Zion's Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature

Zion's Fiction #1

by Sheldon Teitelbaum (Editor), Avi Katz (Illustrator), Emanuel Lottem (Editor)

The world’s first English-language historical anthology of Israeli fantasy and science fiction, Zion’s Fiction will open a portal into a little-known wellspring of speculative fiction from the ultimate Imagination.

This anthology showcases the best Israeli science fiction and fantasy literature published since the 1980s. The stories included come from Hebrew, Russian, and English-language sources, and include well-known authors such as Shimon Adaf, Pesach (Pavel) Amnuel, Gail Hareven, Savyon Liebrecht, Nava Semel and Lavie Tidhar, as well as a hot-list of newly translated Israeli writers. The book features: an historical and contemporary survey of Israeli science fiction and fantasy literature by the editors; a foreword by revered SF/F writer Robert Silverberg,; an afterword by Dr. Aharon Hauptman, the founding editor of Fantasia 2000, Israel's seminal SF/F magazine; an author biography for each story included in the volume; and illustrations for each story by award winning American-born Israeli srtist, Avi Katz.

Foreword / Robert Silverberg --
Introduction / Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem --
The smell of orange groves / Lavie Tidhar --
The slows / Gail Hareven --
Burn Alexandria / Keren Landsman --
The perfect girl / Guy Hasson --
Hunter of Stars / Nava Semel --
The believers / Nir Yaniv --
Possibilities / Eyal Teler --
In the mirror / Rotem Baruchin --
The Stern-Gerlach mice / Mordechai Sasson --
A good place for the night / Savyon Liebrecht --
Death in Jerusalem / Elana Gomel --
White curtain / Pesakh (Pavel) Amnuel --
A man's dream / Yael Furman --
Two minutes too early / Gur Shomron --
My crappy autumn / Nitay Peretz --
They had to move / Shimon Adaf --
Afterword / Aharon Hauptman --
Acknowledgments --
About the contributors

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Jewish

312 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Clay Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories in this anthology ran the gambit from ones I was interested in and ones that were not. The book cover is interesting. Got this book through intra library loan from the Fort Bend County Libraries.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was so refreshing to read a collection of stories in which being Jewish was the default state in nearly every story. It was there in the background, even when nothing Jewish was mentioned in the story itself (as was the case with most stories). Just having characters with Hebrew names was great. And in some of the stories, Judaism was more present than that, which I especially appreciated. I enjoyed some of these stories more than others, but my overall experience with this collection was a good one. A number of the stories were creepy, some were intriguing, and I felt like a few of them were asking story questions I hadn't seen asked before. I also appreciated that the gender breakdown of the authors was almost a 50/50 split, with the stories coming from 7 women and 9 men. And I appreciated that at least one story (two, I think) featured a same-sex relationship.

[Rachel (Kalanadi)]

DNF at 51%. Decent but I kept forgetting I was reading it, so moving on to other things. Might finish it in the future.

[Jersy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous collection
Recommended to readers of SFF regardless of if they are interested in Israel or not. The cultural influence shines through and, for me, is valuable, but these are fascinating and unique stories first and foremost.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much of a short-story fan and I kinda' don't really care for Twilight Zone. I much prefer modern science fiction with its tales of galactic empires run by A.I.s and detectives flung across space to detect in clone bodies. So... with that said, this collection wasn't really my thing. The stories will resonate with people who like their science fiction of the Twilight Zone variety--everyday situations with a bit of a science fiction twist. And there is some indefinable quality that makes many of these stories feel like they are set in some future version of Israel, though only a few have actual place names. Is it particularly Jewish or Israeli or Zionist? I cannot say. The Twilight Zone feel to the stories is the biggest thematic element.

[Steven Scribner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the pun in the title, not all of this is science fiction. Many sub-genres of speculative literature are represented here, including: dystopian future ("The Slows"), apocalyptic fiction ("A Good Place for the Night"), fantasy ("The Perfect Girl"), dark fantasy, which often includes religious commentary ("Death in Jerusalem", "The Believers"), classic sci-fi ("Burn Alexandria"), monsters ("The Stern-Gerlach Mice"), alternate realities ("White Curtain"), cyberpunk ("Two Minutes too Early"), lots of horror ("In the Mirror", "They Had to Move", "A Man's Dream" -- the latter, a riff on Ursula K. Le Guin's "Lathe of Heaven", has one of the most startling Twilight Zone endings I've ever encountered), and even a sci-fi take on absurdist tragicomedy, with hints of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ("My Crappy Autumn"). There is an emphasis on mental states affecting reality in unexpected ways, though I don't know if this is a preoccupation in Israeli fiction or merely reflects the choices of the editor. Many of the stories are too creative to fit neatly into a single category. Here and there, some of the wording seems a little awkward, perhaps due to translation, but most of the narratives are exciting or interesting, or both. The extended introduction talks about how these forms of literature have interacted with modern Israeli society through its history, and how the modern State of Israel itself was based on a speculative idea -- again, referenced in the title. Kudos also to the artist(s) who designed the stone monument on the back cover, which has "Science Fiction in Israel" inscribed in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Klingon, and LOTR Elvish.

--Steven E. Scribner, author of the "Tond" series
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zion’s Fiction is an anthology of Israeli science fiction and fantasy edited by Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem and features a foreword by Robert Silverberg. Each story is accompanied by a compelling illustration by Avi Katz. Silverberg’s foreword and the introduction by the editors help the reader understand the development of Israel’s community of speculative fiction writers against the backdrop of Israel’s history. After that, the anthology presents sixteen stories, many of which were first published within the last decade.

I enjoyed all of the stories in the collection, but among the standouts were “Burn Alexandria” by Karen Landsman which tells the tale of a Brigadoon-like Library of Alexandria that travels through time, "The Perfect Girl" by Guy Hasson set in a school for psychics in which a young woman learns to read the mind of a dead girl, and "Death in Jerusalem" by Elana Gomel in which a woman literally courts death.

I was delighted to read this sampling of speculative fiction from Israel. The editors hint at the possibility of more collections in the future, which would be great. Of course, I would love to see collections from other countries as well.

[Sara Gabai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. I enjoyed reading the stories, some more than others. It was interesting that sometimes I could identify the translator by the language and tone.

[David Paul Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great collection of very interesting stories.
some funny, some disturbing. recommended!

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zion's Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature (2018) edited by Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem is the first book of its kind to be published in English. As noted, it is a collection of Israeli science fiction. It also gives a brief history of the genre among Israelis--it was not generally accepted for quite a long time after it became popular in American and elsewhere. And, in fact, it was viewed with great disdain until the late 1970s. But, as is the case with most non-mainstream ideas, it had its followers and practitioners and we finally have a collection of works.

When I was in college (many moons ago), I read a collection of Jewish science fiction called Wandering Stars that provided stories by Jewish authors--primarily American--some with more obvious Jewish themes and enjoyed the stories written from a different perspective. So, when I saw this collection at the library I thought it would be interesting to read Jewish stories from a view different from American Jewish authors. I wasn't disappointed. These stories--more than any science fiction collection I can remember--provide (for this Gentile) a profound sense of other. The very first story, "The Smell of Orange Groves," drove this point home immediately. In fact, the experience was so different for me, that I must confess that I did not fully appreciate all of the nuances surrounding the ideas of memory and family connection that must relate to central Israeli ways of life that I do not understand properly.

The collection is, despite being so very other-worldly for me, a very powerful set of stories. I was particularly moved by "The Slows" (which has the shadow of the Holocaust hovering over it) and "A Good Place for the Night" which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where only a few have escaped the unnamed plague/weapon/what-have-you that has wiped out most of humanity. These stories speak to the strength of the human spirit and what qualities make us truly human. Other favorites are "Burn Alexandria" in which the non-human makes the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity and humanity's knowledge (echoes of the library at Alexandria also appeal to this book-lover) and "Possibilities" which talks about the power of story-making and makes connections to a well-known Ray Bradbury story. You can't go wrong with Bradbury. Overall, an excellent and intriguing collection that should appeal to all science fiction readers.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of stories. The stories are quite varied; though there are two things that I felt ran throw them all. The first is that the default background was Jewish. This is hard to define or pinpoint exactly, but there was something just, well, Jewish about the stories. Sometimes it was explicit but other times, it was more just something there. The second thing is that almost all the stories, if not all, were a bit dark. As though one could sense a kind of underling traumatic or tragic in each one. Some were funny or sweet, but even in those there was some thing lurking underneath. Maybe these are really two sides of the same thing; but it is interesting that this collection of stories all seemed to have that element. Maybe this is the genre, or maybe it's the editors.

I think it's important to pay more attention to the "speculative literature" part of the title rather than the "Zion's fiction." The latter suggests science fiction, while speculative captures a broader range of stories: including science fiction, but also fantasy and horror. There are no bright lines between these genres, but there are certainly paradigmatic versions of each. In any case, these stories were all mixed, maybe a bit more heavy into the fantastical and horror elements. Only a few could be categorized as "pure" science fiction (if there is such a thing).

I'd probably prefer something more science-fiction-y and less fantasy/horror; but I still was interested in all the stories.

[Lizzy B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard for an anthology, especially of multiple authors, to be completely stellar; still, besides a few that were not my thing, a very strong collection of sci fi short stories. My favorite was probably Perfect Girl - almost feels like the pilot of a show, I wish there was more in this universe and about this character! (Hey, I'm a sucker for special-school stories.) Thought-provoking as well.

The Believers was the best fulfilment of "sci-fi infused with Jewish themes" that I was hoping for in the book (and one of a rare few anywhere that reference milk and meat separation!) There are a few others like that, but most are more generic. Many do take place in Israel, though, and the characters often have Israeli names, which was a pleasant treat (and a welcome break from the inexplicable far-future presence of the most boring American names).

The Slows, In the Mirror, and Two Minutes Too Early felt like they could be classic Twilight Zone episodes. I have the most conflicted feelings about My Crappy Autumn, because I love the idea of some self-centered guy barely caring about crazy events around him, but he was also quite unlikeable and the events were kind of too crazy.

[Jon Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as an ebook checked out from the library. It is a collection of sixteen short stories of "speculative fiction" by Isreali authors. I found most of the stories to be middling at best, but a couple were very good. None of them is very long. The book's introduction explains that it is only in the relatively recent past that speculative fiction as a literary genre has begun to gain acceptance and popularity in Israel. Three out of five stars.

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Punkte für die Anthologie als Buch, eher 3,5 Punkte für die Erzählungen. Später mehr dazu.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad I read this! I enjoyed a lot of the stories. My favorites were:
Burn Alexandria, by Keren Landsmen - a wonderful SF story
The Stern-Gerlach Mice, by Mordechai Sasson - it was really fun to read a SF story that felt so Israeli
Death in Jerusalem, by Elana Gomel - it could not have been set anywhere other than Jerusalem, and I'd been so hoping to read something just like it in this book