Spanish Association for Fantasy,
Science Fiction and Terror
Espora
The Newszine of Spanish Science Fiction and Fantasy
Espora #1
October 1998 - October 1999A publication from the Spanish Association for Science Fiction
and Fantasy (AEFCF).
Publisher: AEFCF
Editor: Luis G. Prado
Staff: Jesús Mañoso, Rafael Marín, Antonio Rivas, Javier Romero, Alejandro Salamanca, Alejandro Vidal, Mariano Villarreal.
INDEX
A Foreword by the President of the AEFCFConventions and Exhibitions
Awards
Publications
Other Activities
Sources
A FOREWORD BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE AEFCF
Dear friends,
Some years ago, I started a small project called Pertinax, in order to get in contact with SF fans all over the world. As in many other similar free-time activities, I gradually gave it up due to my obligations.
Fate has played with me: now I am the president of the Spanish
Association for Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Im adressing you,
especially those of you who were kind enough to answer to my mailings in
that old time of Pertinax.
Espora might be the second part, if it were not for the fact that it is
a completely different idea: it has sensible people behind it and, with
Internet, a safer way to reach you.
My request is that you have a look at this Espora. May this be the
beginning of an old friendship.
Héctor Ramos
The 17th Spanish Convention of Fantasy and Science Fiction, or HispaCon,
organized by the Galician Science Fiction Society (AGASF) and the Spanish
Association for Science Fiction and Fantasy (AEFCF) was held at Santiago de
Compostela (La Coruña) from the 29th October to the 1st November 1999. In
the opinion of those who attended, it was one of the best conventions of
the last few years.
http://web.usc.es/~cp39jlpc/Agasf/agasf.html
http://www.aefcf.es/hc99.htm
Some photos from the event:
http://www.drimar.com/fotos.htm
http://qoweb.usc.es/cf/jcc/novas/hispacon/imaxe1.html
http://www.gorinkai.com/fandom/hcon99/
http://www.bemmag.com/hispacon99/general.html
At the same site of the HispaCon there took place the AznarCon, a small
celebration of a series of Spanish sf novels (known as the Aznars saga)
from the 1950s.
http://www.ciencia-ficcion.com/ghwhite/aznarcon/1999
The 2nd Espatrek (Spanish Star Trek Convention) was held at Cartagena
(Murcia) between the 24th and the 26th September 1999. Activities consisted
mostly of games and shows.
http://web.jet.es/eloso/programa.html
"The monsterīs smile" is the name of the exhibition that can be visited
between the 30th September 1999 and the 10th January 2000 at the
Contemporary Culture Centre in Barcelona. It consists of ten displays
showing visitors the nature and mechanism of terror. The exhibit is
complemented with some cinema showings.
The 5th EstelCon (convention of the Spanish Tolkien Society, STE) was held
at Landete (Cuenca) between the 5th and the 8th August 1999. Activities
consisted mainly on readings, lectures and singing.
Fictions: For the fourth year in a row, the Culture Council of Cartagena (Murcia)
organized through its network of Public Libraries the exhibition on
fantastic literature Ficciones (Fictions), this time on the subject of
shipwrecks. This exhibition closed the 16th April 1999.
Until the 28th March 1999, the Catalonian Society for Science Fiction and
Fantasy (SCCFF) and the Catalonian Writers Association organized an
exhibition on sf books in catalan published between 1877 and 1977. Since
the 1st July 1999 the exhibition passed on to the Public Library of Lérida.
The Culture Board of Mataró (Barcelona) and the Catalonian Society for
Science Fiction and Fantasy (SCCFF) held the 3rd Congress of Science
Fiction and Fantasy in Mataró between the 11th and the 12th December 1998.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7461/pedrolo.htm
The 4th EstelCon (convention of the STE) took place at Sabadell (Barcelona)
between the 5th and 6th December 1998. Activities included lectures, puppet
theatre, readings, elfic languages workshops...
http://usuarios.intercom.es/nacpb/eventos.htm
16th HispaCon: Between the 9th and the 12th October 1998 the 16th HispaCon (Spanish
Convention of Fantasy and Science Fiction) was held at Burjassot (Valencia)
for the third time (the two others were in 1994 and 1996). In the course of
the convention different exhibitions and lectures took place, including a
long-distance chat with British author Arthur C. Clarke.
The 1st Espatrek (Spanish Star Trek Convention) took place in Alicante
between the 24th and the 26th september 1998. It was organized by the local
Alicante and Southeastern clubs, helped by the clubs from Madrid and
Catalonia. Attendants enjoyed a wide array of activities, including
lectures, videos, puppet theatre and costume contests.
http://web.jet.es/eloso/programa.html
The 1999 Alberto Magno long story contest, organized by the Pais Vasco
University (UPV), was won by "Bajando" by Ramón Muñoz (500.000 pta.; EU
3.005, US $ 3.125).
Ignotus awards: During the HispaCon 1999 official dinner at Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña), the Spanish Association for Science Fiction and Fantasy (AEFCF) awarded the 1999 Ignotus awards in their different categories to the following works:
Best Spanish novel: "La locura de Dios", by Juan Miguel Aguilera (Nova, Eds. B).
Best Spanish novella: "La máquina de Pymblikot", by Daniel Mares (Nova, Eds. B).
Best Spanish story: "El decimoquinto movimiento", by César Mallorquí (Gigamesh).
Best foreign novel: "Paz interminable", by Joe Haldeman (Nova, Eds. B).
Best foreign story: "Por qué el mundo no terminó el martes pasado", by Connie Willis (BEM).
Best Spanish non-fiction book: "Rumbo al infinito", by Pablo Herranz (Midons).
Best essay: "Las colecciones de ciencia ficción", by Julián Díez (Gigamesh).
Best Spanish magazine: Gigamesh (Alejo Cuervo ed.)
Best Spanish illustration: cover from "La locura de Dios", by Rafael Fontériz (Nova, Eds.B).
Best Audio-visual work: "El milagro de P. Tinto" (film) by J. Fesser.
The AEFCF also awarded its special Gabriel award for substantial
achievement in the sf field to Francisco Porrúa, editor of Minotauro.
http://www.aefcf.es/premios.htm
Other awards were made public at the same dinner:
The 9th Domingo Santos short story contest, traditionally organized along
with the HispaCon, was won by "D de destructor", by Ramón Muñoz, who
received the 100.000 pta. (EU 601, US $ 625) prize.
Gigamesh awards to the best works of 1998, organized by the magazine of the same name:
Best science fiction novel: "El descenso de Endymion", by Dan Simmons (Nova, Eds. B), and "Ciudad Permutación", by Greg Egan (Nova, Eds. B).
Best sf story: "Bebé cerebro", by Greg Egan (Gigamesh).
Best fantasy novel: "El ticket que explotó", by William Burroughs (Minotauro).
Best fantasy anthology: "El vigilante de la salamandra", by Félix J. Palma (Pre-Textos).
Best fantasy story: "Reflejos", by Félix J. Palma (Pre-Textos) and "Las criaturas de mi imaginación" by Ursula K. LeGuin (Minotauro).
Best collection: Nova (Eds. B).
Best fanzine: BEM (Interface).
Honorary Gigamesh awards: to Juan José Aroz for his amateur collection
Espiral CF, and to Artifex Eds. for gathering the "Tierra Vaga" stories by
Enrique Lázaro.
Alfredo Benitez honorary award to the best Spanish essay of 1998:
"Historia y ciencia ficción", by Juan José Sánchez Arreseigor (BEM).
http://www.gigamesh.com/premios.html
In the course of the 1999 EstelCon, the Gandalf short story contest prize
was awarded to "La marcha de los Laiquendi", by Ricard Valdivieso. The
Galdalf contest, now in its fifth edition, is awarded to stories featuring
characters from Tolkienīs work.
The Juli Verne contest for Catalonian novellas has been suspended by lack
of sponsorship. The 1998 prize was awarded to Miquel Barceló and Pedro
Jorge Romero for "Testimoni de Narom" during the last Literary Night in
Andorra (12th November 1998).
The 1999 short story contest of the Pais Vasco University was won, for the
third year in a row, by Félix J. Palma with his story "Instrucciones para
cambiar el mundo". Palma has already sold the story to Círculo de Lectores,
a book club, to be published along with a novel by Spanish writer Alberto
Vázquez Figeroa.
The 1998 short story contest organized by the País Vasco University was won
by "Reflejos", by Félix J. Palma, and "Tarot", by Rodolfo Martínez, who
received a prize of 200.000 ptas. (EU 1.200, US $ 1.250) each.
The 1998 Ignotus awards of the AEFCF were announced in the HispaCon at Burjassot (Valencia):
Best Spanish novel: "La mirada de las furias", by Javier Negrete (Nova, Eds. B).
Best Spanish novella: "Dar de comer al sediento...", Eduardo Gallego y Guillem Sánchez (Nova, Eds. B).
Best Spanish story: "Mi esposa, mi hija", by Domingo Santos (AEFCF).
Best foreign novel: "Marte verde", by Kim Stanley Robinson (Minotauro).
Best foreign story: "Timbuctú", by Carlos Gardini (BEM).
Best Spanish non-fiction book: "La gran saga de los Aznar", by Pedro García Bilbao and Carlos Saiz Cidoncha
Best essay: "La primera etapa de las HispaCones", by Agustín Jaureguizar (BEM).
Best Spanish magazine: BEM (Interface)
Best Spanish illustration: cover from BEM 58.
Best Audio-visual work: "Abre los ojos" (film) by Alejandro Amenábar.
http://www.aefcf.es/premios.htm
The winner of the 8th Domingo Santos short story contest, awarded at
Burjassot (Valencia) during the 1998 HispaCon was "Palabras de silencio",
by Alejandro Vidal.
The 1998 Gigamesh awards were as follows:
Best science fiction novel: "Marte verde", by Kim Stanley Robinson (Minotauro), and "El cromosoma Calcuta", by Amitav Gosh (Anagrama).
Best sf story: "Polvo", by Greg Egan (Gigamesh).
Best fantasy story: "La torre de Babilonia", by Ted Chiang (Gigamesh)
Best collection: Nova (Eds. B).
Best fanzine: Ad Astra (Armando Boix and others), Artifex (Luis G. Prado)
and BEM (Interface).
http://www.gigamesh.com/premios.html
During the 16th HispaCon at Burjassot (Valencia), BEM magazine gave three
honorary awards for outstanding merits to the Internet chat forum
#cienciaficcion, to the organizers of the 1997 HispaCon (15th) at Mataró
(Barcelona) and to the AEFCF.
http://www.bemmag.com/mencio.htm
The winner of the 2nd Manuel de Pedrolo contest was announced during the
3rd Congress of Science Fiction and Fantasy at Mataró (Barcelona). The
contest awards short stories in catalan and has two categories: in the
secondary students category, the winner was "Paraules dīun temps vinent",
by Jordi Tena i Galindo, who got 50.000 pta. (EU 300, US $ 312); in the
open category, the first prize was declared void and a second prize was
awarded to "Imatges per encārrec", by Francesc Font, who got 75.000 pta.
(EU 450, US $ 468).
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7461/pedrolo.htm
The 1998 novella contest organized by the Politechnic University of
Catalonia (UPC) was won by "Block Universe", by Robert Sawyer (1.000.000
pta.; EU 6.010, US $ 6.250). An additional prize of 250.000 pta. (EU 1.502,
US $ 1.560) was shared between "Este relámpago, esta locura", by Rodolfo
Martínez, and "Gracos", by the Mexican writer Gabriel Trujillo. The
category reserved to members of the UPC was won by "Fuego sobre San Juan",
by Javier Sánchez-Reyes Fernández y Pedro García Bilbao. The contest
received 134 novellas in Spanish, English, French and Catalan, and the
winners have been published in a volume of the Nova collection, Eds. B.
http://www.upc.es/op/castella/cienciaficcion/1998/Edicion98.html
The 2nd contest of the Santiago de Compostela University (USC) was
announced on october 1998. It was won by "Perro de luz", by the Mexican
writer Gerardo Sifuentes Marín. Two consolation prizes were awarded to
"Triste conciencia", by Javier Lachica, and "Silverhawk 1994", by Celedonio
Fernández. A volumen containing the winners and finalists will be published
by the USC.
The 9th Pablo Rido short story contest was won by "Gómez Meseguer y el ogro
Santaolaya", by Daniel Mares (101.000 ptas.; EU 607, US $ 630). The story
and some of the finalists have been published in the Artifex fantasy
anthology.
http://www.arrakis.es/~jndro/prerido.htm
The 3rd Gigamesh essay contest was declared void. A second prize was
awarded to "Connie Willis: el arte de hacerlo fácil", by Fernando Jiménez
Manero. The essay will be published in Gigamesh magazine.
http://www.gigamesh.com/ensayogigamesh.html
The 1998 Alberto Magno long story contest, also organized by the Pais Vasco
University (UPV) was declared void. The second prize was awarded to
"Lilith, el juicio de la Gorgona y la Sonrisa de Salgari", by José Antonio
Cotrina (100.000 pta.; EU 601, US $ 625). The category for UPV members was
won by "El robot brindó con ellos", by Santiago García Albás (100.000 pta.;
EU 601, US $ 625).
Minotauro has published the book "La lengua de los elfos", by Luis González
Baixauli, ex-faneditor of Kenbeo Kenmaro. It contains a quenya grammar
(which the author prefers to spell "kwenya") and a Spanish-Quenya dictionary.
The publishing house La Factoría, which had published until recently only
role play games, has announced two new collections for fantasy and sf in
the near future. It will also publish a new genre magazine, Solaris, whose
appointed director is writer León Arsenal.
The Culture Council of Mataró has published a 96-page book with the winners
of the 1998 Manuel de Pedrolo award.
The Spanish Association for Fantasy and Science Fiction (AEFCF) is
currently publishing the Biblioteca Electrónica ("Electronic Library"), a
collection of diskettes containing hard to find works which has begun with
a series of turn-of-the-century Spanish sf novels. The BE is not sold but
sent free to AEFCF members. The titles published so far have been:
"El anacronópete", Enrique Gaspar
"El secreto de Lord Kitchener", Domingo Cirici Ventalló
"El amor dentro de 200 años", Alfonso Martínez Rizo
"El último héroe", Roque de Santillana
A new fantasy and sf collection appeared in 1999: Gigamesh, after the
magazine and Barcelona shop of the same name. The two first titles have
been "Cuarentena", by Greg Egan, and "Las puertas de Anubis", by Tim
Powers. Two new titles are scheduled for late november: "Lámpara de noche",
by Jack Vance, and a reprint of "Las estrellas mi destino", by Alfred Bester.
The mostly mainstream publishing house Plaza & Janés has begun a new
collection for the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. So far it has
published the first eight books in the series.
Last June a presentation of the reprint of "Retorn al sol", a classic
Catalonian novel by Josep Maria Francčs, took place in the Public Library
of Lérida. The first edition was published in 1936.
Writer and ex-faneditor from Asturias José Luis Rendueles has seen one of
his stories, "Un animal en tu estómago (una historia de amor)", translated
into Japanese in issue # 22 of the Japanese magazine Lunatic. The story had
originally been published in Spain by the AEFCF in the "Visiones 1996"
anthology.
Plaza & Janés has announced a new sf collection, Mundos Imaginarios,
selected by Marcial Souto. The first titles have been: "La fuente del
unicornio", by Theodore Sturgeon; "Laberinto de muerte", by Philip K. Dick,
"Trueque mental", by Robert Sheckey; "La ciudad", by Mario Levrero;
"Galaxias como granos de arena", by Brian W. Aldiss; and "En Įiron vuelan",
by Samuel R. Delany. Each book has an introduction by a leading Spanish or
foreing writer.
The amateur collection Espiral, directed by Juan José Aroz, has published
"Impactos en el tercer milenio", which includes short stories by the
authors who have appeared in the collection during its nearly six years in
business. Aroz has recently published "Un planeta llamado Ara", a novella
by Angel Torres Quesada, and "El nacimiento de BAAS", by Roberto Ruiz.
The Círculo de Lectores book club will reprint "El Jardín de los
Autómatas", an award-winning novel by Armando Boix that had appeared
previously in the Gran Angular of the publishing house SM.
http://www.circulolectores.es/
The literary suplement of El Pais, a leading Spanish newspaper, ran a
review of the new book by Félix J. Palma, "Métodos de supervivencia",
containing twelve stories, some of them previosly published in fanzines. It
was published by the Culture Council of Cádiz.
In the Narrativa ("Narrative") collection, Iralka publishing house has
included "Perro de la lluvia y otros cuentos", by Vicente Muñoz Álvarez.
The amateur collection Silente has published "Los hombres de Venus", a
recopilaton of novels by "George H. White" (Spanish writer Pascual
Enguídanos Usach) belonging to the famed Aznars saga. It has also reprinted
an essay on the series, "Viajes de los Aznar", by Carlos Saiz Cidoncha y
Pedro García Bilbao. Silente has also spawned a new collection, Silente
Fantasía, which has begun with the collected stories by Daniel Ferreras in
"Cuentos de la mano izquierda".
Alberto Santos Editor has published a book on "Terminator" by Lorenzo F. Díaz.
Martínez Roca has published a book by José Antonio Iniesta, "El enigma de
las siete luces".
Visor has published "Euro Rail", a novella by Eduardo Lampaya that won the
1st award to young art of the Comunidad de Madrid (autonomous region).
Plaza & Janés has published a new book by mostly mainstream writer Ray
Loriga, the cyberpunk novel "Tokio ya no nos quiere".
The amateur collection Artifex Serie Minor has published a novella by Félix
J. Palma, "El amante de vidrio".
The volume containing the winners of the 1998 UPC international novella
contest has been published in the sf collection Nova (Ediciones B).
http://www.edicionesb.es/edb/asp/frame.nova.asp?ID=3002
The poet Daniel Alcoba has published an sf novel in Minotauro: "La montaña
del origen".
T & B Editores has published an essay by Javier Cortijo on "Bela Lugosi.
Drácula vampirizado".
Cims S.L. has published in the collection Huella de Sangre the novel "El
abismo te devuelve la mirada", by Rodolfo Martínez. Although usually a
genre writer, Martínez mixes thriller and fantasy in this novel.
"Nox perpetua", a novel by Javier Negrete that had appeared in an amateur
collection, gets a reprint by SM publishing house.
Valdemar has published in its collection El club Diógenes eight previously
unpublished stories by Cristina Pérez Valverde and Mauricio Aguilera under
the title "Cuentos de la edad de oro".
The Noir Week festival organization in Gijón (Asturias) has published the
winners of the 1998 Pepsi novella grant, which were "Territorio de
pesadumbre", sf by Rodolfo Martínez, and "Qué raro que me llame Guadalupe",
noir genre by Myriam Laurini.
Francisco Bonal García has edited by himself his novel "Madriz hacia el 2022".
The AEFCF has published two anthologies in 1999: "Fabricantes de Sueños
1999", which reunites the eight best stories appeared in 1998, and
"Visiones 1999", with fifteen previously unpublished stories by new authors
chosen by Juan José Aroz.
The annual Assembly of the AEFCF was held on the 31st October 1999, at
Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña). It was the quietest and shortest of
assemblies in the last few years. Among other, decisions were taken to
accord the organization of the HispaCon 2000 to the Avalón group at Gijón
(Asturias) and postpone the planned convention at Zaragoza (Aragón) to
2001. A line of help to provide Cuban fans with books that are difficult to
to find in their country was also set up.
Information on the 18th HispaCon can be found at:
http://www.drimar.com/asturcon
After several years of hard work, Juan José Parera, ex-faneditor of the
1980s fanzine Máser, has take online his electronic enciclopaedia of
Spanish sf. Terminus-Trantor, as it is called, can be consulted freely in
the following address:
http://terminus-trantor.gramacom.org
The first general assembly of the Galician Association for Science Fiction
(AGASF) was held on the 11th March 1999.
A flood destroyed up to 600.000 pta.īs worth of books and magazines (EU
3.606, US $ 3.750) at the Gigamesh booksellers and game shop in Barcelona.
The remaining copies of the first issues of the magazine of the same name
were also destroyed.
The critic and writer Alfredo Benitez Gutiérrez died on the 30th November
1998 in a car accident in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). His friends from
Cádiz have set up a honorary award in his name to be accorded to a
significant Spanish essay, the field where Benítez himself stood out.
The writer Ignacio Romeo Pérez died on the 10th September 1999. Romeo was
one of the first Spanish sf authors to be published and appeared with
several stories in the 1970s and 1980s in the renowned magazine Nueva
Dimension. One of his short stories, "Gaziyel", was included in the
anthology "Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción española" ("The Best of Spanish
sf"). He was also the president of the now extint Asociación Antares, from
which one of the groups which was to shape the AEFCF came.
The AEFCF has made some changes to upgrade the associationīs web site. For
those who can read Spanish, the site is at:
The book "The Hacker Crackdown", by Bruce Sterling, which is freeware in
its electronic version, is now available in Spanish under the title "La
caza de hackers". The translation has been made by some thirty voluntaries
coordinated by Kriptópolis.com. The text is available in the following web
sites:
http://www.web.sitio.net/faq/textos/0046_hc_spa.txt
http://www.web.sitio.net/faq/textos/hc_spa_word97.zip [MS Word]
http://www.web.sitio.net/faq/textos/hc_spa.zip [TXT]
SOURCES AND OTHER INTERESTING SITES ON SPANISH SF:
http://www.aefcf.es
http://www.bemmag.com/
http://www.izar.net/~aroz/
http://www.silente.net/
http://web.jet.es/eloso/programa.html
http://qoweb.usc.es/cf/jcc/GalCF.html
http://193.144.76.38/agasf
http://www.arrakis.es/~jndro/terma.htm
http://usuarios.intercom.es/nacpb/frames.htm
http://www.drimar.com/asturcon
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7461/
http://www.ciencia-ficcion.com/
http://www.cienciaficcion.org/
* The information contained in Espora is free for anyone to use, as long as
the newszine is mentioned as the source.
* Espora is a newszine distributed by mailing list. To join the list, go to http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/espora. Comments and suggestions should be sent to espora@aefcf.es.
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