SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

If you're a fellow European you probably know the feeling: American marketing is awesome and before you know it, your TBR is completely full of US releases, with a few British ones added, and suddenly another year has passed without you having read any books originally written in your own language, let alone anything from neighbouring countries.

And your local SFF markets dwindle and die, with only a few authors still getting publishing contracts, and the rest of the market filled with translations.

While I have a big soft spot for US and British culture and art, I'd also love to give some more local/non-English authors the recognition they deserve and I'd like to contribute to us discovering some books we might otherwise never have heard of or overlooked despite of their quality. Maybe we can also inspire interest and more translations of our favorites into other languages!

Have you read or are you planning to read any SFF books written in your own or a neighbouring country? Do you have a favorite? Are there new releases you're excited about? Here's the place to share!

(If they've been translated and you're reading them in translation, that's fine, feel free to join in anyway!)

I've just bought

by Markus Heitz ( the creator of the very popular The Dwarves series, and read the first chapter, which had wonderfully evocative prose and built up a nice premise. I'm also planning to read

which won the German Science Fiction prize for Best Novel in 2016 and looks like just the sort of space opera I enjoy.

Also: has anyone read this French series (see below, has very glowing reviews on German amazon) and can tell me what the prose is like? If it has simple prose that would actually be a big plus for me because then I could dust up my rusty French and give it a try.

It has very gushing reviews on Amazon and also looks lovely (but has only been translated into Czech and Bulgarian so far):

The blurb says: "It is not exactly the Paris of the Belle Époque as we understand it: the Eiffel Tower is out of white wood, the sirens have taken over the Seine, there are leprechauns, winged cats discuss philosophy, and a metro line takes you to the land of the fairies."
It's Sherlock Holmesian murder mystery, but set in this gorgeous magical steampunk Paris with gargoyles and wizards.

I want to read this so badly but don't know if my French is good enough. If anyone wants to do a buddy-read and help me understand it, that would be lovely. (He also has some English books out, one of which has won the Gemmell award, but they don't interest me as strongly, even though "Three Musketeers, but with dragons and magical warrior nuns" does sound good, as well.)

holy Toledo, 20 bucks! I'll look for it elsewhere, those all around great to me

Haha, is twenty bucks just a saying, or is one of the books 20 bucks where you live?

If you're talking about Les Enchantements d'Ambremer - the kindle version is 5.99 EUR and the paperback is 8.34 EUR in Germany.

I'm very tempted - winged cats discussing philosophy? Where do I sign up?

I liked Licia Troisi (Fantasy tending towards the YA side) but I read them in English and not Italian

and Pierre Grimbert's Ji Series - again read in English, not in French.

I've tended to read a lot of French SFF & Mysteries (Maurice Druon, Fred Vargas and Pierre Boulle especially)

Right now going through old (2001) Мой дедушка — Истребитель - "My granda is destoyer" a story of war between Perseus and Dionysos told by the grandson of the former. Quite different in style from modern western re-telling on classic myth, from The Mere Wife to The Song of Achilles. Also even older Golem XIV, more a philosophical than just SF text about AI and what intellect means by the famous Polish author

I've been interested in Troisi's Nihal series:

What held me back was that some reviews said the heroine was a Mary Sue. Did you have the same impression, or is she just competent?

Thank you for recommending Pierre Grimbert, I've added him to my TBR pile.

@Oleksandr: Stanislav Lem is one of those legendary classic authors I've always meant to read and never gotten around to, even though I've heard that he's a bit like Terry Pratchett in being both very funny and having some philosophical depth.

And I've just remembered a Vietnamese-German book I bought a while ago which I also need to get to:

Gorgeous cover, airships, and desert landscapes: it sounds lovely and unusual.

Eva wrote: "Stanislav Lem is one of those legendary classic authors I've always meant to read and never gotten around to"

He is great but quite different from book to book, from mostly humorous to deeply philosophical. For his humorous I guess The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, which like Star Wars start not from the first episode, so don't be surprised. Solaris is more somber

Eva wrote: "I've been interested in Troisi's Nihal series:

What held me back was th..."

I hated Nihal. I've refused to pick up a Troisi book ever since. But she's a rather famous local author, so maybe it's just me.

a Mary Sue? She is a bit of a spoiled brat if that's what you mean.

I am planning to read more nationality diverse books in the future. Especially from European and Brazilian authors.

I was reading a Brazilian science fiction book, A realidade de Madhu that I liked, it is quite inclined towards new age and spiritual themes. It was target of attention because it told about a pandemic happening in 2020 and it was published seven years ago. As long as I know it wasn't translated to any other language tough.
I was also reading a French fantasy book, Les Disparus du Clairdelune that was translated to English. It was very original.
I also read Rubinrot and Silber: Das zweite Buch der Träume by Kerstin Gier that were translated to English, and are entertaining YA fantasy.
I'm planning to read Das Licht von Marokko since I went to a presentation of the author here in Germany. I hope to manage to read it in German.

Well of course there are The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski which I've read quite a while ago in German (I think I started around the release of the first video game) and which I'm happy to see finally get the recognition they deserve. I also can recommend his other trilogy starting with Narrenturm, although those books are more historical with only a dash of fantasy.
Another great non-English SFF book I absolutely loved is Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, which I also discovered through the video game. Through those books I discovered that I actually like Eastern European SFF quite a bit, many authors from those regions have an anecdotal and slightly brooding prose style I'm quite partial to.

And as Eva already mentioned, Markus Heitz is a great go-to-author when it comes to German fantasy. I actually prefer the Ulldart books to the more famous The Dwarves series, maybe because it is a bit removed from classical fantasy settings with dwarves and elves and tries to do its own thing. Other Markus Heitz books can be slightly hit or miss, he has written A LOT over the years and let's just say some of his books are clearly better than others. If you like vampires, Kinder des Judas, which also marks the beginning of a trilogy might be for you. His most recent book Die Dunklen Lande was quite good, too. It takes place during the Thirty Years' War and mixes history, fantasy and folklore.

Oh, what a nice topic. Thank you for setting it up, Eva!

I plan to read more German books, cause I embarrassingly have not the slightest idea of the German Science Fiction market apart from the usual suspects Andreas Eschbach or Frank Schätzing.

Which book would you recommend from those authors?

From Andreas Eschbach I've only read "Haarteppichknüpfer" so far and loved it. "Das Marsprojekt" is in my audiobook lineup.
From Frank Schätzing "Der Schwarm" is my favourite.

Gabi wrote: "From Andreas Eschbach I've only read "Haarteppichknüpfer" so far and loved it. "

That is the only one of his I've read as well. I liked it, but didn't quite love it. It is a little too hard to believe in toward the end. I've studied German but don't read it, so I read it as The Carpet Makers. Apparently the English version is being reprinted in 2020.

I have Eschbach’s Das Jesus Video on my shelf in German. It was recommended by a friend back in the day, but I’m basically too intimidated by it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

I really want to read QualityLand by Mark-Uwe Kling

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

My husband has been reading Licia Troisi’s Dragon Girl series to our son in Italian. I see it’s available in German and in French as well, but not in English (yet?).

CBRetriever wrote: " Pierre Grimbert's Ji Series - again read in English, ..."

I read that Fantasy trilogy in French and greatly enjoyed it. It is a pretty easy read.

The English translation was done, I think, by two engineering students who are not writers and had not done any translation before. So it probably isn't high literary quality. But this is the sort of work where the story and characters are more important than the style, so it should be OK. And you could read in French and English at the same time if you'd like.

Oh, and it’s quite old, but one of my favorite books ever is Letters Back to Ancient China by Herbert Rosendorfer. It’s hilarious.


https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

Here are links to some of the French and Quebecois SFF awards:

The awards are not always given to things written first in French.

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

Eva wrote: ""Three Musketeers, but with dragons and magical warrior nuns" does sound good, as well..."

Yeah, I've been curious about The Cardinal's Blades for a long time, but never got around to it. Now that it is available in English, maybe I will finally do it. (When possible, I usually take the easy road and read in English translation.)

Diane wrote: "My husband has been reading Licia Troisi’s Dragon Girl series to our son in Italian. I see it’s available in German and in French as well, but not in English (yet?)."

It was at one time as I have the first three books in English. However, they don't seem to be available even on amazon.fr any more which is where I bought them in Kindle format.

One big pain in the butt is that kindle versions of European titles are often not legally available in the USA.

I think France also has restrictions on mail related to Covid. Seems you can still get stuff from Amazon, but not directly from publishers. I've heard conflicting stories. Any of you know for sure about that?

Nihal is available in English on Scribd! See here:

https://www.scribd.com/book/216438675...

So far it's only the first book, not the rest, but if you're a Scribd member then you can check out her debut novel for free and see if you want to continue. :-)

Diane wrote "Oh, and it’s quite old, but one of my favorite books ever is Letters Back to Ancient China by Herbert Rosendorfer. It’s hilarious."

This was one of my dad's favorite books and I'd completely forgotten about it! Thank you SO much for bringing it back to my mind.

I would also love to read Qualityland! Maybe we could do a buddy-read of it sometime in winter?

So many lovely suggestions. I can't reply to them all but they're now on my TBR. Some of them I actually already own anyway and should get to, e.g. Silber: Das erste Buch der Träume and Das Schwert der Vorsehung (The Witcher) - I've heard the German translation of The Witcher has prettier prose than the English one, and the new covers are truly gorgeous (I've linked to the new cover). Really looking forward to it!

Pierre Grimbert: I'll start with Gefährten des Lichts.

And I've just bought the entire Nihal trilogy because Medimops had it for only 4 EUR for the whole omnibus.

Damn, if I'd known how much this thread would make me add new stuff to my TBR, maybe I wouldn't have started it. :-D Okay, yes, I would have, no regrets.

I'll post updates here when I've actually read one of them!

Eva wrote: "I've heard the German translation of The Witcher has prettier prose than the English one."

Must be like The Name of the Wind in French - it's beautiful and almost poetic

Eva, id love to do a buddy read of QualityLand. Not sure when I can fit it in though...

CBRetriever wrote: "... Pierre Grimbert's Ji Series - again read in English, not in French. ..."

I don't want to talk too much about this series, as there are many other French works I prefer. But looking through my reviews of it, I was reminded that while the first cycle of "Ji" books contains four volumes (sometimes published as two larger volumes) the English translations stop at the 3rd one.

So, how did it feel to not make it to the end?

Ed wrote: "I don't want to talk too much about this series, as there are many other French works I prefer. But looking through my reviews of it, I was reminded that while the first cycle of "Ji" books contains four volumes (sometimes published as two larger volumes) the English translations stop at the 3rd one. "

Odd, Wikipedia (the French one here) shows just three books in the Ji series:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_...
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_d...

There are three "cycles" each containing multiple books. Cycle one contains 4 books.

Ed wrote: "There are three "cycles" each containing multiple books. Cycle one contains 4 books."

apologies - I didn't really read the titles, I just counted (yes, I can read French to some extent)

wonder why they stopped then?

Diane wrote: "Eva, id love to do a buddy read of QualityLand. Not sure when I can fit it in though..."

Same! :D

Diane wrote: "Oh, and it’s quite old, but one of my favorite books ever is Letters Back to Ancient China by Herbert Rosendorfer. It’s hilarious. "

Oh, he does look like he could be my kind of writer. The Architect of Ruins and Grand Solo for Anton both look fun.

When I first started reading SF in French, it was purely to help me learn the language. I started by reading a translated version of Harry Potter book 3 because I already knew the characters and knew what to expect. I could also compare to the English translation if I got confused, which didn't happen as often as I expected.

But later I drifted into SF written directly in French and found some authors and works that I adore. I'll describe some later. Some of these books are very different from anything I've seen in English SF. One question I like to explore is whether 20th century SF in French really is different from 20th century SF in English, or whether I'm just finding such different things because I'm naturally drawn to the weirder corners.

SF in USA was molded in part by the tastes of particular editors and publishers. French publishers and editors had different tastes, so may have pushed it in different directions. I think that is true. I'm curious what directions it went in in other countries.

(In the 21st century there is much more interaction between readers in different countries, so any differences might be fading away. Or not. I don't know.)

One thing I'm slowing reading from is The Road to Science Fiction 6: Around the World. James E. Gunn shares some of his knowledge of what is different in different countries, though he is more of an expert on works available in English.

I do have to commend Amazon Crossings (Amazon's publishing arm) for their dedication to publishing authors from around the world in English translation. They're the ones who published the Grimbert books in English plus a lot of mystery writers that I like

Ed wrote: "SF in USA was molded in part by the tastes of particular editors and publishers. French publishers and editors had different tastes, so may have pushed it in different directions. I think that is true. I'm curious what directions it went in in other countries."

Fully agree that publishers and editors pushed it in different directions, but I have to add that not only location but the time was important. For example, when in 1960 Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky wrote their second novel, a censor forbade the part about space pirates (first is Soviet SF), so they had to rewrite that part. However, when Kir Bulychev in the 1980s write his YA series about Alice, there were pirates, no problem!

Those other books by Rosendorfer look fun, Eva. He was a classical music critic as well, so his books often include some really great stuff about music (I’m a classical singer, so it’s my alley).

Oleksandr wrote: "... have to add that not only location but the time was important..."

Yes, of course. Situations were different in different places and that has an effect.

Censorship of different kinds in different countries. WWI and WWII and other wars affected countries in different ways. Financial situations were different.

I'm quite curious to see what SF will come out of Saudia Arabia, for example. It could be totally derivative of USA fiction, or could turn out to be something completely new and different.

Soviet censorship had different effects on different writers. Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky knew that he would not be able to publish what he wanted to write, so he didn't even try. So he went off into some really weird and wonderful directions that he wouldn't have done if he were trying to get published. He's a bit like Kafka in that way, though Kafka could have published if he'd tried.

Leticia wrote: "....I was also reading a French fantasy book, Les Disparus du Clairdelune that was translated to English. It was very original...."

I have the first book in that series sitting on my shelf, in French. I've become lazy about reading in French, though, and am turned off by the length. So, maybe I'll try it in English: A Winter's Promise.

I liked A Winter's Promise but some people in Booktube/Goodreads didn't, and I am also still in doubt if I wan't to read the third and fourth book in the series. In any case, if you already have the book, give it a try.

Eva, first thanks for the great idea and for putting it in motion!!!

One of the (few) advantages of growing up under totalitarian rule was that there was a sort of a quota system for book publishing. So half or so of the books in the big science fiction book series that we had (called Galaxy) were from the Eastern Block, not more than 2 or 3 out of every 10 books were American, while the rest were from Western Europe and and Japan. So I've basically grown up with books from across the continent, from Spain to Sweden and Armenia to France. (Well, to be honest, most of them were real crap, but some have been real gems). There have also been several big collections, e.g. Latin American or German Language Science Fiction, which would have been impossible to publish in a bigger country.

I tried to look for something Bulgarian to recommend, but Goodreads shows that there are editions in a number of languages, from Albanian to Mongolian, but not in English. So the only person I can recommend anything to is Oleksandr, as he has access to both a Russian and Ukranian edition. They are
by Lyuben Dilov

and
/ by Pavel Vezhinov

I would also like to use the chance to present two books and one writer. The first one is:

by Andreas Eschbach, which to my shame I read only recently. It is superficially a space opera that morphs now and then into fantasy and that is a perfect allegory for the effects of absolute power and unquestioning faith.

by Johanna Sinisalo is the second one, winner of the Prometheus award for 2017 (my own review here). As oxymoronic as it may sound, this is a very cheerful dystopia about a euginic North Korean-style Finland.

Finally, the writer is Stanisław Lem, who in my opinion is the best continental science fiction writer ever. Continental, i.e. non-UK, non-Russian. He mostly writes in three general directions: 1) hard science fiction with an emphasis on contact with alien civilisations (or more - its sheer impossibility), 2) satire, and 3) philosophy, which does not seem to be for everyone, me included. Suitable entry points to his works in my opinion would be:

for hard science fiction (which would also make an amazing and absolutely original sci fi horror movie that is different from the constant Alien rip-offs we see)
and

for satire. Some of the most pleasant, light-hearted short stories I have read.

Excited about the Lem recommendations - those are classics I look forward to reading!

And don't worry about having too few people here who speak your language: this group has over 26k members, so you never know who's lurking without saying anything. :-)

In terms of Lem's The Invincible: did you know there'll be a game based on this book? Here's some of the potential concept art (not sure if it's for an application, or if the artist is already working on the game):


Promotional/possible cover art by Angus McKie


And another artist's take:
http://fav.me/d4bs6hp
Looks really cool!

While Астронавты by Lem doesn't seem to exist in English, it did inspire the 1962 film "The Silent Star" which has some pretty darn trippy sci-fi bachelor pad visuals. I copied a few in my review

Thanks, Plamen for recommendations!


Ed wrote: "While Астронавты by Lem doesn't seem to exist in English, it did inspire the 1962 film "The Silent Star" which has some pretty darn trippy sci-fi bachelor pad visuals. I copied a fe..."

You've linked to the Russian translation, the original is Astronauci. My English review of the book is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Eva wrote: "Excited about the Lem recommendations - those are classics I look forward to reading!

And don't worry about having too few people here who speak your language: this group has over 26k members, so ..."

Hi Eva!!!

No, I meant I don't see any English translations of something I can recommend, but never mind!

Yes, the posters look really great, they have absolutely captured its spirit! This is a book that will be very easy to adapt for the screen because of the great idea and really tight plot (and not so much philosophy this time).

Fyi, I have tried Pevel in the past (The Cardinal's Blade), not my cup of tea...

Oleksandr wrote: "Thanks, Plamen for recommendations!


Ed wrote: "While Астронавты by Lem doesn't seem to exist in English, it did inspire the 1962 film "The Silent Star" which has some pretty darn ..."

Is it at all worth reading? I think I've already had my lifetime share of bad-written propaganda and I'm unwilling to go for more.

Plamen wrote: "Is it at all worth reading? I think I've already had my lifetime share of bad-written propaganda and I'm unwilling to go for more."

As a first published novel of Lem it is worth reading for aficionados and completists, average Soviet-style SF with minor interesting touches otherwise. His later works are definitely stronger, so read them first and only then if you want "I read all of Lem" badge, continue with this one :)

Oleksandr wrote: "Plamen wrote: "Is it at all worth reading? I think I've already had my lifetime share of bad-written propaganda and I'm unwilling to go for more."

As a first published novel of Lem it is worth rea..."

I have read almost all of his stuff already... nah, I don't need a badge, thank you for confirming that:)

I enjoyed both Solaris and Eden by Lem, but haven’t read anything else. And both in the English translation.

Plamen wrote: "Is it at all worth reading?"

It isn't available in any language I can read. I seriously doubt it is worth reading.

My review started "I haven't read this, and there is no reason you should either. (It may not even exist in English.) But the film version is worth seeing. Come for the Communist propaganda, stay for the lurid visuals (in the second half)."

The visuals in the movie (which you can probably find online like I did) are very interesting, though not even slightly realistic. Lem hated the movie. But he also hated Tarkovsky's version of Solaris, so I don't trust him as a film reviewer!



I think the film was ridiculed on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. That might be interesting for some of you.

(And, yeah, I realized after I did it that it was originally Polish rather than Russian, but didn't feel like correcting my link.)

Diane wrote: "I enjoyed both Solaris and Eden by Lem, but haven’t read anything else. And both in the English translation."

They are both great, and I think I am one of a very few people who like Eden more than Solaris. If you liked them, you should eventually read The Invincible, they all share the same theme.

@Ed, I don't doubt the book is crap, the 50s were not the time to be creative in the Eastern Bloc. Have you read something by Lem or by any European author that really grabbed your attention?