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Prépare la paix - Anthologie humanitaire pour la paix
Prépare la paix est une anthologie humanitaire en faveur des migrants et autres exilés fuyant la guerre et les catastrophes climatiques. Nous la réalisons bénévolement en soutien à l’ONG SOS Méditerranée (tous les bénéfices lui seront reversés) avec l'aide d'une quinzaine d’écrivaines et écrivains, lesquels offrent leurs nouvelles issues de tous les imaginaires : récits merveilleux, prospectifs, utopistes, etc.
La littérature ne devrait pas fantasmer sur les conflits de demain pour les résoudre héroïquement en se drapant d’humanisme, car préparer une « guerre plus humaine » est un oxymore autant qu’une impasse pour la vie, nous avons donc décidé de prendre la plume pour préparer la paix.
La littérature ne devrait pas fantasmer sur les conflits de demain pour les résoudre héroïquement en se drapant d’humanisme, car préparer une « guerre plus humaine » est un oxymore autant qu’une impasse pour la vie, nous avons donc décidé de prendre la plume pour préparer la paix.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2022
2 people want to read
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April 4, 2025
Like the anthology SOS Terre & Mer (review), this one was crowdfunded for the good cause: "SOS Méditerranée". And when books are published for the good cause, it's a win-win situation, isn't it? The previous anthology was published in cooperation with Flatland, this time it's was just Les Moutons Électriques who set up the project. Unfortunately, Les Moutons Électriques had to close its books early in 2025, after 20.5 years, due to bankruptcy and despite some last efforts for a crowdfunding in 2024.
This anthology for the good cause, which features a few authors also having written a story for the previous one, was however never available for the large public, but only for the crowd-funders and perhaps via the publisher's website for those interested. Fourteen authors, most of which are unknown to me, were asked to provide a story, inline with the theme of peace. The result is quite diverse, although war and colonisation or conquests remain classic subjects.
It's a sober anthology, meaning just text, no description of the authors or their respective stories, ... Furthermore, and something I've been seeing a wee bit too much: a handful of typo's, sometimes a character (added via a keyboard, not the characters playing a role in the stories, though you need characters to create a story and characters to bring it to life - you get the gist) forgotten. And last but not least, another problem in (French) SFFF: abbreviations and acronyms not being explained or not enough. Does it require so much more work / is it more expensive / (another reason) to just add a little footnote with the full description and perhaps meaning?
Fourteen stories with the majority standing out, yet a handful of others which I didn't like or had a hard time "seeing" what they were about. Some stories were reprinted in the 2024 anthology Solarpunk: Vers des futurs radieux, by the same publisher. See the (*).
Contents :
Jayaprakash Satyamurth - Le Général Courgette et l'art de la guerre (transl. by Alice Ray)
Nice little story with cats instead of real weapons.
(*) Christine Luce - La Pluie coule entre nos doigts
Heavy style, not really suited for a story like this one, which is your typical colonisation story. Good, but the style is not adapted.
Patrick K. Dewdney - Causse
The second time I'm reading something by Mr Dewdney, the first time was 'Ascension' in the anthology Utopiales 2018. This one here belongs to the better stories. A story about invaders, about farm people vs village people (no, not those) and a potential war breaking out with one party (the farmers) refusing to use weapons. In the end, there is peace, but at what cost?
Ceryan Dau - Chacun sa part
One of the best stories here, style-wise and story-wise. A focus on nature and using nature to help those in need.
Christophe Gros-Dubois - Pièce du boucher
Another story I liked. A war between the USA and China. The US government seeking new soldiers, recruting them in the lower layers of society, promising heaven and riches, but reality will be different. A story about honesty, authoritarian regimes, and ultimately revenge. What goes around comes around.
Sushina Lagouje - C'était mieux avant !
A time-travel story. A depressed worker needs a new impulse, a new push to enjoy life. He's quite conservative, doesn't like modern times, longs back to the "good old times" of the 1990s. But were those times really better or do we romanticise about the past? Are our memories so distorted that we only remember the good moments or imagine there were only good moments? That society was more honest, more forgiving, etc. Our character will find out the hard way, though with modern means. A story that questions our memories, our longing for past times.
Camille Leboulanger - La Générale
This is the second story by Camille Leboulanger that I've read (the first was his novel Le Chien du forgeron). It's about the murder on French socialist Jean Jaurès (Wikipedia). Chock-full of historical elements and very well written. Probably the best story here.
Nelly CHADOUR - Le Cinquième monde
A Viking-inspired story? This was a tough one and hard to sympathise with the characters.
(*) Olav KOULIKOV - Nulle part et en Crimée
Russia vs Ukraine, the war in Crimea serving as basis or inspiration for this story, also among the best in this anthology. A journalist from a small, English newspaper wants to document the war and see with his own eyes what's going on. Via-via such a voyage would be possible, and of course not for the real purpose, but to write a book on the touristic side, the fauna and flora, etc. So, a cover-up. The story's set in the future. England and Russia rule Europe together. Now, Crimea, is there a war going on or not? Are the bombings real, despite indications of the contrary?
Bénédicte Ccoudière - Pour la paix
A short story, truly. But very unclear and incomplete to me. I had no idea what was going on.
Ariel Holzl - Les Royaumes immobiles
Another good story, all in all. Two kingdoms going down, yet the children remain and inherit something they have to rebuild. Each is very protective of one's own kingdom in their respective ways. However, even next to their kingdoms, not much is left. To have a kingdom, one needs subordinates, a people. And so, after some "serious" playing and some ruses, one thing leads to another. And it seems this one is related to Holzl's duology 'Les Royaumes immobiles'.
Elisabeth Ebory - 2095
I've read only two stories by Elisabeth Ebory: La Fée, la pie et le printemps and the related short story Fichu chaudron. The novel was a success, the short story not, though. This new story is all right, all in all. It's about Treaty of Québec for world peace. As it goes with treaties, there is a referendum and people opposing the treaty and people for it. It felt a bit like the situation with Greta Thunberg somehow, perhaps Ms Ebory was inspired by the whole commotion and wrote this story.
Vincent Mondiot - Lazad
A story about spatial colonisation, a supposedly war breaking out between humans and local aliens, but not really, more like a white lie, so to speak. All in all, entertaining, but nothing more.
(*) Basile Cendre - La Gueule sans crocs
I had as good as no clue about what was going on. This one needs more background information. I'd say, it's a story involving children, probably surviving in a dystopian environment, and then one of the gets lost and a search party is set up with telepathic dogs.
This anthology for the good cause, which features a few authors also having written a story for the previous one, was however never available for the large public, but only for the crowd-funders and perhaps via the publisher's website for those interested. Fourteen authors, most of which are unknown to me, were asked to provide a story, inline with the theme of peace. The result is quite diverse, although war and colonisation or conquests remain classic subjects.
It's a sober anthology, meaning just text, no description of the authors or their respective stories, ... Furthermore, and something I've been seeing a wee bit too much: a handful of typo's, sometimes a character (added via a keyboard, not the characters playing a role in the stories, though you need characters to create a story and characters to bring it to life - you get the gist) forgotten. And last but not least, another problem in (French) SFFF: abbreviations and acronyms not being explained or not enough. Does it require so much more work / is it more expensive / (another reason) to just add a little footnote with the full description and perhaps meaning?
Fourteen stories with the majority standing out, yet a handful of others which I didn't like or had a hard time "seeing" what they were about. Some stories were reprinted in the 2024 anthology Solarpunk: Vers des futurs radieux, by the same publisher. See the (*).
Contents :
Jayaprakash Satyamurth - Le Général Courgette et l'art de la guerre (transl. by Alice Ray)
Nice little story with cats instead of real weapons.
(*) Christine Luce - La Pluie coule entre nos doigts
Heavy style, not really suited for a story like this one, which is your typical colonisation story. Good, but the style is not adapted.
Patrick K. Dewdney - Causse
The second time I'm reading something by Mr Dewdney, the first time was 'Ascension' in the anthology Utopiales 2018. This one here belongs to the better stories. A story about invaders, about farm people vs village people (no, not those) and a potential war breaking out with one party (the farmers) refusing to use weapons. In the end, there is peace, but at what cost?
Ceryan Dau - Chacun sa part
One of the best stories here, style-wise and story-wise. A focus on nature and using nature to help those in need.
Christophe Gros-Dubois - Pièce du boucher
Another story I liked. A war between the USA and China. The US government seeking new soldiers, recruting them in the lower layers of society, promising heaven and riches, but reality will be different. A story about honesty, authoritarian regimes, and ultimately revenge. What goes around comes around.
Sushina Lagouje - C'était mieux avant !
A time-travel story. A depressed worker needs a new impulse, a new push to enjoy life. He's quite conservative, doesn't like modern times, longs back to the "good old times" of the 1990s. But were those times really better or do we romanticise about the past? Are our memories so distorted that we only remember the good moments or imagine there were only good moments? That society was more honest, more forgiving, etc. Our character will find out the hard way, though with modern means. A story that questions our memories, our longing for past times.
Camille Leboulanger - La Générale
This is the second story by Camille Leboulanger that I've read (the first was his novel Le Chien du forgeron). It's about the murder on French socialist Jean Jaurès (Wikipedia). Chock-full of historical elements and very well written. Probably the best story here.
Nelly CHADOUR - Le Cinquième monde
A Viking-inspired story? This was a tough one and hard to sympathise with the characters.
(*) Olav KOULIKOV - Nulle part et en Crimée
Russia vs Ukraine, the war in Crimea serving as basis or inspiration for this story, also among the best in this anthology. A journalist from a small, English newspaper wants to document the war and see with his own eyes what's going on. Via-via such a voyage would be possible, and of course not for the real purpose, but to write a book on the touristic side, the fauna and flora, etc. So, a cover-up. The story's set in the future. England and Russia rule Europe together. Now, Crimea, is there a war going on or not? Are the bombings real, despite indications of the contrary?
Bénédicte Ccoudière - Pour la paix
A short story, truly. But very unclear and incomplete to me. I had no idea what was going on.
Ariel Holzl - Les Royaumes immobiles
Another good story, all in all. Two kingdoms going down, yet the children remain and inherit something they have to rebuild. Each is very protective of one's own kingdom in their respective ways. However, even next to their kingdoms, not much is left. To have a kingdom, one needs subordinates, a people. And so, after some "serious" playing and some ruses, one thing leads to another. And it seems this one is related to Holzl's duology 'Les Royaumes immobiles'.
Elisabeth Ebory - 2095
I've read only two stories by Elisabeth Ebory: La Fée, la pie et le printemps and the related short story Fichu chaudron. The novel was a success, the short story not, though. This new story is all right, all in all. It's about Treaty of Québec for world peace. As it goes with treaties, there is a referendum and people opposing the treaty and people for it. It felt a bit like the situation with Greta Thunberg somehow, perhaps Ms Ebory was inspired by the whole commotion and wrote this story.
Vincent Mondiot - Lazad
A story about spatial colonisation, a supposedly war breaking out between humans and local aliens, but not really, more like a white lie, so to speak. All in all, entertaining, but nothing more.
(*) Basile Cendre - La Gueule sans crocs
I had as good as no clue about what was going on. This one needs more background information. I'd say, it's a story involving children, probably surviving in a dystopian environment, and then one of the gets lost and a search party is set up with telepathic dogs.
Displaying 1 of 1 review