Blurbs

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Short synopses/presentations of our translations.

Heirs

The young, dissolute heir of a devout Maltese Catholic finds out he is a direct descendant of St. Paul’s. Is there a way to make profit out of this – or at least make an oppressive father mad? How about claiming one’s copyright on a portion of the Holy Bible? But then, is the Vatican just going to sit on the side and watch? A tongue-in-cheek exploration of the intricacies of copyright laws and the Catholic Church.

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The Glow of the River

Denn Sirr, a former hunter, chieftain, librarian, revolutionary, walks the ancient road of the Deinors toward a place that is said to connect his world to all times and all universes. And so, it turns out, does another loner and maverick: Egranach, the sculptor who can read all signs and languages. Egranach has deciphered two glorious, terrible truths: what weapons a higher civilization would wield; and also that the Door to All Times and Places is about to open for the last time--leading those who so wish to that higher civilization; and leaving the lesser people of this long-suffering world behind. For Denn Sirr, who has always dreamt of transcending himself and uplifting the people around him, there can be no more harrowing a choice.

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Father

An absurd coincidence drives a young man to look for the truth about his deceased father - and find out the price of fatherly love.

"Written in an intense first-person narrative, the voice is reminiscent of some of Philip K. Dick’s early short fiction. By enriching “Father” with lucid details in elegantly hazy prose, Ivanov succeeds in bringing alive the vivid images that make this story an excellent read."
(Yael Artom, _Tangent_)

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Causality

Every event stems from different causes and brings about different consequences. But when causality changes the entire human species, there may be aliens involved.

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The Most Terrible Beast

As you read the story, glance at the sky now and then. Is it changing colour? The most terrible beast may visit our Solar System too.

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The Assasination

When the Ottoman Empire invaded the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, the last Bulgarian patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo was granted not death, but sainthood and eternal life. A thousand years later, he serves as a librarian under the rule of zmeys: powerful dragonlike creatures who have taken over human affairs. Evtimiy is a mentor of their queen, Shar Khan, arguing the virtues of Christianity with her--and, together with St. George, St. Elijah and other warrior-saints, plotting her assassination. Will the conspiracy succeed? Where is the place of a true believer in an act of terror?

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The Dragon and the Orange Juice

It was the Council wizards’ job to keep the dragon from running away, and they failed. The horrendous monster was about to enter the Other World: a rough and barbaric place teeming with technology, pollution and unstrained orange juice. The only wizard to recognise the upcoming chaos was Vladimir, but before he could do anything about it, he got imprisoned by the Council. Meanwhile, his dad was getting mentally prepared to die: he'd had a vision that he was going to be set on fire by a giant green thing.

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Oh, the Horror

A young journalist moves into a new flat, only to find out that the previous owner never left. Trapped between life and death, he haunts the place and strikes terror into the hearts of mortals … or tries to. Together, they attempt to help him leave this world and help her leave her job.

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In the Beginning Was the Subway

Vladi's life suddenly changes after an encounter with the ectoplasm of his late teacher, Mrs. Kirova. As her favorite pupil, Vladi receives from Kirova a special gift: a solarium-like container where a person can rest completely isolated from the terrestrial information fields. How will this device change life--Vladi's and everyone else's?

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How Much Is Two Plus Two?

A lonely astronaut lands on a new planet, which has no fauna, only flora. The flora turns out to be intelligent and telepathic and bent on some space exploration of its own. Is there anyone on board who can deal with the crisis?

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"Rondo for Death and a Hitman, Wannabe" tackles a standoff between a meditating protagonist and a would-be murderer. In a number of ways. ;)

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The Dragon and the Orange Juice, 1 sentence:

When a dragon breaks loose from the World of Magic, while the only wizard who knows how to stop him is imprisoned (wrongly) by his fellows, what can keep Earth's mundane existence from becoming queasily exciting?

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Loving Loney Lone

In a future where humankind has grown both technologically and spiritually, two outsiders--a hyperevolved girl and a disabled boy--struggle to find their place. How do we connect to others when everyone seems so different from us?

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The Keresztury TVirs

Food for thought: What is the future of television—ordinary or Internet-based one? How can it be used to influence our opinions and daily choices? How can we turn the tables on those who try to manipulate us?

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"A Tale of Heroes and Villains" (...) tackles (or at least tickles) several cliches, including:
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot
- Heroes _Need_ to Smash (or Shoot)
- Villains Exist. No, They Really Do
- (not strictly literary--yet probably the most important one) Terrorism is best fought by, well, fighting it

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Two Moons

When a human spaceship landed on a distant planet, its crew made its new home inside a giant local organism they called a trollburg. Now young Kea has to survive a week-long trial in the outside world. Along her way back home, she comes upon another trollburg--and finds out that humankind was not the only species that visited this planet. How else will this discovery change her understanding of the world?

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As Beautiful as Bare Reality

Young Psy frequents the safest, most personal layer of Augmented Reality--yet even here, he feels lonely and disconnected. Disconnected enough to call his friends one last time while standing at the edge of a roof, in Bare Reality.

Are his virtual friends real enough? How can they show him they really care? And how does the safest layer of AR respond to such situations?

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Beating the Air

The wind inspector is always busy: making sure his subordinates are blowing just right to inspire the poets and guide the Delta-plane pilots, and, above all, that they’re following the weather forecast. But one evening, he faces a new problem. What do you do when a wind falls in love?

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Transcendance

The two of them are unimaginably different--yet their loneliness calls them to each other. How much of it is needed to cross the abysses of space--or to transcend them?

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Re "A Tale of Heroes and Villains":

Genre literature often fails to connect with readers on a deeper human level because it's stifled by a set of tropes, e.g.:

- overreliance on violence to solve problems

- failure to recognize the 'superpowers' that actually exist around us, such as empathy and active listening

- labels (good/evil; terrorist)

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Less than Two

We've all had nightmares--but may there be an evolutionary purpose to them?

Spoiler

I wonder if such a key suffices for unlocking this story, perhaps our most "impenetrable" so far.

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A Winter Census of Urban Predators

Throughout the history of humanity, house spirits, bogeys, and urban predators have played a substantial role in reducing diseases and psychological disorders in Homo sapiens worldwide. Nowadays, mythoecologists research these species ... and watch helplessly their quick extinction on a par with many other animals. But urban predators fall victim not only to infections and the dangers of contemporary human lifestyles, but to politics too. At the epicenter of a conflict between two conservation NGOs, the survival of a whole preternatural species depends on the honor and conscience of the individual mythoecologists.

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A Tale of Heroes and Villains

An unorthodox heroine tracks down the Terror of the twenty-seven lands of Confed'ia. She's not entirely surprised by what she finds out. Are you?