SĂPTĂMÎNA SF SPANIOLĂ / LA SEMANA DE LA CIENCIA FICCIÓN ESPAÑOLA

Cristian Tamaş – Interviu cu domnul Mariano Martín Rodríguez (Spania)

Special :
„Cred în general că science fiction-ul spaniol este destul de conservator și nu este foarte îndrăzneț cu anumite tipuri de limbaje şi subiecte, cum ar fi sexul sau politica.” - Prof. Fernando Angel Moreno

Science Fiction-ul în Spania – interviu cu Prof. Fernando Angel Moreno (Universitatea Complutense, Madrid) de Ignacio Illarregui Gárate (traducere de Cristian Tamaș)


Science fiction-ul spaniol recent şi modalităţile sale - Prof. Fernando Angel Moreno (Universitatea Complutense, Madrid), traducere de Cristian Tamaș



Autoarea americană de SF, Sue Burke ce locuiește la Madrid din decembrie 1999 scrie despre domeniul imaginarului spaniol :

„Castles in Spain: fantasy writers and publishers have high hopes - Sue Burke”

Un fragment :

„Spanish publishers bet on sure things, that is, US fantasy writers," says author and workshop leader Lola Robles.
"Spanish publishers that try to publish native authors have a hard time, even harder now in times of economic crisis."
She knows from experience – her own and that of other writers – about how hard it is to get published.
"Then, if, for example, only 10 writers get published, it's harder to find an outstanding author than if 50 had been published."

Mars says Spanish writers have the quality to compete equally, given the chance, but those chances rarely happen.
"There's no equivalent in the print run, distribution, or promotion and bad sales create a downward spiral.
There's a real split between publishers who print national writers and foreign writers, and the strongest publishers are fireproofed against including Spanish writers on their menu."

Still, in recent years apart from editorial phenomena and the titles backed up by big groups – usually foreign bestseller imports or series – the average print runs for both kinds of authors have been becoming more similar, unfortunately meeting in the middle rather than the high end. It's possible that in the more or less near future the situation may reverse itself.

Speculative fiction has been the first to move into electronic publishing:
websites and e-zines regularly post short and long fiction in various formats, free for the reader and, often, non-paying for the writer.
Magazines with pay approaching professional – as well as paper-based magazines of any type – have all but disappeared in Spain, and there never have been many. Bookstores were suffering even before the economic crisis, which has left more than 20% of the population unemployed.

"We're in a country that has consumed Anglo-Saxon fantasy continuously for decades, and it still looks distrustfully at Spanish authors".

And yet, writers feel optimistic about the opportunities of electronic publishing

"Spanish writers are starting to lose their complexes," Raul Gonzálvez from the small publishing company, Grupo AJEC, says, "and even more importantly, to seek their own voice outside of Anglo-Saxon literature, which was the reference for readers for decades."
These days small publishers, and even some larger ones, are offering a full range of fantasy literature; he hopes this will overcome a long-standing barrier.”