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March 22, 2019 03:48 pm PDT

Gollancz has published its first anthology of South Asian Science Fiction

South Asia is a hotbed of brilliant science fiction writing, as well as writings in all the related genres capture by the Bengali word "kalpabigyan (encompassing literature that is "science-dependent," "science-based," "science mystery" and "science"), and there have been many brilliant anthologies of science fiction from the region; the latest entry to the field is Gollancz's new Book of South Asian Science Fiction, edited by Tarun K. Saint, the subject of a fascinating review by Gautham Shenoy in Factor Daily.

The anthology includes "Planet of Terror," written by Adrish Bardhan, who is credited with coining "kalpabigyan," as well as 27 other stories and poems (and by all accounts the poetry is outstanding).

Shenoy finds fault with one element of the book though: it only features writers from the "partitioned three" (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), with no contributors from "Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives or the Tibetan Community in exile." Shenoy calls on Gollancz to revisit the book as a series with contributions from these other nations and literatures.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the anthology, Sami Ahmad Khan returns to his fictional universe featuring the antagonistic reptilian aliens, the QahaQ, with his standalone story, 15004, with a tale with a very high body count brought about by an invading species which seeks to eliminate heterogeneity in India, for starters. The people of Karachi grapple with the sea stolen from them and its consequences in Asif Aslam Farrukhis Stealing the Sea (Samandar Ki Chori; Translated from by Syed Saeed Naqvi), while a family comes to grip with their past, their expectations and their heritage in unexpected fashion and with unintended consequences as enter an immersive VR theme park called Partition World 2047 in the story by this collections editor and partition scholar, Tarun K.

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Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/KlTB_86BULM/kalpabigyan.html

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