The Apex Book of World SF PDF
Preview The Apex Book of World SF
Note: “Compartments” by Zoran Zivkovic is not included any digital version of this anthology. The Apex Book of World SF Edited by Lavie Tidhar Apex Publications Lexington, KY THE APEX BOOK OF WORLD SF ISBN: 978-0-9821596-3-7 Copyright © 2009 by Lavie Tidhar Cover Art “The Lost Dog of Shanghai” © Randall McDonald All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce the book, or por- tions thereof, in any form. Published by Apex Publications, LLC PO Box 24323 Lexington, KY 40524 www.apexbookcompany.com First Edition, September 2009 Printed in the United States of America “The Bird Catcher” © Somtow Sucharitkul 2002. First published in the anthology The Museum of Horrors. “Transcendence Express” © Jetse de Vries 2007. First published in Hub Magazine. “The Levantine Experiments” © Guy Hasson 2007, 2009. First pub- lished in Hebrew as “Hevel Ha’cherut” in Chalomot Be’aspamia Maga- zine. “The Wheel of Samsara” © Han Song 2002, 2009. Translated by the author. First published in Chinese as “Gezhanshi De Zhuanjingtong” in Science Fiction World. “Ghost Jail” © Kaaron Warren 2008. First published in the anthology 2012. “Wizard World” © Yang Ping 1998, 2009. Translated by the author. First published in Chinese as “MUD-heike shijian” in Science Fiction World. “L’Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)” © Dean Francis Alfar 2003. First Published in Strange Horizons. “Cinderers” © Nir Yaniv 2004. English translation © Lavie Tidhar 2009. First published in Hebrew as “Ramtzanim” in Chalomot Be’aspamia Magazine. “The Allah Stairs” © Jamil Nasir 1990. First published in Tales of the Un- anticipated. “Biggest Baddest Bomoh” © Tunku Halim Bin Tunku Abdullah 1997. First published in The Rape of Martha Teoh and Other Chilling Stories. “The Lost Xuyan Bride” © Aliette de Bodard 2007. First Published in Interzone. “Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-Realist Aswang” © Kristin Mandigma 2008. First published in Clarkesworld Magazine. “An Evening In the City Coffeehouse, With Lydia On My Mind” © Aleksandar Žiljak 1999, 2009. Translated by the author. Originally pub- lished in Croatian as “Večer u Gradskoj, s Lidijom u mislima” in the collection Krhotine svjetova. “Into the Night” © Anil Menon 2008. First published in Interzone. “Elegy” © Mélanie Fazi 2001. English translation © Christopher Priest 2007. First published in French as “Élégie” in Territoires de l’angoisse; first published in English in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Compartments © Zoran Živković 2004. Translated by Alice Copple- Tošić. English Translation © Zoran Živković 2004. First published as Vagon in Serbia 2004. Introduction By Lavie Tidhar Lingua franca come and go. They are universal in that they allow people with different mother tongues to communicate with each other. In the time of the Roman Empire and far later, Latin was such a language, though it is now a dead tongue—read (rarely, and by scholars), but not spoken. French was once a major international language (we still use par avion for airmail, a remnant of that time). The rise of Brit- ish power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to English becoming the new language of communication. Brit- ish colonists had established themselves in North America (Canada and the U.S.), Australia, and South Africa, all now part of what is known as the English-speaking world. The lan- guage had permeated much further, however, particularly in former British colonies such as India and Malaysia and large parts of East Africa, often leading to a different, distinct form of English being used. English evolved differently in different parts of the world, borrowing from local languages, even cre- ating different pidgin or Creole languages (as in the South Pacific islands of Melanesia) that borrowed the vocabulary of English to form new distinct languages. Languages come and go. But stories stay. Many of the writers in this volume write in English. For many of them, English is a second or even third language. The prevalence of English today means that more and more writers from outside the English-speaking world are nevertheless choosing to speak in that language. Amongst the young gen- eration of such writers I’ve included Jetse de Vries (the Nether- lands), Aliette de Bodard (France), and Dean Francis Alfar (the Philippines), who have all published in the English-language magazines whilst speaking another language at home. Some writers included write in their native tongues, and were either able to translate their own work or find a translator to help them access the English world. Han Song and Yang Ping from China are in the former category; Zoran Živković and Mélanie Fazi in the latter. Some writers are best known in their home countries. Tunku Halim’s several story collections and novels enjoy popularity in Malaysia—he writes and publishes in Eng- lish—whilst Guy Hasson’s work, though written in English, appeared predominantly in Hebrew translations in Israel. This is the first volume of what I hope will be a larger work. It is, of course, incomplete. There are no writers here from South America or Africa, for instance—a glaring omis- sion. Speculative fiction stories from the Arab world (where they are enjoying a new popularity) are missing. So are many European and Asian writers. In editing such an anthology, I was guided by what had been published in English-language publications in the past several years, and by my own, if obvi- ously limited, knowledge of, and contact with, other writers from around the world. I am hopeful that a second volume will allow me to redress some of this imbalance. The stories in this book include science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Many utilise their authors’ background to create, or rather reveal, worlds distinctly different from the templates that dominate these fields. Thai writer S.P. Somtow won the World Fantasy Award for his remarkable story “The Bird Catcher,” a vivid tale set in both past and present Thailand, which opens this volume. Another World Fantasy Award win- ner, Zoran Živković, closes the book with “Compartments,” an instant classic of European surrealism. In between, and in addi- tion to the names mentioned above, we also have Croatian sci- ence fiction courtesy of Aleksandar Žiljak, a Fiji-set story from Australian writer (and Fiji resident) Kaaron Warren, homicidal cartoon characters from Israeli writer Nir Yaniv, revolutionary ghouls from Kristin Mandigma of the Philippines, and quiet horror from Palestinian writer Jamil Nasir; an entire world—or, rather, entire worlds—conjured up from the minds of people who may speak different languages, live in different countries, yet share a common love. I hope you enjoy their stories as much as I did. Lavie Tidhar Vientiane, 2009 Table of Contents Introduction Lavie Tidhar “The Bird Catcher” — 2 S.P. Somtow, Thailand “Transcendence Express” — 34 Jetse de Vries, Netherlands “The Levantine Experiments” — 50 Guy Hasson, Israel “The Wheel of Samsara” — 66 Han Song, China “Ghost Jail” — 74 Kaaron Warren, Australia/Fiji “Wizard World” — 94 Yang Ping, China “The Kite of Stars” — 116 Dean Francis Alfar, Philippines “Cinderers” — 128 Nir Yaniv, Israel Table of Contents, cont. “The Allah Stairs” — 142 Jamil Nasir, Palestine “Biggest Baddest Bomoh” — 152 Tunku Halim, Malaysia “The Lost Xuyan Bride” — 162 Aliette de Bodard, France “Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-Realist Aswang” — 194 Kristin Mandigma, Philippines “An Evening In the City Coffeehouse, With Lydia On My Mind” — 198 Aleksandar Žiljak, Croatia “Into the Night” — 216 Anil Menon, India “Elegy” — 232 Melanie Fazi, France “Compartments” — 242 Zoran Živković, Serbia
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