We proudly present Croatian candidates for ESFS awards in 2011. Meet the people who contributed a lot to the fandom and Science Fiction in Croatia. We love and cherish their work and so will you!
You’ll have a chance to meet and hang with most of them (or their authors) at Kontakt next year. If that is too long for you, check out Croatian SF conventions in the meantime.
HALL OF FAME
BEST AUTHOR – Milena Benini
Milena Benini is an acclaimed speculative fiction writer (her passion subgenre is steampunk) and has won three SFERA awards
- Best Short Story 2010 for „To Dance Together Under a Polarized Sky“
- Best Novelette 2006 for „McGuffin Link“
- Best Novel 1999 for „Chaos“
Together with a few other established voices of Science Fiction and Fantasy Milena co-authored the book The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy Vol 1 (ed. Darin Park and Tom Dullemond, Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, 2003, where she wrote the chapter Fantasy Without Clichés – Writing Effectively, and The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction Vol 1: First Contact (ed. Dave E. Law, Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, 2007), with the chapters Attack of the Monster Plot: Ideas, Settings and Plots and I Don’t Know That Bug-Eyed Monster from Adam: Clichés in SF.
This book won the Eppie Award as the best electronic book of the year.
But she is not just an SF writer. As she herself sums it up, she is, in alphabetical order: anarchist, Benini, blogger, cat-feeder, comparative literature specialist, cook, dog-adopter, editor, essay writer, feminist, fire horse, graphic designer, human being, illustrator, journalist, Milena, mum, mum, Sagittarius, teacher, translator, theoretician, webmaster, wife, woman.
You can find two of her short stories, translated in English, in these two fanzines:
Her websites:
- http://www.sff.net/people/milena/ (in English)
- http://milerama.nosf.net/ (in Croatian)
BEST PUBLISHER – Algoritam
Algoritam is probably the first publisher and bookstore chain any Croatian SF lover will name when asked where to look for science fiction: they publish translations of international bestsellers, Croatian SF authors and keep their shelves well-stocked with new English language titles. The moving force behind it is the owner Neven Antičević, a genuine SF lover – and a fandom member.
BEST ARTIST – Igor Kordej
Igor Kordej is an internationally renowned comic book illustrator and among his most successful works are those for Marvel’s „New X-Men“ series. But he is an important figure for book-lovers as well; his numerous book cover illustrations bring to life far-away worlds for Croatian SF readers.
BEST PROMOTER – Davor Šišović
Davor’s inexhaustible energy has made him one of the most active fandom members in Croatia. He has initiated three SF festivals in Pazin, a small town in the heart of the peninsula of Istra: Istrakon, the second largest SF convention in Croatia; Fantastic Literature Festival, a writers’ summer Mecca; and Jules Verne festival (Jules Verne has placed one of his novels in Pazin). He is single-handedly responsible for Pazin becoming a member of the Book Town Organization, and for the „revival“ of the Croatian vampire Jure Grando, the first ever documented case of a vampire identified as an actual historic person (mentioned in the travelogue by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, published in 1689).
Davor Šišović writes SF book reviews for two daily newspapers and keeps a meticulous record of all events to do with SF at his blog http://bookaleta.blog.hr/.
BEST MAGAZINE – Ubiq
The semi-annual magazine Ubiq is currently the only regular SF magazine in Croatia, thanks to the courageous perseverance of the publisher, Mentor, in defiance of the quite bleak situation in the Croatian publishing industry. In offers not only stories, but also important critical and theoretical work, including essays by experts from academic circles.
BEST TRANSLATOR – Mirel Komad
Mirel Komad is a translator working on TV network HRT. He is best known for his translation of the Star Trek TV series, aired on Croatian public TV network HRT.
SPIRIT OF DEDICATION
ARTIST - Ivan Mavrović
This young artist has delighted steampunk lovers with his jewellery, phones, pens, toiletries that seem to belong to another time and world… His artworks are not only collectible beaties, but also useful gadgets (he proudly uses one of his steampunk – mobile phones). Probably the most interesting is his multi-practical creation that contains a lighter, a spoon and a knife, and with a few more vintage details looks like a retro lady revolver.
Ivan uses a variety of natural materials (wood, leather, stone, glass, copper, brass and silver) which he combines with recycled objects. He likes the merging of old and new; of ancient tools and modern techniques and the opportunity to experiment with the technology in an imaginative and creative way.
AUTHOR OF A PERFORMANCE – Tajana Štasni
Tajana is an artist and the only SF & F costume designer in Croatia. For more than a decade her costumes have always been the most awe-inspiring moments of Croatian conventions. The models are either delightful fantasy creations or faithful replicas of costumes from sci-fi classics such as the Star Wars movies, Alien, Predator, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings … She repeatedly borrowed many of her costumes to the Renaissance ensemble of the Concert centre Vatroslav Lisinski.
Tajana won a Special contribution for SFeraKon 2000. Her shows have delighted the fandom at this year’s conventions as well.
FANZINE - Parsek
Fanzine Parsek (short for PARadoxical SECular fanzine) has been published by the SF Society SFera since 1978, and the current editor Boris Švel has made it a starting point for many young SF authors. The fanzine is published quarterly, on a 24 pages, A5 format, in black and white. Parsek publishes previously unpublished stories written in the Croatian language.
Five copies of each issue are regularly submitted to the National and University Library in Zagreb.
There are several editions of Parsek in English as well.
- http://parsek.sfera.hr/brojevi-71-96/parsek-82/
- http://parsek.sfera.hr/pdf/parsek101.pdf
- http://parsek.sfera.hr/pdf/parsek112.pdf
BEST WEBSITE – NOSF
The site http://nosf.net/ (Never Ordinary Sometimes Fantastic) is a true fandom community, created by SF lovers for SF lovers.
NOSF portal brings you regular news from the world of science fiction literature and film productions, reports on the latest discoveries in astronomy, science and technology, especially following all SF events in Croatia. It provides information on conventions, fan gatherings, recent literary publications, workshops, meetings and all other activities in the (local) fandom. But it is not just a news and message board site (even though it’s one of the most popular); the energetic team led by the journalist and SF writer, Irena Rašeta, has made it a writers’ place as well: they publish an electronic fanzine and the message board has sprouted an online creative writing workshop stream, that’s currently in its 31st edition.
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