Seabury Press, 1976, translated by Michael Kandel) and Memoirs of a
Space Traveler (1982, translated by Joel Stern and Maria Swiecicka-
Ziemianek)—these two volumes comprise the Dzienniki gwiazdowe
(1957, many later enlarged editions); Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1979,
translated by Louis Iribarne) and More Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1982,
translated by Louis Iribarne, Magdalena Majcherczyk and Michael
Kandel)—Opowiesći o pilocie o Pirxie, 1968, individual stories published
previously in many different collections; and Mortal Engines (New
York: The Seabury Press, 1977, translated and selected by Michael
Kandel, contains the Bajki roboto´w, 1964, a forerunner of The Cyber-
iad). A hybrid form between story and essay, often in the form of
reviews or of introductions to non-existent books, is offered in the
collections A Perfect Vacuum (1979, translation by Michael Kandel of
Doskonal/a proźnia, 1971), Imaginary Magnitude (1984, translation by
Marc E. Heine of Wielkosćúrojona, 1973) and One Human Minute (1986,
translated by Catherine S. Leach of Biblioteka XXI wieku, 1986, but
first published in German translation 1983). Excerpts from Lem’s
criticism of SF are offered in Microworlds: Writings on Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. Franz Rottensteiner (1984). Untranslated remain the
early SF novels, a huge sprawling novel Wizja Lokalna (1982), the
254
Notes on the Authors
non-serial SF short stories, and most of Lem’s non-fiction writings.
Lem has hardly written any fiction since Peace on Earth, and his latest
Polish books are collections of journalistic ephemera: Lube czasy
(1995), Sex Wars (1996), Tajemnica chinśkiego pokoju (1996) and
Dziury w cal/ym (1997).
SVEND A
˚ GE MADSEN
Born on 2 November, 1938 in A
˚ arhus, Madsen studied mathematics
but is a full-time writer of plays, radio dramas, stories and novels that are often of an experimental nature and cross genre borders, containing elements of myth, mystery, the fantastic and science fiction. He
has been much influenced by the fairy tales of Hans Christian
Andersen, the stories of Tania Blixen and the existentialist philosophy
of Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). ‘ ‘‘Truth’’ ’, he writes, ‘is no longer something handed down to us by the gods, and it is not something
which can be arrived at by means of scientific calculation or deduc-
tion. ‘‘Truth’’ for me, is determined by those stories for which I can
sincerely vouch, those stories which hold meaning for me.’ Two of his
complex novels are annotated in the third edition of Neil Barron’s
Anatomy of Wonder (1987): Tugt og utugt i mellemtiden (1976, translated
by James M. Ogier as Virtue and Vice in the Middle Time, New York and
London: Garland Publishing, 1992), a look at the 1970s in A
˚ arhus
from the future, and Se dagens lys (1980), an anti-utopian novel.
Newer novels in the SF vein are Edens gave (1993), Den usynlige myre
(1995, a juvenile), while Den største ga˚de (1986) and Kvinden uden krop
(1996) are long SF tales. Some of Madsen’s short stories have been
translated into English, notably ‘The Judge’ (in New Writers 11, Calder
and Boyars, 1974; also in The Devil’s Instrument, Peter Owen, 1971)
and ‘On the Way to the Cemetery’ (in Double Danish, Cormorant
Books, 1991), and others. Madsen’s books include: Besøget (1963, ‘The
Visit’), Otte gange Orphan (1965, ‘Orphan Times Eight), Sæt verden er til (1971, ‘Suppose the World Exists’), At fortælle menneskene (1989, ‘To
Invent Humanity’) and Mellem himmel og jord (1990, ‘Between Heaven
and Earth’).
JOSEF NESVADBA
Born in 1926 in Prague, Dr Nesvadba studied medicine, specializing
in psychiatry. After writing dramatic sketches he turned to mysteries
and the satirical SF stories that were widely translated and made him
the best-known Czech SF writer abroad since Karel C
ˇ apek. His best
work is to be found in his subtly ironic early stories that often take
Notes on the Authors
255
up common themes from earlier SF or refer to it (from H. G. Wells to
Fredric Brown). These are to be found in his collections Tarzanova
smrt (1958), Einsteinu˚v mozek (1960), Vy´prava opacňy´m smeřem (1962)
and Vynaĺez proti sobe´ (1964) which were assembled later in many
different editions. His later work of psychological stories and novels,
beginning with Rˇidicšky´ prukaz rodicˇu˚ (1979), Minehava podruhe´ (1981) and the novel Hleda´m za manzela muzě (1986) has found less attention
in the West. A mystery novel with fantasy elements based on the
ideas of Erich von Da¨niken is Bludy Erika N. (1974), while Dialog s
doktorem Dongem (1964) is a contemporary novel based on Nesvadba’s
experiences in Vietnam. Many of Nesvadba’s stories have been filmed
in Czechoslovakia, including ‘Death of an Apeman’, ‘The Idiot of
Xeenemu¨nde’, ‘The Lost Face’ and ‘Vampires Ltd.’ Nesvadba’s com-
plexly absurd stories have been widely translated and anthologized.
English-language collections of Nesvadba’s stories are Vampires Ltd.
(Prague: Artia 1964, translated by Iris Urwin) and In the Footsteps of the Abominable Snowman (London: Victor Gollancz, 1970, US edition as
The Lost Face, New York: Taplinger, 1971).
ADRIAN ROGOZ
Born in 1921, Adrian Rogoz studied philosophy and then became a
journalist, but also wrote plays and translated poetry (Ho¨lderlin,
Rilke, Rimbaud, Poe). His first publication was a poem in the
manner of Mallarme´, ‘The Nymphaunesque’. He was editor-in-chief
of the 466 issues of the Romanian SF magazine Colectia Povestiri
Stiintifico-Fantastice (1955–1974),a bi-weekly magazine that appeared
as a supplement to the popular science magazine Stiinta si Tehnica. He
is married to the writer Georgina-Viorica Huber-Rogoz. They have
been living in Germany for many years. Rogoz’s work in the SF field
includes a number of stories and short novels and a huge poetic novel
written in a synthetic Joycean language that took ten years to write:
Omul sˇi Naluca (1965). His best stories were collected in the volume
Pretul secant al genuii (1975).
VADIM SERGEIEVICH SHEFNER
Born on 12 January 1913, Shefner is a poet and mainstream writer
who made only a few excursions into SF. Two short novels ‘The
Unman’ and ‘Kovrigin’s Chronicles’ were published by Macmillan in
their ‘Best of Soviet SF’ series (1980, translated by Alice Stone
Nakhimovsky and Alexander Nakhimovsky, and Antonia W. Bouis).
His delightfully ironic and poetic urban fairy tales that are told in a
256
Notes on the Authors
charmingly naive manner have been collected in various volumes like
Skromny Genii (1974), Imia dlia ptitsy (1976), Kruglaia Taina (1977) and
Skazki dlia Unmykh (1985).
Document Outline
Title Page
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
In Hot Pursuit of Happiness
The Valley of Echoes
Observation of Quadragnes
&
nbsp; The Good Ring
Slum
The Land of Osiris
Captain Nemo’s Last Adventure
The Altar of the Random Gods
Good Night, Sophie
The Proving Ground
Sisyphus, the Son of Aeolus
A Modest Genius
Notes on the Authors
View from Another Shore : European Science Fiction Page 41
