Greek science fiction abroad

InterNova #2, a theme issue about contemporary science fiction from Greece, has perhaps been the most noted issue since the relaunch of our magazine so far. Our friends from the Science Fiction Club of Athens have surprised readers with the remarkably high literary quality of their stories.

It seems that the gems of the Greek science fiction production are more and more recognized on the other shore of the Atlantic Ocean too. As veterans of the science fiction field know, the Nebula Awards, the genre’s most prestigious literary awards, bestowed by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, have for many decades been exclusively reserved for writers from the English speaking world, until the ban has finally been broken by French writer Aliette de Bodard in 2012. Nonetheless, it’s still a rare achievement that two Greek writers have been nominated for Nebulas in recent years: Eugenia Triantafyllou with “The Giants of the Violet Sea” (Uncanny, September/October 2021) for best novella in 2022 and Natalia Theodoridou with “The Prince of Salt and the Ocean’s Bargain” (Uncanny, September 2022) for best novelette this year, the latter also for best game writing with her work on Vampire: The Masquerade — Sins of the Sires.

Greek writers have also been present in English language print and online media: Natalia Theodoridou with “In April, the Dead” in Khoreo and “Moons We Can Circumnavigate in One Day, or the Space Probe Love Story” in Lightspeed ; InterNova author Antony Paschos with “Born in ’84” in James Gunn’s Ad Astra, “Three Stars to Guide a 32-bit Ghost” in ZNB Presents; “Pinebark” in Penumbric and “A Fair Exchange” at Bards and Sages; Avra Margariti with “Death Comes for the Sword Virgins” in Strange Horizons; Madalena Daleziou with “To Give Moon Milk to A Lover” in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and “Under the Mountain’s Shadow” in Tree and Stone; Christine Lucas with “Last Call: Acheron” in Kaleidotrope and Eugenia Triantafyllou with “Salt Water” at Tor.com.