Zion’s Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, eds. Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem (Mandel-Vilar Press, 2018).
“This anthology showcases the best Israeli science fiction and fantasy literature published since the 1980s. The stories included come from Hebrew, Russian, and English-language sources, and include well-known authors such as Shimon Adaf, Pesach (Pavel) Amnuel, Gail Hareven, Savyon Liebrecht, Nava Semel and Lavie Tidhar, as well as a hot-list of newly translated Israeli writers. The book features: an historical and contemporary survey of Israeli science fiction and fantasy literature by the editors; a foreword by revered SF/F writer Robert Silverberg,; an afterword by Dr. Aharon Hauptman, the founding editor of Fantasia 2000, Israel’s seminal SF/F magazine; an author biography for each story included in the volume; and illustrations for each story by award winning American-born Israeli artist, Avi Katz.”
read Teitelbaum’s Introduction
Translated stories from the Hebrew:
“The Slows” (1999 האיטיים) by Gail Hareven (tr. Yaacov Jeffrey Green)
“Burn Alexandria” by Keren Landsman (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“Hunter of Stars” by Nava Semel (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“The Believers” by Nir Yaniv (tr. Lavie Tidhar)
“In the Mirror” (במראה 2007) (tr. David Chanoch)
“The Stern-Gerlach Mice” by Mordechai Sasson (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“A Good Place for the Night” (מקום טוב ללילה 2002) by Savyon Liebrecht (tr. Sondra Silverston)
“A Man’s Dream” (חלום של גבר 2006) by Yael Furman (tr. Nadav Miller Almog)
“My Crappy Autumn” by Nitay Peretz (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“They Had to Move” by Shimon Adaf (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
Reviews:
Cordasco review
The Times of Israel review
Locus review (2018)
Galaxy’s Edge review (Issue 34, September 2018)
Asimov’s Science Fiction review (May/June 2019)
More Zion’s Fiction: Wondrous Tales from the Israeli ImagiNation, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum (ZF Partnership, 2021).
Forget about start-up nation! Inspired by a science fiction novel – the 1903 proto-Steampunk utopia Old New Land by Theodor Herzl – the State of Israel is the quintessential science fiction nation.
Enter, More Zion’s Fiction: Wondrous Tales from the Israeli ImagiNation, the second of an authoritative three-volume English language collection of Israeli speculative fiction.
Herzl, the Austrian journalist once famously declared: “If you will it, it is no dream.” Herzl’s dream was to create a modern Jewish state in the historical homeland of the Jewish people. Ours is to forge out a literary refuge for the kind of unbridled literary fancy his aspirants, tasked with transforming his science-fictional vision into a hardscrabble reality, could not bring themselves to accomplish. Yours, we hope, will be to help us pry open a long-shuttered window into the dreams and nightmares of a nation quite unlike any other.
Translated stories from the Hebrew:
“Schrödinger’s Gorgon” by Keren Landsman (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“Five Four Three Two One” by Hila Benyovits-Hoffman (tr. Rehavia Berman)
“Dragon Control” by Rami Shalheveth (tr. Rehavia Berman)
“Me and Nana Go Shopping” by Hamutal Levin (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“Life in a Movie” by Yivsam Asgad (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“Dress” by Gail Hareven (tr. Adriana X. Jacobs)
“Composting” by Galit Dahan Carlibach (tr. Ronnie Hope)
“Set in Stone” by Yael Furman (tr. Sarit Shalhevet)
“Askuni-Askuni” by Dafna Feldman (tr. Emanuel Lottem)
“Latte, To Go” by Rotem Baruchin (tr. Rehavia Berman)
Reviews:
Cordasco review
