Customer Reviews

The SFWA European Hall of Fame: Sixteen Contemporary Masterpieces of Science Fiction from the Continent

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I grew up loving Science Fiction, and still re-read The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury and A Canticle for Leibowitz(1960) by Walter M. Miller. But for me Star Wars Trilogy changed SF from a small group of enthusiasts into a huge conglomerate.

Many SF books and movies are now tied tightly together, and it's harder for a general reader to find the really good work. I also think it's tougher for writers to produce truly original work. My personal solution since 1980 or so has been to rely on "Science Fiction" and "Fantasy Writers of America" to sift and winnow the best SF, especially relying on the Nebula Awards® and the SFWA Hall of Fame series.

This anthology, excellent as it is, doesn't seem to be chosen by any representative group knowledgeable in SF in the various countries. Instead, the Morrows seem to have found excellent translators in various countries, asked them to pick great "representative" SF, and then worked with them over a period of years to present the stories to English speaking readers.

They've come up with an extraordinarily long title, a very interesting albeit alliterative Forward by James Morrow, helpful commentaries and biographies, and a fascinating collection of 16 very different stories, which originally appeared between 1987 and 2005. Altogether they constitute a superb anthology.

In Joao Barreiros "A Night on the Edge of the Empire" (1996) a giant peacock and a mammalian Chriptic seek an embassy and confuse humanity about their relationship.

In W.J. Maryson's "Verstummte Musik" (2005), a computer culls people from an over-populated world.

Panagiotis Koustas's "Athose Emfovos in the Temple of Sound" considers music's and mathematic's power to prevent war.

Cezar Ionescu's "Some Earthlings' Adventures in Outrerria" explores the problems of imperialism faced by human mercenaries.

Jose Antonio Cotrina's "Between the Lines" is a coming of age story about a college student.

These stories couldn't be more different from Bradbury and Miller, from more recent English Science Fiction, or from each other. They opened my mind to new possibilities.

Robert C. Ross 2008

The twenty plus contributors to the original SFWA Hall of Fame were all authors I read previously. However, this European version is quite the opposite having read only one of the sixteen contributors prior to this introduction to these talented writers. This brings a unique freshness as the American audience is introduced to the cross Atlantic writers that the Morrows felt were deserving of wider readership. In the Introduction James Morrow explains the difference between Americans and Europeans as follows: "Europeans think one hundred miles is a long distance, and Americans think one hundred years is a long time". In many ways this sums up the similarities and difference. All the tales were written over the last two decades; none originally in English though translated for this compilation; this adds to the feel of visiting new realms. The authors come from all over Europe: France, Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Germany, Portugal, and Holland. The stories are all well written and obviously translate smoothly into English. They run the gamut from a Dutch Orwell (see W.J. Maryson's "Verstummte Musik") to a "Swift" Finish A Modest Proposal that is a condemnation of free trade that exploits children. These are fabulous entries that belie the fact they are translations. SFWA's European vacation is a terrific collection, which begs to ask other translation anthologies from Asia, South America, and Africa to follow?

Harriet Klausner

The SFWA European Hall of Fame is worth checking out for at least a couple of reasons. Not only does it give American exposure to authors who deserve it, it's also a good read, pure and simple.
Even if you're not familiar with the writers featured, this is a great way to get a taste of the styles and topics that appear in European sf. The 16 stories range from classic surrealism ("The Fourth Day To Eternity" by Ondrej Neff) to satire ("A Night On the Edge of the Empire " by Joao Barreiros) to near-future extrapolation ("Baby Doll" by Johanna Sinisalo). In addition to "Baby Doll," some of my personal favorites in this volume include "Between the Lines" by Jose Antonio Cotrina and "Athos Emfovos In the Temple of Sound" by Panagiotis Koustas.

I suppose the problems with this anthology start with the title, in that there are no Masterpieces to be found, and it isn't all science fiction.

In the introduction the editors talk briefly about the history of European SF, and the semi-chance encounter on a train that got them to talking about translation and how this anthology came about - which includes some help from SFWA, hence the title. Pointing out not having the resources to make a big volume (what would you call that now, Hartwellian?) so just picking some stuff that they could describe with some adjuectives that pleased them.

It would seem pretty strange, apart from on the already translated front so less work, to not be able to find 16 decent SF stories, no matter what editorial hand waving and apologetics might appear next to some of them to argue for inclusion.
Obviously it is much harder, if not in English.

In no universe except perhaps one full of drunken book nerds with lots of cheap wine down them could you call Between the Lines a masterpiece, for example. I would think very few (if any) people would call it science fiction. You can forgive a 'Jeffty' or 'Road Dog', but not something so ordinary.

Picking on that story aside, there are some good (4 star) stories here, and also some of the humorous variety - the editors point, via quote, that surrealism is quite common in Euro-SF. The introductions to each story backgrounding the authors is pretty well done, and probably a bit more important here than in your garden variety yank or pommie book.

However, perhaps a bit too much of please themselves, as opposed to please the what would seem to be the target audience, which is perhaps more understandable if a shoestring-budget type project I suppose.

Still, what we are left with is a decent and somewhat interesting anthology.

SFWA European Hall of Fame : Separations - Jean-Claude Dunyach
SFWA European Hall of Fame : A Birch Tree A White Fox - Elena Arsenieva
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Sepultura - Valerio Evangelisti
SFWA European Hall of Fame : The Fourth Day to Eternity - Ondrej Neff
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Baby Doll - Johanna Sinisalo
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Yoo Retoont Sneogg Ay Noo - Marek S. Huberath
SFWA European Hall of Fame : The Day We Went Through the Transition - Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Athos Emfovos in the Temple of Sound - Panagiotis Koustas
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Some Earthlings' Adventures on Outrerria - Lucian Merisca
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Destiny Inc - Sergei Lukyanenko
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Wonders of the Universe - Andreas Eschbach
SFWA European Hall of Fame : A Night on the Edge of the Empire - Joao Barreiros
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Transfusion - Joelle Wintrebert
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Verstummte Musik - W.J. Maryson
SFWA European Hall of Fame : Between the Lines - José Antonio Cotrina
SFWA European Hall of Fame : A Blue and Cloudless Sky - Bernhard Ribbeck

The Ship Who Stardanced. Repeatedly.

3.5 out of 5


Out Of the Silent Planet. Please!

3 out of 5


Ripper removal kid kill cull diversion ectoplasm meld snake escape jailbreak.

4 out of 5


Time raid researched tanked.

3.5 out of 5


Accelerated cradle snatching.

3.5 out of 5


Personhood test pieces.

3 out of 5


Time agent Spanish troubleshooting relationship.

4 out of 5


Coin deal equation.

3 out of 5


Hairy mutant mercenary close shave.

3 out of 5


Constant inevitability.

3.5 out of 5


Jovian mistake.

3.5 out of 5


Thumbing it to the hot chick show.

3 out of 5


Demon, no seed, maybe.

2.5 out of 5


Nobeing ratio point kill Keeper.

4 out of 5


Double booking.

3 out of 5


Colonization time adjustments.

3 out of 5




3.5 out of 5