SHORT STORIES “The Winter Garden” by Regina Kanyu Wang, translated from the Chinese by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld, September 1). COLLECTIONS The Truth and Other Stories by Stanislaw Lem, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (MIT Press, September 14). Of these twelve short stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, only
STANISLAW LEM (1921-2006) “Stanisław Lem, the Polish novelist, futurologist, literary theorist, satirist, and philosophical gadfly, tried mightily to free his work from the shackles of the present. In dozens of novels, short stories, essays, metaliterary experiments, and futurological treatises, he attempted to imagine everything from a living ocean that could read human minds (Solaris) to
originally published in Polish in 1961 first translated into English from the French version (by Jean-Michel Jasiensko, 1966) by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (1970) first direct Polish-to-English translation by Bill Johnston (2011) grab a copy at your local bookstore or here VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS
OVERVIEW Polish SFT is a wonderful mix of science fiction and surrealism, fantasy and horror, cyberpunk and fairy tale. Since the 1960s, when Stanisław Lem, Witold Gombrowicz, and Stefan Grabiński were first translated and introduced to Anglophone audiences; to the present day, when Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher universe is available in English across various media; Polish
Feast your eyes on these beautiful new editions of Lem’s work (both speculative and not) from MIT Press. Apparently, there more to come soon!
The new Penguin Science Fiction Series (which highlights classics of the genre) includes several works of SF in Translation: check it out here. Trafalgar by Angélica Gorodischer, translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Amalia Gladhart (6/8/2020) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, translated from the Russian by Clarence Brown (6/8/2020)
Each month, Daniel Haeusser reviews short works of SFT that appear both online and in print. He is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Canisius College, where he teaches microbiology and leads student research projects with bacteria and bacteriophage. He’s also an associate blogger with the American Society for Microbiology’s popular Small Things Considered.
SHORT STORIES “Tick-Tick” by Xia Jia, translated from the Chinese by Emily Jin, Clarkesworld Magazine, May 1. “An Unequal Marriage” by Vicente Riva Palacio, translated from the Spanish by Toshiya Kamei, Bewildering Stories, May. “Returning” by Susana Vallejo, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel, SFinTranslation.com, May.
translated by Michael Kandel original publication: Seabury Press, 1977 my edition: Mariner Books, 1992 239 pages Reading Stanislaw Lem Brought together into one volume by translator Michael Kandel, these “robot fables” are not really stories so much as cautionary allegories or references to fairy tales, only now the main characters aren’t princesses and ogres but
translated by Christine Rose originally published in Poland: 1961 my edition: Seabury Press, 1973 188 pages Reading Stanislaw Lem In all of this, whether trusting and believing, if only for a moment, in the Mission and my instructions, or having my hopes dashed, even the hope of my own destruction–in all of this, I had
