Anthology of Turkish Science Fiction Stories

by Sümeyra Buran, Veli Uğur (editor)

Turkish science fiction dates back to the early years of the twentieth century and serious development has been seen ever since. The writers, who escaped from the darkness of the First World War and took refuge in utopian science fiction, added the excitement created by science and technology to their texts over time. Turkish writers, who followed the science fiction works from the West and made efforts for the development of this genre, produced very qualified works that could compete with their contemporaries at some points. However, due to some historical, social, and economic problems, it was not possible for these works to meet readers in the West. In this anthology, the works of Turkish science fiction writers are brought together for the first time in English. Contemporary science fiction writers have written short stories for this anthology. Hence, the resulting diversity of stories represents a contribution to science fiction literature. An important feature of the anthology is that it includes examples showing how science and technology are perceived philosophically by authors outside of Europe and America. Since literature is an indispensable resource to investigate the equivalent of science fiction, which was born with modernism, in "post-modern" societies. This anthology of Turkish science fiction will be an important Non-Western SF source for both science fiction readers and researchers.

359 pages, Paperback

Published December 21, 2023

Reviews

[Nozdereli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to read this anthology firsthand, which is quite new. The book begins by explaining the rationale for bringing together Turkish sci-fi stories and providing information about valuable story writers. Following that, you find a nice summary of the history of science fiction in Turkey, including a review of science fiction publications in the 19th century. In the continuation of the book, thirty-five special science fiction stories are waiting for you and believe me each one will truly make you think, taking you to different and captivating universes. I hope the book will be translated into various languages starting with Turkish in the very near future reaching a wider audience.

[Meow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book when searching for Turkish-written books in science fiction and potentially translated to English so I can use it in one of my classes, it's all written in English from the get-go so it was useful for us. Many fun and short reads in this little book, I enjoyed almost everything and some of the stories got me a little confused and were hard to track exactly what is happening... but overall I'm happy I encountered this book. I also did not expect to see a kind of visual storytelling in the middle of it all, a good surprise, art itself was awesome as well.

Some of my favorite quotes that stick with me after I finished reading the book: when, in the story "Germakochi" the being (Aazmich?) says "You may have science and technology, but you are still incapable of understanding and seeing the truth," and then something along the lines of how they will cleanse the earth from "the germs that made the earth sick" that refers to us humans. Haha. I relate to a fictional entity determined to destroy humanity, don't know what that shows about me but... The germs that made the earth sick, yes, that's us.

Not a quote, but, I really loved how in "The Reasonable Man" (by Özlem Kurdoğlu), the AI is referred to as "accidental intelligence" a few times. It says no one intended for it to be that way, so, accidental... Kind of how life itself forms in general I suppose, no one int... Eh. So it goes.

In "The Root" (written by Serpil Ülger), this stays with me: “The slaughter of nature, animals, ultimately humans, even us androids… Everything is dead. Well, for what reason?” While saying this, the G19s7e5 realized that, for the first time since it had been designed, it had made a friend. So much so that this woman did not define it as artificial like the others and even considered it an equal to herself. As if that wasn’t enough, she was giving her name and her true self to it. End of quote here. Here, I find myself thinking of Ursula Le Guin's "She Unnames Them" it's a short story as well, in it we learn about the power of names. Being able to name something is powerful. So she unnames them, sets them free from the names given to them by men... sets them free from the ideas attached to those names. And here in "The Root" Mergen gives her own name to a robot, setting that robot free from the code-like name edged to its hardware (G19s7e5 or whatever). Taking on someone else's name has its own significance. This whole naming concept I'm sure will stay with me for a while in my head.

Thank you for the lovely stories, from a student.

[Uğur Aydın · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ne kitap ve ne kapak ama.

Yoruma bu cümle ile başlamamın nedeni bu önemli kitabın yazarlarından birisi olmam değil, bu kitap için bir araya gelmiş tüm yazar arkadaşlarımızın son model gıcır gıcır öykülerini ilk elden okuma fırsatı diyelim.

Okuru bol yolu açık olsun. Coğrafyamızı dünyaya tanıtacak bu önemli esere sahip çıkalım.

[Burak Katipoğlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am an avid reader of science fiction anthologies. For some reason short fiction is my bread and butter in this genre. So when I evaluate if an anthology is worth my time I often look how many stories I could remember from the book that I am fond of. Usually two or three stories per anthology is enough to make it a good one in my book (%10 rule). This happens to be a good one on my standard scale.

But since this is a Turkish anthology I think there are other questions to be asked beside it.

Is it a good representation of the Turkish Sci-Fi scene? I think so. It has all the drives and fears of the writers in it. Readers will notice there will be slight deviations to the idea of a robot malfunctioning or a character reacting to a situation compared to English literature. Also the scenery might change a bit too. However Turkish people also love end of the world stories, time paradoxes, robots gone rouge, noir detectives with a splash of cyberpunk and reaching immortality. So there is also common ground since literature is a product of human mind. But there are definitely Turkish aspects to it.

Is writing and translation of quality? I would say yes. There is not a single template for good writing but there are definitely different approaches to telling a story inside the 35 story long journey. Beside that the stories were translated professionally. Care was given to produce a quality anthology.
Does it bring something new to the table? Well sort of. Sometimes you know to do something so good that you forget there are other nations in the world doing the same thing in a different way. For example drinking tea. It might be a comforting beverage in Europe or a religious ceremony in the Far East but in Turkey it’s really a social industrial drinking. Turkish people per person are the biggest consumers of tea of all countries as a fact :D. It’s still tea but there are things that come with the social constructs, history, and geography. I think thorough readers will enjoy these slight deviations and appreciate the likenesses and differences alike.

Are there any problems? My copy has a few spelling mistakes and paper quality is so-so. Also, the usual pitfalls of short fiction storytelling are there. So do not expect every story written by a hidden Turkish master.