“Renting to Killers” by Elena Pavlova, translated from the Bulgarian by the author and Kalin M. Nenov (Asimov’s, May/June) Woodworm by Layla Martinez, translated from the Spanish (Spain) by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott (Two Lines Press, May 14) 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 ..read more

translated by Anton Hur original publication (in Korean): 2021 this edition: Honford Star, 2024 grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library “The Center for Immortality Research” “The End of the Voyage” “A Very Ordinary Marriage” “Maria, Gratia Plena” “Your Utopia” “A Song for Sleep” [read here] “Seed” “To Meet Her” Anyone paying attention to SF in translation over the past decade would notice a welcome explosion of Korean speculative fiction in English. Of the 21 works of Korean SFT published since Cho Se-Hui’s The Dwarf in 2006 (the first in English that I’m aw ..read more

“Stars Don’t Dream” by Chi Hui, translated from the Chinese by John Chu (Clarkesworld, January 1) Wafers by Ha Seong-nan, translated from the Korean by Janet Hong (Open Letter, January 16) This 2006 collection of short stories is in line with the unsettling, engrossing style of Ha’s other two collections that have been translated into English, the critical and commercial successes Flowers of Mold and Bluebeard’s First Wife. 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 ..read more

translated by Stella Kim original publication (in Korean): 2020 first English edition: 2022, Honford Star grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library When I was writing about Korean SFT in Out of This World (2020), only two works of long-form Korean science fiction* were available in English: a work of surrealist social protest called The Dwarf (by Cho Se-Hui, 1978; tr by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, 2006) and a collection of far-future aphorisms and observations by Ganymedean settlers called The Jovian Sayings (by Bok Geo-il, 2002; tr. by the author, 2014). Since ..read more

“De Profundis, a Space Love Letter” by Bella Han, translated from the Chinese by the author (Clarkesworld, October 1). Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, translated from the Japanese by Jeffrey Angles (University of Minnesota Press, October 3). The first English translations of the original novellas about the iconic kaijū Godzilla. On the Isle of Antioch by Amin Maalouf, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (World Editions, October 3). Alec, a press artist with an impressive track record, settles on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. He has little contact w ..read more

SHORT STORIES “The People from the Dead Whale” by Djuna, translated from the Korean by Jihyun Park and Gord Sellar (Clarkesworld, September 1). NOVELS The Court of Shadows by Victor Dixen, translated from the French by Françoise Bui (Amazon Crossing, September 19). A fiery heroine seeks vengeance against a royal court of deadly vampires in this epic alternate history set in lavish Versailles ..read more

SHORT STORIES     “Commencement Address” by Arthur Liu, translated from the Chinese by Stella Jiayue Zhu (Clarkesworld, April 1)         NOVELS   At the Edge of the Woods by Masatsugu Ono, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter (Two Lines Press, April 12) In an unnamed foreign country, a family of three is settling into a house at the edge of the woods. But something is off. A sound, at first like coughing and then like laughter, emanates from the nearby forest. Fantastical creatures, it is said, live out there in a castle where feudal lord ..read more

Kalin Stacey is a writer, educator, and activist based in Toronto, Canada. He is currently a student of translation studies at Glendon College, a voracious reader of SFF, and an aspiring translator of speculative fiction.   translated from the Korean by Sophie Bowman & Sung Ryu Harper Voyager April 6, 2021 336 pages grab a copy here or from your local independent bookstore or library   Occasionally translators find themselves in a position to offer Anglophone readers treasures we otherwise wouldn’t be able to discover—and I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories, by South Korean aut ..read more

SHORT STORIES   “Legend of the Giant” by Fei Dao, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld, October 1)         COLLECTIONS Everything Good Dies Here: Tales from the Linker Universe and Beyond by Djuna, translated from the Korean by Adrian Thieret (Kaya Press, October 26) The stories brought together in this collection introduce for the first time in English the dazzling speculative imaginings of Djuna, one of South Korea’s most provocative SF writers. Whether describing a future society light years away or satirizing Confucian patriarchy, these storie ..read more

I reviewed the haunting novel To the Warm Horizon for World Literature Today. Here’s an excerpt from the review: This pandemic year has felt like a dystopia to many of us—we were told to stay away from family and friends, urged to remain inside our homes, encouraged to stock up on food. Yet, as businesses and schools start opening back up, we continue to be vigilant, never knowing if what happened in March 2020 could happen again. Still, humanity is picking itself up again and looking toward the future, like we always do. Thus I could say that reading To the Warm Horizon—a postapocalyptic tal ..read more