ФантАstika: Almanac of Bulgarian Speculative Fiction

Алманах „ФантАstika“

by Kalin M. Nenov (Editor In Chief, Translator, ...), Atanas P. Slavov (Editor-in-Chief, Artist, Author), Dimitar Yankov (Artist)

ФантАstika: Almanac of Bulgarian Speculative Fiction is the first anthology introducing Bulgarian SF to the English-speaking world. It collects short fiction and novel excerpts by twenty-four authors, originally written between 1978 and 2020. Most of the short fiction has been reprinted from professional magazines, such as Oceans of the Mind, Future Science Fiction Digest, Compelling Science Fiction, and DreamForge Anvil. Our authors have received dozens of national and several international awards, including four European SF (ESFS) Awards: two Debut awards for Lights amidst Shadows and Genoveva Detelinova, Best Work for Children for Elena Pavlova, and Best Magazine for the Bulgarian version of ФантАstika. The almanac also contains about a hundred pages of full-color or black-and-white art by over a dozen Bulgarian artists.

ФантАstika is a dream come true—both for Atanas P. Slavov and the members of Terra Fantasia Association of Bulgarian SF & F Writers and Artists, who have dedicated half a century to the promotion of speculative fiction in Bulgaria and around the world, and for Kalin M. Nenov and the Human Library Foundation, who have translated human-evolving fiction into English since 2005. In an age when we need ever more bridges across the world and to the future, ФантАstika comes to offer you some. Will you walk them?

Contents

Note: The current selection was last updated on 13 July 2020

Terra Fantasia Association of Bulgarian SF & F Writers and Artists / 7
Human Library Foundation / 12
ФантАstika Almanac: origins and visions / 14
Introductory notes / 16
Alternative reading orders / 18

Science Fiction / 22
Artist: Dimitar Yankov / 22
“Love in the Time of Con Crud” by Elena Pavlova / 33
“How I Saved the World, Or, The Best Job” by Valentin D. Ivanov / 40
“Beating the Air” by Velko Miloev / 48
Artist: Vasil Ivanov / 54
The Celestial Way by Drake Vato (excerpts) / 64
“Deflation” by Valentin D. Ivanov / 89
“Virgil and the Water” by Svetoslav Nikolov / 93
“Mindster” by Valentin D. Ivanov / 113
Artist: Atanas P. Slavov / 123
“The Empty Room” by Aleksandar Karapanchev / 149
“The Most Terrible Beast” by Khristo Poshtakov / 156
Artist: Kalin Nikolov (Illustrations) / 161
“Father” by Ivaylo G. Ivanov / 177
Artist: Stefan Lefterov / 185

Fantasy & Magic Realism / 197
To Wake a Dragon Girl by Nikolay Tellalov (excerpt) / 199
Artist: Kate Danailova / 216
“The Assassination” by Johan Vladimir / 222
Artist: Plamen Semkov / 253
I, Sinner Ivan by Nikolay Svetlev (excerpt) / 262
“Three Tales of a Very Windy Town” by Lyubomir P. Nikolov / 268
The Coin by Lights amidst Shadows (excerpt) / 273
Artist: Peter Stanimirov / 295
“Words Unspoken, Beasts Unnamed” by Krasimira Stoeva / 307
Mina, the Spells and the White Vial by Vesela Flamburari (excerpt) / 327
Orpheus Descends into Hell by Georgi Malinov (excerpt) / 333
Artist: Dimo Milanov / 346
“The Dragon and the Orange Juice” by Genoveva Detelinova / 356

Avant-garde Speculative Fiction / 373
“Impossibly Blue” by Zdravka Evtimova / 374
“Asked the Soldier, ‘Who Called Me?’” by Yancho Cholakov / 378
“A Small Step” by Mari Paskalev / 391
“Journey to Akkad” by Val Todorov / 397
Artist: Kalin Nikolov (Graphic Arts) / 415
“Dragonflies and Planets” by Aleksandar Karapanchev / 421
“That Thing Gone with the Birds” by Val Todorov / 423
“The Film-thin Bound” by Kalin M. Nenov / 432
Chirpy Firewood by Maria Velcheva (excerpts) / 434
“Wrong” by Zdravka Evtimova / 459
“In the Beginning Was the Subway” by Lyubomir P. Nikolov / 465
Artist: Georgi Markov / 479

Fandom / 485
Ivan Yefremov SF & Futurology Club / 485
Chronicles of Ivan Yefremov SF Club / 486
Artist: Emil Valev / 498

Futurum / 502
“The Keresztury TVirs” by Ivan Popov / 503

Acknowledgments / 510

You can ask for a preview version of the almanac from the link in the URL field below.

Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy

510 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication January 1, 2027

About the author

A translator, editor, publisher, agent, promoter, and, when there is no other choice, writer.

(Oh--and a reader. ;) Here's what books Kal prefers to read, starting in 2017.)

Kal's translations of Bulgarian (mostly speculative) fiction into English have appeared in:
Oceans of the Mind
Phantazm (defunct)
Sivosten
Diamonds in the Sky
Marginal Boundaries (defunct)
Alfie Dog: short stories by Khristo Poshtakov and Ivaylo G. Ivanov (taken down)
Over the Brink: Tales of Environmental Disaster
Unstuck
Essence of Humour
Nameless Digest
Sci Phi Journal
Words without Borders
Up and Coming: Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors
Aliterate
Future Science Fiction Digest
Compelling Science Fiction
Distant Shore Publishing
European Science Fiction #1: Knowing the Neighbours
DreamForge Anvil
Best of World SF, Volume 3
Asimov's Science Fiction

Kal's own fiction has appeared in:
Pulp Spirit
Tidbits: One-Page Stories

Many of these translations and pieces have been collected in the forthcoming ФантАstika: Almanac of Bulgarian Speculative Fiction .

Kal co-founded the Human Library Foundation with Атанас П. Славов in 2007, and currently acts as Trailblazer there and Coordinator of the Fantasia Translation Academy.

Kal lives in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Pronouns: any

- - -

Биография на български в БГ-Фантастика.

Личен блог

Reviews

[Kalin]

Last updated: 13 July 2020

Special announcement: Today (8 April), I'll present the almanac at Eurocon 2022 in Luxembourg. Anybody else coming? :)

We've been discussing it with the Speculative Fiction in Translation group; feel free to join us. :) I also gave a talk about it during Eurocon 2020 and mentioned it on the panel "Translating Speculative Fiction: Challenges and Exaltations" at Worldcon 2020. You can still get the preview version here:

https://choveshkata.net/blog/?page_id...

It costs as much (or as little :)) as you feel like donating.

This is a dream come true--both for Atanas P. Slavov, who has dedicated half a century to the promotion of speculative fiction, in Bulgaria and across the world, and for me, as a translator of Bulgarian SF into English for the past 15 years.

Now we are looking for a publisher/agent interested in international speculative fiction; if you can recommend one, please let us know at poslednorog-at-gmail-dot-com.

My personal favorites in ФантАstika ... are here, along with an amassing amount of editorial notes and explanations. But please don't let them influence you if you're test-reading the almanac yourself. ;)

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is one of the great ironies of SF that its fans often know more about the alien cultures and civilisations they read about than they do about the myriad cultures of our own planet. Recently when chatting to Kalin M. Nenov on Goodreads about the Apex Book of World SF anthologies, he remarked that there was not a single Bulgarian writer represented in that series, now in its fifth instalment.

I admitted that I did not know a single Bulgarian SF or fantasy writer (Czech writers like Karel Čapek are far more well-known globally.) Kalin – whose ‘The Film-thin Bound’ is one of my favourite stories in this mammoth collection – promptly sent me a link to what is rather weirdly called the ‘Almanac of Bulgarian Speculative Fiction’, which I suspect is a reference to the fact that it is a yearly publication.

My heart kind of sank a bit at that point, because we all know how dreadful fanfic can be … and the Almanac weighs in at a considerable 500+ pages. Imagine then my surprise when I accessed the PDF, and found it to be a beautifully produced document.

It is divided into five sections - Science Fiction, Fantasy & Magic Realism, Avant-garde Speculative Fiction, Futurum (cutting-edge SF) and Fandom (the history and development of the Bulgarian SF scene.) All of these sections are interspersed with colour reproductions of works from a range of talented Bulgarian SF and fantasy artists.

Kalin remarks on Goodreads that this project “is a dream come true – both for Atanas P. Slavov, who has dedicated half a century to the promotion of speculative fiction, in Bulgaria and across the world, and for me, as a translator of Bulgarian SF into English for the past 15 years.”

Atanas, who lives in Sofia in Bulgaria, founded the first Bulgarian SF club in 1968 (a year before I was born!) Incredibly, Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa (SFFSA) was also established in 1969, with its quarterly journal Probe now one of the longest-running fanzines in the world. It also organises the annual Nova short story competition, which has brought to the fore some of the best genre writers in our country, and an annual convention.

Of course, all event-based activity has now been halted in its tracks due to our lockdown for the Covid-19 crisis (not to mention that an ageing demographic has probably meant that the entire SFFSA management is in the high-risk category …)

It was only recently that SF seemed to have escaped its North American bias, with a veritable cornucopia of translated works from as far afield as Cuba and China now colouring the genre. I think this internationalisation has been largely successful due to the tireless efforts of SF fans as far afield as Bulgaria and South Africa, who not only keep the flag flying for SF and fantasy in their own countries, but also add their unique perspectives to enrich the genre even further.

It was a privilege reading the Almanac, which is an astonishingly diverse collection. I learnt a lot about Bulgarian culture and its rich folklore. Many of the stories and book excerpts here are refracted through the lens of Bulgaria’s complicated political past. But SF is all about the future, of course, and the Almanac shows just how strong and diverse the genre scene is in Bulgaria.

Tireless champions like Kalin and Atanas are clearly the backbone of such fan communities worldwide. While a lot of these writers are virtually unknown outside of their native country – due to the added complication that their work has to be translated competently into English for a global audience – I honestly think it is the responsibility of every SF and fantasy fan who cares about the sustainability of these genres to read as widely as possible, and to grab the opportunity especially with a gem like the Almanac.

This is how the values, hopes and dreams of these genres are upheld and passed along, and how we readers and fans can play our small role in making the world more tolerant and vibrant for everyone. In the words of Kalin: “As they say in certain stories, be the force that changes for the better.”

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4 ***

This is a very eclectic collection of short stories and book excerpts from various authors and in myriad of genres. The authors are of different generations, from different social background, and have very different approach to how they view the future of the Science Fiction and literary Fantasy genres. The one thing that unites them is that they all came from the small Balkans country, Bulgaria. In order to fully appreciate the diversity in storytelling, you have to understand that in a country smaller than most of the square states in both land and population, the historical context of its population is as diverse as an European country could be, with landscape clusters of everything but a desert... Rivers spring from numerous mountains, run through rich valleys, forests spread from one end to the other, and the Black See gives way to golden sanded beaches. It is a microcosm of the best G-d has to offer, but centuries of political strife have seen peoples come, others take them over, then others coming through, leaving a genetic mixture of humanity, always fighting for their right to stay and claim its beauty for their own. Much blood has been spilled in its earth, and much sorrow has shaped its people, but a sense of humor and ironic optimism keeps the artists of all medium always aware of their past while creating with a look to the future. Thus, it is not surprising that a lot of the writing in this almanac is a bit more ponderous and leaning towards abstract than what we have gotten accustomed to in the more widely published western literature. There is a distinct voice to all of the writing included, despite the strong individuality of the authors. There is some loss of impact at times, which is somewhat inevitable with translation in order to keep the original authors' style and meaning, but I think the intent is always understood and some leniency is expected.

I need to say, I am absolutely in love with the art! All of it. The full page prints are breathtaking and thought provoking, bursting with detail, color, and imagination. I couldn't get enough of it. I found the balance in the ratio of word to art absolutely perfect! Congrats on hitting that just right 👍❤️

Were there stories that were not as satisfying as I would have liked? Yes. But they were far outwaited by the good, even great ones. If a short didn't speak to you, the beauty of the almanac is that you can just move on to the next one, sure to find something to please you. I do have to make a special mention to the young group of kids, who write as a group under the name of Lights amidst Shadows. What a great collaboration and just the fact that a group of people, let alone kids, can come up with something so good as their book, The Coin, of which we get an excerpt, I need to read the whole thing now!!!

I also loved the stories based on traditional Bulgarian folklore and legend, as well as local saints and history. I even ended up getting a map of the country in order to picture the places some of them described. I would love for more international readers to discover those authors and artists, and hopefully the final edition of this almanac would wet their appetite for more of their work! I wish this endeavor all the best ❤️

Now I wish you all happy reading and may you always find what you need in the pages of a good book 🙂!

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of reading a very early copy of this wonderful collection of stories. It's always interesting to see what types of ideas other countries and cultures have about aliens, fantasy, and general science fiction. I often find they aren't the same old tired ideas that are easily found with North American authors. This set of Bulgarian fiction (and lovely artwork) did not disappoint. There were some very clever stories, one that I swear Terry Pratchett wrote, and a couple that had me looking up religious concepts. One of the best referenced Asminov's ‘fourth’ law of robotics that I (embarrassingly) didn't even know existed!
As always I believe that one of the best ways to understand a culture is by reading their fiction. And it's never, ever a bad thing to diversify.
Huge thanks to Kalin and his crew of authors, editors and translators for allowing me to read an early copy and provide feedback!

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

** I received this digital beta version in exchange for an honest review. **

As I was told this anthology is due to revision and re-arranging so this overview may differ from the final release.
„Fantastika“ is a cross-section through Bulgarian speculative literature over the last decades. All stories herein have already been released in national magazines. (ETA: I just learned that most of the translations have already featured in international magazines)
The emphasis in lot of the stories is on Bulgaria/Bulgarian characters which is great to read. It sets a welcome counterpoint to the still mostly US dominated storytelling in these genres. So I was quite eager to get my hands on this anthology and I wasn’t dissappointed. The range of authors and topics is broad and gives a delightful overview over the Bulgarian SF landscape.

It is subdivided into the parts Science Fiction, Fantasy & Magic Realism, Avant-garde Speculative Fiction and Futurum and contains standalone short stories as well as excerpts from novels (most of them not available in translation yet).

The texts are loosened up by galleries of wonderful, full page artworks by Bulgarian artists. These are the first thing that catches the eye of the reader while scrolling through the book and the paintings and drawings captivated me again and again during reading. There is so much talent and such imagination in those artworks.

I try to write a sentence about each of the stories. My personal highlights are set in fat letters.

Science Fiction:

- „The last interview“ by Lyuben Dilov: A story in form of a record set in a future with reversed gender inequality. It left me quite untouched and perhaps isn’t the best piece to start an anthology.
- „Beating the Air“ by Velko Miloev: why not choose being a wind as a job option? A short piece sparkling with imagination, written in a refreshing, sassy way. Definitely one of my highlights of the collection.
- „It’s only fair, Botkin“ by Khristo Poshtakov: A not-exactly-first-contact misunderstanding story written in a tongue-in-cheek prose. I liked it, yet the ending felt a bit flat.
- „In the Beginning was the Subway“ by Lyubomir P. Nikolov: A good idea written in a slightly humorous prose. Yet again I was missing the twist/concise ending I favour for short stories.
- „Three Tales of a Very Windy Town“ by Lyubomir P. Nikolov: Like his first story in this collection this one has a wonderfully weird idea. I love this author‘s surreal take. Another one of my favourites.
- „Virgil and the Water“ by Svetoslav Nikolov: A short walkthrough through Roman history to the downfall of the empire through the eyes of an unusual narrator connected with aquaeducts. A special and interesting approach that kept me invested.
- „How I saved the World, Or, The Best Job“ by Valentin D. Ivanov: I loved it. A fun idea and humourosly written. This is perhaps my number one because of its crazy but quite realistic idea.
- „Deflation“ by Valentin D. Ivanov: Even though written by the same author this story left me without any feeling whatsoever.
- „Dragonflies and Planets“ by Aleksandar Karapanchev: I was delighted to find a poem among the contributions. A wonderful show of the bandwith of the authors.
- „The Empty Room“ by Aleksandar Karapanchev: Another one of my favourites. Poetic and atmospheric. The anxiety was palpable and I was left with quite a turmoil in my soul.
- „The Most Terrible Beast“ by Khristo Poshtakov: Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this story.
- „Father“ by Ivaylo G. Ivanov: A haunting story, a bit mysterious and with a nice twist that wasn’t surprising.
- „10-9“ by Nikolay Tellalov: this one was an excerpt and like with other excerpts in this almanac I unfortunately had problems to get into the story.
- „To Wake a Dragon Girl“ by Nikolay Tellalov: this excerpt did work for me. It was the beginning of a story about a contemporary guy finding a small zmey girl (the Bulgarian version of a dragon). The excerpt worked well and made whetted one’s appetite for more.
- „Love in the time of Con Crud“ by Elena Pavolva: I fell in love with the skillful prose here. A timetravel story with heart. Another favourite.

Fantasy & Magic Realism

- „The Assassination“ by Johan Vladimir: This story needs a lot of concentration and apparently I wasn’t up to it. I tried to follow the plot and remember who is who, but in the end I realised that I would have to read it again (which I propably will some time).
- „The Coin“ by Lights amidst Shadows: An excerpt that didn’t exactly pull me in with its topic (but then I’m no fan of classical Fantasy), but I’m totally fascinated by the fact that his novel was written as collaboration by a group of young writers for young readers. And since I’ve seen that the first part is available in translation as ebook I will definitely get it to see what those young artists are up to.
- „They don’t believe in Fairy Tales“ by Martin Petkov: This excerpt cum summary didn’t work for me. I got no clear impression about how the author would be going along with his story concept that sounded interesting.
- „I, Sinner Ivan“ by Nikolay Svetlev: This one worked! I love it when local history/legend is worked into Fantasy tales. A story about the Bulgarian patron saint would be very much to my liking. Unfortunately this one doesn’t seem to be available in translation.
- „Mina, The Spells and the White Vial“ by Vesela Flamburari: Sounded good in the summary, but the excerpt didn’t do much in terms of peeking my interest.
- „Orpheus Descends into Hell“ by Georgi Malinov: Another excerpt that would make me want to read the book, because it, again, seems to be grounded in Bulgarian alternate history/legend.
- „The Dragon and the Orange Juice“ by Genoveva Detelinova: a fun, slapsticky sorcerer story, written in a tongue-in-cheek prose. Sets a nice light emphasis in this anthology.

Avant-garde Speculative Fiction

- „Journey to Akkad“ by Val Todorov: A melancholic, surrealistic story that sucked me in. Even though it is labelled as excerpt it works as a standalone.
- „The Book“ by Val Todorov: again an excerpt, but too short to really work.
- „The Thing Gone with the Birds“ by Val Todorov: Adorable! Absolutely weird, surrealistic and skillfully written. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything by this author in the GoodReads search. I’d gladly buy a collection of his work.
- „The Film-Thin Bound“ by Kalin M. Nemov: A very short stream of consciousness which creates anxiety without being clear for me what it is about.
- „Asked the Soldier 'who called me?'“ by Yancho Cholakov: a story that stays just beyond my grasp of understanding.
- „A Small Step“ by Màri: I’m not sure about this one. It’s about a topic read about several times with a twist ending that’s foreseeable.
- „Impossibly Blue“ by Zdravka Evtimova: Absolutely wonderful! I loved everything about it. And I was happy to see that there are translated ebooks available by this author.
- „Wrong“ by Zdravka Evtimova: not quite as outstanding as „Impossibly Blue“, but a favourite nontheless.
- „The Matrix: Resolutions“ by Atanas P. Slavov: I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen the last of the Matrix movies, so I was missing the foundation for this fanfiction.

Futurum
(I’m not clear about the distinction between this section and the SF section)

- „The Keresztury TVirs“ by Ivan Popox: Written like an essay about TV viruses. Interesting idea, but too dry for my taste.
- „Mindster“ by Valentin D. Ivanov: Better accessible for me than the one before. A story about information storage told in time jumps.

I was glad to have read this collection and will definitely watch out for some of the authors in future. I hope the almanac soon will find a publisher and be welcomed by an international audience. The love and talent that went into it certainly deserves recognition.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

The full review is also on my blog here: I wrote a paragraph about each story in the collection, but the character limit in goodreads means I can't post it all here.

This is an extensive collection, a showcase of Bulgarian science fiction and fantasy, including both writing (translated into English) and art. I have never read any Bulgarian speculative fiction (at least, not knowingly), and so I'm approaching this with interest and am hoping to be impressed. I've written a mini-review of each story, and at the end I've added some general thoughts about the anthology as a whole.

(35 individual story reviews omitted)

Overall thoughts:

I was sent this anthology as an ebook with a request to let the compilers know if there was anything which was significantly less good than the rest, something which should be dropped. It's a big anthology, and the stories do not all appeal equally - but this is true of every anthology, and there is nothing which stands out as much poorer than the other stories. On the other hand, there were several stories which I enjoyed a great deal, including one I would pick as among the best things I've read this year in any genre.

On the negative side, I was not entirely convinced by the structure of the anthology. In a multi-author compilation, it is unusual to feature authors multiple times. This is done repeatedly here, and is more obvious because most of the multiple contributions are clustered together. This has the unfortunate consequence that it makes it seem as though there are not enough good science fiction and fantasy writers to fill the anthology with unique contributions: I hope this is not the case, and that there are plenty of other writers who could have been included. The biggest problem with the content of the anthology is the number of excerpts from longer works. They are clearly meant to give a flavour of the novel they come from, but in some cases, the extract is too short, or the accompanying synopsis doesn't quite give enough context to make for satisfying reading, which is a pity.

Like any other local science fiction community around the world, Bulgaria's is still influenced by the US, but this collection shows that there is local flavour there too, and a good deal of talent. I hope that the release of this ebook raises the profile of Bulgarian writers around the world - there are several I will seek out, given the chance (and, I'm afraid, the translations, as I speak no Bulgarian).

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

*****I was sent a free digital version of this book in exchange for honest feedback.*****

I have never read Bulgarian literature before, so I was excited to read this almanac. Not only does it offer a perspective on Bulgarian culture, but I also love science fiction and fantasy, so I was glad to read this book and offer some feedback on it. The editors did an amazing job putting this collection together. The stories chosen work really well together and are creative, interesting, entertaining, thought-provoking, and diverse. The artwork included is also very engaging. I spent time looking at each piece because I love art, and the work included was unique and also thought-provoking.

After reading this collection, I feel like I have some insight into Bulgarian culture and interpretation of science fiction and fantasy. I love that there are some tropes that are cross-cultural, but I also appreciated that there are Bulgarian history, myths, and fairy tales clearly represented here, aspects of folklore or perhaps oral culture that I've never heard of but was able to learn some more about. I also appreciate the political commentary, mostly in the science fiction. I enjoy anything that has layers and makes me wonder a little bit, and most of the science fiction did that for me.

There are stories I didn't enjoy as much. I'm not a huge fan of avant garde fiction, so that section was the least enjoyable for me as a whole, but there were some stories in the other sections that just weren't for me as well. I also felt like the excerpts from novels could've been worked in differently. They are typically preceded by lengthy synopses that either didn't help me feel connected to the novel or gave away much of what was in the excerpt and thus felt redundant. However, one excerpt I really loved was from The Coin, by Lights amidst Shadows, a book I added to my TBR because the excerpt left me wanting more!

My other favorites were: "The Last Interview of Adam Sousbe" by Lyuben Dilov, "It's Only Fair, Botkin" by Khristo Poshtakov, "In the Beginning Was the Subway" by Lyubomir P. Nikolov, "The Empty Room" by Aleksandar Karapanchev, "Father" (eerie!) by Ivaylo G. Ivanov, "Love in the Time of Con Crud" (which hit differently during this epidemic) by Elena Pavolva, the excerpt from To Wake a Dragon Girl (which I also wanted to read the entire book of, but I couldn't find an English translation) by Nikolay Tellalov, "The Dragon and the Orange Juice" by Genoveva Detelinova, "A Small Step" by Mari, "Impossibly Blue" by Zdravka Evtimova, "The Matrix: Resolutions" (yes, a continuation of The Matrix movies, of sorts) by Atanas P. Slavov, and "The Keresztury TVirs" (which I read to my dad, and he thought it was real and looked up the events, but I convinced him it's a fictional story, so that tells how you well-written it is!) by Ivan Popov. I also read the "Fandom" section at the end, which provides a timeline for the creation of the science fiction club and is very fascinating in offering an insight into history and culture in Bulgaria before and after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection, and I highly recommend it!!

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book compiles a selection of English-language stories produced by a group of Bulgarian SF enthusiasts over many years. The group has worked to encourage development and distribution of SF in Bulgaria by importing books, translating works into Bulgarian, publishing books and magazines, visiting and hosting SF fan meetings, supporting writers and artists, and translating works into English. Most of the works in this collection have appeared already in English in various magazines, but are collected here for the first time.

Works are grouped into 4 somewhat arbitrary groups: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Magical Realism, Avant-garde Speculative Fiction, and Futurum. As usual with collections, my liking of individual entries varied. Most of my personal favorites are in the Fantasy section. This is also the section that feels the most Bulgarian, whatever that means, because those stories often deal with local legendary creatures and/or historical figures.

I'm not going to list my favorites. But I will say I found The Coin by Lights amidst Shadows particularly interesting for two reasons. First, it is written by a collective rather than a single author. I have no idea how they managed that. Second, it includes tropes from both SF and Fantasy. For example, elves and jet packs, magicians and cell phones. Only an excerpt was included here. I intend to get and read the whole thing.

This sat on my "currently reading" shelf for a long time. That is partly because it is long, and partly because I read multi-author collections slowly, and partly because the pre-publication version is in PDF. Don't take my slowness as a put-down of this collection.

I read this with the group "Speculative Fiction in Translation".

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

First: I was very happy to read Bulgarian speculative fiction. Most was well written, but it was also tapping from a different well than most SF and fantasy from e.g. the US and UK. I liked how many fantasy stories (and even SF) took from Bulgarian legend and folklore and history. In the Netherlands we often base our stories more on anglosaxon idea's and literature (most of our fantasy is Tolkien-based), so it was refreshing to find stories from a different source here. I think this was a great overview of the fantastic literature from your country. I thought the opening story 'The last interview of Adam Sousbe' a wit weak, with an ending that did not really come from the story. It read more like a pamphlet. But I gather that this is meant to be a bit of a history of the genre, so I can guess it belongs as part of the history. 'Beating the air' was surprisingly good. i enjoyed that one. 'It's only fair Botkin' was a bit long for its idea for my taste, and it was not clear why the author chose for that last sentence. It may be a quirk of translation? It fell a bit flat for me. 'In the beginning was the subway' was a nice story, pretty well written, even if the ending to me was a bit predictable. 'Three tales from a very windy town' was a bit vague for me, and probably should be in the end with the more experimental fiction. I enjoyed 'Virgil and the water' very much. Great use of history and the mystery of how this Virgil came to survive for so long a time is built well and had a good pay off. This one I will stay with me. 'The best job' was good too for it's length and described well the process of changing the course of a meteorite (and it was great for me as a more western reader to read this kind of tale from the 'other' perspective!). I liked 'Deflation' as well. 'Dragonflies and Planets' did not do much for me. 'The empty room' was great dystopian SF. 'The most terrible beast' was laugh out loud funny. Or at least grin worthy. I enjoyed 'Father' as well, but I thought it could have been written a bit more clearly. 10-9 was good, I guess, but with all those jumps in time it seemed to try too hard, and I found it hard to see from the fragment wether I would like this story as a whole. 'To wake a dragon girl' was another exerpt, but i found myself wanting to know what would happen. The fantasy-like characters in a modern setting worked will, I thought, and was engaging. 'Sun untouchable' I didn't read all of. It went on a little long, and I got a bit bored by it. 'Love in the time of con crud' was hilarious. I enjoyed this story a lot! 'The assassination' was a good fantasy story. I didn't read all exerpts in the fantasy section fully, because I would rather read a complete story. I read enough of all to see that they were all well written. Avant garde SF is not always to my taste, I'm a bit more straightforward in my tastes. So I didn't really enjoy 'Journey to Akkad' or 'The book' But 'Asked the soldier: "Who called me?" was a great story - I enjoyed the worldbuilding here, the alternate history and the end. A great story. Well written as well. 'A small step' was wry in a good way. I liked 'Impossibly blue' as well. I didn't like 'The Keresztury TVirs' - it didn't read as a story, more like an infodump. Not my preferred style. 'Mindster' was one of my favorite stories of the collection. Great suggestive ending. And I liked to read about the fandom in Bulgaria. After I noticed on facebook that there's an organization for SF and fantasy authors and artists in Bulgaria, several Dutch authors suggested that would be a good idea to have in the Netherlands as well. There are organizations of SF-fans, but not an organization of authors and creatives. So who knows what will come from that?

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given the opportunity to read an ARC of this collection, and on the whole very much enjoyed it. Much like any other collection, not every story worked as well for me personally as others, but on the whole, I found this a fun read, with some fresh styles and perspectives, which gave it a little more interest for me.

Some highlights:

Three tales of a very windy town - This story is cute and whimsical, and I could immediately picture this as a movie directed by Wes Anderson (it really suits his style)!

Virgil and the Water - Once I got into the rhythm of this, I absolutely loved it. A perfect blend of ancient history and sci-fi.

To Wake a Dragon Girl - An excerpt, and the one I would most like to continue reading.

Love in the time of Con Crud - This one made me laugh (been there, done that!).

Orpheus Descends into Hell - Another enjoyable excerpt I would continue reading.

The Dragon and the Orange Juice - Probably the stand-out of the collection for me. Outstanding world-building for such a short piece, and the pacing is excellent too.

The film-thin Bound - An evocative short. I want to know what happened before and how this situation came to be.

A Small Step - A fun twist on the Moon landing conspiracies that made me laugh.

Mindster - Another fun one that put me in mind of Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil (probably because of the two minds in one body idea). It was definitely a fun note to end the fictional section on.

All in all a fun read for anyone willing to spend some time exploring different styles and ideas from your average "westernised" sci-fi and fantasy.

[Leroy Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of stories and images. The stories are a mix of true science fiction, magic, pure fantasy and, in some cases, just dream sequences. Almost all of the artwork is beautiful. Some of the excerpts seem to be just a little bit too brief to drive any interest in looking for the book.

Science Fiction - 12
Artist: Dimitar Yankov - 12
The Last Interview of Adam Sousbe - Lyuben Dilov - 23 - 3 stars
- A reversal of society puts women in the dominant position, treating men along the lines of the worst way that men have ever treated women. The main character in the story pushes a men's liberation movement and is laughed at socially for it. A so-so story.

Beating the Air - Velko Miloev - 27 - 4 stars
- A man has been turned into an intelligent wind for a period of time, and finds out that he doesn't like it. An odd story.

Artist: Vasil Ivanov - 33
It's Only Fair, Botkin - Khristo Poshtakov - 43 - 3 stars
- An explorer on a far planet shows little respect for native life and finally goes a step too far when he steals an important object from a native tribe. An interesting look at a possible situation.

Artist: Atanas P. Slavov - 53
In the Beginning Was the Subway - Lyubomir P. Nikolov - 79 - 4 stars
- An interesting story, although not really science fiction.

Three Tales of a Very Windy Town - Lyubomir P. Nikolov - 93 - 3 stars
- Not very much of a story. This was kind of like the author had a couple of very different ideas for story lines and just hooked them together into one story. Then didn't know how to end it, so he just stopped.

Virgil and the Water - Svetoslav Nikolov - 98 - 3 stars
- The poet Virgil lives through many generations in ancient Rome, watching the construction of the various aqueducts and coming to the realization that they are slowly killing the Roman people through lead poisoning. Why he lived so long I couldn't quite gather.

How I Saved the World, Or, The Best Job - Valentin D. Ivanov - 117 - 3 stars
- A very weird story about a multi-national project sending astronauts and cosmonauts to work on painting an asteroid which is on a track to hit the Earth in a few years. Other groups are building a large microwave transmitter to use light pressure to divert the asteroid. The paint job is to make it respond to the light pressure better. The normal use of light pressure is to push an object in the opposite direction. This story seems to imply that a rotating object will be heated by the received rays, and then when that side rotates away it will emit photons as it cools down and move in the opposite direction. ???

Deflation - Valentin D. Ivanov - 125 - 3 stars
- Another odd story about police raids to catch amateur astronomers using illegal telescopes in order to study the skies. The government doesn't want this to happen because it has been discovered that changes in the universe will cause all life on Earth to be destroyed in the relatively near future and they're afraid that too much knowledge will cause rioting.

Dragonflies and Planets - Aleksandar Karapanchev - 130 - 3 stars
- Other than the words "space ship", there is nothing having to do with science fiction or fantasy in this story. It's simply colorful description of a dream.

The Empty Room - Aleksandar Karapanchev - 132 - 4 stars
- An inventive idea. On a planet (Earth?) where nature has been destroyed almost totally, people are confined to small apartments with limited space. Their only exposure to 'the outside' is through 'sensovision' telecasts from another planet with a nature reserve. To get more space in their apartment they can have a door into another dimension installed. But, technology sometimes fails. Well done.

The Most Terrible Beast - Khristo Poshtakov - 139 - 4 stars
- A group of friends, sitting at a bar, telling stories about increasingly larger, more horrible monsters that they have run into. One of them finally tells about the galaxy destroyer and describes the colors that it cycles through as it attacks. Then they look outside. Pretty good.

Artist: Kalin Nikolov - 144
Father - Ivaylo G. Ivanov - 160 - 5 stars
- A man is put into an "incubator" when 8 years old because he has a terminal disease that they can't yet cure. He is revived when he is fully grown, but now has to let his mental age catch up with his physical age. He finds out that his father died just before he was revived, but later finds signs that seem to indicate that that isn't true. He continues trying to find out the truth until, finally, finds it, but wishes that he hadn't. A very good story, if kind of oddly written.

10^-9 - Nikolay Tellalov (excerpt) - 168 - 3 stars
- Being just an excerpt, you can't pick up much feel for the story. The style, however, seems to be pretty good and the general plot seems like it might be worth reading. The excerpt is too short to really learn much, though.

Artist: Stefan Lefterov - 179
To Wake a Dragon Girl - Nikolay Tellalov (excerpt) - 192 - 4 stars
- A man drops his knife over a cliff edge, climbs down to look for it and finds a rock face with a carved dragon on it - which talks to him. This seems like a pretty good story. There's just enough in the excerpt to give you a feel for the story and to appreciate the writing style. A+

Sun Untouchable - Nikolay Tellalov (excerpt) - 209 - 2 stars
- I'm sorry, but I just couldn't read this story. It seemed to just be a lot of words that didn't accomplish anything. What is the story?

Love in the Time of Con Crud - Elena Pavolva - 253 - 4 stars
- An elderly couple travels back in time to the World Science Fiction convention in Helsinki in 2017 in order to find themselves at a much younger age and prevent themselves from catching a plague. Interesting.

Fantasy & Magic Realism - 260
Artist: Kate Danailova - 261
Artist: Plamen Semkov - 267
The Assassination - Johan Vladimir - 276 - 4 stars
- A conditional four stars. Mankind has surrendered itself to be controlled by ancient god-like creatures from ages ago. Some men and women exist long past their deaths as spirit-like creatures. Parts of the story aren't very well explained.

The Coin - Lights amidst Shadows (excerpt) - 307 - 4 stars
- The portion of the book chosen for this excerpt was well done. It contains a readable story that gives you a good feel for what the rest of the book is about.

Artist: Peter Stanimirov - 330
They Don't Believe in Fairy Tales - Martin Petkov (excerpt) - 342 - 3 stars
- I can't quite follow this one. Is it an entire book about the aftermath of the Pied Piper of Hamelin? Did he keep the kids and start educating them? Not quite enough info.

I, Sinner Ivan - Nikolay Svetlev (excerpt) - 350 - 3 stars
- Obviously a fantasy story even if based on a possibly true historical character. The story is OK but doesn't accomplish much.

Mina, the Spells and the White Vial - Vesela Flamburari (excerpt) - 356 - 3 stars
- Another excerpt which tells a little vignette but leaves too many things hanging. Who are the twins who save Mina? Do the teachers intentionally allow the bullies to act as they do? The book might be good, but I can't tell from this portion.

Orpheus Descends into Hell - Georgi Malinov (excerpt) - 362 - 4 stars
- This seems like it might be a nice adventurous novel. The excerpt gives just enough info to grab your attention.

The Dragon and the Orange Juice - Genoveva Detelinova - 376 - 4 stars
- This one wanders a little bit but turns into a pretty good story with a nice little twist.

Artist: Emil Valev - 393
Artist: Kalin Nikolov - 397

Avant-garde Speculative Fiction - 403
Journey to Akkad - Val Todorov - 405 - 3 stars
- This is another tough one to follow. Why are the people traveling to the other cities? What do the leeks have to do with it? It all just seems pointless.

The Book - Val Todorov (excerpt from Irkalla, the Land of the Dead) - 423 - 2 stars
- What possible purpose is met by individually listing so many individual things that are affected by the explosion, almost two pages worth? There was nothing in this excerpt which would lead me to read the book.

That Thing Gone with the Birds - Val Todorov - 427 - 3 stars
- This is an interesting story but I'm missing something, or many things. How or why is Mr. S turned into a balloon? Why did everyone leave Monica's house and leave her alone? Parts of the story are nice but it isn't complete.

The Film-thin Bound - Kalin M. Nenov - 436 - 2 stars
- What is the story?

Asked the Soldier, Who Called Me? - Yancho Cholakov - 438 - 3 stars
- This story seems to be pretty good,but seems to have a few things missing, or at least I'm missing them. Does this culture really only eat meat? Where are the Holy Soldier and the later soldiers coming from and why?

The Story of the Lonely Ranger - Yancho Cholakov - 452 - 2 stars
- Maybe the book might be good, but I'm not sure that I'd want to read a rewrite of The Iliad being fought by magical alien armies, if that's what it is.

A Small Step - Mári - 454 - 4 stars
- A strange way to tell it, but an interesting variation on the faked moon landing idea. Done well.

Impossibly Blue - Zdravka Evtimova - 459 - 4 stars
- Another good story. A woman who appears to have lost touch with reality returns to live a normal life with her husband and child. It works well, and the twist at the end is nice.

Wrong - Zdravka Evtimova - 463 - 4 stars
- A good story.

The Matrix: Resolutions - Atanas P. Slavov - 471 - 3 stars
- The whole thing just seems like a philosophical discussion, not a story.


Futurum - 477
The Keresztury TVirs - Ivan Popov - 478 - 4 stars
- This one is odd. I'll give it four stars for the concept.

Mindster - Valentin D. Ivanov - 485 - 4 stars
- Another high score for the concept. An interesting idea.

Artist: Georgi Markov - 495
Artist: Dimo Milanov - 501

Fandom - 511
Ivan Yefremov SF & Futurology Club - 511
Chronicles of Ivan Yefremov SF Club - 512