Translated into English by Dimitra Nikolaidou, Vaya Pseftaki and Stephanie Polakis

Short Stories by: Vasso Christou, Kostas Charitos, Ioanna Bourazopoulou, Michalis Manolios, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Kelly Theodorakopoulou, Eugenia Triantafyllou, Lina Theodorou, Dimitra Nikolaidou, Natalia Theodoridou and Stamatis Stamatopoulos.

Nova Hellas: Stories from Future Greece edited by Francesca T Barbini and Francesco Verso

The stories in Nova Hellas take us on a dystopian, harsh journey. Yet their protagonists are resilient, cunning and resourceful; they thrive, not only survive.

In doing so, they reflect both the history of Greece itself, always surviving and rebuilding, always claiming a better tomorrow – and, perhaps, to a smaller degree, the stubbornness of Greek science fiction, which insisted on thriving in adverse circumstances and against much opposition.

CURATOR'S NOTE

Francesco Verso has been tireless in his promotion of international SF, as have Francesca Barbini and Luna Press. Here we get a rare glimpse into Greek science fiction! – Lavie Tidhar

 

REVIEWS

  • "Often underwater, sometimes entirely virtual, facing calamities from austerity to beepocalypse, near future Greece comes to life in these stories. Forget everything you learned in school, on vacation, or from the faded memories of your immigrant γιαγιά. Λοιπόν, this is the real deal."

    – Nick Mamatas, author of The Planetbreaker's Son and The Second Shooter

  • "A fantastic example of recent developments in international Science Fiction. I'm always glad of the opportunity to read some non-anglophone SF and enjoy both the differences brought about by a different language and culture and also the similarities of the cross-cultural SF milieu."

    – Read the full review on SFCrowsnest

  • "I was really impressed with this collection and its variety and the approach used by the authors. There is also a great introduction to the history of the Greek SF scene in the introduction by Dimitra Nikolaidou. This is science fiction with bite and a very social political focus to make the reader consider the issues raised. Knowing recent Greek history, it is not too hard to see why the future feels both bleak and unpredictable but throughout the tales it is about people finding a way through a problem – perhaps not unchanged but making do. I would highly recommend this to science fiction fans and a reminder that SF crosses more boundaries than just outer space."

    – Runalong the Shelves
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Excerpt from the Introduction to the anthology: by Dimitra Nikolaidou

What makes this book uniquely Greek? […] Can we claim that Greek science fiction has already found a voice of its own?

The answer came to us as we were translating many of the stories from Greek to English, and quickly noticed a pattern. Given our turbulent history, and the fact that a2525 was written during a harsh economic crisis, it comes as no surprise that most authors within have imagined a rather dystopian future, and envisioned harsh times to come. And yet, as pessimistic as these visions of the future might be, their protagonists turn out to be remarkably resilient. Cunning and resourceful, they decide to not only survive but thrive, no matter the circumstances. They stealthily make the stories optimistic through sheer will, almost stubbornly working against the pessimistic visions of their own creators. In doing so, they reflect both the history of Greece itself, always surviving and rebuilding, always claiming a better tomorrow – and, perhaps, to a smaller degree, the stubbornness of Greek science fiction, which insisted on thriving in adverse circumstances and against much opposition (be that military dictators or dismissive critics). As such, this anthology emerges as a portrait not only of a future, imaginary Greece, but as the depiction of a continuous rebirth process, burning bright even as it deceptively casts itself in shadows.