Espora
The Newszine of Spanish Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Espora #5 - #6

Brief Articles
Conventions and Exhibitions
Awards
Publications
Other Activities
Sources

BRIEF ARTICLES
 

JOAN PERUCHO During the celebration of the XXth Hispacón in Barcelona, Joan Perucho was awarded the Gabriel Award 2002 for his life's work. The AEFCF, who presents this award, wanted to honour an author whose work is written mainly in Catalan and whose preferred genre is the erudite fantasy. Joan Perucho, whose age did not allow to come personally to get his award, declared that he was very pleased and that he had always preferred fantasy to reality. Some weeks later the Ministry of Culture granted him the prestigious award Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas 2002 (National Spanish Literature Award 2002.

Joan Perucho, a writer translated to more than ten languages, is one of the six authors in Catalan language that has been included in Harold Bloom's canon of western Literature. This tells us the quality of his unique and singular work beyond fashions and currents. Perucho's style, full of erudition, has been compared to Borges style. Its main technique is the cultured digression and the erudite joke that intermingle real and imagined characters creating a new mythology in which it is difficult to distinguish fiction from reality.

Perucho was born in Barcelona in 1920, where he followed a career in the judicature. He alternated this career with collaborations for the newspapers and his work as an art critic. His first published work was a book of poems titled Sota la Sang in 1947. In 1950 he published a book on Lovecraft's technique, titled Amb la tecnica de Lovercraft, which shows his early interest for this writer. In 1960 he publishes one of his most emblematic woks, Les històries naturals (Natural History), where he describes the rampage of a vampire through the Maestrazgo during one of the succession wars that took place during the reign of Isabel II in Spain. The novel is a kind of fantastic variation of the actual history full of a Mediterranean ironic sense of humour. These wars will appear again in another of his novels, Pamela, where a strange monster excavates galleries. In his novel La guerra de la Contxintxina, he creates a very peculiar version of the pterodactyl found in Conan Doyle's The lost World. In his novel Les aventures del cavaller Kosmas he creates a poetic fantasy with a Byzantium full of metallic birds. Nevertheless the intellectual game predominates in his work, as in Monstruari fantastic (1976) and Botánica Oculta (1969) written in Spanish. He was a booklover and owned a private collection of more than thirty thousand volumes, the central core of his work is formed by books like the Dietario apócrifo de Octvavio de Romeu, some of its chapter are: "El mundo de Picasso", "Antonio Casanova" or "Goya". There are also chapters titled "Los fantasmas", "La ciudad inexistente" or "Lo Gótico".

CONVENTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS
 

19th HispaCon (Spanish National SF and Fantasy Convention). To take place in Zaragoza (Aragón) under the name Salduba 2001 between the 27th and the 30th September. Please note the new contact addresses and web site:
jochu@ctv.es
sagacomic@jazzfree.com
http://www.aefcf.es/salduba/

On the 27th, 28th and 29th of November took place in the assembly hall of the Spanish Ministry of Culture the Second Meeting of Fantastic Literature. Fernando Savater was in charge of the inauguration ceremonies. There were many lecturers, some of them were: Origenes de la ciencia ficción en España by Agustín Jaureguízar, Conceptualización de lo fantástico by Juan Ignacio Ferreras or El panteón lovecraftiano y el terror cósmico by Francisco Blond González. Luis Alberto de Cuenca closed these acts.

On the 15th and 16th of December 2001 took place the Second Festival of Bizarre, Fantastic and Terror Cinema of Buenos Aries Red Blood. The show was organized by QuintaDimension.com, Gabriel Gustavo Schipani (producer of the First Meeting of Science Fiction Literature in Argentina that took place on the 20th of October in the same Cultural Centre) and The Sci-Fi Club. The projections included short, medium and long films with a common thematic: horror and bizarre things. There was also a space for science fiction and fantastic short films. Some of the titles that were projected were: Fanáticos (Dir. Cristian Diaz), Nunca asistas a este tipos de fiestas (Dir. Pablo Even, Hernan Saez and Farsa Prod.), El Retrato de Felicitas (Dir. Alexis Puig), El último copetín (Dir. Ricardo Ottone), Miserable Policlínico (Dir. Ramiro Garcia Bogliano), El Genoma de la Redonda (Dir. Javier Hick), La Memoria Mortal (Dir. Fabian Alvarez), 10 Metros bajo Tierra (Dir. Gabriel Alvarez) and La Torre de Babel (Dir. Maria Meira).

By fourth consecutive year took place in Madrid, at the Richard Schirrmman Lodge in la Casa de Campo, the Star Trek National Convention: Espatrek, full of games, lectures, projections, debates and round-table discussions. From Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd of September 2001. Three days to enjoy the Star Trek franchise. This was the first Espatrek organized by the Federation of Spanish Associations of Star Trek (FAEST), constituted in the previous convention of Malaga.

On the 28th, 29th and 30th of September 2001 took place in the Civic Centre building in Malaga the Second Comic Festival of Malaga. There were projections of Japanese Anime films and other related films, during the whole of the three days. There was also a drawing workshop of comics organized by the association Ozimandias of Malaga. Other activities were an exhibition of the main comic strips in the Malaga newspaper, exhibitions of drawings by local authors, round-table discussions and a karaoke where to loosen up tensions singing your favourite anime scores. The special guest of this year was Cels Piñol a spanich comic author.

The XV edition of the Noir Week of Gijón had the presence of Thomas M. Disch as one of its guest of honour. Disch is a highly speculative and provocative science fiction and terror, as his novels The Businessman, Echo Round his Bones and Camp Concentration prove. These novels had a tremendous impact in contemporary science fiction. He has won many awards including the Hugo, the Locus and the Campbell. Other guests of honour were the Spanish authors Suso de Toro, Andreu Martín, Antonio Soler, Jose Carlos Somoza, Juan Pedro Aparicio, Juan Baz, Wild Hernandez, Jose Manuel Fajardo, Fernando Maria, Nacho Faerna, Fernando Martinez Lainez, and Elia Barceló were also distinguished guests.

Record of inscriptions in the XXTh Hispacon, celebrated from the 30th of October to the 3rd of November in Barcelona. The honour guests were the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and the Argentine comic author Juan Giménez. For the first time in a Hispacon there were three different spaces running in parallel, and a very varied range of activities from projections of fan filmed tributes to Star Wars, tributes to the Spanish pulp science fiction of the fifties, etcetera. Of course, there were projections of fantasy and science fiction films, conferences and round table discussions on hard core science fiction, on the problems of translating fantasy and science fiction texts, on the difficulties of filming fantastic short films in Spain, on the juvenile fantastic literature (with Armando Boix, Francisco Diaz Guerra, the acclaimed Joan Manuel Gisbert and the editor Reina Duarte), on the Catalan writer Manuel de Pedrolo and on Spanish science fiction comic magazine 1984, with the comic authors Josep MªBea, Fernando Fernandez and Juan Giménez.
www.barnacon.com

KOSMOPOLIS, The International Feast of Literature took place from the 11st and to the 15th of Decembre at the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). Special guests to this event were the science fiction writer Brian Aldiss, Ursula Kiauch, Pat Cadigan, Martial Souto, Pablo Capanna and William Gibson. http://www.cccb.org/indexsi.htm.

During the Science Plus Festival (Festivale Internazionale della Fanascienza) in Trithis (Italy) there was a retrospective called FantaEspaña, a tribute to the Spanish Fantasy Cinema. Guests of honor were film directors, such as Eugene Martín and Iñigo Vallejo-Nágera, actors, such as Paul Naschy and Jack Taylor , and cinema critics, such as Carlos Aguilar and Javier G. Romero. Some of the films projected were: The Awful Dr Orloff, (Gritos en la noche, 1962), Horror Express (Pánico en el Transiberiano, 1972), Island of the damned (¿Quién puede matar a un niño?, 1975), Where Time began (Viaje al centro de la tierra, 1976), and Open your eyes (Abre los ojos, 1994).
www.scienceplusfiction.org

AWARDS
 

The Winners of the Ignotus Awards for 2001 were:
Best Novel: Nuxlum, by Jose Antonio Suárez (Spiral)
Best Novella: Rax, by Eduardo Vaquerizo (Spiral)
Best short story: La canica en la Palmera, by Rafael Marín (Artifex)
Best anthology: Besos de alacrán y otros relatos, by Leon Arsenal (Metropolis Millenium)
Best book of Essays: Paradojas: ciencia en la ciencia ficción, by Miquel Barceló (Equipo Sirius)
Best Article: Viajando hacia las estrellas, naves estelares en la C.F., by Cristóbal Perez-Castejo'n (BEM WEB) and Bester! Bester", by Juan Manuel Santiago (Gigamesh)
Best illustration: To the cover of Snow Crash by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Paco Roca (Gigamesh).
Best audio-visual Production: El corazón del guerrero, by Daniel Monzón (feature film)
Best poetic work: Void.
Best magazine: Gigamesh, Alejo Cuervo publisher.
Best foreign novel: Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (Gigamesh)
Best foreign short story: Entra un soldado, después otro (Enter a soldier. Later: enter another),by Robert Silverberg (Gigamesh)
Best Web Site: Bibliópolis, literature criticism in the Net (http://www.bibliopolis.org), by Luis G. Prado

The Winners of the Ignotus Awards for 2002 were:
Best Novel: Demonios en el cielo, by Gabriel Bermúdez Castillo. Aroz Editor
Best Novella: Contra el tiempo, by Juan Miguel Aguilera y Rafael Marín. Artifex Estelar
Best Short Story: Fortaleza de invicta castidad, by Eduardo Gallego y Guillem Sánchez. Pulp Magazine extra 2001
Best Anthology: Premio UPC 2000, by Miquel Barceló. Ediciones B
Best Book of Essays: Las 100 mejores novelas de CF del siglo XX (VVAA). La Factoría de Ideas
Best Article: El erotismo en las novelas de a duro, by José Carlos Canalda. Pulp Magazine extra 2001
Best Illustration: To the cover of Demonios en el cielo, by Koldo Campo. Espiral CF 23
Best audio-visual Productionl: Los Otros (The Others), by Alejandro Amenábar - Producciones del Escorpión. (feature film)
Best Poetic Work: Void
Best Magazine: Pulp Magazine, by Mario Moreno y Román Goicoechea, ex-aequo with Artifex segunda época, by Luis G. Prado and Julián Díez
Best foreign novel: La estación de la calle Perdido (Perdido Street Station), by China Mieville. La Factoría de Ideas
Best foreign short story: Las 43 dinastías de Antares (The 43 Antarean Dynasties), by Mike Resnick. Gigamesh 30
Best Web Site: Bibliópolis, by Luis G. Prado (dir.). http://www.bibliopolis.org/

El libro de las voces by the Argentinean writer Carlos Gardini won the UPC Science Fiction Award 2001.
The special mention was for the Spanish writer Javier Negret by his novel El mito de Er.
The special mention for members of the UPC was for: El Avatar del Mono Enamorado, by Jaume Valor, associated professor from the Projects of Architecture Department, and Planeta X by Manuel González, student of Computer Science Faculty of Barcelona.
The jury also mentioned: Tiempo Muerto, by José Antonio Cotrina, Entre algodones, by Pablo Villaseñor, More Over Ms. L, by Sandra M. Ulbrich, and La Fille qui pegnait des nuages, by Alain Le Bussy. The guest of honor was Juan Miguel Aguilera, who gave a lecture on: Words and images: writing and making science fiction cinema in Spain.

Escamas de Cristal, by Pablo Vilaseñor, and Ruta a Trascendencia, by Alejandro Javier Alonso, were the winners of the Twelfth Edition of the UPC Science Fiction Award 2002 ex-aequo. Teorema, by Irene da Rocha, a student at the School of Telecommunications Engineering of Barcelona, and Odisea, by Fermin Sánchez, a lecturer at UPC's Department of Computer Architecture, ex-aequo received UPC's Honourable Mention. The jury wished to mention the following works in order of appreciation: Jennifer Jules by Charles Gleason Oberndorf (USA) and Hipernova by Vladimir Hernández Pacín (Cuba). And gave a special mention to the work Monpia 4 Finals by Pau Fonseca Casas The guest of honour at the ceremony was the prestigious North American writer Vernor Vinge,winner of the Hugo award in 1993 and 2000, who will give a speech entitled The Technological Singularity, an extract of his thesis presented within the framework of a symposium organised by NASA as a professor of Computer Science of the San Diego State University.

The winners of the 2001 Alberto Magno Science Fiction Award presented by the Science Faculty of UPV/EHU University were:
First prize for the best Short story: "El hombre de Woolsthorpe", by Carlos Rilova (San Sebastián)
Second prize for the best Short story: "El visitante", by Angel Torres (Cadiz).

The winners of the 2002 Alberto Magno Science Fiction Award presented by
the Science Faculty of UPV/EHU University were:
First prize for the best Short story: "Las Tribus de la Noche", by José Manuel González Rodríguez.
Second prize for the best Short story: ex-aequo: "Amanecer", by José Antonio Cotrina and "El cementerio de los Androides", by Santiago García Albas.

Valdemar Publishers, specialized in fantastic, gothic, science fiction and terror literature, won the 2001 National Award for the Best Cultural Publishing Work, granted by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The award tries to give a "public recognition of the important cultural work that the publishers carry on as intermediaries between the writers and their readers", according to the Ministry offial note. Valdemar was founded in 1986 by four friends united by a strong attraction to the fantastic, gothic, science fiction and terror literature. Afterward this publishing house opened towards other sorts of works and collections.

III International VID fantasy and science fiction Award to La Marcha de los Pilotos Infernales by Gerardo Sifuentes

Goliardos International science fiction and fantasy Literature Awards, granted by the Goliardos Project, the Independent University of Tlaxcala and the Institute of Culture of the City of Mexico were for Mara L. García for her studies on Mexican Fantastic Literature, Carlos Montemayor for his translation of Carmina Burana and his fantastic short stories. Paco Ignacio Taibo II won the Award for a life career.

Sizigias Awards 2001 to the best work published in alternative genres (granted by the Science Fiction and Science divulgation Circle Puebla):
Best Novel: El Jardín de la señora Murakami, by Mario Bellatín.
Best Anthology: Visiones Periféricas, by Miguel Angel Fernández Delgado
Best short stories book: The Country of the Hablistas, Alberto Chimal.
Best book of essays: Intuitive poetry in the Space, Miguel Angel Fernandez Delgado.
Best illustration: "El llanto de los niños muertos", by Cesar Evangelista.
Best cómic: Basura, by Bachan and Bernardo Fernández (Bef).
Best fanzine: Sub, by Pepe Rojo and Bernardo Fernández (Bef).
Best review: Los Confines: una delimitación, by Miguel Angel Fernández Delgado.

I International Fantastic Short Stories Award "Terra Ignota 2001" (granted by the Literary Workshop Terra Ignota from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, The Mexican Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Tamaulipeco Institute for the Culture and the Arts and the Direction of Culture of the Nuevo Laredo City Council):
Best science fiction short story: "El correo González", by Vladimir Hernandez Pacin (Cuba).
Best fantasy short story: "Muñeca de patas largas", by Marcelo Fagiano (Argentina).
Best horror short story: "Niebla", by Alvaro García Camacho (Spain).
The short story winner of the Big First Prize was: "Naufragos", by Mauricio Ventanas (Costa Rica).

XVI National Prize of Fantastic Story and Science Fiction (granted by the Secretariat of Culture of the Government of the State of Puebla): "Realidad", by Juan Barranco Monarca.

The 2001 Domingo Santos Award was won by José Antonio Del Valle for his short story: "Un asunto de mierda", he is one of the directors of the fanzine La Plaga.

The 2002 Domingo Santos Award was won by Joaquín R. Revuelta (Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz) for his short story: "Deshacer el mundo".

The winner of the Xth edition of the Fantastic Literature Awards Pablo Rido was Ramon Muñoz Carreño for his work "Los cazadores de nubes".
Finalists:
Carlos Martinez Cordova, for "Juzgado 11"
Felix J. Palma, for "Las lagrimas de Lorenzo"
Oscar Daniel Salomón, for "A contrapluma"
Eugenio Sánchez Arrate, for "Crónica del niño sapo de Cascajar de los Montes"

The winner of the XIst edition of the Fantastic Literature Awards Pablo Rido was Jose Antonio del Valle Rubio, for his work "Los hijos de nuestros hijos"
Finalists:
Carlos Gardini, for "El baile de las víctimas"
Carmen Falguera, for "La colonia"
Pedro Zabalza Lopez, for "La fama y la llama"
Alejandro Vidal, for "Espinas"

The IIIrd edition of the Literary Competition the Melocotón Mecánico received a total of 171 works by a 100 different authors, coming from Spain (113), Argentina (32), Israel (9), Mexico (7), Colombia (2), Peru (2), Puerto Rico (2), Uruguay (2), the United States (1) and Finland (1). The winner was the short story "Old McDonald had a farm", by Mike Resnick
Special Mentions for:
"El guardián de los libros olvidados", by José Antonio Canalda Camara (Alcala de Henares, Madrid)
"Hazlo por mí", by Rodrigo Nicholas Berlochi (Rosario, Argentina)
"La Visa", by Jorge H. Aristizabal Gafaro (Bogota. Colombia)
"San Antoni", by Maria Conceción Regeuiro Digón (Tui, Pontevedra, Spain)
"El Trono de Jade", by José Antonio del Valle Rubio (Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain)
"Desaína",by Rubén Bleda Martínez (Cieza, Murcia, Spain)
All this short stories were published in the II Anthology of Short Stories El Melocotón Mecánico

The II Science Fiction Award Spiral. First Prize: "Cuándo las puertas de Hermes queden abiertas", by Juan Antonio Fdez. Madrigal (Malaga)
Second Prize: "No es nada personal", by Ignacio Sanz Vallas (Madrid)
Third Prize: "E-volución", by Daniel Pablo Lopez Rodriguez (Madrid)
Special Mentions for:
"Lágrimas de Piedra", by Manuel Díez Roman (Barcelona)
"El modelo Treblinka", by Amalur de-Orube Álvarez (Bilbao)
"Sueños eléctricos", by Fco. Javier Maldonado Franco (Leganés, Madrid)
"La Lucha", by Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla (Bilbao)

The III Science Fiction Award Spiral 2001, Globalization
First Prize: "La manzana de Newton", by Luis Angel Cofiño (Oviedo)
Second Prize: "Luces en la noche", by Joan Antoni Fernández (Argentona, Barcelona)
Third Prize: "Ruleta Rusa", de Rafael Rius Sánchez (Madrid)
Special Mentions for:
"¿Necesitáis ayuda?", de Pablo Villaseñor Muñoz (Madrid)
"Disstopía", de María Arrimadas Gómez (Madrid)

During the year 2001 was created the new literary award Melocotón de Plata by the Publishing Group AJEC (publisher of the VALIS fanzine). The award consists of a commemorative plaque and 100 euros. The winner of this first edition was the short story "El Escurzón" by Jose Miguel Pallarés, published in Gigamesh 29.

César Mallorquí won the 2001 EDEBE Juvenile Literature Award for his novel Las Lágrimas de Shiva. A fantastic story with gothic atmosphere.

The short story "La nave de los albatros", by Felix J Palma, won the the first prize of the XX edition of the short stories on the sea competition, granted by the City Council of Carreño (Asturias) and the first prize at the Biblioteca Municipal de Pilas Competiton of Short Stories, granted by the City council of Pilas.

"Adéu", by Angel Burgas won the IV Mercé Rodoreda Award for short stories and tales. The novel is a story of science fiction, the author remarked that he tried to answer two question: What will happen if all dead people came back to life? And What will happen in the previous hours to the end of the world?

The winners of the Vº Manuel de Pedrolo Award for science fiction short stories written in Catalan were:
Aged under 18:
First Prize for "Què em passa?", by Laura Company Mercado, Castellar del Vallés
Second Prize: Void
Third Prize: "El tren de l'esperança", by Blanca Rey Sierra, La Garriga
Aged over 18:
First Prize for "Segona Oportunitat", by Jordi Ferrés Lahoz, Olot.
Second Prize for "La Illa de les Filoctete",¸by Begoña Rubio García, Barcelona.
Third Prize for "No hi cabem?", by Jordi Solé and Camardons
Special Mentions:
"Nus al Paradís", by Jordi Pascual Alberich, Barcelona
"Doctor Hyde, senyor Jeckyl", by Juan Antonio Fernández, Argentona.

The past 22 of March, Juan Miguel Aguilera won the Bob Morane Award to the Best Foreign Novel, during the 4th Fantastic Book Festival of Brussels with his novel La Locura de Dios (The Madness of God).

PUBLICATIONS
 

The fanzine El Melocotón Mecánico changed its name to VALIS. With this it begun a new epoch without changing its contents, stories, essays, short
stories, interviews, bestiario and poesia. Volume 12 is available. More
Information and orders to: Magazine VALIS; Section 2328, 18014, Granada. e-mail: melmek@terra.es

During the year 2001 a new magazine was worn. It was a project of the
Dreamers Site webmasters, http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamccc. The magazine named Dreamers, as the web site, reflects the themes of the portal and includes comics by the authors that appear in it. The magazine was created to reach a larger number of audience. It can be ordered at thesite. http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamccc

Medusa, the literary E-zine directed by León Arsenal closed on January 2002, due to differences between Navegalia, the electronic portal where it was located and the direction of the ezine. Throughout Medusa short existence it published works of authors like: Manuel Diez Roman, Glenn Cook, Pedro Pablo G. May, Rafael Sabatini, Mares, H.P. Lovecraft, Felix J. Palma, Arthur Conan Doyle, Juan Miguel Aguilera, Rafael Marín and Ramon Muñoz.

Axxon was tranformed from its old format as a executable file, to the Web format. Eduardo Carletti is again the editor and in this new format he has published number 122. Axxon has been changing its address and can be located now at the site: http://axxon.com.ar/axxon.htm

Science Fiction ezine Menhir in its third epoch, has published its second
number, filled with the best serious science fiction stories of known
authors. For more information e-mail Jose Luis Mora (jmazarias@dreamers.com) or visit: to www.dreamers.com/menhir

Number 7 of the Fantasy and Science Fiction e-zine Pulsar is available for its free downloading in PDF format. To do so visit:
http://juancarlos.keynockers.com

The French magazine Galaxies, in its number 22, of autumn of 2001, published a short story written by ten authors. From this unique act of creative collaboration emerged a short story titled Raven, jamais plus. Some of the multiple fathers were Paul J. McAuley (Great Britain), Andreas Eschbach (Germany), Mario Evangelisti (Italy), Rodolfo Martinez (Spain) and Jean-Claude Dunyach (France). In this same number a dossier on Juan Miguel Aguilera was published. The dossier inlcuded an interview, his short story la Forêt de glace and an article on the Spanish science fiction written by Sylvie Miller.

Silente Editions has formally acquired the rights to publish La Saga de los Aznar. An agreement between its publisher Pedro A.García Bilbao and George H. White (Pacual Engídanos Usach) has made it possible. This operation assures the edition of the complete saga to all its fans. Silente is from now on the authorized interlocutor in everythin relating to it. More information in: http://pulpediciones.cienciaficcion.net/
Silente has already reprinted, in a limited editon, the tenth volume of the saga, which contains three complete novels. http://www.silente.net

The number 3 of the mythological e-zine Qliphoth is available, it can be donwloaded free in pdf format at : http://qliphoth.dreamers.com In 2001 Hispacon Qliphoth celebrated their firs bithday editing a CD with all the material published up to then.

There is a new Web site where Portuguese and Brazilian science fiction of quality can be enjoyed. It is called E-nigma and can be found at: http://www.ficcao.online.pt/E-nigma/

Number 5 of Nexus is available. It has 56 pages of science fiction, fantasy and terror written by young authors and some not so young. Mileniums Data is the publishing firm. If you want to collaborate in the fanzine, e-mail Antonio Garrido García (publisher): garry98@interbook.net. It must not have more than 7 Din A4 and it must be in Word format, Page Maker or Text, txt.

Visiones 2001 is available. This is the anthology that publishes the Spanish Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This number is specially dedicated to the new values of the genre according to the selection by Luis G. Prado. More information: http://www.aefcf.es

One of the most important film critics from Spain and the main specialist in Spanish Fantasy Cinema, Carlos Aguilar, have written an impressive book about the Spanish moviemaker Jesús Franco, who directed an endless list of fantasy and sf films. Published in a de luxe edition, Jesús Franco. El sexo del horror is edited in a bilingual version (Italian/English), and contains a foreword by Jack Taylor, an interview with the director, exclusive photos, and an exhaustive filmography and bibliography.
http://www.glitteringimages.com/

Lovecraft Magazine has reached its number 8 which confirms this magazaine as one of the leading publication of the horror genre in Spain.
www.lovecraftmagazine.es.org

More nostalgia. Novelas de a duro de ciencia-ficción, a web site about Spanish sf pulp literature, has renewed its huge data base. http://www.dreamers.com/igor/

Planeta Ediciones latests novel by the mainstream writer Espido Freire, Diabulus in música is a ghostly story about an endless love.

Andrómeda has edited two sf anthologies: 2001: Una odisea literaria, a commemoration of the historical date, and Amores extraños, which deals with the bizarre topic of sex between humans and aliens. José Vilches Palma, Juan Antonio Fernández and Claudio Landete participate in both books.
http://www.galeon.com/libroandromeda/

The publishing group Planeta has absorbed Minotauro, a middle sized science-fiction publishing firm specialized in fantasy that was born in 1955 in Argentina. It mooved to Barcelona, when in 1977 his publisher Francisco Porruá settled definitively in Spain. Minotauro was specially coveted as it had the exclusive rights to the works of JRR Tolkien. Furthermore it managed the exclusive rights of Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. Other authors published by Minotauro were Ursula K. Le Guin, JG Ballard and Gene Wolfe. Minotauro was very appreciated by its carefully selected list of titles and its respectful translations, which won its publisher a Gabriel Award.

EDEBE has published a novel by Jose Antonio Suárez, Rebelion en Telura, as number 12 in their Nómadas collection. It is a space opera that narrates the adventures of Meldivén and Lérad, two space truckers who are uninvitingly mingled in a conflict of enormous proportions. More on:
http://www.arrakis.es/~lerad

The book with the winning story and the finalists of the X Pablo Rido Award, was presented in the newly open bookstore Framauro in Madrid. The book, published by Equpo Sirius in the series Polígono of the collection Tau., is titled Los Cazadores de Nubes y Otros relatos,and has an introduction by Luis G. Prado. Ramón Muñoz, author of the winning short story that gives the title to the book, Luis G. Prado and Jorge Ruiz, publisher, were present.

Artifex Estelar has published its number 3, Piscis de Zhintra and Arena, by Victor Conde, a young writer born in the Canary Islands, who is considered the revelation author of the year in Spanish science-fiction. These novels relate the adventures of Piscis a young woman of voluptuous proportions in an space adventure like Barbarella's, as Conde likes to refer to it. In the Tau collection has published another of Conde's space operas, El tercer nombre del emperador. More on: http://pagina.de/artifex

At last it has been published the awaited second number of La Novela Popular en España, by Robel Editions, in hard back. It has been very well publised paying attention to details. Almost a third of it is dedicated to the fantastic side of the Spanish pulp novel. As an example: Chapter II: Colonel Ignotus and Captain Sirius (by Augusto Uribe) Chapter VII: Feats of the Aznar family. A space odyssey of the Fifties Chapter X: The multiple faces of Narraciones Terroríficas Chapter XI: Jose Mallorquí: beyond the writer. Narraciones Terroríficas and Futuro

This new e-zine is a free publication of Science Fiction and Fantasy, in PDF format. El Oscuro Retorno del Hijo de Nahua!, is in fact the new epoch of the fanzine Nahual!. In its epoch as a "paper" fanzine six numbers were published, so the e-zine starts with number 7. Any person interested in downloading this e-zine, 900 Kb in a compressed file, just has to e-mail: nahualzine@rocketmail.com, and in the subject camp add: "subscription al Oscuro Retorno".

Number 4 of the Albemuth Collection by AJEC Publications is available. Its title is Mala Racha by Jose Antonio Cotrina (winner of the UPC and Alberto Magno awards among others). The book includes two of his more expected novellass, the one that gives the title to the volumne and Pyramid.

Prótesis, is a new magazine dedicated to the Noir Genre. This is a publication dedicated to the crime and thriller novels. For more information and subscriptions e-mail: protesis@pasadizo.com or visit their web site:
www.protesis.pasadizo.com

Due to a crisis the Megamultimedia company, closes all its magazines: the Spanish editions of Fangoria (in its number 12), Starlog (in its number 2) and Isaac´s Asimov magazine, that in its first number directed Domingo Santos. All these magazines were published ten years ago in Spain by another publishing house and met with a bigger success. Fangoria lefts behind very interesting initiatives such as publishing a collection of comic books. The first two titles were L´Vamp, a story about modern vampires in Paris by Art Brooks and Sergio Bleda, and La ciudad de los muertos, a steampunk adventure by Francis Porcel.

The new magazine 2001, it was presented in the 2001 Hispacon, has closed in its number 7. The magazine was directed by Luis G. Prado and published by Tau. Its best numbers were the specials on Ian Watson (number 3) and Jose Maria Merino (number 6). However, the Tau publishing house will present another magazine, Galaxy, directed by León Arsenal. More info at:
www.dosmiluno.com

Luis G. Prado continues publishing his magazine Artifex and undertakes a new publishing adventure with the book collection Bibliópolis Fantástica. Its first numbers are Los Ladrones de Cuerpos (The Body Snatchers), by Jack Finney, and the first book of Andrzej Sapkowski saga on a very special wizard: Geralt de Rivia, El último Deseo. In project: Magia de Reina, Magia de Rey(Queenmagic, Kingmagic) by Ian Watson and En alas de la canción (On Wings of Song) by Tomas M. Disch. For more information:
http://www.bibliopolis.org

The guide Las 100 mejores novelas de ciencia ficción del siglo XX has reached its second editon. This guide was coordinated by Julian Díez and published by the La Factoría de Ideas. In the section of the best Spanish works of Sci-Fi the novels selected were:
La Nave, by Tomas Salvador
Mecanoscrit del segon origen, by Manuel de Pedrolo (the only Spanish novel included which was not written directly in Spanish; in this case it was written in Catalan).
Novela de Andrés Choz, by José María Merino
El señor de la rueda, by Gabriel Bermúdez Castillo
Lo mejor de la cf española, a 1982 anthology with authors such as Carlos Buiza and Juan G. Atienza
Lágrimas de luz, by Rafael Marín;
Mundos en el abismo, by J.M. Aguilera and Javier Redal
La trilogía de las islas, by Ángel Torres Quesada
Sagrada, by Elia Barceló
Sin noticias de Gurb, by Eduardo Mendoza
El círculo de Jericó, by César Mallorquí
La sonrisa del gato, by Rodolfo Martínez
Nox Perpetua, by Javier Negrete
El enfrentamiento, by Juan Carlos Planells
Besos de alacrán y otros relatos, by León Arsenal.
For more info about this book:
www.distrimagen.es

One of the novels that appears as one of the best in the selection above mentioned, Lagrimas de Luz, by Rafa Marin, has reached its third edition. Ever since it was published in 1984 in New Dimension and in 1986 in Orbis, this novel, on a trovador in a kind of Third Middle Age, a mixture between the medieval chanson de geste and the space-opera, has been insistently demanded by the Spanish and South American readers. When it was first published it was an authentic revelation and one of the novels that changed the science ficction written in the Spanish language. More information on: www.gigamesh.com, the publishers website.

The magazine Quatermass was presented at the last Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia This film magazine, dedicates a double number, 4-5, to the Spanish Fantastic cinema. It includes a section that reviews and criticizes 112 Spanish fantastic films, from La torre de los siete jorobados (The tower of the seven humpbacks, 1944) to Stranded (2001). It also publishes interviews with Carlos Aured, Paul Naschy, Jorge Grau or Carlos Aguilar.
More information: quatermass@hotmail.com

OTHER ACTIVITIES
 

Finally somebody has managed to put Science Fiction news in a PDA. At last anyone can have in his own PDA: news, reviews, list of sales or awards presentations and rules. Thus the Web site Stardust has become the first Spanish Science Fiction web in adapting its contents to this new media. If interested visit: http://www.stardustcf.com/pda or if you prefer to sincronize your pda using Avantgo: https://my.avantgo.com/login/index.html

Julian Diez announced on 29th of September of 2001, during the 2001 ceremony of the Ignotus Awards that he was leaving the direction of the Gigamesh magazine, directe by Alejo Cuervo. He leaves the magazine to dedicate himself to new projects in his career as a journalist

The cable TV channel Calle 13 (that can be seen through Canal Satélite Digital, Auna and Madritel, among others) began the emission all Sundays at 22:20 of an informative program on the world of science fiction. Its name is Orbita 13. It is a short program, only 10 minutes, with an unseen narrator, that includes brief news on Literature, cinema, computer games, comic books, short interviews, etc.

Dreamers, one of the most important Spanish portals dedicated to entertainment, has inaugurated a new section: Flash-Back News. Some of its contents are news on cinema festivals, comic fairs, concerts and other events; essays, leading articles, news, etc. The bulletin is a kind of version on-line for the magazine, Flash-Back, the Magazine of Studies and Investigation of the Culture of Masses. Visit it at: http://flashback.dreamers.com or from the main portal site
http://www.dreamers.com To subscribe sent a void e-mail to:
FlashBackNews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

While Jaume Balagueró ended Darkness for Fantastic Factory, the production house of Barcelona Filmax has created a new brand, Fantastic Discovery, in order to support young directors. Its first movie is Second Name, directed by Paco Plaza and interpreted by Erica Prior, Trae Houlihan, Craig Hill, Miguel Monroy, Richard Collins and Teresa Gimpera. Second Name adapts a Ramsey Campbell´s novel tittled The pact of the fathers.

Isidro Ortiz and Alex Ollé, members of the avant-garde theatrical group La Fura dels Baus, have directed Fausto 5.0, a movie inspired by Goethe´s myth. The score is composed by Toni M. Mir, with songs by Freak XXI, Big Toxic or Gravity. http://www.fausto5.com

This last year was released the film El Forastero, directed by the Peruvian film director Federico García Hurtado starring Nacho Duato, the Spanish classical dancer, Neus Asensi and Carlos Sobera. Duato play the role of an extraterrestrial that comes from the planet Planeta Aniquilado. He lands in a town of the Peruvian region of Valle Sagrado. The stranger, who looks like a "gringo", has as a mission to find a new suitable world to intall his technological civilization, populated with perfect machines. As he grows familiar with the inhabitants of the town, he is gradually assimilated by the human condition. García Hurtado has made numerous documentaries and films on the culture of the communities of Peruvian farmers.

The film Stranded directed by Maria Lidon and scripted by Juan Miguel Aguilera which had a good reception at the last Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia 2001, opened in theaters on the 12th of April of 2002.

In the XXVI presentation of the Goya Awards, the most important awards of the Spanish cinema, the film by Alejandro Amenábar The Others was the great winner. With a total of 8 awards - on a total of 15 nominations The Others got the recognition of the Spanish Film Academy The film won the following awards: Best Film, Best Director (Alejandro Almenabar), Original Script (Alejandro Amenábar), Cutting (Nacho Ruiz Capillas), Sound (Ricardo Steimberg, Tim Cavagin, Alfonso Raposo and Daniel Goldstein), Photography (Javier Aguirresarobe), Production (Emiliano Otegui and Miguel González Ángel) and Artistic Direction (Benjamin Fernandez). The rest of the awards went to different films, among them Faustus 5,0 won the award to the best Main Role (Eduard Fernandez -), Intact (Best Young Director - Juan Carlos Fresnadillo- and Revelation Actor - Leonardo Sbaraglia -), El Bosque Animado won the Best Film of Animation and the Best Original Song), Buñuel y la mesa del Rey Salomón Best Special Effects and Amelie won the Best European Film

SOURCES AND OTHER INTERESTING LINKS ON SPANISH SF
 

http://www.aefcf.es
http://www.cienciaficcion.org
http://www.arrakis.es/~jndro/terma.htm
http://www.ste.es.org/
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7461/
http://www.stardustcf.com
http://www.ciencia-ficcion.com/
http://pagina.de/artifex
http://www.archivodenessus.com
http://www.bemmag.com/
http://www.izar.net/~aroz/
http://www.silente.net/
http://www.bibliopolis.org
http://www.ttrantor.org
http://dreamers.com/estrellanegra/

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* 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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