The Phantom Church and Other Stories from Romania, edited by Georgiana Farnoaga (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997).
“The escape into the realm of fantasy revived an old literary genre, the fantastic tale, favored by a Romanian literature rooted in the magic and myth of folklore. In the superreality it created, political satire, protest, and criticism at times could manage to pass the inspection of the booted censorship, a triumph which would refuel survival. But apart from its political role, the fantastic tale, superbly credible in its “caressed details” (as Nabokov would say), generated a strange and original poetry, a glorious antidote for the social realism and proletcultism of forced daily consumption, a poetry that has remained rich and enchanting, even when read out of its political context.”- Marguerite Dorian, World Literature Today, Winter 1998
Worlds and Beings: Contemporary Romanian Science Fiction Stories, edited by Horia Gârbea, translated by Magda Groza, Mihaela Mudure, Alexandru Solomon and Samuel Onn (Romanian Cultural Institute Publishing Press, 2015).
“A Dash of Kindness” by Diana Alzner
“The Bride from the Garden” by Rodica Bretin
“The Crack” by Aurel Cărășel
“The-Princess-from-the-Mirror” by Sebastian A. Corn
“Where Are You Pedalling, Comrade Vasilescu” by Ștefana Cristina Czeller
“Angels, Come out of Your Tombs!” by Dan Doboș
“The Most Cheerful Man on Earth” by Antuza Genescu
“Worlds and Beings” by Antuza Genescu
“MMXI (The Shortcut)” by Silviu Genescu
“The Artefact” by Mircea Liviu Goga
“Grey-Ray. The Duty” by Michael Haulică
“Rons, Socketers and Knots” by Michael Haulică
“Among Other Mornings” by Lucian Ionică
“All of the Remaining Days” by George Lazăr
“Naked People on the Streets” by Victor Martin
“Out-of-the-Blue Catastrophe” by Lucian Merișca
“In a Reddish Light” by Ovidiu Pecican
“Back to Black” by Viorel Pîrligras
“Diplomatic Relations” by Florin Pîtea
“Omohom” by Cristian Tudor Popescu
“through genetic manipulation, the human race has been limited in brain performance and is monitored by electronic surveillance of intelligence. The hero, a savior named ‘the Engineer,’ having discovered a solution to the problem of entropy, begins to revolt against this system but ends by obeying the rules of a society living in an illusory totalitarian happiness.”- Kleiner
“El Dorado” by Liviu Radu
“I Remember the Baker” by Lucian Vasile Szabo
“Amnesia” by Cristian Mihail Teodorescu
“The Clouds and the Sky” by Marian Truță
“Flight Over the Silent Mountain” by Dănuț Ungureanu
East of a Known Galaxy: An Anthology of Romanian Sci-Fi Short Stories, eds. Daniel Timariu and Cristian Vicol (Tritonic, 2019).
(synopses from Peter Marton’s review)
“Transformation” by Silviu Genescu, tr by Antuza Genescu
“a story using futuristic nanotechnology to weave a dark tale from the cruel earthly realities of the psychiatric ward of an underfinanced Eastern European hospital and the encounter with… something else. Sci-fi that begs to be made into a short film at least.”
“Bodies to Let” by Daniel Timariu, tr by Alexandru Maniu
“focuses on what extremes of posthumanism transhumanism can take us to, in a world where the highly abnormal is increasingly the new normal”
“Radio Killed the Video Star” by Cristian Vicol, tr by Alexandru Maniu
“reflects on what lengths people needed to go to, just to be able to listen to real actual news back when fake news was the official news of the day”
“The First Man to Walk on the Moon” by Florin Purluca, tr by the author
“a reflection on the emotional aspects of a world stuck in the heroic age of space travel, this is the story of a son left behind by his astronaut father”
“Cursed Night!” by Teodora Matei, tr by Alexandra Pișcu
“with much in the way of ominous signs to get you in the mood in case your spaceship breaks down when you blast past the local asteroid belt, only to see, all of a sudden, a decrepit house pop up as a place where you might try and get some help”
“The Dinner” by Liviu Surugiu, tr by Sebi Simion and Alexandru Maniu
“Bug” by Alexandru Lamba, tr by the author
“The Story of Xieng Baohui” by Lucian Dragoș Bogdan, tr by the author
“Tiger-men” by Miloș Dumbraci, tr by the author
“Beyond Night’s Veil” by Cătălina Fometici, tr by the author
about werewolves and vampires in Transylvania
“Mary Stenton Returns to the Motherland” by Lucian Vasile Szabo, tr by Mălina Duță
“about the reality-bending power of love, taking us back to past days of Timișoara/Temesvár, to a past with a possibly different future in that time of transition when wild expectations filled people with hopes and fears all at once.”
“Serpents Among the Scent of Algae” by Ciprian-Ionuț Baciu, tr by Andreea Șerban
“a strong and intriguing story of mystery and philosophy with a captivatingly bitter and bored character at its centre, who may still get a chance to recommence his life..”
