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A review by ederwin
The SFWA European Hall of Fame: Sixteen Contemporary Masterpieces of Science Fictionfrom the Continent by Ondřej Neff, Kathryn Morrow, Joëlle Wintrebert, Joao Barreiros, Marek S. Huberath, Panagiotis Koustas, Ricard de la Casa, José Antonio Cotrina, Pedro Jorge Romero, Jean-Claude Dunyach, W.J. Maryson, Sergei Lukyanenko, Andreas Eschbach, Bernhard Ribbeck, Elena Arsenieva, Valerio Evangelisti, James Morrow, Johanna Sinisalo, Lucian Merișca
4.0
The only unifying theme in this anthology is that the authors are European. Thus there is a wide variety of styles and themes, and the stories were probably chosen somewhat haphazardly, based in large part on who could be found to translate what into English.
For me, most of these stories were just OK, but a few really impressed me. I am glad to see that some of the authors I already know from their writings in French, or their translations into French in Utopiae and elsewhere, are getting some exposure in English. I hope this leads to more translations of Dunyach (French), and Barreiros (Portugese), among others.
The great new discovery for me in this book was Lucian Merisca. His satire was surprising and hilarious, even in translation from the Romanian. I spent hours trying to track-down the supposed "novel" of his that was mentioned in the introduction as being translated into French, only to eventually discover it was actually only a short-story (a "nouvelle", not a novel). I hope someone will find a way to get more of his stories available in English.
For me, most of these stories were just OK, but a few really impressed me. I am glad to see that some of the authors I already know from their writings in French, or their translations into French in Utopiae and elsewhere, are getting some exposure in English. I hope this leads to more translations of Dunyach (French), and Barreiros (Portugese), among others.
The great new discovery for me in this book was Lucian Merisca. His satire was surprising and hilarious, even in translation from the Romanian. I spent hours trying to track-down the supposed "novel" of his that was mentioned in the introduction as being translated into French, only to eventually discover it was actually only a short-story (a "nouvelle", not a novel). I hope someone will find a way to get more of his stories available in English.