by Robert Reed
I think this awareness is still present today and most young writers know you can only write a good novel if you can use language as a writer, if you’re writing literature. But I also fear that this awareness might disappear in the near future because nowadays anybody can write anything, put it on the Internet and hope it is read by thousands who don’t care if it is literature or not.
Juan Miguel Aguilera: I completely agree with the observation. Rafael Marín, Elia Barceló, Rodolfo Martínez, Javier Negrete, and I, part of the 90s generation, understood that good ideas weren’t enough to write science fiction novels or short stories. The way in which a story is told is as important as the idea. In the end science fiction is a literary genre and there are no excuses for bad writing.
In the essay “Science Fiction from Spain” Mariano Villareal observes that one out of ten new genre releases in Spain is written by a woman. Why are there so few women in Spanish science fiction? Do you see this changing anytime soon?
Eduardo Vaquerizo: At least there is one in this conversation (Elia). I remember my first fan days, my first conventions. There was always was a panel titled “Women and Science Fiction.” These days, women are becoming more interested in science fiction in Spain, because they are taking on more active roles in Spanish society. But yes, there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Elia Barceló: This is one of the most frequently asked questions in Spanish science fiction and one without a clear answer. One often hears that the name of the genre has made girls think science fiction is primarily about science and they have the idea that science is not a girls’ domain. But I don’t really think so, because there are lots of women scientists in Spain, which means that there are lots of women interested in science. But apparently not in fiction or in the mixture of both.
Like most mainstream readers, women do not generally read science fiction and this means that when women readers get to the point when they want to become writers, they write what they usually read: mainstream, crime, mystery, historical novels, romance, etc.
I was lucky enough to be a science fiction reader from the start, and not only that, I had the good fortune of discovering the great women writers of the United States in my youth: Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree, Jr., Joanna Russ, Marion Zimmer Bradley, later Connie Willis. They were amazing! Much more importantly, I didn’t have to be an engineer or an astrophysicist to do it. I could write science fiction with my imagination, my heart, my use of language and any knowledge I might possess about the world.
Nowadays I have the impression that more women are having this kind of experience and getting to write science fiction. But this is only something you do when you are deeply in love with the genre; if that’s not the case, as a young inexperienced writer you try to get as many readers as possible, you want your first novel to be a success and make lots of money . . . and that is not usually true for science fiction, so you try to do something more like El Tiempo Entre Costuras :-)
César Mallorquí: The same thing was true in the United States, for example during the Golden Age. In the beginning science fiction had a predominantly male readership. Pulp covers, after all, would show BEMs kidnapping beautiful girls who were scantily clad, rather than hot semi-naked young men. Modern science fiction reached Spain in the 50s, so we’re behind when it comes to being more inclusive of women in the genre. But slowly and surely the situation is improving and each year there are more female readers and writers. In fact, one of the best Spanish science fiction writers is a woman—Elia.
Javier Negrete: I don’t know the reason, so I can only guess. As a professor, I’ve noticed that more women tend to study humanities than sciences, and in some way—even if it’s just because of the name—they tend to associate science fiction with science. Maybe that’s why the young female writers I know tend to gravitate more towards fantasy than science fiction, or even historical novels, which is also I genre I work in. Will the situation change? I’m not sure. In a way, I’m not sure it needs to: every writer, male or female, should be free to choose whatever genre they like best and to fashion whatever fictional worlds they want.
Juan Miguel Aguilera: Fortunately the situation is changing. As I see it, the most interesting stories in the two anthologies set in my Akasa-Puspa universe are written by women. I’ve always believed that female writers bring a new, fresh perspective to science fiction, something that hasn’t happened in Spain but which is now—perhaps because of the influence of female fantasy writers—underway. My third Akasa-Puspa anthology will feature an even greater number of women.
What impact has the Spanish financial crisis had on science fiction in Spain, besides reducing publishing?
Eduardo Vaquerizo: I think that we have lived through several intermixed crises. The publishing crisis is a paradigm shift crisis. We are at the start of an all-digital world, but we’re lacking the industrial and cultural knowledge to sustain this new direction. Technology has developed more quickly than society has, and now we have new ways of distributing literature without a support system in place, a way to make it economically sustainable. Music has experienced a similar crisis, as well as cinema, and, with 3D printers, the manufacturing industry will be next.
In Spain, I think that the financial crisis has led people to read more, not less, looking for distraction and, perhaps, insight. They read more but don’t pay for what they read, because the system has not adapted to the new paradigm.
Elia Barceló: I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer this question; I live too far away to be aware of everyday life in Spain. The only thing that comes to mind—and I’m not sure if it’s really related to the crisis or to the general state of the world—is the abundance of dystopias we are reading and writing of late. There seems to be a sort of “end of times” feeling that promotes the writing of dark futures full of destruction, ecological chaos, etc. Optimism and a belief in science are things of the past.
César Mallorquí: Yes, I think the main impact can be seen in the themes writers choose, often laden with pessimism. Nowadays dystopias and catastrophes are thriving.
Rafael Marín: The crisis has returned us to the place where we started. Publishers have cut down their publications enormously. A new phenomenon has arisen, that of the fan who self-edits his work and seeks crowd-funding. Or small publishers. There are more people writing, there are lots of small publishers, but we’ve lost some quality along the way, and the chance to chance a wider audience.
Javier Negrete: The combination of the crisis with internet piracy and new pastimes is proving to be devastating for the publishing world and for writers. Midlist authors have practically vanished. And that’s true in SF as well as other genres. Will we bounce back? I’m not sure.
Juan Miguel Aguilera: The first impact was that a lot of readers ran away to fantasy, a more escapist genre. Maybe the crisis made it harder to believe in the future, or real life was deemed depressing enough. But now the opposite is happening and dystopias are proving the most successful subgenre. The most recent anthology to which I contributed is Mañana Todavía (edited by Ricard Ruiz Garzón and published by Fantascy) and it deals with dystopias from the point of view of very different writers, like Rosa Montero, Elia Barceló, José María Merino, Javier Negrete, and me. It’s doing very well.
If I wanted to read the best Spanish science fiction short stories, where would be a good place to start?
Elia Barceló: There are a couple of people you could ask: Julián Díaz, Juan Manuel Santiago, Fernando Ángel Moreno, Santiago Solans, Rudy Martínez and, of course, Mariano Villarreal. They have probably read every SF short story ever published in Spain. I would also recommend the stories published in Artifex and now in Terra Nova. There are also lots of them—very good ones—in forgotten magazines and fanzines, and in Nueva Dimensión if you wanted to start at the beginning.
Eduardo Vaquerizo: The Nueva Dimensión magazines, for older stories, and the fanzines edited in the 90s. The problem, though, is that these are almost im
possible to find. Recently the publisher Cyberdark has started a collection of anthologies whose goal is to rescue the best short stories of this period. Cyberdark published an anthology called Dulces Dieciséis with my strongest short fiction of the 90s, along with another volume called El Noveno Capítulo that collected some of Armando Boix’s best stories. They’re planning to edit about twenty more anthologies covering that time. It’s a great idea to make these stories available again.
Of course, there’s also more recent short fiction that’s very good, but it’s pretty easy to find. The logical starting point would be the Internet. There are also several interesting themed anthologies containing strong recent work by current writers as well.
Rafael Marín: Yes, there are good anthologies and author collections out there. Anthologies depend a lot on the tastes and biases of their editors. I think author collections are better at showcasing what writers are capable of, so I prefer collections.
César Mallorquí: There are two more-or-less recent books that offer an interesting panorama of Spanish science fiction short stories: Prospectivas (Salto de Página, 2012), edited by Fernando Ángel Moreno, and Historia y Antología de la Ciencia Ficción Española (Cátedra, 2014), edited by Julián Díez and Fernando Ángel Moreno.
Juan Miguel Aguilera: We’re all very different, so it really depends on what kind of SF subgenre you enjoy. Since we’ve talked about women and science fiction, I’d recommend the story “La textura de las palabras” by Felicidad Martínez, which is set in my Akasa-Puspa universe, and which is so original in its approach that it astounded me. I’d also recommend the anthology we mentioned before, Mañana Todavía, in which you’ll find just about every author who is currently relevant in Spanish science fiction.
Do you think Spanish science fiction has been more influenced by U.S. or European (including U.K.) authors and works?
Juan Miguel Aguilera: At one point U.S. science fiction dominated the Spanish scene completely. But since the 90s I’d say we’ve been finding our own voice. I’m interested in French science fiction—all of my novels appear in France, sometimes even before they do in Spain, and I know a lot of French authors, who unfortunately aren’t as popular in Spain as they ought to be.
Javier Negrete: In my case, I’ve read a lot of U.S. science fiction, some U.K. stuff and a little from the rest of Europe. I think that’s been mostly due to availability. So yes, I suppose the U.S. has exerted the most influence. I tend to like English-language literature in general, not only science fiction but other genres.
César Mallorquí: I concur, the United States has influenced Spanish SF the most, and then the U.K. in second place. Fortunately, one of the accomplishments of the 90s generation we’ve been discussing was to put that influence to good use and adapt its best elements towards the sensibilities and realities of Spain.
Eduardo Vaquerizo: I think that English science fiction—and I’m not separating between British and North American here—led the genre for years. There are a lot of great writers and some masters. That was the principal influence in Spain, but the European tradition has also played a part. For me, for example, Stanislaw Lem was very important. And of course we shouldn’t forget Jules Verne.
Elia Barceló: Science fiction in Spain has been until recently (and probably it still is, though not so strongly) a branch of English-language science fiction that is science fiction originally written in English. The influence of French, Russian, Italian, German, Polish or Scandinavian science fiction is insignificant compared to the influence of North American and British authors.
The greatest influence is probably American, although in the 90s the influence of the British New Thing was important too.
Until 2012 the Ignotus prize, an important Spanish science fiction award, was voted on by members of the Spanish Association of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror (AEFCFT) and by HispaCon attendees. Now anyone can register and vote. What prompted this change? Do you think the Hugo awards should similarly be opened up beyond Worldcon members?
Juan Miguel Aguilera: I’m actually the Spanish writer to have won the most Ignotus awards in the history of Spanish science fiction, as writer and illustrator. It is quite prestigious and particularly helpful when you’re starting out. Making the voting process accessible to more people has perhaps been a move to increase the number of voters, to make things more democratic. I’m not sure if that’s good or not; we’ll see during the next award season!
Elia Barceló: I have not given much thought to the question because I don’t really believe in such things—especially now, with so many ways of influencing the voters’ opinions and the sudden fashions that lead people to vote for this or that just because everybody is talking about it on Twitter.
Eduardo Vaquerizo: Yes, the idea was to obtain more votes, which should in turn make the Ignotus more representative of what people like, more universal in a way. I don’t think the Hugos have this problem because Worldcon fandom is larger. An open voting process could make the prize less specialized, which might be good or bad according to one’s preference. Would you prefer winners who are more famous—more bestsellers maybe, more mainstream writers—or not?
César Mallorquí: As the others have pointed out, I suppose that the reason for the change in the way the Ignotus is selected was the low number of Association members. Regarding the question of the Hugos . . . I’m not sure, to be honest. Worldcon has a lot of members, so it may already represent the general opinion of fans. I don’t think a change is necessary, but I also wouldn’t really see any downside to it.
What single work of Spanish science fiction would you most like to see translated into other languages (including English)?
Rodolfo Martínez: Definitely Viaje a un Planeta Wu-Wei by Gabriel Bermúdez Castillo.
Elia Barceló: I think the best way to show what Spain has to offer is to translate a dozen (or twenty) stories and providing a panorama of different styles and ways of thinking. All of the authors mentioned in these conversations have very interesting visions to share with non-Spanish readers. And, of course, if I do say so myself, my trilogy Anima Mundi might be a candidate for translation.
Eduardo Vaquerizo: I’ll be honest and say that I’d like my own steampunk imperial adventure, Danza de Tinieblas, published in English. Also, El Ciclo de la Luna Roja by Jose Antonio Cotrina (a trilogy), Seis by Daniel Mares, Mundos en el Abismo by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Javier Redal, Consecuencias Naturales by Elia Barceló, and Alejandro Magno y las Águilas de Roma by J. Negrete.
Rafael Marín: Would it be rude to suggest my own work?
Javier Negrete: I’d suggest my Tramórea saga (one has to self-promote, after all), and I’d also pick Mundos en el Abismo by Aguilera and Redal. It’s already been translated into other languages, but not English, and I think it would work well in the U.K./U.S. markets.
Juan Miguel Aguilera: As it happens, a few years ago one of my novels was mentioned on the Locus blog in this context. My 1998 novel La Locura de Dios was quoted as being the winner of the Somebody-Please-Translate Award. So I’m going to listen to the author of that piece pick the same novel for translation into English. It’s already been translated into other languages, by the way; it won the Imaginales award in France and the Bob Morane award in Belgium.
What are your current and forthcoming projects?
Eduardo Vaquerizo: In June Random House, through its Fantascy imprint, will publish my novel Nos Mienten, written in the mood of political turmoil in which we live in Spain today. I’m currently writing a prequel to Danza de Tinieblas, my steampunk uchronia about a Spanish empire that survives into the present. The jonbar point occurs in the 16th century, following a war of succession caused by the death of Felipe II in a hunting accident. It was a very ambitious project because of the richness of the real Spanish Renaissance, mixed with the steampunk and uchronia propositions. I hope to have the prequel finished in half a year or so.
After that, I’m considering writing a techno-thriller about big tr
ansport airplanes. But that’s just one of several possible ideas . . .
Elia Barceló: I just finished writing a science fiction trilogy, Anima Mundi, which is a sort of crossover/hybrid novel for readers of all ages. It starts as a kind of love story for young people and gets darker and darker and more science-fictional with every page. The third part, Hijos de las Estrellas, will be published at the end of March.
I’ve started writing a dystopia with a strong gender theme, but there is another (mainstream) novel competing for my attention and I still don’t know which one will get written first.
I’ve almost finished compiling a collection of my short stories (in different genres), and that will be probably published before the summer.
Finally, I’ll be participating in two forthcoming SF anthologies with two short stories. One is finished, the other still in my mind.
Rafael Marín: I’m writing a historical novel. Adventures in the 16th century.
Rodolfo Martínez: I’m finishing La Sombra del Adepto, the fourth novel in a sequence that started with El Adepto de la Reina in 2009. I’m also working on a novel that takes as its starting point my short story “En el Ático,” which appeared in the anthology Mañana Todavía. And in the not-too-distant future I’d like to return to my Encrucijada series: police stories in a pseudo-Roman setting.
Javier Negrete: I’m currently continuing the history of Rome which I began in Roma Victoriosa and continued in Roma Invicta. I can’t talk about other projects I’m working on right now, but I hope to return to science fiction, which continues to be my favorite genre.
César Mallorquí: In September of 2015 a new collection of my fantasy and short stories will appear, Trece Monos, published by Random House. Right now I’m working on a young adult novel, still untitled, which—remember the pessimism we were talking about before?—chronicles the life story of three brothers during the collapse of civilization.
