Asimov/Suvin/et al : Soviet, Russian, Eastern European SF


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Possibly the earliest anthologies of science fiction from other languages translated into English for US readers were two slender volumes of Soviet science fiction published by Collier in 1962 with introductions by Isaac Asimov. The actual editors are not identified, but Asimov's name on the covers kept the books in print through several printings over the following decade. Asimov indicates that the stories were selected with American audiences in mind, and he describes how stories in the first volume are technology-dominant in the manner of pre-1950 western sf, while the second volume extends themes into the perfectability of future societies.

Critic Darko Suvin's 1970 hardcover extends the range to socialist countries Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and the USSR, and emphasizes the utopian themes that are imagined to derive from their social experiment. A third of the book is taken by five stories by Stanislaw Lem -- his first works, along with the novel Solaris the same year, to appear in English.

In 1977 the US publisher Macmillan launched a "Best of Soviet Science Fiction" series of hardcovers, most with introductions by Theodore Sturgeon, that included the first English-language publications of nine novels (in seven volumes) by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. The series also included three anthologies, one edited by Vladimir Gakov (in the photo), one uncredited, and a third credited to the Strugatskys.

The final volume included here is much more recent, from a Russian publisher and spanning a century from 1892 to 1992. It includes one story by the Strugatskys, the title slightly differently translated, that appeared in the first 1962 Collier book.

Most reprinted authors: Ilya Varshavsky (11), Vladen Bakhnov, Dmitri Bilenkin, and Arkady Strugatsky (5 each), then Kirill Bulychev and Stanislaw Lem (4 each). Note that the isfdb listings include translators and titles and authors in their original languages.

  • Soviet Science Fiction, Anonymous, ed. (Collier Books, 1962) [isfdb]
  • More Soviet Science Fiction, Anonymous, ed. (Collier Books, 1962) [isfdb]
  • Other Worlds, Other Seas, Darko Suvin, ed. (Random House, 1970) [isfdb]
  • New Soviet Science Fiction, Anonymous, ed. (Macmillan, 1979) [isfdb]
  • World's Spring, Vladimir Gakov, ed. (Macmillan, 1981) [isfdb]
  • Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers, Boris Strugatsky & Arkady Strugatsky, eds. (Macmillan, 1984) [isfdb]
  • Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction, Yvonne Howell, ed. (Russian Life Books, 2015) [isfdb]



Combined Contents by Author and Title


Genrikh Altov
  • The Master Builder -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Nine Minutes -- World's Spring
  • The Port of Rock Storms -- World's Spring
  • Mikhail Ancharov
  • Soda-Sun -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Vladen Bakhnov
  • According to Scientific Data -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Beware of the Ahs! -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Cheap Sale -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Fifth on the Left -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • A Remark Concerning a Little Something About the Devil -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Andrei Balabukha
  • Appendix -- World's Spring
  • Alexander Belayev
  • Hoity-Toity -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • Professor Dowell's Head -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Dmitri Bilenkin
  • City and Wolf -- World's Spring
  • Crossing of the Paths -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Once at Night -- World's Spring
  • Personality Probe -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Surf of Mars -- World's Spring
  • Valery Bryusov
  • Mutiny of the Machines -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Rebellion of the Machines -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Kirill Bulychev
  • The Choice -- World's Spring
  • The Empty House -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Jubilee-200 -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Share It with Me (Analog Apr 1979) -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • An Ugly Bioform -- World's Spring
  • Marietta Chudakova
  • Life Space -- World's Spring
  • Vladimir Colin
  • The Contact -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Anatoly Dneprov
  • Formula for Immortality -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Interview with a Traffic Policeman -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Island of the Crabs -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Siema -- More Soviet Science Fiction
  • The STAPLE Farm -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The World in Which I Vanished (International Science Fiction Jun 1968) -- World's Spring
  • Yuri Dolgushin
  • Rays of Life (excerpt) -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Anton Donev
  • Why Atlantis Sank -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Sergei Drugal
  • The Exam -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Mikhail Emtsev
  • The Pale Neptune Equation (by ME & Yeremei Parnov) -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Nikolai Fyodorov
  • One Evening in 2217 -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Sever Gansovsky
  • A Day of Wrath (Path Into the Unknown, 1966) -- World's Spring
  • Testing Grounds -- World's Spring
  • Vincent Van Gogh -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Gennady Gor
  • The Great Actor Jones -- World's Spring
  • Theocrates' Blue Window -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Alexander Gorbovsky
  • Coincidence -- World's Spring
  • The Stanislavsky Method -- World's Spring
  • Vladimir Grigorev
  • An Old Robot's Two Times Two -- World's Spring
  • G. Gurevich
  • Infra Draconis -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • Alexander Kazantsev
  • Explosion -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Martian -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • A Visitor from Outer Space -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • Victor Kolupaev
  • The Very Biggest House -- World's Spring
  • World's Spring -- World's Spring
  • M., and O. Olgin Krivich
  • Plays and Wins -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Stanislaw Lem
  • The Computer That Fought a Dragon (Mortal Engines, 1977) -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Patrol -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Thirteenth Journey of Ion Tichy -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Twenty-Fourth Journey of Ion Tichy -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Sergei Lukyanenko
  • My Dad's an Antibiotic -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • German Maksimov
  • The Ultimate Threshold -- World's Spring
  • Vladimir Mikhailov
  • Brook on Iapetus -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Josef Nesvadba
  • Vampires Ltd. (Vampires Ltd., 1964) -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Vladimir Osinsky
  • Spaceship -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Yeremei Parnov
  • The Pale Neptune Equation (by Mikhail Emtsev & YP) -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Andrei Platonov
  • The Lunar Bomb -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Victor Saparin
  • The Trial of Tantalus (The Heart of the Serpent, 1961) -- More Soviet Science Fiction
  • Vladimir Savchenko
  • Mixed Up -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Professor Bern's Awakening -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • Success Algorithm -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Vadim Shefner
  • The Friar of Chikola -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • A Provincial's Wings -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Arkady Strugatsky
  • Six Matches (by AS & Boris Strugatsky) (The Heart of the Serpent, 1961) -- More Soviet Science Fiction
  • Spontaneous Reflex (by AS & Boris Strugatsky) -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Spontaneous Reflex -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Those Burdened by Evil (excerpt) -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Visitors (by AS & Boris Strugatsky) -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Boris Strugatsky
  • Six Matches (by Arkady Strugatsky & BS) (The Heart of the Serpent, 1961) -- More Soviet Science Fiction
  • Spontaneous Reflex (by Arkady Strugatsky & BS) -- Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Visitors (by Arkady Strugatsky & BS) -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Nikolay Toman
  • A Debate on Sf - Moscow 1965 -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Daliya Truskinovskaya
  • Doorinda (excerpt) -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
  • On the Moon -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Valery Tsyganov
  • Martian Tales -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Ilya Varshavsky
  • Biocurrents, Biocurrents ... -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Duel -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Escape -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Lectures on Parapsychology -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • No Alarming Symptoms -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • The Noneatrins -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Plot for a Novel -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Secrets of the Genre -- Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers
  • Somp -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • The Sun Sets in Donomag -- World's Spring
  • The Violet -- New Soviet Science Fiction
  • Romain Yarov
  • The Founding of Civilization (International Science Fiction Jun 1968) -- Other Worlds, Other Seas
  • Ivan Yefremov
  • The Heart of the Serpent (The Heart of the Serpent, 1961) -- More Soviet Science Fiction
  • The Nur-I-Desht Observatory -- Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction
  • Valentina Zhuravlyova
  • Stone from the Stars (The Heart of the Serpent, 1961) -- More Soviet Science Fiction

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    This page last updated Thursday 3 Sep 2020 at 10:22 PT