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The SFWA European Hall Of Fame edited by James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow
02/08/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR/Forge. 446 page enlarged paperback. Price: $16.95 (US), $18.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-1537-3). Buy The SFWA European Hall Of Fame in the USA - or Buy The SFWA European Hall Of Fame in the UK  check out website: www.tor-forge.com
If ever there was a hidden gem of a book award this one would surely qualify this year. A lot of the recent books I've read have resorted to using dialogue more than text to describe the action that is taking place and it was great to find in these sixteen short stories that our European neighbours favour the, shall we say, traditional way of prose for texturing detail. I should point out that all these stories have been translated from their original languages so we could read them. It's also a good sign that Science Fiction has its culture in France, Russian, Italy, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands and Denmark. James and Kathryn Morrow fill in detail about each author as well as something about how SF flourishes in those countries. I should also point out that this selection of stories hails from the past twenty years and apart from a couple authors I've recognised from other works, are all new reads to me.
Picking favourites out of this book is difficult. There was only one that I failed to really appreciate but its more fantastic tone wouldn't have gotten me whatever the language.
'Baby Doll' by Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo translated by David Hackston isn't that far from our own reality where children are brought into an adult world far too early. This story is told from the perspective of the plain sister as her prettier sister reaches celebrity heights before being raped and doesn't understand why. A powerful story that really needs to be read and used to keep some perspective on letting children leave their childhood too quickly.
The oddly titled '"Yoo Retoont, Sneogg Ay Noo"' by Polish author Marek S. Huberath translated by Michael Kandel deals will clones bred for their body parts. The title is phonetic by the way. I think what struck me most is the empathy pulled for these characters.
'The Day We Went Through The Transition' by Spanish authors Ricard De La Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero translated by Yolanda Molina-Gavilįn and James Stevens-Arce is a bonding across alternative realities. Teams are sent out to keep reality in check and when members are killed, alternative versions of themselves are selected as replacement knowing that most of the time the same chemistry would work.
Romanian author Lucian Merižca's 'Some Earthlings' Adventures On Outrerria' translated by Cezar Ionescu is set on a different planet where a human ambassador has to pay court to different customs. Don't grow whiskers unless you like to be shaved with a blow-torch.
Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko should be known to many of you as the author of 'Night Watch'. 'Destiny Inc' translated by Michael M. Naydan and Slava I. Yastremski is another alternative reality story where you can swap your 2% luck with someone else to gain their benefits. I learnt a long time ago not to under-estimate Russian humour and this translates rather well.
Andreas Eschbach is a German author whom I've heard of and finally read here translated by Doryl Jensen with the story 'Wonders Of The Universe'. Astronaut Ursula Froehlich's last moments on Europa when her air supply is running out and help too far away facing a safe suicide is tragic but emotionally lifting.
Portuguese author Joćo Barreiros story 'A Night On The Edge Of The Empire' translated by Luis Rodrigues has a bird-like ambassador with his lemur-like symbiotic hands helper running into 'liberators' who clearly don't understand what is going on. I have to confess to not usually looking for hidden meanings in stories but this is the kind of story that should be force-fed to any animal liberation group to think before they initiate any action as it might save more than they think.
The quality of these stories alone should have you putting down your money to read this collection.
Two things that struck me about them as a collective whole is until the last quarter of the book, I would be hard-pressed to tell from apart from stories written in the West. I mean, it's taken for granted that we use our own cultural references within our own fiction that we more or less take it for granted. Whether it's the choice of selection here, you could be mistaken for thinking that these authors show more reflection of our side of the world than their own. I really do hope that in future books in this series the fiction re-balance this cultural difference if only to show more of a different outlook on the world.
The second is that as much as I enjoyed reading this book and believe me, the fiction here is well-written, I could only recall three stories without hesitation from memory based solely on their ideas content. Going through them again for this review brought back the memories of what I've read which means like all good stories, if you really want them to sink in be prepared for multi-readings. If anything, I find this rather more perplexing than this book deserves. It might conceivably be more me and my perception of Science Fiction that was struck. If that is the case, those who love prose regardless are going to have a field day. Whatever, don't give this book a miss because there's a wide selection of material in here to please everyone.
GF Willmetts
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