Terra Nova: An Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Science Fiction (40 page)

At the start of the 21st
century, as many as four publications had commercial distribution
—not really professional publications because in practice it was
unusual to pay authors for the contents— and at present no paper
magazine actively prints fiction, although there is one dedicated
to movies,
Scifi World
, and some online fanzines easily found through listings on
websites like AEFCFT’s. But as far as websites, blogs, and forums
about the genre go, Spain is equal to any other western country
both in number and in content.

4. Prizes

The most important awards conferred by
general voting rather than by a jury are the AEFCFT’s Ignotus,
which recognize the best works published in the previous year, very
much like the Hugo awards. Until 2012, only members of AEFCFT and
HispaCon attendees could vote, but fortunately, as of this year,
anyone interested can sign up for voting. Among its 14 categores,
two are of special interest to the English-speaking fan: Best
Foreign Novel and Best Foreign Short Story, and the winners can be
found at The Locus Index to SF Awards, among other places.

The most important award
for its monetary prize is the International Minotauro Prize for
Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, offered by Minotauro
Publishing, now part of the international Planeta publishing group.
Initiated in 1993, it only accepts novels originally written in
Spanish and now awards €10,000 to the winner, although this sum was
€18,000 during its early years. Another noteworthy award, with a
prize of about €600, is the Domingo Santos; it is convened by
HispaCon organizers and bears the name of the most outstanding
pioneer in Spanish science fiction. From 1992 to 2011 it was given
to short stories, and starting in 2012 to novellas.

But the most influential
prizes in the genre in Spain are presented by two Spanish
universities. The UPC of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
is, without a doubt, the one that enjoys the greatest international
fame because it accepts science fiction novellas originally written
in English, French, Spanish, and Catalan. Since 1991, it has
awarded €6,000 to the winner as well as two second-prizes: for the
runner-up and for the best work presented by a member of university
itself. Brian W. Aldiss called it “the most important science
fiction prize in Europe.” In its twenty convocations (it became
biannual in 2010), it has awarded works that have also gained
international prestige, such as “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” by
Mike Resnick, which also won the Hugo, Nebula, and Ignotus prizes
in 1995; by international authors as diverse as Michael Bishop,
Gregory Benford, Robert J. Sawyer, Kristine K. Rush or Jerry
Oltion. To encourage participation, the rules for the prizes for
the year 2012 are included in this book, which will be similar to
the ones for 2014.

The second most important
prize is the Alberto Magno, presented by the Science Faculty of the
University of the Basque Country. Initiated in 1989 (and therefore
the oldest active award in Spain), its first prize is €3,500, with
€1,500 each for the second place story and the best work presented
by a member of the university. This prize shows a clear bias toward
the scientific world. It accepts unpublished novellas written in
Spanish and Basque.

In addition, other
noteworthy prizes include the Tristana de Novela Fantástica awarded
by the municipality of Santander with a €4,000 prize, the Manuel de
Pedrolo for a novella in Catalan with a €3,000 prize, the Fantastic
Short Story University Contest with two prizes of €1,400 for
stories in Spanish and Basque, and the Avalon of the Asturias
Science Fiction Association with a prize of €600 —and scores of
others, each with their own prizes and rules.

5. Spanish Science Fiction
in the World

Despite efforts to export
Spanish science fiction —usually undertaken by individuals— few
works have crossed national borders and even fewer have enjoyed
translation into other languages. Of course, some Spanish
publishers have managed a limited distribution in South American
countries, and a handful of titles have been republished there
locally. Some writers like Juan Miguel Aguilera have published
novels in France and Italy with considerable success. And a few
successes can even be found in the English-language
market.

The story “The Day We Went
through the Transition” by Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge
Romero, published in the landmark
Cosmos
Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and
Spain
, was a finalist for the Sidewise
Award in 2004. The scientific thriller
Zigzag
by the Spanish-Cuban writer
José Carlos Somoza was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Jr.
Award in 2008. One of the quintessential Spanish classics,
El anacronópete
[
He Who Flies Against
Time
], written in 1887 by Enrique Gaspar,
was translated in 2012; it describes a time machine eight years
before H.G. Wells used one in his popular novel. In addition, from
time to time, some short stories have been published in US
magazines. These include “The First Day of Eternity” by Domingo
Santos in the January-February issue of
Analog
, and stories in online media
like World SF.

Without a doubt, the most
outstanding current example is the Victorian trilogy by Félix J.
Palma. Publication rights to his first novel,
El mapa del tiempo
, have been sold
in twenty countries, including the United States, Great Britain,
Germany, Italy, France, Japan, and Holland. During its first week
of sales it made
The New York Times
best-seller list and was a finalist for several
awards around the world, including Japan’s Seiun. The second
novel,
El mapa del
cielo
, looks likely to repeat its
international success, and the third and final book in the trilogy
is anxiously awaited.

Another notable novel
(mostly because it was written by an important mainstream Spanish
novelist, Rosa Montero, rather than for its intrinsic virtues) that
has been translated into English is
Lágrimas de lluvia
[
Tears in the
Rain
] published in 2011, a tribute
to
Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick and its movie
adaptation,
Blade
Runner
, by Ridley Scott.

Terra Nova
is one more attempt to help English-language
readers get to know the quality of science fiction currently being
written in Spain and Latin America. The anthology has relied on a
team of professionals devoted to the idea of maximizing the quality
of contemporary commercially viable science fiction. They include
the coordinator, English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English
translators, artist, publisher and international promoter —in
addition to the writers, of course. The first edition in Spanish
was published simultaneously in Spain in December 2012 and in
Argentina in early 2013, and enjoyed great success in both sales
and critical acclaim measured in terms of the small press. This
English-language edition includes only the five short stories
originally written in Spanish, plus a novella by a new rising star
that is unique to this edition. A second volume is being finished
and should be published at the end of 2013.

As I said at the beginning
of this article, science fiction from Spain is outstanding and of
interest to readers in English or any other language on the planet.
We can find stories with great speculative and literary quality,
varied themes, writers of international repute, and a variety of
classics: a stellar group of works and authors waiting for the
chance to show their worth and be enjoyed in the rest of the world.
I sincerely hope that the grain of sand represented by
Terra Nova
serves this
noble goal. The answer, naturally, will depend on the reception by
you, the readers. Thank you in advance for being part of this
adventure.

Mariano Villarreal

[email protected]

@literfan

UPC AWARD SCIENCE FICTION 2012

As of this year, the Science Fiction Award
will be presented every two years

Rules

1. The competition is open to authors of
unpublished science-fiction stories.

2. The stories must be written in Catalan,
Spanish, English or French. They must be approximately 70 to 115
pages in length (150,000 to 240,000 characters), typewritten and
double-spaced. Two copies must be submitted and manuscripts will
not be returned.

3. The author must sign his/her story with a
pseudonym and enclose a sealed envelope containing the following
details:

Full name, personal identification number
(identity card or similar), full address, contact telephone or fax
and e-mail address.

The title of the work and the pseudonym of
the author must appear on the outside of this envelope. Members of
the UPC community must also state “UPC Member” on the outside of
the envelope.

4. Manuscripts must be sent to:

Consell Social de la UPC

Edifici Til·lers

Jordi Girona 31 - 08034
Barcelona (Spain)

Tel. +34 93 401 63 43 - Fax +34
93 401 77 66

[email protected]

The envelope should be clearly marked:

2012 UPC Science Fiction Award

5. The final date for the submission of
manuscripts for the 2012 edition is 13 January 2012. The decision
of the jury, which will be final, will be made public before the
end of 2012.

6. The jury will be made up of members of
the UPC’s teaching and research staff and people from outside the
UPC who are involved in science fiction.

7. The jury will award a
first prize of e 6000 and if it sees fit a special mention of €e
1500. A further mention of €e 1500 may also be awarded for the best
story submitted by a member of the UPC.

8. The competition may be declared
vacant.

9. By entering the
competition, the author guarantees that his/her work is original
and that he/she is the sole author, with full indemnity for the UPC
in case of breach of this guarantee. The author will be responsible
for registering the work in the Intellectual Property Register and
for the consequences arising from not doing so.

10. By entering the competition, winning
authors authorise the dissemination of their work. The winners of
the first prize and special mentions undertake to transfer to the
UPC the commercial rights of the first edition of their work in
Catalan and Spanish and decline any monetary remuneration arising
from the first edition of the work, excluding the amount of the
award. They specifically relinquish the rights of transformation of
the work, including translation into Spanish and/or Catalan, if
necessary. The authors undertake to sign the documents required to
formalise the timely transfer of the commercial rights.

11. The winning story will be published by
the UPC if there is an agreement with a publishing house.

12. Participation in the UPC Science Fiction
Award 2012 implies the acceptance of these rules.

For further information, go to
www.upc.edu/sciencefiction

Coordinator and editor

Mariano Villarreal, born in Spain in 1967,
manages the website Literatura Fantástica
(http://literfan.cyberdark.net), specialized in information and
reviews of new speculative fiction in Spain

Cover art

Ángel Benito Gastañaga, born in Spain in
1962, is an artist, painter, illustrator, and graphic and interior
designer. His personal webpage is http://angelbenito.com/

Spanish-English translation

Sue Burke was born in Milwaukee in 1955 and
now lives in Madrid. She has published thirty short stories in
English, one in Spanish, and her first novel is forthcoming. Her
personal website is http://www.sue.burke.name

Lawrence Schimel, born in New York in 1971,
writes in both English and Spanish and has published over 100 books
as an author or anthologist in a variety of genres and for all
ages. Among other prizes, he has won the Rhysling Award, the Lambda
Literary Award (twice), and the Spectrum Award. He lives in Madrid,
where he works as a Spanish>English translator.

International promotion

Elías P. Combarro, born in
Spain in 1975, publishes
Sense of
Wonder
(http://sentidodelamaravilla.blogspot.es/), a bilingual blog
dedicated to science fiction literature