iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 11m

So France loved Barjavel, Americans were either meh about him or loathed his stuff...? What was it the French loved but the Americans didn't? The plot? The style? #SFinTranslation

static.klipy.com

Igotstoknow Barney

ALT: Igotstoknow Barney

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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 21m

Just dug my copy of this one out of a box. "France's #1 Best Selling Novel !" 🙂

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 5h

I'd love to talk to someone who knows a lot about what French SF was like in France in the 1960s and 70s. Apparently Barbet and Barjavel were really popular?

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arn @arn99.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just finished 'The last children of Tokyo' by Yoko Tawada, translation by Margaret Mitsutani. Interesting book, only 130 pages, wish it was longer, beautifully written account of how a future isolationist Japan is coping with contamination of land, food and people 1/2 #booksky #SF #SFinTranslation

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Daniel Cottam @litbystraylight.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I've been asking my browser to translate some old Interkom articles from Czech -> English. Very useful! But also a reminder of the value of human translators. Here is Eva Hauserová reviewing her own collection. (Předběžná autorecenze = "Preliminary Self Review") #sfintranslation

The title and some truncated text from a Czech language article re-hosted on Interkom's digital archive.

A machine translation into English of the Title and some truncated text from digital archive of an old Interkom article. The title displays an apparent mis-translation, displaying "Preliminary car review" instead of the more contextually correct "Prelminary self review".

In Czech, auto can translate to self or car, as in English.

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 6h

Reviews of #SFinTranslation should always always always include the name of the translator, especially in the very beginning.

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SF Encyclopedia @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

This week's new SFE entries are here: sf-encyclopedia.com/whatsnew.php - with A J Ashworth, Abi Curtis, Hernan Diaz, Pippa Goldschmidt, Sarah J Groenewegen, Alexandra Grunberg, Munir Hachemi, MJ Maloney, Jessy Randall and Glenn Yeffeth ... [tbc]

'Superargo and the Faceless Giants' poster

'Superargo and the Faceless Giants' screenshot

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KDS 📖 🎲 🎮 @kdsbooks.bsky.social · 18h

My second Korean read is a near-perfect cosmic horror. Inspired by Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu, Shadow Over Innsmouth and others; this is a beautifully written and atmospheric novella of otherworldly horror, grief, isolation, pandemic fears and eventually paranoia. #Booksky 🩸📚💙 #SFinTranslation

A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young and translated by Sophie Bowman

Cover shows a Rocky Mountain with houses in the slopes surrounded by piles of rotting fish

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 19h

"Claws and Savages" by Martin Stokes- a wealthy man who hunts an endangered species on another planet and sells its claws as medicine becomes the prey himself

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Not enough #SFinTranslation store.gollancz.co.uk/collections/...

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KDS 📖 🎲 🎮 @kdsbooks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

#Bookmail Last week I received a translated gothic horror novel from an Argentinian author and a twist on the the Jekyll and Hyde story. Today I received a Japanese Scifi from the 90s as the latest SF Masterwork. Paprika by Yasutaka Tsustui, transl by Helen O’Horan #Booksky #SFinTranslation 🪐📚💙

The Eye of the Goliath by Diego Muzzio, translation by Rahul Bery. Cover does a hand rising from red water

Paprika in the SF masterworks shows an abstract picture of a face

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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Still unboxing and shelving (and not finding room for ...) books, so of course ... could ... not ... resist .... some used-book-acquiring to start the week. Hey, they're all compact (i.e. not even trade-size) paperbacks, so it's okay, right ?

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Is it me or is spell check/editing on the computer on a whole new level of obnoxiousness now?

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Writing this piece about my apocalyptic personality is...so cathartic. I'm sorry, "apocaloptomist" personality! (thanks, @feralharp.bsky.social!)

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Makes a lot of sense that I'm drawn to speculative fiction, esp of the apocalyptic variety. I've realized, after much reflection, that I have an apocalyptic mindset at all times. This must be why I'm a nervous wreck all the time. Those alien invasion tv shows and movies when I was a kid didn't help.

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Lavie Tidhar @lavietidhar.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Huh. I'd be tempted to go to this, if only to be the annoying person in the audience going BUT WHAT ABOUT NOON: 22ND CENTURY.

pushkinhouse.org

Rediscovering the Strugatsky Brothers: A talk with Mark Bould and Adam Roberts

Talk: Rediscovering the Strugatsky Brothers: A talk with Mark Bould and Adam Roberts

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SF Encyclopedia @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Jacques Sternberg sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sternb... died on this day, so here are some of his book covers (artist: [couldn't identify], Jean Gourmelin, Liliane Carimissimi and Jacques Sternberg)

The cover for Jacques Sternberg's "Histoires à dormir sans vous"

The cover for the Jacques Sternberg edited "la mechancete"

The cover for Jacques Sternberg's "Toi, ma nuit"

The covers for "La Géométrie dans l'impossible" edited by Jacques Sternberg

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Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

NEW PODCAST ALERT! Critical Friends Episode 28: On Literary SFF! Ryan Elliott and Roseanna Pendlebury have recently reviewed some works on the Booker Prize shortlist, so they join Dan Hartland to discuss literary SFF. What is it and what is it good for? Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

Critical Friends
The Strange Horizons SF/F Criticism Podcast

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Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

The reviews are in! Dooneen by Keith Ridgway reviewed by Paul Kincaid Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

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KDS 📖 🎲 🎮 @kdsbooks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

My order of Horde of the Counterwind has been dispatched! Evri: We have your parcel

static.klipy.com

Sad Orangeman Cartoon

Alt: Zapp Brannigan walking away slowly crying

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

OOOOOOOFFFF Kirkus ripped that Barjavel novel to shreds didn't they🫣

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ANMLY @anmlymag.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

new issue drops tuesday! catch up 🌀☄️

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Please check a reliable source re urban wildlife. If you see, for example, a "baby" opossum and think it has been abandoned, just know that unless it is really tiny--less than 7 or 8 inches long-- the baby is old enough to forage by itself and no intervention is needed.

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Publisher Spotlight: Black Coat Press www.sfintranslation.com?p=17796 French #SFinTranslation

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Ok, so I'm about 80 pages in and no sign yet of giant insects. Isn't this supposed to be French #SFinTranslation from the 1960s? So where are the giant, terrifying insects? Did Barjavel just not get the memo? 😆

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Barjavel really knows how to manipulate the reader- the building-up of suspense at several points (and just in the first 50 pages!) borders on the ridiculous if it wasn't so effective. When the scientists start defrosting one of the nearly-million-year-old people found in the South Pole, we're told

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Essay: Fanzines and World SF: www.sfintranslation.com?p=17777 #SFinTranslation #worldsf

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The #SFinTranslation on the list includes: - The School of Night, Karl Ove Knausgård, tr. Martin Aitken - Centroeuropa, Vicente Luis Mora, tr. Rahul Bery - Night of a Thousand Hells, Intan Paramaditha, tr. Stephen Epstein & Tiffany Tsao - Pure Men, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, tr. Lara Vergnaud

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Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

We promised you regular new reviews of older SFF - and here’s the first of many! Paul March-Russell on 1956’s Tiger! Tiger! (or The Stars My Destination, depending who you ask) by Alfred Bester: a picaresque, a revenge tragedy, a quest, a romance. Edited, of course, by @kateem.bsky.social.

strangehorizons.com

The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester

It does not have a conventional linear narrative, but instead proceeds episodically, loops back almost to its starting-point, and finishes not on a revelation but a suspension.

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Joachim Boaz @joachimboaz.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

“...and by now these daring adventurers must be well into space, on their way to exciting discoveries in our vast solar system...” Bill Reid's cartoon in Imaginative Tales (March 1956) #scifi #sciencefiction

Three adventurers repair their crashed spaceship. There are cacti and a desert expanse behind them.

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American Literary Translators Association @littranslate.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Fans of haunting and fear might want to get started on spooky reads sooner rather than later. Lauren Sands’ Substack unfurls a long list of gothic literature for your enjoyment, including translations from ALTA members Susan Bernofsky, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, David McKay, and more. buff.ly/Cji7HOZ

buff.ly

A Gothic Autumn Reading List

Over 50 Gothic novels spanning 250 years and from 14 different countries for the spooky season!

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I love this from @nplusonemag.com www.nplusonemag.com/issue-54/the...

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Was just talking to someone about the power surging through my fingers as the editor of a magazine and I think I might have scared them when I did this:

static.klipy.com

Mr Burns

ALT: Mr Burns

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Me: I just read a book about robot aliens kidnapping some of Napoleon's soldiers and making them fight another alien species. 80yo mom: I have 2 questions. Me: only two?!?

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Was going to skip The Ice People on my French #SFinTranslation list because I increasingly dislike reading on a screen but...I think I'm gonna do it. Barjavel has a seemingly good reputation (apparently his stuff is really depressing?).

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Luna Monthly and the World SF Newsletter are Small Planet's Grandma and Grandpa. Shards of Babel is SP's fun aunt and the World SF Blog is SP's mom. #SFinTranslation

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Jessica Rose Sanford 🏳️‍⚧️ @jess6k.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Idk if you've heard but we're kind of a big deal

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

#SFinTranslation trivia: Rene Barjavel's La Nuit des Temps (1968) was translated into English by Charles Lam Markmann as The Ice People (1970). French #SFinTranslation www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

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Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

📚 NEW PODCAST EP 📚 In the wake of the @thebookerprizes.com shortlisting both M John Harrison and Rebecca Perry, is it time to ask (again) what relationship exists between the literary and the speculative? Yes. Yes, it is time. @chloroformtea.bsky.social and Ryan Elliott join me to do that (again).

strangehorizons.com

Critical Friends Episode 28: On Literary SFF

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons criticism podcast, Dan Hartland is joined by Ryan Elliot and Rosanna Pendlebury, to ask questions about literary SFF. What is it? How do we…

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"Luna readers may find [Barbet's] Games [Psyborgs Play] so fertile in ideas and adventures that they won't be bothered by its prose."- Marc Purcell in Luna Monthly, Nov 1974. In others words, it's bad bad bad.

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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The ending was too short and hurried and, if expanded to replace the long desert of the middle of the book, could've made something really good out of this story.

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