barr -- Meg Foster
Buster -- Isaac Hayes
Long John -- Brent Huff
Stogie Joe -- Sam Irvin
Bork -- Irwin Keyes
Sidekick -- Michael C. Mahon
Miss Kitty -- Julie Newmar
Buteo -- Jimmie F. Skaggs
Gaunt -- Carel Struycken
Doc Valentine -- George Takei
Lash - Musetta Vander
Josephine -- Nadine Emilie Voindrouh
Crowley -- Jeff Weston
* Trancers 5: Sudden Death (1991)
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RUSSIA
A strong case can be made that Russian science fiction is second only to
English-language science fiction in quality and quantity, and in many
cases science fiction books sell in more copies in Russia than anywhere
else. Whether or not the authors get paid is another story.
Of course, the American intelligence forces, with time-scanners, saw the
impact of young Isaac Asimov, and covertly paid his family's way over to
Brooklyn, New York, to keep Russia from taking over the SF world.
Russia beat America into space with Sputnik, the definitive event that
showed the world that science fiction dreams of spaceflight were now
reality, and hammered home the point with the first man in space, Yuri
Gagarin.
An important reference work on Russian SF is "Russian Science Fiction
Novel" by Anatolij Britikov (Moscow: Nauka and the Soviet Academy of
Sciences, 1970).
I am going to add, soon, some notes on these particularly important Russian
science fiction authors:
* A. Belayev
* M. A. Bulgakov
* Anatoly Dneprov
* Mikhail Emtsov
* I. Lukodianov
* Georgui Martinov
* V. A. Obruchev
* E. Parnov
* Victor Saparin, "The Trial of Tantalus"
* The Brothers Strugatsky (Arkadi and Boris)
* A. Tertz (A. D. Siniavskii)
* A. Tolstoi
* Konstantin Tsiolkovski (father of the Spaceship AND Rusian space
fiction)
* Ilya Varshavsky
* I. A. Yefremov
* Evgeni Zamiatin
Eugene Zamiatin (1884-Mar 1937) [Evgeni Ivanovich Zamiatin] Russian
dystopian novelist, banned in the USSR, of the influential "We" (New
York: Dutton, 1924, tr. by Gregory Zilboorg) which surely influenced
George Orwell's "1984" -- a global state where people are denied names
and love.
Important SF figures born in Russia who emigrated include:
* Artzybashieff (artist)
* Isaac Asimov
* Reginald Bretnor
* George Gamow (scientist/science writer)
* Ayn Rand
One Russian member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
* Alexander Korzhenevski
Russian SF book publishers include:
* Detgiz
* Mir
* Molodaja Gvardija
* Mysl
* Znanije
Important magazines include:
* Junost (circulation hit over 2,000,000)
* Nauka i zjisn
* Teknika-molodezji
* Sveta
* Vokrug Sveta (circulation almost 3,000,000)
* Znanije-Sila
I know of three science fiction films shot on location in Russia:
* Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)
also known as Until the End of the World
* Stalker (1979), and the masterpiece
* Solaris
The story "The Blind Pilot" by Nathalie-Charles Henneberg, translated by
Damon Knight, appears (pp.250-265) in "The World Treasury of Science Fiction", edited by David G.
Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released by Book of the Month
Club).
Hartwell comments "Nathalie-Charles Henneberg, who is RUSSIAN, met her
Alsatian-German husband in Syria when he was in the French Foreign
Legion. They began writing SF in French in the 1950s, and until his death
in 1959 they signed their collaborations with his name.... Nathalie went
on to become a prolific novelist, the 'most read' French SF writer in
France in the 1960s, according to [Damon] Knight. This story bears an
uncanny resemblance in atmosphere to the early works of the American writer
Roger Zelazny, which it predates."
The story "I was the First to Find You" by Kirill Bulychev, translated by
Helen Saltz Jacobson, appears (pp.690-700) in "The World Treasury of Science
Fiction", edited by David G. Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released
by Book of the Month Club).
Hartwell comments "Among the most versatile and popular SF writers in the
Soviet Union, Kirill Bulychev is one of a group of younger Soviet writers
to emerge in the 1960s. Above all, his talent for storytelling and his
interest in human characters interacting with SF problems make him a
particularly effective representative of recent Soviet SF. The strain of
utopianism remains strong in Eastern European SF and sinks many stories
with didacticism, but Bulychev is able to sustain his delight in the
wonders of the technological future, as in the days of [American
editor/author] John W. Campbell. And, of course, the influence of
Campbell-style SF itself, in this case [A. E.] Van Vogt's 'Far Centaurus'
is clearly present."
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SCOTLAND
Scotland has many internationally published science fiction authors,
including:
* Iain Banks
* Christine Carmichael
* Alistair Grey
Scotland has many internationally published fantasy authors,
including:
* Sir Walter Scott
* Robert Louis Stevenson
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
* J. M. Barrie
* Andrew Lang
* Kenneth Graham
I know of three science fiction films shot on location in Scotland:
* Dragonslayer (1981)
* No Blade of Grass (1970)
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SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa, the only country to have the atomic bomb and then renounce
and abandon it, has a number of internationally-published science fiction
authors, including:
* E. J. Blow
* H. A. Fagan
* W. Rose
* C. C. Reed
I know of one science fiction film shot on location in South Africa:
* Alien from L.A. (1987)
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SPAIN
"Don Quixote" by Cervantes (1605) not only pounded the final nail into the
coffin of chivalric fantasy, but also was an astonishingly
ahead-of-its-time meta-fiction, in which the author encounters a character
who claims to be the author. In a sense, this was postmodernism over 350
years early, and a true ancestor of modern science fiction.
Juan Maldonado, in his 1541 story "Somnium" ("The Dream") wrote a moon-trip
science fiction story that is surely the first such known in Spanish.
This is referenced in Miguel Aviles "Otros cuatro relatos utopicos en la
Espana moderna. Las utopias de J. Maldonado, Omnibona y El Deseado
Gobierno" ("Another Four Utopian Storties in Modern Spain: The Utopias of
J. Maldonado, Omnibona and The Desired Government") in "Las utopias en el
mundo hispanico" (Utopias in the Hispanic World).
Jesus de Aragon was a popular action/adventure novelist of the 1930s who
often had SF elements, including a Moon trip.
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (1836-1870), poet and novelist, wrote a number of
often-anthologized fantasy and weird short stories.
Enrique de Benito published a sequel to Jules Verne's "20,00 Leagues Under
the Sea", namely "El hijo del Captain Nemo" and similarly Lazaro Clendobius
published a sequel to H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine", namely "Elois y
Morlocks" (1909).
Jose de Elola (1859-?) was a scientist/soldier/author best known for the
8 volume "Viajes Intrplanetarios en el siglo XXII." His science writing
influenced many Spanish SF authors.
Other significant SF writers in Spain include:
M. A. Asturias
E.S. Chapela
F. M. Florez
J. M. Gironella
A. Robles
Tomas Salvador, whose "La Nave" (1959) is similar to Heinlein's
"Universe", except that it turns into a science fiction poem!
Two Spanish members of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
Miquel Barcelo
Robert Carrick
I know of seven science fiction films shot on location in Spain:
* Enemy Mine (1985)
* La Grieta (1980)
also known as Endless Descent
also known as The Rift
* Krull (1983)
* The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
* Mysterious Island (1961)
* One Million Years B.C. (1966)
* Viaje al Centro de la Tierra (1976)
also known as Voyage to the Center of the Earth
also known as Where Time Began
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SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka was once known as Ceylon, and longer ago was known as Serendip.
The story was told of the three princes of Serendip, each on a quest, and
then one who kept making wonderful discoveries by chance. This gave rise
to the world "Serendipity."
One Sri Lankan member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke told me, your humble webmaster (we have met several times
and I've co-edited a book with him) that he lives in Sri Lanka for several
reasons:
* He owns a nice house in Colombo
* He is Chancellor of the University there
* He has many friends in Sri Lanka
* The country is so beautiful that he suspects it to be the source of
the Garden of Eden myth
* The scuba diving is fantastic, and last but not necessarily least:
* There is no income tax.
I know of no science fiction films shot on location in Sri Lanka.
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SWEDEN
Sweden may have the highest per capita science fiction readership and
publication in the world. There are nearly 2,000 original works of
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in Swedish, and at least 4,000 Swedish
translations of English-language and European works.
Sweden produced numerous works as precursors to modern science fiction,
such as "Ny Upptackt av Landet Catacombe" [New Discovery of the Country
Catacomb] by P. O. Fredell (Stockholm, 1780), and "The Subterranean
Journey of Niels Klim" (1741). On a related front, the famour naturalist
Carl von Linne wrote about travel beyond the skies with metal spheres
containing vacuums as superballoons, in "Iter lapponicum" [Journey through
Lapland] (1732).
Sweden had a great SF boom at the turn of the century, perhaps kicked off
by journalist Claes Lundin's novel "Oxygen och Aromasia--Bilder fran ar
2378" [Oxygen and Aromasia--Pictures from the Year 2378] (Stockholm: Jos.
Seligman, 1878). Experts believe that this work comes dangerously close to
plagiarising "Bilder aus der Zukunft", Kurd Lasswitz (Breslau, 1878).
Claes Lundin's novel "Oxygen och Aromasia--Bilder fran ar 2378" is not the
typical utopian fantasy. It features matter transmitters (as in "beam me
up, Scottie"), space ships (very close to H. G. Well's "cavorite"-based
"First Men on the Moon"), suspended animation, television-telephones, and
weather control.
Nonetheless, in the decade before 1900 AD and the decade after, there were
roughly 300 original works of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in Swedish,
and at least 500 Swedish translations of English-language and European works.
Examples from this boom include the dystopian "Kallocain" by Karin Boyce,
the classic epic SF poem "Lycksalighetens O" [The Island of Happiness] by
Per Atterbom, and "Katastrophen" [Catastrophe] by Gustaf Jansson (1913).
As a result of this boom there were two very early science fiction
magazines:
Hugin (7 Apr 1916-Christmas 1919), edited/published by Otto Witt,
arguably the world's first SF magazine, bi-weekly, circulation
10,000, letters to editor from Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius,
only 2 complete sets known to exist, one of which is in the Royal
Library of Sweden
Vetenskapen och Livet [Science and Life] (1916-1928), edited by
E. Thrall, which spread to a French and a Finnish edition
In the 1930s, one notable novel was "Ormus och Ariman" [Ormouz and Ariman]
by Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1930).
The best survey of Swedish science fiction that I know of is the
"Bibliography of Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Sam J. Lundwall, 1964,
which I believe has been updated in at least three editions. He also
provided important information in "Science Fiction: fran begynnelsen till
vara dagar", commissioned by Radio Sweden, and published in 1969. The
English translation is "Science Fiction: What It's All About", Sam J.
Lundwall, New York: Ace, 1971.
Lundwall points out that the popular Swedish folk song "Hjalmar och Hilda"
actually derives from the sadistic Gothic novel "The Monk" (1796) by
Englishman Matthew Gregory Lewis.
Other major Swedish authors and editors (besides those mentioned above) include:
Roland Adlerberth, critic/translator
Hans Arnold, international SF artist
Hennig Berger
Ann-Margaret Dahlquist-Ljunberg, "Stralen" [The Ray]
Sven O. Emilsson
P. C. Jersild
Torsten Jungstedt, "Stors Skrackboken" [Huge Horror Book]
Bjorn Karlstrom
Denis Lindbohm
S. Lonnerstrand
Harry Martinson, "Aniara", book-length space/SF poem, which helped to
win Martinson a Nobel Prize! Made into a successful opera.
Henrik Nanne [under pseudonym "Carl Henner"]
B. Nyberg
Nils Parling, "Korset" [The Cross]
Arvid Rundberg
Gustav Sandgren [under pseudonym "Gabriel Linde"]
Eugen Semitjov
Bo Stenfors
Olle Strandberg, "Kalla kara" anthology
Ingvar Svenssonb
One Swedish member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
Sam J. Lundwall
Swedish science fiction publishers include:
Eklunds Bokforlag, Eklunds SF-Serie (1953-1955)
Lindqvist, Atombockerna, Lindqvist LP Pocket
Pingvinforlaget, Atombocken
Wennerberg, Rymdbockerna
I know of two science fiction films shot on location in Sweden:
* Independence Day (1996)
* Rymdinvasion i Lappland (1959)
also known as Horror in the Midnight Sun
also known as Invasion of the Animal People
also known as Space Invasion from Lapland
also known as Space Invasion of Lapland
also known as Terror in the Midnight Sun
Summary: Extraterrestrials unleash a monster in Lapland which
seizes a pretty woman and gives various scientists a hard
time
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE WEBMASTERS OF THIS PAGE ARE NOT ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS,
BUT FOR SIMPLICITY'S SAKE ALONE, ANY DATA IN THIS PAGE WHICH DOES NOT
MENTION A COUNTRY BY NAME SHOULD BE ASSUMED TO REFER TO AMERICA.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is considered by many literary scholars to be
the true father of Science Fiction, and of the Mystery/Detective genre.
Only this year doctors concluded that Poe died of rabies, contradicting
earlier theories. Poe's translations by Baudelaire were crucial to the
evolution of French symbolism, surrealism, and science fiction.
"Amazing Stories", starting in April 1926 is belived by most experts to be
the first true science fiction agazine, and its editor/publisher Hugo
Gernsback is deemed the father of modern science fiction.
Edward E. Smith's "Skylark of Space" (1928) was the first genuinely
interstellar novel. Isaac Asimov explains:
"For the first time in a science fiction magazine, man was whirled off
into the depths of interstellar space, with all the Universe open
before him. For the first time, the reader had the chance to
visualize man as a creature of infinite capacity--man as God, almost."
[Asimov on Science Fiction, p.190]
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