NEWS

April 26th 2011

IAN MCDONALD'S "THE DERVISH HOUSE" AWARDED BY BSFA

Annual prize of British Science Fiction Association for 2010 was awarded to Ian McDonald’s novel THE DERVISH HOUSE. McDonald has won the BSFA award twice: for novels River of Gods (2004) and Brasyl (2007). Paladin publishing house from Belgrade, Mr Mcdonald’s publisher in Serbia, announced that Serbian edition of THE DERVISH HOUSE will be available in October 2011.

April 26th 2011

FIFTH EDITION OF "THE LAST BOOK" IN ITALY

Zoran Zivkovic’s "The Last Book" is going to have its 5th edition in Italy. Fifty thousand issues of this Zivkovic’s novel was already sold in this European country. "The Last Book" was published in Serbian in 2007 by Novosti company in 20.000 issues.

April 26th 2011

"ON STRANGER TIDES" PUBLISHED IN SERBIA

The youngest Serbian science fiction and fantasy publisher – SIRIUS B, announced that Tim Powers’ novel "On stranger tides" is available in bookstores. This pirate adventure story with occult elements will be a real treat for summer season since fourth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbeans" is based on this novel.

April 26th 2011

"ISLAND OF THE DAMNED" PREPARING FOR THE BIG SCREEN

During previous weeks several Belgrade newspapers announced the possibility that bestselling Serbian horror novel "Island of the Damned" will head for a big screen. Screenplay is being written by Dimitrije Vojnov, and directorial chair should be reserved for Milan Todorovic, director of "Zone of the Dead". It has been rumoured that Jenna Jamison will be offered a leading role in this Serbian movie.

April 17th 2011

APOCALYPSE ANTHOLOGY SOON TO BE PRESENTED

Paladin publishing house is expected to publish collection of slipstream stories entitled as “Apocalypse – yesterday, today, tomorrow – Stories about the end of the world”. It is a thematic collection of prose works from Serbian SF/F/H authors. Goran Skrobonja, Serbian writer and owner of Paladin, have said that some 50 writers took part in Apocalypse contest, and final selection included 25 stories. Apart from authors of SF/F/H, contributions to collection of Apocalypse stories are also provided from well-known Serbian mainstream writers like Aleksandar Gatalica and Djordje Pisarev.

April 17th 2011

COOPERATION BETWEEN SERBIAN AND ROMANIAN SF/F SCENES INITIATED

On April 15th, Serbian writers Goran Skrobonja and Adrijan Sarajlija, along with art-anima website owner Dragoljub Igrosanac, hosted Sorin Kamner, vicepresident of Romanian Society of Science Fiction and Fantasy who visited Belgrade. Goal of this meeting was to initiate cooperation between Romanian and Serbian SF/F communities. One of the most interesting subjects discussed during Mr Kamner`s visit is a plan to publish joint Serbian-Romanian anthology of stories inspired by vampires, beings widely present both in Serbian and Romanian folklore. The book would be published in Romanian, Serbian and English language, and presented at Eurocon 2012 in Zagreb, Croatia.

February 23rd 2010

ARTICLE ON PAVLE ZELIC'S STORY COLLECTION IN "GLAS SRPSKE" NEWSPAPER

February 22nd issue of daily newspaper Glas Srpske from Banja Luka (Republic Srpska) brings article about prose debut by Pavle Zelic, Serbian fantasy author. It is a collection of short stories entitled as “Last Great Adventure” (“Poslednja velika avantura”) . The book was promoted on last year`s Belgrade Book Fair and it still attract a lot of attention by readers and criticists. “Last Great Adventure” (published by prominent “Matica Srpska”) contains 13 fantasy and science fiction stories. Zelic explores “nostalgy for old times, innocence forever lost and misfit heroes in misguided world. Pavle Zelic`s short story collection is one of two dozes genre literary works published by Serbian authors last year.

February 22nd 2010

ZIVKOVIC "NOVELS" REVIEWED IN BLIC

Literary section of yesterday`s daily newspaper Blic presents “Novels” by Zoran Zivkovic. This capital edition consists of most important Zivkovic prose works published by acclaimed author during period of 15 years. “Novels” include Escher`s Loops, Candid Camera, The Last Book etc. New York Times and Seattle Times find parallels in Zivkovic`s literature with works of Borges, Kafka and David Lynch.

February 21st 2010

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS "ONE ON ONE" AND "KINGS" PRESENTED IN POLITIKA

Eminent Serbian newspaper Politika published reviews of new titles of Serbian fantasy: "One on One" ("Jedan na jedan") by Ivan Nesic and "Kings" ("Kraljevi") by Zoran Jaksic. Politika`s reviewer M. Vulicevic points out Nesic`s capability to encompass painful issues of modern societies: from AIDS, across incest, poverty and crime, to a multifaceted emptiness of a serial killer. Characters in One on One collection, by names of Leonard, Tyra, Gas, are pimps, hookers, homosexuals, child molesters and all kinds of outcasts on the brinks of American society. Nesic overcomes local perspective and gives broad view of western civilisation, possessed by profound evil. Collection of Ivan Nesic short fiction is published by Everest Media publishing house.

On the other hand, Zoran Jaksic`s “Kings” is a collection of postapocalyptic stories that depict severely reduced humanity dealing with ghostly figures, astral wolves and doppelgangers, nightmares of time industry and dead resurrected. Zoran Jaksic is eminent Serbian scientist, science fiction writer and translator, with more than 60 pieces of fantasy and SF prose. He is a scientific advisor in Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy and professor at School of Electical Engeneering of Belgrade University.

February 14th 2010

REVIEW OF "PAGANIC LIBRARY" IN POLITIKA NEWSPAPER

Renowned Serbian newspaper Politika on February 13th brought a review of Karlo Astrahan`s debut novel. Reviewer finds that Astrahan based his omnibus-book on best fantasy traditions. Eight chapters are independent at first glance, but interconnections regarding main ideas, motifs and atmosphere do exist. Author deals with mythology and folklore of paganism, explores changes that fantastic circumstances inflict on humanity.

February 11th 2010

LAGUNA WILL PUBLISH MORE JORDAN'S AND SANDERSON'S BOOKS BY THE END OF THE YEAR

Translator Ivan Jovanovic announced at his Nigthtflier`s Bookspace blog that he started translations for remaining five novels from Robert Jordan`s "Wheel of Time" series, as well as "Mistborn" trilogy by young American author Brandon Sanderson. The books will be published by prominent Serbian house Laguna. As Jovanovic says, the goal is to complete Jordan`s series up to the 12th book.

February 10th 2010

ILIJA BAKIC'S INTERVIEW IN POLITIKA

Daily newspaper Politika brings interview with one of Serbia`s most important fantasy writers – Ilija Bakic, winner of this years Vojvodina Writers Society Award. Mr Bakic talks about his recent books: "In Separation" ("U odvajanju"), "To Be Continued..." ("Nastaviće se..."), "Scum is breathing" ("Bagra diše"), "Movies" ("Filmovi"). His awarded short story collection “In Separation” is science fiction, with predominance of cyberpunk subgenre. Bakic points out the fact that genre literature is still considered of less value out of pure ignorance.

Filip Rogovic interviewed Bakic for Politika.

February 07th 2010

KOSINGAS: THE ABYSS - PROMOTION IN LAZAR KOMARCIC CLUB

Regular Monday meeting in Lazar Komarcic Club (February 8th, 7 pm) will be dedicated to second part of "Kosingas" epic fantasy series of novels by Aleksandar Tesic. "Kosingas: the Abyss" ("Kosingas: Bezdanj") tells a story of Kraljevic Marko and Gavrilo the monch voyage to the Abyss, where Marko should become the Warrior of the Fire Prophecy. Hunt is upon them, trailing their bloody footsteps. They acquire new allies along the way: Krsnici and ancient zduhaći of the White Wolf Strahor Order.

February 02nd 2010

NEW ADDITIONS ON UTOPIA

Miroljub Todorovic edited Radojica Tautovic`s essay "Death and Resurrection of Utopia" ("Smrt i vaskrs utopije") for Art-Anima.com. Another new addition is review of Pavle Teofilovic`s novel "Techno-vilayet" ("Tehno vilajet") that  deals with Utopia motifs. Author of the review is Rasa Popov. "Techno-vilayet" was considered for this year`s Politikin Zabavnik award. Both texts are in Serbian.

February 01st 2010

ALEKSANDAR MARKOVIC'S BOOKS PROMOTION

This evening`s meeting in Lazar Komarcic club will be dedicated to Aleksandar Markovic`s two books: short story collection "Crumbs under the skin" ("Mrve pod kožom") and poetry collection "Uroboros". Promotion starts at 7 pm on the first floor of Belgrade`s "Dom Omladine", entrance is free. Tardis published both books. Aleksandar Markovic`s stories appeared throughout Serbian fantasy anthologies. Most acclaimed stories from "Crumbs under the skin" are "Adventures of White Rhinoceros" ("Avanture belog nosoroga") , "Dragon-eating tree" ("Drvo koje jede zmajeve"), "Melancholy" ("Melanholija") , "Gondvana" and others.

February 01st 2010

GORAN SKROBONJA'S INTERVIEW FOR BLIC

New novel by Serbian horror and fantasy novelist, translator and editor Goran Skrobonja is the main subjest of his interview to newspaper Blic. "Man who killed Tesla" is a story of alternate history and it is expected to appear in bookstores by the end of March. The novel will be published by biggest Serbian publishing house – Laguna. Interview in Blic is titled as "When genius returned to Serbia" and you can find it on our Serbian webpage.

January 31st 2010

ILIJA BAKIC AWARDED BY SOCIETY OF VOJVODINA WRITERS FOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2009

Annual session of Society of Vojvodina Writers held on Beocin on January 30th 2010, awarded Ilija Bakic and his sci-fi short story collection "In separation" (published by Agora) with for Book of the year prize.

Final contestants for this prize were all the books by Society members published during 2009. Jury members were: Vladimir Gvozden, Djordje Pisarev and Franja Petrinovic.

After receiving the prize, Ilija Bakic held a short speech stating that this is the first prize of official writers associations in Serbia that goes to science fiction work. Ilija Bakic said that this represents "the courage by the jurors since sci-fi has been object of prejudice for years".

January 31st 2010

SLOBODAN VLADUSIC AWARDED WITH "VITAL" PRIZE

"Golden sunflower" for best book in Serbian written in 2009. went to Slobodan Vladusic for novel "Forward" (published by Stubovi kulture from Belgrade). The prize is awarded by Vital factory from Vrbas.

Final contestants for this prize were "What if she dies before awakening" by Djordje Pisarev and short stories collection "Everyone says mom in the end" by Ljiljana Djurdjic.

Jury stated that Vladusic`s novel is an example of fruitful and strong storytelling with responsible view of contemporary world.

January 29th 2010

PROMOTION OF "CONSTANTIN'S CROSSROADS"

"Constantin`s Crossroads", a novel by Dejan Stojiljkovic, will be promoted this evening at Belgrade`s DOM OMLADINE.

Sections of novel will be read by actor Goran Jevtic.

During promotion, awards for best video trailer inspired by this will be anounced. Jurors for this award are Dejan Zecevic, Radoslav Zelenovic, Robert Nemecek and Djordje Milosavljevic.

"Constantine`s Crossroads" tells a story about nazie quest for Constantine the Great`s sword during WW2 in Serbia. Stojiljkovic was awarded with "Milos Crnjanski" award for this novel, and he was one of final pretenders for this years NIN award.

January 28th 2010

NEW ARTICLES ON ART-ANIMA

New prose and essay pieces are presented to you on our webpages. "Ballad of a dead man", a new story by Branko Curcic, describes sinister irregularity in regard to the death of one Zoltan Popovic. Like any beaurocracy, the one that regulates death can get to a stallmate; the consequences for thirty-year-old hero of this story, father of toddler and mostly jobless, are here to read all about.

Another essay by Radojica Tautovic "Sore cure for sore wound" (in Serbian) depict science fiction as countermeasure to mass culture. First published by literary magazine Odjek, this article is prepared for our website by Miroljub Todorovic.

January 26th 2010

BLIC REVIEWS "MALTESE BAT" BY LJUBOMIR DAMNJANOVIC

Pm January 24th, cultural section of Blic newspaper brought a review of fantasy novel "Maltese Bat" by deceised Serbian writer Ljubomir Damnjanovic (1959-1999). Due to his early death this interesting author and longtime member of Belgrade SF circles, remained mainly unknown to Serbian readers. Nine years after his death aspiring publisher from Belgrade Tardis published this horror parody novel whose main character is Serbian vampire family Saric dealing with everyday troubles and some vampire-specific issues. Minimal description, swift dialogues, local sleng, non-pretencious and easy-going piece of dark humour literature comes with cover page done by the best Serbian SF comic book illustrator Zeljko Pahek. The review was written by Slobodan Ivkov.

January 26th 2010

"KOSINGAS" SERIES PRESENTATION IN CULTURAL CENTER OF BELGRADE STUDENT CITY

Literary evening dedicated to epic fantasy series "Kosingas" by Aleksandar Tesic will be held today at 7 pm in Cultural center of Belgrade Student City. Speakers at this promotion will be Sreten Petrovic, Petar Grujicic and author himself.

Kosingas novel series is initially planned as trilogy, a Serbian version of "Lord of the Rings". Two books have been published so far: "Order of the Dragon" and "Abyss". Main characters of this epic adventure are Gavrilo the monch and Kraljevic Marko. Rituals and practices of old Serbia are presented in genre piece of work. Mythical being depicted in this series are part of authentic Serbian pantheon.

January 25th 2010

LOVECRAFT'S REANIMATOR COMING TO BOOKSTORES

According to Pogled iz svemirskog broda website, publisher Tabernakl from Sremska Mitrovica is preparing collection of HPL stories. This publishing house brought several other Lovecraft's works to Serbian market: "In the mountains of madness", "Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "Silver Key", "Cthulhu stories".

"Reanimator" collection contains seven stories on 210 pages: "Dagon", "Reanimator", "Alchemist", "White ship", "Shadow over Innsmouth", "Nameless city", "The Tomb". Book is printed in 1000 issues and it is expected in bookstores very soon.

January 24th 2010

POLITIKIN ZABAVNIK AWARD GOES TO "PRIMROSE AND THE REST"

Politikin Zabavnik Award for the Best Book for Youth in 2009 has been awarded to "Primrose and the rest" by Mina S. Curcin i Branislav Ognjenovic, published by the authors.

Jurors made decision by close majority (three to two votes) and explained their choice by stating that this book is: "A compelling version of classical fairytales, determined to question suspicious moral standards of modern times, warning us of all the concerns of our century."

Final candidates for this award were also: "Seventh Kingdom" by Gordana Timotijevic and "Techno World" by Pavle Teofilovic. Thirty two titles were discussed for Politikin Zabavnik Award. The jurors were: Dragan Babic (president), Vera Milankovic, Pavle Mincic, Borislav Stanojevic and Petar Milatovic.
(BETA)

January 21st 2010

NO MYSTERIOUS VISITOR TO POE'S GRAVE THIS YEAR

Mysterious visitor was leaving roses and cognac bottles at Edgar Alan Poe’s grave for six decades. This year, however, the shadowy character did not show.

Curator of the Poe House and Museum in Baltimore confirms that tradition is dated from 1949. Since then, this is the first anniversary without the mysterious visitor.

Curator and some thirty Poe’s admirers have spent the whole night in Baltimore church cemetery waiting for the shadowy visitor. January 19th was the 201st anniversary of Poe’s birthday.

Poe House and Museum announced that the visitor did not show up for the unknown reasons.

January 19th 2010

MIRJANA DETELIC'S INTERVIEW TO POLITIKA

Cultural section of daily newspaper "Politika" on January 16th brought an interview with writer Mirjana Detelic, author of the novel "Dorkasi". Marina Vulicevic interviewed the author and titled the text as: "We are All Children of Atlantis".

Mirjana Detelic talks about development of her new novel: "Some five or six years ago I took a bet with my friend that I would make pseudoscientific work not distinguishable from pure science."

To fulfill The dream of Faust and dwell into the esoteric and occult, to reveal secrets of time and travel across centuries, jumping like a gazelle, to be involved in history, from ancient times, through Byzantine and World War I, up to the decisive 2012, to own the stone of wisdom, all of that has the price in not belonging to either men or God. These secrets of humanity are the subject of "Dorkasi: Legend of Genesis", novel published by Tardis. Mirjana Detelic has a PhD in literary science and works as scientific advisor at the Institute of Balcanology of Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the author of capital encyclopedia work "Epic cities", and other books on cities: "Christian and Muslim cities in Serb-Croat oral epics" (2004) and "White City: an Epic Formula and Slavic Toponym" with Marija Ilic as coauthor (2006).

January 18th 2010

NEW ADDITION TO BLOG "WAITING FOR A TRANSLATION"

"Best of reading in 2009" by Serbian writer Darko Tusevljakovic is now online on "Waiting for Translation" blog. Tusevljakovic makes his personal remarks on best fantasy books that he has read during 2009 in English, since they are not translated to Serbian yet. His list of titles includes: "Lavinia" by Ursula LeGuin, "Miracles of Life: An Autobiography" by James G. Ballard, "Nova Swing" by John Harrison, "Brasyl" by Ian McDonald, "Black Man" by Richard Morgan and "Feersum Sindjinn" by Ian M. Banks.

Apart from reviews of these foreign books, this time Darko reviews new Serbian fantasy books: "Spine of the night" by Oto Oltvanji, "Uroboros" by Aleksandar Markovic and "Photophobia" by Marko Pisev.

January 16th 2010

REVIEW OF SCI-FI NOVEL "PASSAGE" IN POLITIKA

Every Saturday Politika brings a fresh review of Serbian fantasy authors’ works. Today, in the column "Title by title" a debut novel by Biljana Malesevic is reviewed.

Here is the full text of this article:

"Passage" by Biljana Malesevic

Debut novel by Biljana Malesevic is a sci-fi Romanesque story published by Tardis. The gruesome, nightmarish world takes you beyond death to the state where you can enter TV series and movies, comics and books. The spirits get caught in rotting bodies and death is not the ultimate object of fear. Chills takes the reader over while imagining supernatural beings and horrific landscapes that surround heroine Vera.

Biljana Malesevic, young writer from Novi Sad and author of "Passage", is a computer science engineer with passion in visual arts (drawing) as well.

January 13th 2010

SCIENCE FICTION AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS

Today we have published a new text by Radojica Tautovic, "The Other Side of the Moon", which was conceived by the end of 1968 and inspired by dramatic events during the mission of "Apollo 8", which at that time entered the final phase of its realization. Speaking of the mission itself and dangers threatening its crew, Tautovic emphasizes one of the Science Fiction’s most important functions – to signalize and anticipate possible models of behavior of man facing challenges posed by the accelerated development of new technologies.

This essay, as well as the previous works of Tautovic published on Art-Anima ("Child Quickly Becomes a Giant" and "Song of the Last Dead or Science Fiction Today"), was prepared by the author Miroljub Todorovic.

January 12th 2010

NEW NOVEL BY OTO OLTVANJI SOON TO BE PUBLISHED

One of the most popular Serbian genre writer signed a contract with publishing house Samizdat B92 for his new novel "Spine of the night". Second Oltvanji`s novel should hit the stores in February. It will be published in the edition "Busola", just the same as his previous work "The Black Shoes". According to writer’s website, "Spine of the night" is a voluminous novel with over 500 pages. It is a mixture of genres, with dominance of crime story and horror.

It took nearly four years for Oltvanji to finish this book. For Art-anima.com he claims: "First version of the novel was written in period from December 2005 to December 2008. Complete manuscript, after second and third revision, and all the preliminary reading, was delivered to the publisher in October 2009."

In a few weeks from now, bookshelves will host "Spine of the night". Oto Oltvanji`s website will provide additional material: cover, synopsis, excerpts and event schedule.

January 11th 2010

ENAMORED GIANT AND WICKED PLAGUE

After Orfelin`s (Novi Sad) edition of "Ferries and Dragons – Serbian Mithology", same team of authors announced another luxurious book: "Small Demons – Serbian Mithology". This news is cited from daily magazine Blic (article "Giant in love and wicked Plague") and web-site PISB.

Serbian giant looks can be deceiving. He is, in fact, a gentle being with deep concerns over transient nature of human life which makes him a sort of Hamlet figure (with a skull in his hand). Drawing of "Giant in thoughts" is Petar Meseldzija work, one of the most renowned world’s illustrators. Other drawings in this book will show you how Serbian giant likes to play and what he is like when in love.

"Lesser demons" will revive demons of the woods, waters, faith and diseases and also those derived from humans (mora, werewolf, zduhac). Many demons are here depicted: todorci, talasoni, psoglavi, karakondzule and joyous demon - babaroga.

The Plague can kill by looking and Dragan Bibib sketched her as an old woman with two sets of eyes and mouths, holding an ancient book containing names of those who are about to die. In her hair are entrapped souls of those she killed along the way.

However, none of Serbian demons are truly mean or evil and they are unfairly banished to their hideouts in woods, say the authors. This injustice started with spread of Christianity when demons were no longer needed as human companions; they became the unholy force.

This trilogy of Serbian mythology will be completed in 2011 when Vampires and Witches are scheduled to be published.

January 10th 2010

DOUBLE ISSUE OF GRADAC MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO LOVECRAFT

Magazine for literature, art and culture Gradac from Čačak was published as double issue (171-172) in December 2009. Edited by Dejan Ognjanovic, a recognized expert for Lovecraft work and editor of „Necronomicon“ (capital HPL collection of stories), this issue of Gradac is entirely dedicated to H. P. Lovecraft.

This 190 page issue contains:

000 - Dejan Ognjanović: "Lovecraft`s Cosmic Terror"
00- Dejan Ognjanović: "Lovecraft: Chronology"

STORIES:
1- H. P. Lovecraft: "Polaris"
2- H. P. Lovecraft: "The Nameless City"
3- H. P. Lovecraft: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"
4- H. P. Lovecraft: "The Are More Things…"

5- LOVECRAFTS ESSAYS

LAVKRAFTOVI ESEJI:
6- H. P. Lovecraft: "In Defense of Dagon"
7- H. P. Lovecraft: "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction"
8- H. P. Lovecraft: "Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction"
9- H. P. Lovecraft: "A Confession of Unfaith"

10- LOVECRAFT`S LETTERS

ESSAYS ON LOVECRAFT:
11- Dejan Ognjanović (selection): "About Lovecraft"
12- Muriel E. Eddy: "The Gentleman from Angel street"
13- Sonia H. Davis: "Lovecraft I knew"
14- Fritz Leiber: "A Literary Copernicus"
15- Michel Houellebecq: "Against the World, Against Life"
16- S. T. Joshi: "Philosophy of a Materialist"
17- Angela Carter: "Lovecraft and Labyrinth"
18- Stephen Sennitt: "The Reluctant Prophet"
19- Phil Hine: "Cthulhu Madness"
20- Colin Wilson: "Lovecraft and Awakening of True Will"
21- Eric Davis: "Valling Cthulhu: Lovecraft`s Magick Realism"

NEKRONOMIKON
22- Robert M. Price: "Critical Comments on NEKRONOMICON"
23- L. Sprague de Camp: "Foreword to Al-Azif"
24- NEKRONOMICON - Excerpts

Texts in Gradac were translated by: Ivan Jovanovic, Violeta Stojicic, Ivan Cabrilo i Dejan Ognjanovic. Original illustration for the front cover is the work of Rastko Kukic. Editor in chief: Branko Kukic.

Gradac no 171/172 can be purchased in bookstores: "Stubovi kulture" (Beoizlog), "Beopolis" (Dom omladine), "Aleksandar Belić", "Inicijal" and "Krug".

January 07th 2010

"TIME-GIFTS" IN GERMANY

End of 2009 brought another translation of Zoran Zivkovic`s novel "Time-Gifts", this one in German. This edition was published by eminent publisher DuMont Buchverla from Koln. "Time-Gifts" delivers a story of mysterious visitor and his appearances in crucial life moments of four leading characters. It is the first one in a series of books entitled as "Impossible Encounters" (includes: "Impossible Encounters", "Seven Touches of Music", "Steps Through the Mist") which will be published in Germany in years to come.

January 07th 2010

PALADIN'S EDITIONS AVAILABLE IN PANCEVO LIBRARY

All the books published by Paladin can be found on shelves of Pancevo City library. Library members can borrow notable fantasy novels: "Desolation road" by Ian McDonald, "World War Z" and "Zombie Survival Guide".by Max Brooks, "Rats" by James Herbert and Serbian slipstream story anthologies: "White Noise" (collection of stories about television) and "True Lies" (urban legends stories).

Paladin`s books can be purchased at "Mala galerija" bookstore near Pancevo Cultural Center.

January 06th 2010

EIGHT NOVELS COMPETE FOR NIN LITERARY AWARD

Selection of candidates for this year’s NIN award has been narrowed to eight titles. Critical debate started with 133 books, and now it’s about only 8 of them: Rajko Vasić "Crazy Eyes Fingers", Zvonko Karanović "Three Pictures of Victory", Žarko Komanin "Annals of Eternity", Grozdana Olujić "Voices in the Wind", Sandra Petrušić "Hostages", Djordje Pisarev "If I Die Before She is Awake", Dejan Stojiljković "Constantine’s Crossroads" i Mirjana Urošević "Carmen Machado Park".
At todays meeting of NIN`s jury (Milan Vlajcic, president, Aleksandar Ilic, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Mladen Lompar and Mladen Sukalo), members discussed another ten books that were published during final days of 2009 and decided to include Mirjana Mitrovic’s "Sleepwalkers from Magrum" (published by Laguna).

Two of the finalist books were published by Laguna and Srpska knjizevna zadruga each, while Zaduzbina Petar Kocic from Banja Luka and Belgrade, Plato, Agora and Alexandria each have one candidate.

Decision on this years winner will be declared at high noon on January 15th, after final meeting of the jury.

January 06th 2010

VITAL AWARD SHORTLIST

Final selection for this year’s Vital award will take three books into account: "Forward" by Slobodan Vladusic (publisher Stubovi kulture), "What If She Dies Before Awakening" by Djordje Pisarev (Agora) and "Everyone Says Mom In The End collection of stories" by Ljiljana Djurdjic.

Jovan Zivlak, Nikola Strajnic and Vladimir Gvozden are members of the Vital award jury, and every one of them had favorite of his own. The jurors explain that these three books represent at its best the scopes of contemporary Serbian prose, its younger and middle generation in particular.

Vladusic`s novel "Forward" deals with transitional seizures and tries to envision close future poisoned with violent bioengineering. Pisarev tells the story of conflicting past consequences in our setting, while Ljiljana Djurdjic`s stories are told from women’s perspective in the world of modern culture. Final decision on laureate will be made by February 2010.

January 05th 2010

ALTERNATIVE HISTORY BY ADRIJAN SARAJLIJA

Later this year, South Africa will host 19th World’s Football Cup – the most important of all irrelevant things in the our lives. At the moment, the New Year mood is still around, but we prepared something for our site visitors that is in the spirit of the upcoming Mondial. It is "Viva la Revolucion!", the story of alternative history by Adrijan Sarajlija.

The story follows three generations of a Brazilian Coimbra family, deeply involved in football, whose actions, sometimes directly, and most of the time, inadvertently, parallel political turmoil around the globe.

January 03rd 2010

NEW TRASH

Few days ago, latest edition of literary magazine Trash, from Nis, was published. On 178 pages, the magazine brings sections from several fantasy novels: "Man who Killed Tesla" by Goran Skrobonja, "World War Z" by Max Brooks, "Desolation Road" by Ian McDonald, "Drood" by Dan Simmons. Other features include story by Jovan Ristic "When Ribs Become the Cage" and section of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel "American Psycho".

Apart from SF/F/H genre works, fifth issue of Trash presents stories by Zoran Ciric (One Short Railway), Vladimir Kecmanovic (BMW, Heckler and Walls...), Zeljko Barisic (The Cube), Bret Easton Ellis (The Rules of Attraction), Marija Djurovic (This is not the Exit), Natalija Stojkovic (Amsterdam), Velibor Petkovic (Love Sorry) and Miljan Milanovic (Trash in Ničkovgrad).

Short comics and illustrations are done by Dusan Cvetkovic. Trash’s editor in chief is Dejan N. Kostic.

January 02nd 2010

SCIENCE FICTION – THE LAST FIFTY YEARS

Is Science Fiction an inferior kind of literature?

Since the last century’s 20`s, there were numerous voices within artistic establishment, which tried to underestimate genre literature. Escape from reality, surreal and improbable situations, and character clichés were most frequent objections to the SF genre. Nevertheless, every epoch has its avant-garde critics who are able to recognize new qualities in new genres. At Yugoslav cultural scene, during 1960`s, one of those visionaries was Radojica Tautovic. His essay "Last Dead Man’s Song or Science Fiction Today" was written half a century ago but it can speak for SF genre status in our time too.

Short time ago, Tautovic`s essay "Child Quickly Becomes a Giant" was published on our site (in Serbian). This text provides in depth insight of author’s analysis of SF. Scientific works by Radojica Tautovic were published in "Hefest from the Space" collection. Miroljub Todorovic prepared Tautovic`s texts for Art-anima.com, as well as his short biography.

January 02nd 2010

“THE LAST BOOK” IN MILAN

Italian premiere of Zoran Zivkovic`s novel "The Last Book" will be held in Milan from January 19th – 22nd (B92).

Promotion will be organized by distinguished Italian publisher TEA (Tascabili degli Editori Associati). It is expected that famous Serbian writer will attend the ceremony.

"The Last Book" has already been translated to English, German, Korean, Dutch and Croatian. German edition (DTV) achieved substantial success with over thirty presentations and more then ten thousand issues sold.