{"id":14611,"date":"2024-01-01T04:34:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T04:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/?p=14611"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:20:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:20:55","slug":"sft-out-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/?p=14611","title":{"rendered":"SFT Out In: 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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JANUARY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your Utopia<\/a><\/em> by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books, January 30)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cThe Center for Immortality Research,\u201d a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors, only to be blamed for a crime she witnessed during the event, under the noses of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. But she can\u2019t be fired\u2014no one can. In \u201cOne More Kiss, Dear,\u201d a tender, one-sided love blooms in the AI-elevator of an apartment complex; as in, the elevator develops a profound affection for one of the residents. In \u201cSeeds,\u201d we see the final frontier of capitalism\u2019s destruction of the planet and the GMO companies who rule the agricultural industry, but nature has ways of creeping back to life.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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FEBRUARY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You Glow in the Dark<\/em><\/a> by Liliana Colanzi, translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews (New Directions, February 6)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The seven stories of You Glow in the Dark<\/em> unfold in a Latin America wrecked and poisoned by human greed, and yet Colanzi\u2019s writing\u2014at once sleek and dense, otherworldly and intensely specific\u2014casts an eerily bright spell over the wreckage. Some stories seem to be set in a near future; all are superbly executed and yet hard to pin down; they often leave the reader wondering: Was that realistic or fantastic? Colanzi draws power from Andean cyberpunk just as much as from classic horror writers, and this daring is matched by her energizing simultaneous use of multiplicity and fragmentation\u2014the book\u2019s stylistic trademarks.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Blue Lard<\/a><\/em> by Vladimir Sorokin, translated from the Russian by Max Lawton (NYRB Classics, February 27)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The book begins in a futuristic laboratory where genetic scientists speak in a Joycean dialect of Russian mixed with Chinese\u2014peppered with ample neologisms\u2014and work to clone famous Russian writers, who are then made to produce texts in the style of their forebears. The goal of this \u201cscript-process\u201d is not the texts themselves, but the blue lard that collects in the small of their backs as they write. This substance is to be used to power reactors on the moon\u2014that is, until a sect of devout nationalists breaks in to steal the blue lard, planning to send it back in time to an alternate version of the Soviet Union, one that exists on the margins of a Europe conquered by a long-haired Hitler with the ability to shoot electricity from his hands. What will come of this blue lard? Who will finally make use of its mysterious powers?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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MARCH<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thirst<\/a><\/em> by Marina Yuszczuk, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Dutton, March 5)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America\u2019s feminist Gothic.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Through the Night Like a Snake: Latin American Horror Stories<\/a><\/em>, ed. Two Lines Press, various translators (Two Lines Press, March 12)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In ten chilling stories from this ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche. Latin American Horror is having a moment. Through the Night Like a Snake,<\/em> the latest in our Calico Series, is an attempt to capture that energy, however eerie or plain terrifying it appears on the page. With writings from celebrated horror practitioners like Mariana Enriquez (Our Share of Night<\/em>), M\u00f3nica Ojeda (Jawbone<\/em>), Camila Sosa Villada (Bad Girls<\/em>) and many others, TTNLAS <\/em>arrives in pitch-perfect English translation, courtesy of translators Sarah Booker, Megan McDowell, Ellen Jones, Kit Maude, Julia Sanches, and others.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction<\/em><\/a>, ed. Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, translated from the Bengali by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay (MIT Press, March 12)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The first English translation of a cult science fiction favorite by Hemendra Kumar Roy, one of the giants of early Bangla literature, and other sf stories from the colonial period in India. Kalpavigyan<\/em>\u2014science fiction written to excite Bengali speakers about science, as well as to persuade them to evolve beyond the limitations of religion, caste, and class\u2014became popular in the early years of the twentieth century. Translated into English for the first time, in this collection you\u2019ll discover The Inhumans<\/em> (1935), Hemendrakumar Roy\u2019s satirical novella about a lost race of Bengali supermen in Uganda. Also included are Jagadananda Ray\u2019s \u201cVoyage to Venus\u201d (1895), Nanigopal Majumdar\u2019s \u201cThe Mystery of the Giant\u201d (1931), and Manoranjan Bhattacharya\u2019s \u201cThe Martian Purana\u201d (1931).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jumpnauts<\/a><\/em> by Hao Jingfang, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (S&S\/Saga Press, March 12)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Hugo Award\u00ad\u2013winning author of Folding Beijing<\/em> comes a gripping science fiction thriller in which three unlikely allies attempt a desperate mission of first contact with a mysterious alien race before more militaristic minds can take matters into their own hands.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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APRIL<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Book Censor’s Library<\/a><\/em> by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain (Restless Books, April 30)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A perilous and fantastical satire of banned books, secret libraries, and the looming eye of an all-powerful government.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Oracle<\/a><\/em> by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated from the Dutch by ? (Tor Nightfire, April 30)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a foggy winter morning Luca Wolf and Emma Reich discover an eighteenth-century sailing ship stranded on a barren flower field, its name written on its side: Oracle<\/em>. Emma, unable to resist, enters the hatch on the tilted deck. The ship’s bell begins to toll and no one sees her again. Not much later, eleven people have disappeared, Luca and his mother have been absconded by a clandestine government agency which has questions, no answers, and are determined to uncover the ship\u2019s secrets before a media storm erupts. But as they force Robert Grim, a retired specialist of the occult with a strange history and a healthy dislike of authority, to unravel the mystery, the Oracle<\/em> is revealed to be a harbinger of an ancient doom awakened underneath the sea. What follows is a maelstrom of international intrigue, history, young love, humanity\u2019s relationship with climate and disease, and pure terror as they come face to face with an open doorway to apocalypse.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Swan Knight<\/a><\/em> by Fumio Takano, translated from the Japanese by Sharni Wilson (Luna Press Publishing, April 30)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the nineteenth century draws toward its close, King Ludwig II of Bavaria binge-watches television to escape his reality, side-lined by his own advisers. His one wish is to meet Wagner, the mysterious composer pumping out new music and scores of remixes every day.  He sets out, alone and in disguise, to find Wagner in the maze-like subterranean city that sprawls deep beneath Munich.  Meanwhile, Karl, a rookie musician hired by Wagner in the underground world, is shocked to be chosen as the lead singer for the Swan Knight TV music drama.  But even in the depths of the earth, the insidious shadow of political intrigue lurks. Who is Wagner, the man behind the myth? And what ultimate destiny awaits  Ludwig and Karl?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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MAY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woodworm<\/a> <\/em>by Layla Martinez, translated from the Spanish (Spain) by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott (Two Lines Press, May 14)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house breathes. The house contains bodies and secrets. The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes. It was built by a smalltime hustler as a means of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter can\u2019t leave. They may be witches or they may just be angry, but when the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two isolated women, already subjects of public scorn, combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre<\/a><\/em> by Cho Yeeun, translated from the Korean by Yewon Jung (Honford Star, May 16)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

At New Seoul Park, Korea\u2019s greatest theme park, an enigmatic man tempts visitors with a mysterious jelly candy that promises an unbreakable bond. As the sun beats down on a muggy summer afternoon, a child separated from her disinterested parents, a single mother striving to create a memorable day on a shoestring budget, and a couple on the brink of splitting up, all end up tasting this ominous candy. Little do they know that a sinister force lurks beneath the innocent facade. The sweet and innocent soon turns grotesque as the jelly becomes the catalyst for a sticky, sweet massacre. Masterfully translated by Yewon Jung, The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre<\/em> weaves a chilling tale of deceptive sweetness and the body horror of slowly melting into your loved ones.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Stronghold<\/a><\/em> by Dino Buzzati, translated from the Italian by Lawrence Venuti (NYRB Classics, May 23)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Buzzati is one of the great Italian writers of the twentieth century, renowned for his fantastical imagination and for a touch that is as lyrical as it is light. The Stronghold<\/em>, previously translated as The Tartar Steppe<\/em>, is his most celebrated work, a book that has been read as a veiled attack on Mussolini\u2019s fascist militarism, a prophetic allegory of the Cold War, and an existentialist fable.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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JUNE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wafers<\/a><\/em> by Ha Seong-nan, translated from the Korean by Janet Hong (Open Letter, June 4)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 2006 collection of short stories is in line with the unsettling, engrossing style of Ha\u2019s other two collections that have been translated into English, the critical and commercial successes Flowers of Mold<\/em> and Bluebeard\u2019s First Wife<\/em>. A best-seller in Korea, Ha Seong-nan is one of the stars of contemporary short fiction, writing edgy, socially conscious stories that bring to mind the novels of Han Kang and the film Parasite.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Under the Neomoon<\/em> <\/a>by Wolfgang Hilbig, translated from the German by Isabel Fargo Cole (Two Lines Press, June 11)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

An electric collection that evokes the works of Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingeborg Bachmann, Under the Neomoon<\/em> is a neon-bright reminder of humanity\u2019s violent folly and the importance of storytelling from down below, from the wage worker\u2019s hovel. An abandoned construction site. Glowering pits and furnaces. A lone man in a bungalow. Widely considered to be one of the great German writers of the twentieth century, Wolfgang Hilbig\u2019s dark visions have long held readers aloft with their musical language and uncompromising vision of the modern world. In Under the Neomoon<\/em>, his debut short story collection originally published in East Germany in 1982, Hilbig\u2019s persistent fixations\u2014factory pits, rampant nature, and split identities\u2014are at their most visceral and brilliant.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mevlido\u2019s Dreams: A Post-Exotic Novel<\/a><\/em> by Antoine Volodine, translated from the French by Gina M. Stamm (University of Minnesota Press, June 25)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A meditative, postapocalyptic noir, Mevlido\u2019s Dreams<\/em> is an urgent communiqu\u00e9 from a far-future reality of irreversible environmental damage and civilizational collapse. Mevlido is a double agent working for the police and living in the last habitable city on the planet, a sprawling abyssal ruin marked by war and ruled by criminals. Suspended in the bardo between his loyalty to the surveillance state and to the anarchists, communists, and other rebels he monitors, Mevlido clings to life and hope\u2014barely\u2014in the city\u2019s vast slums, haunted by the memory of the wife he failed to save during the last war and dreaming of a mysterious mission he is told he must accomplish. At the same time, an enigmatic organization existing elsewhere\u2014the Organs\u2014observes Mevlido\u2019s actions and debates its responsibility to him and to humanity as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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JULY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pink Slime<\/a><\/em> by Fernanda Tr\u00edas, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Scribner, July 2)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In a city ravaged by a mysterious plague, a woman tries to understand why her world is falling apart. An algae bloom has poisoned the previously pristine air that blows in from the sea. Inland, a secretive corporation churns out the only food anyone can afford\u2014a revolting pink paste, made of an unknown substance. In the short, desperate breaks between deadly windstorms, our narrator stubbornly tends to her few remaining relationships: with her difficult but vulnerable mother; with the ex-husband for whom she still harbors feelings; with the boy she nannies, whose parents sent him away even as terrible threats loomed. Yet as conditions outside deteriorate further, her commitment to remaining in place only grows\u2014even if staying means being left behind.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Beggar\u2019s Bedlam<\/a><\/em> by Nabarun Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rijula Das (Seagull Books, July 6)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Beggar\u2019s Bedlam<\/em> is a surreal novel that unleashes the chaos of the carnival on the familiar. Part literary descendent of Bulgakov\u2019s The Master and Margarita<\/em> and part a reconstruction of lost Bengali history, Nabarun Bhattacharya\u2019s masterpiece is a jubilant, fizzing wire of subaltern anarchy and insurrection. Marshall Bhodi Sarkar and his lieutenant Sarkhel surreptitiously dig on the banks of the Ganges River looking for crude oil reserves. Instead, they unearth curved daggers, rusty broadswords, and a Portuguese cannon. Bhodi is an occasional military man and the lead sorcerer of the secret black-magic sect named Choktar. He joins forces with the flying Flaperoos\u2014men with a predilection for alcohol and petty vandalism\u2014to declare outright war against the Marxist\u2013Leninist West Bengal government. In a bloodless revolution that is fascinating in its utter implausibility, a motley crew of yet more implausible characters come together in a magic-realist fictional remapping of Calcutta.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Dallergut Dream Department Store<\/a><\/em> by Miye Lee, translated from the Korean by Sandy Joosun Lee (Hanover Square Press, July 9)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a mysterious town hidden in our collective subconscious there’s a department store that sells dreams. Day and night, visitors both human and animal shuffle in to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor specializes in a specific type of dream: childhood memories, food dreams, ice skating, dreams of stardom. Flying dreams are almost always sold out. Some seek dreams of loved ones who have died. For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at Dallergut is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including Dallergut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Festival & Game of the Worlds<\/a><\/em> by C\u00e9sar Aira, translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver (New Directions, July 23)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Festival<\/em>, the genius postmodern sci-fi filmmaker Alec Steryx is the star guest of a film festival in an unnamed country. But he\u2019s brought a surprise: his nonagenarian mother. Everyone is baffled. Why? Half-blind and terminally cranky, she does nothing but complain, despite insisting on attending every screening and reception. As Steryx\u2019s mother gums up the works for the festival organizers, larger problems are in store \u2026 A delightfully baroque comedy of errors, Festival<\/em> is, all at once, a loving parody of the institutions that support artists, a meditation on postmodern art, and a propulsive, lyrical, surreal adventure. In the far, far future, a middle-aged father is behind the times. Bemused and disturbed, he watches his children play the eponymous Game of the Worlds<\/em>, a Total Reality war game that involves the annihilation of countless alien civilizations\u2014which are at least as real as the narrator\u2019s own. As he debates the ethics of the game, struggles with his home\u2019s \u201cintelligent system,\u201d and fumblingly manipulates his Discourse Corrector (a dead ringer for ChatGPT) on virtual beachside dates, an errant thought threatens to set a world-ending chain of logic into motion: the return of the Idea of God \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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AUGUST<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Full Moon Coffee Shop<\/a><\/em> by Mai Mochizuki, translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood (Ballantine, August 20)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they\u2019ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right <\/em>cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and it seemingly appears at random. It\u2019s also run by talking cats. While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes and coffees and teas, the cats also consult their star charts, offering cryptic wisdom, and letting them know where their lives veered off course. Every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. For a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the coffee shop\u2019s feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. For there is <\/em>a very special reason the shop appeared to each of them . . .<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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SEPTEMBER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Night Guest<\/strong> <\/a><\/em>by Hildur Kn\u00fatsd\u00f3ttir; translated from the Icelandic by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Nightfire, September 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Night Guest<\/em> is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjav\u00edk that\u2019s sure to keep you awake at night. I\u00f0unn is in yet another doctor’s office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something’s not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven’t revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same \u2014 have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night I\u00f0unn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she\u2019s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .What is happening when she\u2019s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won\u2019t anyone believe her?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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No\/Mad\/Land<\/a><\/em> by Francesco Verso, translated from the Italian by Sally McCorry (Flame Tree Publishing, September 10)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pulldogs leave Rome to embrace a new condition: leaving no trace of their passage, they shape a new challenging lifestyle: wandering around the world as neo-nomads to spread their solarpunk way of living and to engage on a never-ending mission to save endangered human cultures with nanites. But the vision of Alan and Nicolas about how the Pulldogs should live collide, and as a consequence, they split in two groups: one goes North to live in the beautiful wilderness of Siberia and Mongolia, while the other goes South to save the Dogon tribe from a possible extinction due to climate change in Central Africa. But at the end everybody – including a new generation of Pulldogs – will have to come back to Rome, where their incredible transformation started many years before. Sequel to the celebrated The Roamers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Proposal<\/em> by Bae Myung-hoon, translated from the Korean by Stella Kim (Honford Star, September 13)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Proposal<\/em>, a space opera romance set against the backdrop of a looming colossal war between Earth and a mysterious adversary, a story of love unfolds through a series of intimate letters. This poignant novella explores how a space-born soldier\u2019s gradual involvement with an escalating conflict intertwines with a heartfelt proposal to his Earth-born partner, revealing the intricate dance of love and duty at the edge of an interstellar conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Sunny Place for Shady People<\/a><\/em> by Mariana Enriquez, translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Megan McDowell (Hogarth, September 17)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In twelve spellbinding new stories, Enriquez writes about ordinary people, especially women, whose lives turn inside out when they encounter terror, the surreal, and the supernatural. A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolved in the water tank on the roof, a riverbank populated by birds that used to be women\u2014these and other tales illuminate the shadows of contemporary life, where the line between good and evil no longer exists.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror 2024<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>edited and translated by Xueting Christine Ni (Solaris, September 24)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Fourteen dazzling horror stories delve deep into the psyche of modern China in this new anthology curated by acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting C. Ni, editor and translator of the British Fantasy Award-winning Sinopticon<\/em>. From the menacing vision of a red umbrella, to the ominous atmosphere of the Laughing Mountain; from the waking dream of virtual working to the sinister games of the locked room\u2026 this is a fascinating insight into the spine-chilling voices working within China today \u2013 a long way from the traditional expectations of hopping vampires and hanging ghosts. This ground-breaking collection features both well-known names and bold upcoming writers, including: Hong Niangzi, Fan Zhou, Chu Xidao, She Cong Ge, Chuan Ge, Goodnight, Xiaoqing, Zhou Dedong, Nanpai Sanshu, Yimei Tangguo, Chi Hui, Zhou Haohui, Su Min, Cai Jun, and Gu Shi.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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OCTOBER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Third Realm<\/em><\/a> by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken (Penguin Press, October 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapeshifting visitors, unsolved murders in the forest, black metal bands and an online bank of thousands of people\u2019s dreams\u2014the star is back. Karl Ove Knausgaard\u2019s The Morning Star<\/em> kept readers up all night, immersed with nine characters whose individual lives are heightened by the sudden appearance of a blazing new star, and The Wolves of Eternity<\/em> portrayed the intimate experiences of two estranged half siblings decades before the star rises. In The Third Realm<\/em>, the effects of the star are felt around the world, as people start to reckon with what it might possibly mean. With this next novel, the limitless scale and ambition of Knausgaard\u2019s new universe is clear. This is life, death, the human condition and the real-time creation of an epic and utterly immersive world.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Blood of the Old Kings<\/a><\/em> by Sung-il Kim, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Tor Books, October 8)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest. Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she\u2019s willing to fight for it. Miles away, beneath a volcano, a seven-eyed dragon also wears the Empire\u2019s chains. Before the imperial fist closed around their lands, it was the people\u2019s sacred guardian. Loran, a widowed swordswoman, is the first to kneel before the dragon in decades. She comes with a desperate plea, and will leave with a sword of dragon-fang in hand and a great purpose before her. In the heart of the Imperial capital, Cain is known as a man who gets things done. When his best friend and mentor is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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NOVEMBER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Last Day<\/a><\/em> by Owain Owain, translated from the Welsh by Emyr Wallace Humphreys (Parthian Books, November 7)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last Day<\/em> is more than a moving call to arms for speakers of minority languages facing extinction; at its core, it\u2019s a tragic human-scale story played out between the few figures who could have stopped the madness before it was too late. It is, moreover, a meditation on themes like free will, artificial intelligence and the socio-historical processes that contribute towards the death of a nation. These themes are as relevant now \u2013 if not more so \u2013 as they were when the novel was written. With science fiction tropes recalling Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut and more recently Olga Ravn\u2019s The Employees<\/em>, philosophical reflections in the vein of Dostoyevsky\u2019s Notes From the Underground<\/em>, and its postmodern form, The Last Day<\/em> is a testament to the depth and creativity of Welsh literature. Its translation into English is long overdue.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)<\/a><\/em> by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Barbara J. Haveland (New Directions, November 18)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tara Selter has involuntarily stepped off the train of time: in her world, November 18th repeats itself endlessly. We meet Tara on her 122nd November 18th: she no longer experiences the changes of days, weeks, months, or seasons. She finds herself in a lonely new reality without being able to explain why: how is it that she wakes every morning into the same day, knowing to the exact second when the blackbird will burst into song and when the rain will begin? Will she ever be able to share her new life with her beloved and now chronically befuddled husband? And on top of her profound isolation and confusion, Tara takes in with pain how slight a difference she makes in the world. (As she puts it: \u201cThat\u2019s how little the activities of one person matter on the 18th of November.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On the Calculation of Volume (Book II)<\/a><\/em> by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Barbara J. Haveland (New Directions, November 18)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first year of November 18th has come to a close: on its 368th iteration, Tara Selter has returned to her hotel room in Paris, the place where her time problem began. As if perched at the edge of a precipice, she readies herself to leap into November 19th. Book II of Solvej Balle\u2019s astounding seven-part series On the Calculation of Volume<\/em> beautifully expands on the speculative premise of Book I, drawing us further into the maze of time, where space yawns open, as if suddenly gaining a new dimension, extending into ever more fined-grained textures. Within this new reality, our senses and the tactility of things grow heightened: sounds, smells, sights, objects come suddenly alive, as if the world has begun whispering to us in a new language.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Third Temple<\/a><\/em> by Yishai Sarid, translated from the Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan (Restless Books, November 26)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a near-future Jerusalem, harrowing omens plague the city: a desecrated altar, an unbearable stench, a rampant famine. Shaken but devout, Jonathan, the royal family\u2019s third son, continues to hold services and offer animal sacrifices at the prophesied Third Temple, built to consecrate the founding of the new Kingdom of Judah. His father, Israel\u2019s self-appointed king, has abolished the Supreme Court. The Torah is the law of the land, and only people of the Jewish faith are allowed in. When war breaks out and an angel of God begins to torment Jonathan, warning him of his father\u2019s sacrilege, the foundations of the young priest\u2019s faith\u2014and then his world\u2014begin to give way.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Factory<\/a><\/em> by Ihor Mysiak, translated from the Ukrainian by Yevheniia Dubrova and Hanna Leliv (Atthis Arts, November 26)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atmospheric and meditative, Mysiak\u2019s staccato Ukrainian storytelling paints an evocative tale of a motley and rather strange gathering of men who restore a broken-down factory aside an old, forgotten village to build and sell electronic machines assured to cause happiness. Though smoothly woven between pleasantries and mishaps, often calming, and frequently amusing, there is a deeply cutting edge of satire, fury, and rebellion to this meandering tale. In all of this, The Factory<\/em> builds its own modern parable to remind the reader of love, community, and the joys of every single day, and the need\u2014the urgency\u2014to protect them.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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DECEMBER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JANUARY Your Utopia by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books, January 30) In \u201cThe Center for Immortality Research,\u201d a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors, only to be blamed for a crime she witnessed during the event, under the noses of the mysterious celebrity benefactors<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14611"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14864,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611\/revisions\/14864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}