September SFF Kit - International SFF (non-US/UK)

Welcome to the September SFF Kit - sorry it's so late, and thanks for the offers of help! My bionic knee (lol) has been causing me problems lately, but hopefully I'm on the mend now!

There are some absolutely wonderful SFF authors out there and this is the month to widen your horizons. Every non-US/UK SFF author that I have read made an impact on me and I look forward to who you introduce me to in September!

Here are a few links for your perusal in finding your next great SFF read:

http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-non-english-fantasy-books
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/23-best-non-english-science-fiction-books/
https://www.tor.com/2014/11/10/favorite-science-fiction-a-fantasy-in-translation...
https://www.sfintranslation.com/?page_id=5705

These are the last few I read:

Crossfire - kind of a Japanese Firestarter.
Slan, by Canadian author van Vogt, is about a human-related psychic race struggling to survive.
Return From the Stars, by Polish author Stanislaw Lem, describes what it's like to come back to earth when the world has changed so much.
Station Eleven, by Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel, is timely (!) - about the aftermath of a flu pandemic and a traveling orchestra.
Inter Ice Age 4, published in 1959 by Japanese author Kobo Abe, is quite prophetic for its time, describing a world with rising sea levels, and what some would do to survive in the new world.
Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, by Spanish author Manel Loureiro - zombies!
1Q84, by Haruki Murakami, is a world-bending piece of speculative fiction.
Metro 2033, featured on more than one of the above lists, is about a gruesome post-nuclear world, taking place in the Moscow metro system.

I'm planning to read Loups-Garous by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, which has been on my pile for a while now.

What are you planning to read? And don't forget to update the wiki.

Thank you!

I don't think I have any SciFi on my shelves that will fit this challenge, so I'll have to go looking elsewhere...

I didn't realise A. E. Van Vogt was Canadian. Slan is in my virtual TBR pile. I was wondering whether I did actually have anything for this category which I hadn't already read, so that's a bit of a relief.

Station Eleven is my book club's choice for October, so I might read it early.

I am going to be reading Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro for both the SFFFKit and ScaredyKit. I am also hoping to fit in The Last Wish by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.

This might be too much of a stretch, but I was thinking of reading Zen Cho's The True Queen. Cho is Malaysian and was born in that country, but she lives in the UK now, and I believe the book is set mostly in England.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart...the book is set in a fantasy version of ancient China, but Hughart is an American author. Does "international SFF" refer to the setting or the author (or both)?

>5 christina_reads: My intention was that international referred to the author, so Zen Cho would work.

That being said, it's your category challenge, so choose what makes you happy!

Thanks for the intro! Metro 2033 has been on my wishlist for a while so it seems like an easy choice. I think my library also has the Russian edition so if I'm brave I might try to read a bit of the Russian text together with the French text. Although the bit of Russian I used to know is long gone it might be interesting (and how cool is it that my library has books in Russian?!)

>6 LisaMorr: Thanks for clarifying! :)

>7 chlorine: That is very cool and kudos to you to attempt that at all!

A couple of other sources for this month:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_science_fiction_and_fantasy_autho...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_science_fiction

The second link includes a list of notable Australian science fiction and fantasy writers and editors,

>10 LisaMorr: from the Australian list, I've had Moon-Dark by Patricia Wrightson on my wishlist for a while.

I loved The Dragon and the George when I read it, probably 40 years ago.

Ooooh, you've given me the perfect excuse to read a book by Guy Gavriel Kay (Canadian author). The one that I'll choose is Tigana because it's been on my shelf, unread, for far too long.

Concerning Australian fantasy I very heartily recommend Blood ties by Pamela Freeman (it's a trilogy).
It's fantasy that avoids all the clichés of the genre, very well written and well developed characters. I regret that it is not more popular.

>13 chlorine: I put it on my wishlist, will keep an eye out for it.

Addendum: I found it on Amazon for $1.99 USD. I'm not much for ebooks, but I'll give it a try.

I have completed both Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro and, The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and enjoyed both of them.

I just noticed it is already mid-September and I'm not ready with next month's challenge. I will get it posted in the next couple of days!

October thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/324425

finished A Brightness Long Ago Guy Gavriel Kay for Canadian author, Fantasy. I thought the story good, it is set back in the 1500s Italy and involves a lot of political intrigue, sexual content. It is my first book by the author.

Usurper of the Sun is a collection of 3 short stories from Japanese author Housuke Nojiri that were adapted into a novel to form a first contact story. Not a bad read but not really that good of one either and I won't be actively seeking further works from him to read in future.

Prinzessin Brambilla is a story by ETA Hoffmann who is counted among the grandfathers of fantastic literature. This is a good example of why.

I stretched the challenge to include The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. While Carrington was born and grew up in England, her adult life was spent mostly in Mexico, and the novel was originally published in French. For most of the story the fantastic elements are mere whispers; then in the last 15-20% the fantasy becomes full-blown. While I can't say I really understood what was going on, the narrator, 92-year-old Marian Leatherby, is a hoot. Her voice makes the story worth reading.

>18 Kristelh: Welcome to the worlds of Guy Gavriel Kay! I first read his Fionavar Tapestry trilogy back in the late 80's, and have enjoyed him immensely. I hope that you find other works of his to enjoy!

This past month I read The Map of Time and The Map of the Sky (by Felix J. Palma; narrated by James Langston)— the first two book’s in the Victoria Trilogia. I’ve waffled about including them for this challenge because while they were translated from Spanish, they are set in England and feature English characters. Palma uses H.G. Wells and his stories to create clever historical fantasy: There’s action, adventure, mystery, melodrama... Antarctic adventures, alien invasions, time travel... They also feature contemporary historical figures like Henry James, Bram Stoker and, Edgar Allen Poe as well as a host of literary references; but all of them are UK- and US-based! So, my solution to these international books that have succeeded in not feeling international is to mention them in this thread but not include them in the wiki. While technically they qualify, they don’t really fall into the spirit of the month’s challenge.

I read two that qualify here, The Lord of Stariel by A. J. Lancaster (New Zealand) and a book of early short stories by Terry Pratchett, The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and other Stories.

I just finished Zen Cho's The True Queen, with only a couple hours to spare! :) Fans of Sorcerer to the Crown should enjoy this follow-up as well: the perfect mix of Regency England and magic! And Cho brilliantly imitates that 19th-century writing style.

In case anyone missed it, October's thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/324425

Well, Tigana was too long for me to get through in September, so I'll just keep reading it through the year and instead zip over to October's thread.