International Speculative Fiction #4

Issue 4 of International Speculative Fiction is out featuring yours truly’s review column. In which I cover some of the recent works of independent self publisher Rabia Gale and the award winning Eliza Victoria.  But of course I shouldn’t be the only reason you pick up a copy of this FREE publication in one of its multiple formats (mobi, epub or pdf).

In this issue Roberto Mendes and Ricardo Loureiro have managed to bring together another great collection of story art and non-fiction writing from around the world.  The fiction section features works by previous World Fantasy Award winners including Ken Liu.

The non-fiction section features an interesting  interview with Zoran Živković on the fantastical tradition in European writing:

The term “fantastika”—used in slightly different ways in many European languages—doesn’t seem to have a satisfactory English equivalent. It could have been “fantasy” if that term hadn’t been reduced to a marketing label that means “Tolkienesque” fiction.

Fantastika is by no means limited to that narrow section of the spectrum. It is, in fact, the spectrum itself—all nonmimetic prose. Nearly 70 percent of everything written during the past five thousand years is nonmimetic and belongs to one of many forms of fantastika: folklore, oneiric, fairytale, epic, and so forth.

There’s also a wonderful profile of Romanian artist George Munteanu, that’s worth a look (note the cover image is his as well).

While you are there you should also take the opportunity to download their free 2012 anthology.

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ISF nominated for European Science Fiction Society Award

International Speculative Fiction Magazine which I pen a review column for has been nominated in the Best European Magazine category at the European Science Fiction Society Awards.

So congratulations to the Roberto and the team for working so hard to bring us free, quality, international fiction and commentary.

Speaking of free.

You can download the ISF 2012 anthology in pdf/mobi/epub for free.  That’s right all three formats for free just go here.

It features some names you might recognize Ken Liu, Joyce Chng, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Aliette de Bodard and Lavie Tidhar.

 

 

 

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All your Space Marines belong to us

ISF # 3 Hits the Newsstands

…do we have newsstands anymore?

Any who, ISF #3 is out and its available for free download. 

It features yours truly in the reviews column, but you're going to want to be reading the Fiction.

Roberto and the team have lined up:

• Simon Jones (Australia)
• Crystal Koo (Philippines)
• Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro (Brazil)
• Fernando Pina (Portugal)

A truly international election.  Get it FREE below. 

ISF # 3 Download

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Coming soon - International Speculative Fiction Issue 3

 

…featuring me in the reviews column.

The issue will be available for free download from the ISF website in around 10 days or so - I will keep you posted.

So in the meantime cast your eye of the wonderful writers Roberto and the team have managed to secure for you in the table of contents below.

I love the cover too and what’s that the guy is reading I wonder?

 

TOC

EDITORIAL

Ricardo Loureiro (Fiction Editor)

FICTION:

Simon Jones (Australia)

Crystal Koo (Philippines)

Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro (Brazil)

Fernando Pina (Portugal)

ARTICLE

Jess Nevins – Pulp Scifi under German, Russian, Japanese and Spanish Totalitarism

INTERVIEW

Cristian Tamas interviews Professor Arielle Saiber with a focus on Italian SF

REVIEWS

Sean Wright Reviews two Singaporean International Speculative Fiction Anthologies

Jorge Candeias Reviews three Short Stories written by International Speculative Fiction Authors

COVER ART

Hauke Vagt (Germany)

 

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A call for international speculative fiction publications

I put out a call on twitter last night for recommendations of international speculative fiction authors. Sometimes 140 characters is just not enough to clearly explain what your are after. 

I did get a good response though with suggestions for Singapore, The Philippines and China.

The Project

I will be writing a review column for the e-zine International Speculative Fiction, my first column will appear in the January issue.

The Request

I am soliciting for review copies or contacts where I might be able to engage in a discussion with small press publishers.

Before I drown under the deluge I better explain what I am after:

• Non-Anglophone authors primarily but that have
• Texts written in English or translated to English
• Authors of quality who don’t seem to have got the attention they deserve i.e. authors no-one seems to be talking about yet, someone like the next Nnedi Okorofor,  Dean Francis Alfar or Liu Cixin
• Someone who might be a big name in their country of origin but who isn’t known in western speculative fiction circles.

Format

I have no preference but considering the likelihood that we are looking at vast shipping distances, ebooks in epub format are ideal. I am looking at collections, anthologies, or novels.  I’ll rule out individual short fiction and magazines.

Guarantees

That I’ll read and review every book?  I can’t guarantee that.  I can guarantee that if it’s good and fresh that it’s got a good chance of making it to my reading list.  I do already, heavily promote Australian authors, Australian female authors, run this blog conduct interviews, and produce a podcast (which some of the authors who might come to my attention could feature on) and somewhere in their I have to fit in the work that pays me and talk to my wife as well.

So fire away, leave suggestions or comments.  Publishers or agents feel free to contact me at sbwright at gmail dot com with [International Review Request] in the subject field.

If in doubt suggest anyway.

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International Speculative Fiction Issue 2

International Speculative Fiction is a free e-Zine featuring top quality writing from international authors (preference given to non-anglophone authors) of Speculative fiction.

I gave issue one a signal boost here.  You can download this issue here.  I suggest you do so, because I think its packed with diverse goodness.

It features fiction from Nassau Hedron, Lavie Tidhar and Ken Liu.

Cristian Tamas interviews Professor Rachel Haywood Ferreira, author of  The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction and there’s a profile of cover artist Tomasz Maronski, whose work you will have seen if you’ve been reading Asimovs or Clarkesworld.

The fiction pieces are reprints, but it’s fine with me because although I have heard of each of the authors I haven’t yet come across them in any of my current subscriptions.  Your mileage may vary.

That being said editor in chief Roberto Mendes and team have done a fine job in selecting a trio of excellent stories.

Nassau Hedron gives us a mythic tale of love, tragedy and rebirth in  Siren Songs in Deep Time, Lavie Tidhar’s  Aphrodisia feels like the love child of 2312 and Neuromancer, a tale of obsessive love and holidaying in far future South East Asia. And Ken Lui’s Single-Bit Error, well I say read it, superb craftsmanship, beautiful imagery, I only wish any of the Philip K. Dick shorts I have read had half the artistry Lui displays in this piece.

You can’t get much better value than quality fiction at $0.00. Go Enrich your reading life.

Note:  ISF comes in pdf format.

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