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Anthology of Turkish Science Fiction Stories

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Anthology f Turkish Science FictionAnthology of Turkish Science Fiction Stories

Edited by Sümeyra Buran and Veli Uğur

Published: 21/12/2023 [Posthumanism Series: 6]

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The first ever Turkish science fiction anthology in English!

Turkish science fiction dates back to the early years of the twentieth century and serious development has been seen ever since. The writers, who escaped from the darkness of the First World War and took refuge in utopian science fiction, added the excitement created by science and technology to their texts over time. Turkish writers, who followed the science fiction works from the West and made efforts for the development of this genre, produced very qualified works that could compete with their contemporaries at some points. However, due to some historical, social, and economic problems, it was not possible for these works to meet readers in the West. In this anthology, the works of Turkish science fiction writers are brought together for the first time in English. Contemporary science fiction writers have written short stories for this anthology. Hence, the resulting diversity of stories represents a contribution to science fiction literature. An important feature of the anthology is that it includes examples showing how science and technology are perceived philosophically by authors outside of Europe and America. Since literature is an indispensable resource to investigate the equivalent of science fiction, which was born with modernism, in “post-modern” societies. This anthology of Turkish science fiction will be an important Non-Western SF source for both science fiction readers and researchers.

Contents

 

AUTHORS:

Sümeyra Buran

Dr. Buran is an Associate Professor of English at Istanbul Medeniyet University and a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Florida. She is the founding and managing editor of the Journal of Posthumanism, the editor of Transnational Press London’s Posthumanism Series, the editor of Edebiyatta Posthümanizm (Posthumanism in Literature 2020), the editor of Çokludisiplinlerde Posthumanizm (Posthumanism in Multidisciplinary Studies 2022), the co-editor (with Sherryl Vint) of Technologies of Feminist Speculative Fiction: Gender, Artificial Life, and Politics of Reproduction (Palgrave 2022), the co-editor of the first Anthology of Turkish Science Fiction (TpLondon 2022), the co-editor (with Jim Clarke) of Religious Futurisms (Manchester University Press 2022), and the co-editor (with Jire Gözen) of Beyond the Occident: Perspectives on Past, Present and Speculative Future in Fiction, Art, Media and Film (Routledge 2022). Also, she is a country focal point representative of the European Observatory on Femicide (EOF), a committee member of BIPOC at IAFA, and a country representative (Turkey) at SFRA. Buran is currently writing her monograph on Su-fi: Sufi Science Fiction.

Veli Uğur

Dr. Uğur graduated from Boğaziçi University’s Department of Turkish Language and Literature, then continued his academic studies in the field of new Turkish literature before completing his doctoral thesis, Popular Novels in Turkish Literature After 1980, at Istanbul University (later published as a book by Koç University Press in 2013). He lectured on Turkish Literature and Language at Koç University between 1998-2013 and is currently working as an Associate Professor teaching Contemporary Turkish Literature and Popular Fiction in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. Dr. Uğur’s most recent monograph, Turkish Science Fiction Literature and Archetypes (2019) is the first contribution to Turkish Science Fiction literary studies as an outcome of the national project he managed by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye).

Conrad Scott

Conrad Scott holds a PhD from the University of Alberta (English and Film Studies) and an MA from the University of Victoria (English). The first SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow with Athabasca University, he is also an Assistant Lecturer with the University of Alberta and an Individualized Study Tutor for the University of Athabasca’s new “The Ecological Imagination” course. He is honoured to serve as the current Co-President for the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC) and is the Science Fiction Research Association’s (SFRA) Country Rep for Canada. Conrad researches contemporary sf and environmental literature, with current projects focused on plant and animal futures, as well as the spatial turn, building on previous work about the interconnection between place, culture, and society in contemporary North American fiction that focuses on environment and dystopia/utopia. His academic writing has appeared in Transmotion, Extrapolation, Paradoxa, The Anthropocene and the Undead, Environmental Philosophy, The Goose, UnderCurrents, Science Fiction Studies, The SFRA Review, The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, and Canadian Literature, with forthcoming chapters in The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms (2023) and Animals and SF (Palgrave 2023). He is also a co-editor for the forthcoming Utopian and Dystopian Explorations of Pandemics and Ecological Breakdown: Entangled Futurities (Routledge Environmental Humanities Book Series 2024), the proofreader for the forthcoming English-translated Anthology of Turkish Science Fiction Stories (Transnational Press London 2023), and the author of the poetry collection Waterline Immersion (Frontenac House 2019).

Algan Coşkun

Coşkun was born in İzmir. He has a bachelor’s degree in the field of International Relations and a minor degree in Philosophy from METU (Middle East Technical University). He spent one year studying European Studies at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and three years at Ankara University for European Union & International Economic Relations. In 2018, he started working as a freelancer editor/content creator for websites and publishers in İzmir. He has been interested in tabletop role-playing games since early 2010 and fantasy and science-fiction literature since high school. He has been writing fantasy and science fiction stories since 2010 and building new worlds for hobbies and games. His other hobbies are cycling and cooking.

Arda Tipi

Tipi got acquainted with science fiction at an early age through comics, movies, and science fiction classics. His enthusiasm compelled him to create his own illustrated stories as a teenager. In later years, he attended college to study Fine Arts, graduating from Ankara University’s Department of Classical Philology, from which he holds a master’s degree in Systematic Philosophy and Logic. During these years, he wrote poems, essays, and short movie scripts–“Yaş” (“Teardrop” 2007),  “Oyunbozan” (“Spoilsport” 2008), and “Bit Yiğitte” (“Lice on the Valiant” 2009)–which were ranked in several competitions. Most recently, he has contributed to the YBKY Bilimkurgu Öykü Seçkisi (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) collection Anthology of Science Fiction Stories (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022), with his stories “Bir Hayaletin Güncesi” (“Diary of a Spectre,” Paradigma 2018), “Ateşin Çocukları” (“Children of Fire,” Paradigma 2019), “Dea Ex Machina” (Liman 2020), and “Derin Mavi” (“Fathomless Blue,” Liman 2022). He currently administrates and creates content for the science fiction e-magazine Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) (yerlibilimkurguyukseliyor.com).

Belma Fırat

Fırat is a graduate of Middle East Technical University (METU), earning both her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Economics. She has taken a second Master’s Degree in Philosophy at Bosphorus University (BU) and attended PhD courses in Philosophy at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (MSGSÜ). Her stories, articles, and essays on literature have been published in literary magazines and anthologies. Two of her stories were given awards as part of Kaos GL’s 2012 and 2014 Women to Women Story Contests, respectively. Her published story stories are “Alışın Buradayız” (“We’re Here, Get Used to It,” NotaBene 2014), “Kuyuda” (“In a Well,” NotaBene 2016) and “Bugün Anne Gibi Değilim” (“I’m not Like a Mother Today,” NotaBene 2018), respectively. “Kuyuda” (“In a Well”) won the Muratpaşa Best Short Fiction Award in 2016 at Antalya Literature Days organized by Muratpaşa Municipality. Her first novel, Sözleşme (Contract, NotaBene 2021), is a philosophical science fiction.

Bora Keskin

Keskin has been writing since his elementary school days. Participating in many literature competitions, he has found a place for his stories and poems in local anthologies. He received a writer’s certificate from İLESAM’s (The Professional Association of Turkish Literary And Scientific Works) literature workshops and founded the blog of Asiller Topluluğu Özgün Edebiyat Bloğu (Noble Society Unique Literature) with other authors.

Buğra Mert Alkayalar

Alkayalar completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Cinema and Television at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at Anadolu University in 2020 and is currently doing his Master’s Degree in Cinema and Television there. He has taken part in many national and international festivals, such as The Golden Boll Film Festival, the Fabisad GIO Awards, and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. He works as a Research Assistant at Istanbul Kültür University while continuing his film work, developing voice-over, story, and cinema writing. His first short story collection Birtakım Rivayetler (Some Hearsays), was published in June 2023 by Porsuk Kültür Publishing.

Burak Cem Coşkun

Coşkun received a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) in 2017 and worked in the field of neutron stars both at İTÜ and at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (as an exchange student) in 2016-2017. While he was doing his Master’s Degree in theoretical astrophysics at Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn in Germany, he decided to continue his higher education at Sabancı University and work on magnetars. He writes popular science, history, and philosophy of science articles for the journal Herkese Bilim ve Teknoloji (Science and Technology For All) in addition to his personal blog “Don’t you have time to think?” (burakcemcoskun.blogspot.com). He also writes poems, hosts a podcast called Demokritos’un Çocukları (Children of Democritus), translates comics (Feynman, Alfa Yayınları 2021), and is the author of the science-fiction novels Kusur (The Defect, KDY 2020) and Işık Getiren (Light Bringer, KDY 2021), as well as the poetry book Bilim ve Şiir (Science and Poetry, KDY 2022).

Burak Katipoğlu

Katipoğlu is a science fiction enthusiast working as a Wind Engineer in Istanbul. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Astronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and a Master’s Degree in Energy Conversion from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (ETH-Z). He was a member of a student club publishing the Istanbul Technical University Sci-Fi Fanzine. His stories “Uzun Gün” (“Long Day,” Paradigma Kültür 2018) and “Gelişme Hedefleri” (“Improvement Goals,” Lora 2021) have been published in local anthologies. A strong believer in criticism, feedback, and its place in quality fiction, he also launched a site aimed at collecting fast, quantifiable feedback for sci-fi short stories using glyphs and symbols (www.kozmikatolye.com). He is currently living in Istanbul with his lovely wife Zeynep and two-year-old son Mete.

Cem Sinan Altun

Altun is a manager in the private sector. Following undergraduate studies in Labor Economics and then Tourism Management, Altun continues his graduate education in the field of Radio-TV-Cinema at Ankara University. Altun started writing in the late 90s with stories in a variety of genres, from drama to sci-fi and humor to mystery, some of which were published in journals such as Dedektif and Lacivert Edebiyat. Some of his stories received awards, such as with the NBeyin Magazine Science Fiction Short Story Contest and the Dedektif Dergi Zehirli Kalem Polisiye Öykü Yarışması (Detektif Magazine Zehirli Kalem Detective Short Story Contest). His short story “Derin Derin” (“Deeper Derin” 2015) was made into a short movie directed by Aytekin  Çakmakç in the same year. Another short movie (1 minute-long) written and directed by Altun is “Daymare” (2018), listed in the Just Before Midnight Film Fest, the African Smartphone International Film Festival, the “One Shot” Film Festival, and the 60 Second Intl. Film Festival. Altun leans more toward sci-fi and mystery, including with their screenplays. The writer presently works on the screenplay of his long detective story entitled “Kod” (“The Code,” 2021) and other tales of science fiction entitled “Tic Toc” and “Elçi” (“Ambassador”) (both in progress). Altun wishes to produce more works of literature and cinema in the detective genre.

Deniz Ezgi Avcı Vile

Avci Vile is a fiction writer/lecturer. She received her Master’s in Applied Linguistics from the University of Nottingham in 2017. She is based in Toronto and is currently working as a lecturer. Her literary work and photography have been published or are upcoming in journals such as Yolk, Qwerty, Sözcükler, Altzine, Trendeki Yabanci, Hece Öykü, Lacivert Poem and Short Story, Prolog, Hisht Hisht, Ecinniler, Olasi Olmayan, and Mahal. Her short story “Termodinamiğin İkinci Yasası” (“Second Law of Thermodynamics”) was awarded third place in a short story contest organized by the journal Şahsiyet in 2021.

Deniz K. Üstündağ

Üstündağ graduated from the Department of Chemistry at  Karadeniz Technical University.  She has been working as a chemist and is currently a student of Sociology at Eskişehir Anadolu University. She published her short story “Veda ya da Bir Şişe Kayısı Şarabı” in the 2019 collection Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor Öykü Seçkisi (2019 Indigenous Science Fiction Rising). Her short story, “The Hierarchy of the Cognitive Fallings,” was also published as a comic in the special issue of “Science Fiction” in the journal Yabani (2020). She continues to publish short stories on different platforms and is currently working on her short story collection.

Duran Emre Kanacı

Kanacı graduated from Istanbul University as a geneticist and, in 2016, completed his postgraduate studies at Boğaziçi University. He trained young geneticists at Bahçeşehir University until 2020. Currently, he is conducting research on the molecular basis of learning and memory in the field of neuroscience at the University of Cologne. His first short fiction book, titled Yapı ve Yasa (Formation and Law, Epona Publications 2021), was shortlisted for the 2022 Vedat Türkali Literature Awards. He is the short fiction editor of the literary magazine Prolog Dergi, and his short stories and poems have been included in several anthologies. Currently, he is working on his novella in Turkish and his first film screenplay in English. His stories in Turkish and English have been published in various literary magazines and platforms, such as Kitap-lık, Sözcükler, and Story. One, along with his interviews and writings about his book, can also be accessed via demrekanaci.wordpress. com

Edip Sönmez

Sönmez holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Istanbul University and an MA in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Regensburg, Germany. His master thesis is titled Dangerous Toys: Abuse of Technology and its Socio-psychological Implications – Technophobia and Ethics in Dystopian Fiction: A Case Study of Black Mirror (UR 2019). After working as a journalist, copywriter, and English teacher, he is currently employed as an editor, localisation specialist, and translator. He has translated nearly forty books from English and German into Turkish, including Political Sociology in a Global Era (Küresel Çağda Siyasal Sosyoloji, Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları 2014), A Wrinkle in Time (Zamanda Kıvrılma, Beyaz Balina Yayınevi 2016), Economic History of the Modern Era (Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Neuzeit, Runik Kitap 2020), The Shy Child (Çekingen Çocuk, Philip Zimbardo, Pegasus Yayınları 2023) and Fox (Tilki, Dubravka Ugrešić, Everest Yayınları 2023).

Ekin Açıkgöz

Açıkgöz has a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from Middle East Technical University (METU) and a Bachelor of Arts in Turkish Language and Literature from Anadolu University. She’s an MBA student at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). Her novel Her İşte Bir Hayır Vardır (Everything Happens for a Reason, Ayizi Kitap 2015) was her first publication. Her short stories have since been published in numerous anthologies, such as her short story “Bozulmamış Kırmızı Gül” (“The Unspoiled Red Rose”) in Tüm Panayırların Heyulası (The Bogy of All Fairs, Kayıp Rıhtım Anthology Series, İthaki 2022). She writes articles in her column “Polisiyelerin Ölümsüz Silahları” (“Immortal Weapons of Mystery”) and “At, Edebiyat ve Silah” (“Horses, Literature and Weapons”) for 221B-Magazine. She’s a voluntary author/contributor at www.cinairoman.com – the one and only Turkish digital mystery/suspense archive. She’s both a Member and a Director of the Türkiye Polisiye Yazarları Birliği (POYABİR, Association of Mystery Writers of Turkey) and is a continuing juror for the “Kristal Kelepçe” Mystery Novel Award (at POYABİR) and the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği Bilimkurgu Öykü Yarışması (Turkish Informatics Association Science Fiction Short Story Contest). She lives in Istanbul with her husband and two kids.

Eren Kasapoğlu

Kasapoğlu graduated from the Department of Statistics at Mimar Sinan University. He has been interested in cartoons, comics, horror, fantasy, and science fiction literature since his childhood. Instead of settling in his later years, this curiosity increased, and he took a comics course in order to realize the comic book project he had designed in his mind for a while. He was honored in several short story competitions and selections he participated in, such as Ölümsüz Öyküler (Immortal Stories) and a few times in Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (YBKY, Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform). Some of his awarded and published stories are “Yeniçeri” (Janissary) in Ölümsüz Öyküler II in 2015, “Değişkin” (“Transformed”) in the Bilimkurgu Öykü Seçkisi (Science Fiction Short Story Collection) in 2019, “Kamos” (“Kamos”) in YBKY Magazine in 2022, “Değişmeyen Tek Şey” (“The Only Thing Unchanged”) in the Bilimkurgu Öykü Seçkisi (Science Fiction Short Story Collection) in 2022. He shares some of his stories and essays on https://oykusehir.blog.

Erol Çelik

Çelik is a writer and film director. His published novels are Heyula (Phantasm, Avrupa Yakası 2007), Satranç ve Şövalye (Chess and the Knight, Avrupa Yakası 2009), 19 Numaralı Koltuk (Seat Number 19, Avrupa Yakası 2011), Ağlatan (Lacrymary, Avrupa Yakası 2013), and Cellatlar Kahvesi (Headsmen Coffeehouse, Cadı Yayınları 2019). His six films and documentaries as a writer and director were screened and given awards at festivals. Five of his cinematic works were given awards at domestic festivals, such as with five awards including the best movie and the best director for Cennete Açılan Çiçekler (Bloom to Heaven 2014) at the Sinema ve Televizyon Eseri Sahipleri Meslek Birliği-SETEM (Association of Film Directors, Writers, and Composers) Academy Awards,   and four films given awards at thirteen international festivals like the Ukrainian Dream Film Festival Honor Award with the documentary called Sanatın Kadınları (Women of Art  2022). He continues to produce works in the horror-thriller and dystopian science fiction fields, as well as work on his current, ongoing trilogy series, “Söz Ustası” (“Wordsmith”), which consists of dystopian stories. He has worked for one of Turkey’s largest television channels, NTV Channel, for more than two decades, and now he is producing social media posts for his YouTube channel. He is married and has one child.

Ezo Evrim Harsa

Harsa studied Business Administration and holds an undergraduate and a postgraduate degree from Galatasaray University. She immigrated to Canada in late 2017 with her family and lives in Toronto. She studied traditional arts (Tezhip and Kaati) at Mim Sanat Academy between 2010 and 2017 and continues to practice as an independent artist. She is the author of a fantasy trilogy, Kökler Diyarı (Realm of Roots, Bu 2020), a fantasy novella Gecebakan (Nightgazer, Mantis 2021), and a short story published in an anthology “Gündüzdüşü” (“Daydream,” Dark İstanbul 2021). Her other published science fiction short stories include “Sincap Zulası” (“Squirrel Stash,” Bilimkurgu Kulübü 2018), “Pepto Bismol” (“Pepto Bismol,” Bilimkurgu Kulübü 2019), “Çocuk” (“Kid,” Bilimkurgu Kulübü 2021), and “Frekans” (“Frequency,” Lagari Bilimkurgu Fanzin 2021).

Fatmagül Bolat

Bolat holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in landscape architecture from Çukurova University and a Doctoral degree in landscape architecture from Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa. While her primary focus is landscape ecology, she possesses a keen interest in examining the links between ecology and science fiction. She is currently working as a full-time adjunct in the Forestry Vocational School at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa and taking part in various environmental studies in Turkish and French academic institutions. She lives in Istanbul.

Gizem Çetin

Çetin is an electrical electronics engineer and an author. She graduated from the TOBB ETÜ Electrical and Electronics Engineering program in 2020. At the age of 15, she started to write a science fiction novel called İsyancı (The Rebel), which was her first completed work. Later, she published it online under the name of Üç Kentin İsyancısı (Rebel of Three Cities, Wattpad 2017). Her second published novel was Papatya Tarlasında Rönesans (Renaissance in the Daisy Field, Başlangıç Publishing House 2018) and, in 2017, she started writing Yedi Mum (Seven Candles), a science fiction series with seven books. The first three books of the Seven Candles Series, Yedinci Mum (The Seventh Candle, 2021), Altıncı Mum (The Sixth Candle, 2021), and Beşinci Mum (The Fifth Candle, 2023), were published by Nar Ağacı Publishing House. She has a website https://gizemcetin.com and a YouTube channel @acimatriyarka, and she regularly publishes stories there.

İsmail Yiğit

Yiğit graduated from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University in 2005. He works as the chief expert in network systems and security at the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency. He holds an MS degree in the Science, Technology, and Society program and started his PhD in the Art History Department at Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ). In the science-fiction short story contest organized by Türkiye Bilişim Derneği (Informatics Association of Turkey) in 2016, his story “İhlal” (“Violation”) was given third place. In the GIO contest organized by FABİSAD in 2017, his story “Satır Arasındaki Hayalet” (“The Ghost Between the Lines”) received the short story achievement award. His story “Robomorfoz” (“Robomorphosis”) was included in the science-fiction collection Yeryüzü Müzesi (Earth Museum, İthaki 2018). As a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), he regularly contributes to science-fiction book and film reviews at the internet portal Bilimkurgu Kulübü (Science-fiction Club) (www.bilimkurgukulubu.com).

Mehmet Ali Kaynak

Kaynak became acquainted with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells in primary school. In high school and university years, his world of thought expanded with Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, George Orwell, and other authors of science fiction. He started producing works of science fiction when he graduated from the Geography Department at Ege University. In this period, his story “Quantum Decisions” won second place in a contest hosted by a platform named Quantum Turkey.  Another story, “New Masters,” was published in an anthology named Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform), which selected stories from the community.

Melda Uytun

Uytun has an MA in Creative Writing from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Uytun’s first novel, Yağmurdan Kaçmayanların Şarkısı (The Song of Those Who Don’t Run From Rain), was published by Potkal Kitap in 2013. She has a short story in The Doctor & I, a Doctor Who memoir (“The Doctor & I,” Gjb Publishing 2013), and a published short story, “Ayna” (“The Mirror,” Ölümsüz Öyküler-I 2014), which received an honorable mention in 2014’s Ölümsüz Öyküler (Immortal Stories) Short Story Competition. She is the translator of Avocado Bahçesi (Philosophy Made Simple, Maya Kitap 2016), Bir Nefeste Büyük Bilim İnsanları (The Great Scientists in Bite-Sized Chunks, Maya Kitap 2017) and Matematik: Çok Kısa Bir Başlangıç (Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction, İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Yayınevi 2022), and has also been doing redaction and proofreading for Maya Kitap since 2017.

Melike Kuyumcu

Kuyumcu is an author, screenwriter, and photography artist. She continues her writing career, which she started as a screenwriter, with her short stories, novellas, literary critiques, literature, and press/publication editorship. After her novella, İçlik Odaları (The Innermost Chambers, Gece Kitaplığı 2018), Kuyumcu published her collection İnsan-dan Başka Öyküler (More-Than-Human Tales) with Transnational Press London in 2021 as a literary narrative example of posthumanist ideas in Turkish for the Posthumanism Series edited by Sümeyra Buran. She continues her search for “meaning” and “expression” in posthumanist philosophy.

Müfit Özdeş

Özdeş studied electrical engineering and later econometrics at Middle East Technical University but received no degrees in either as student activism caught up with Turkey in what is known as the 1968 revolution. He spent the following years either incarcerated or as a fugitive at large. He left Turkey to become a PLO militiaman in Lebanon and, finally, a trade unionist in Norway. In 1975, he founded the  Çağdaş Çeviri Evini (Contemporary Translation House) in Turkey. He re-entered the SF universe through a story named “Krrchysk” that he wrote in 1982, which was included in an anti-militarist anthology entitled Asker Kaçağı: Savaşa Karşı Bilimkurgu Öyküleri (The Deserter: Sci-Fi Stories Against War, Metis Books 2016). A modern fable entitled Kimin Ağrır O Bağırır (The One Who Ails is the One Who Wails) was published by Kor Publications in 1992. Fifteen of his stories were compiled by Metis Books in 1995 in a collection named Son Tiryaki (The Last Smoker), with an enlarged second edition in 2018 that consists of twenty-three tales. His story called “Firar” (“Escapade”) received First Prize in the 2001 SF story contest of the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği Bilimkurgu Öykü Yarışması (Turkish Informatics Association Science Fiction Short Story Contest)b and was later published in the collection of Bilimkurgu Öyküleri (Science Fiction Short Stories, Remzi Publishing 2005).

Neptune E. Kosi

Kosi, a fantasy author, storyteller, and columnist, has been writing various short stories and articles for years. These have been published in many local and foreign literary magazines and newspapers (UK, US, Turkey), and she has also published five fantasy novels: Portobello Photographer (Portobello Fotoğrafçısı, Transnational Press London 2023), Londra Düşleri (Dreams Of London, KDY 2020), Aralık (The Gap, Postiga 2015), Siyah Palto (Black Coat, PKitap 2014), and Mavi Kuyruk (The Blue Tail, İkinci Adam 2013). Since 2015, she has been a columnist for the London-based Eurovision newspaper. The author lives in London with her cats and her library. (https://www.eurovizyon.co.uk/profil/453/neptune-e-kosi).

Nur İpek Önder Mert

Önder Mert is a Turkish poet and science fiction story writer. She has a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry from Anadolu University in 2013. Her poetry books are Kan Rüyayı Bozar (Blood Voids the Dream, Mayıs 2010), Raz Beyaz (Hidden White, Klaros 2019), and Yer Çekimine Aşık Kuşlar Kulübü (The Club of the Birds in Love with Gravity, Klaros 2021). Her nameless short story was published as part of the CCLXXX: Bilimkurgu Mikro Öykü Seçkisi (CCLXXX: Science Fiction Micro Story Collection, Entropol 2015). Her short stories “Görünen” (“Visible,” 2018) and “Silahlı Peygamber ” (“The Armed Prophet” 2019) were published in the collection YBKY (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) by Paradigma Academy, and her short story “Nemesis” was published in the collection Silsile: Bilimkurgu Öyküleri (İthaki 2021). Her literary works have won various national awards, such as the Mehmet H. Doğan Special Jury Award 2009 with her poetry book Kan Rüyayı Bozar (Blood Voids the Dream, unpublished file branch 2009), the Kemal İsmet Karadayı Special Jury Award 2017 with her Raz Beyaz (Hidden White, unpublished file branch 2017), Second Place in the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği Bilimkurgu  (Turkish Informatics Association Science Fiction Story Contest) with her short story “İki Kızıl Yabani At” (“Two Red Wild Horses” 2017), and Second Place in the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği Bilimkurgu (Turkish Informatics Association Science Fiction Story Contest) with her short story “Nemesis” (2020).

Özgür Hünel

Hünel had been fascinated with art and fiction since his childhood, so he decided to pursue a career in these fields. He graduated from the Graphic Design Department at Eskişehir Anadolu University in 2015 and completed his Master’s Degree from the Public Relations and Advertising Department at the same university. He continues his Proficiency in Art education in the Graphic Design Department at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University and works as a Research Assistant in the Visual Communication Design Department at Ankara Başkent University. He also writes stories, mainly in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Hünel’s stories have been given awards in several writing competitions, most notably the Turkish Informatics Association’s sci-fi story competition (Turkey’s most prestigious sci-fi story competition), where he has been awarded third place three times and first place once. Among his published sci-fi stories are “Olmak ya da Olmamak” (“To Be, or Not to Be”) and “Tosca V2.0” (Dünyalılar: Bilimkurgu Öyküleri, İletişim 2016), “Bilinmeyen Oran” (“The Unknown Ratio,” Silsile: Bilimkurgu Öyküleri, İthaki 2021), “Çok Satan (Kutsal) Kitaplar” (“Best Selling (Holy) Books”), and “TECHne” (Karanlık Şafaklar, Paris 2022). His story “Tosca V2.0” was translated into Italian and published in the anthology Futurchia: Fantascienza contemporanea turca (Futurchia: Contemporary Turkish Science Fiction, Future Fiction 2021).

Özlem Kurdoğlu

Kurdoğlu is a graduate of Medicine from Istanbul University. She is a bilingual author, medical translator, psychological counselor, and author. Kurdoğlu is the author of a series of science-fiction novels that comprise a hexology of design fiction, the first of its kind in the history of Turkish Sci-Fi Literature in terms of both being a hexology and offering a future history of a designed universe: Son Cephede Şafak (Dawn on the Last Front, Us 2000), Yüreğin Zafere Çağrısı (Heart’s Call to Victory, İmYayın 2003), Alacaşafağın Rengi (Shade of Twilight, İmYayın 2005), Karanlık Uykusu (Twilight Loose, KaraKutu 2008), Zamanda Kuşatma (Ambushed in Time, Smashwords 2014) and Çemberkıran (published bilingual, a.k.a. Circlebreaker, Smashwords 2018). Over the years, she has had several stories published in various national science-fiction story collections and anthologies and also translated several novels from English to Turkish, including Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly (Karanlığı Taramak, Altıkırkbeş 1998), William Gibson’s Count Zero (Sıfır Noktası, Sarmal 1999; Kont Sıfır, Altın Kitaplar 2003), Isaac Asimov’s Robot Stories (Robot Öyküleri Antolojisi, UsYayın Publishing 1999), and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit  (Graphic Novel, Hobbit, Ithaki 1999, 2008).

Pelin Cansu Sarıyıldız

Sarıyıldız graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2017. She has been working as a civil engineer since then. She has published short stories on different literary websites and journals, such as Kayıp Rıhtım and Dedektif Dergi (Detective Journal). Her story “Keserin Küt Ucu” (“The Butt End of the Adze”) was published in Detective Journal’s crime issue 37 in 2022 and also in the collection Ölümün Kıyısında (On the Edge of Death, Herdem 2022).

Sadık Yemni

Yemni is a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. As a Dutch-Turkish author, he lived in Amsterdam between the years 1975–2013. Yemni writes in the TekinsizX genre – that is, sci-fi thriller-fantasia-mystery. He is accepted as the first Sufi SF writer. In Turkey alone, he has published 32 books, 23 of which are novels – including Muska (The Amulet, Metis 1996), Kayıp Kedi (Lost Cat, Kırmızı Kedi Yayınları 2015), Ela (Ela, Erdem Yayınları 2016), Çağrılan (Summoned, Ketebe Yayınları 2019), and Ağrıyan (Aching, Transnational Press London). Yemni is also a short story writer. Besides publishing short story collections, between the years 2009-2016, he published almost 70 stories in the e-magazine Gölge. He is the writer of over 100 stories and likes coining new words, such as those compiled in the “Sadık Yemni Dictionary,” which is revised every year. Additionally, he publishes essays in different magazines.

Serpil Ülger

Ülger graduated from the History of the Art program at Cumhuriyet University and continued her art adventure at the university, where she started with encyclopedias at a very young age and then turned to literature with short stories – many of which have appeared in e-magazines and anthologies, prompting her to start writing full-time. 3,2,1…TIP! (3,2,1…Silent), a feminist dystopian narrative is her first novel and was published by Imgenin Çocukları in 2021.

Sezai Özden

Özden completed his education in Ankara, where he studied to be an auto mechanic in high school. He was interested in painting and sculpture from a very young age, as well as in science, starting in his childhood, and became one of the founders of the Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) in 2017. Also, he introduced the digital magazine under the same name, which has reached its 67th issue. He is the graphic and art designer, as well as the copy editor for the magazine. He brought the collections he created with the participation of an average of forty authors to Turkish science fiction literature. The first short story contest, published in 2018, was followed by the 2019, 2020, and 2022 short story collections. His novel Sentromer: Ötekiler (Sentromer: Others) was published in 2019 by Paradigma Publishing. His story, “Bug Fields” (“Böcek Tarlaları”), was published in Turkish in the Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) science fiction story collection by Liman Publishing in 2020. Currently, he works as an illustrator and graphic designer at Nobel Publishing Group.

Tevfik Uyar

Dr. Uyar is an aeronautical engineer who graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 2007. He obtained his MBA (2012) and PhD (2019) degrees from İstanbul Kültür University. He is the founder of Açık Bilim (Open Science, 2010), the oldest science podcast channel in Turkey, and is a member of the Yalansavar (Turkish Skeptical Community). Uyar is the author of several popular science and philosophy books, such as Astrolojinin Bilimle İmtihanı (Scientific Inquiry to Astrology, Kırmızı Kedi 2019) and Safsatalar (Logical Fallacies, Destek 2019), as well as science fiction story anthologies like Tek Kişilik Firar (Single-Person Escape, Kırmızı Kedi 2016) and novels like İz Odası (The Tracking Room, Bizim Kitaplar 2011), Kızıl Sürgün (Red Exile, Destek Yayınları 2019), and Çözülme (Dissolution, Destek Yayınlari 2021). He is also a translator of books, such as Stuart Sutherland’s Irrationality (Domingo 2015), Roelf Bolt’s Encyclopedia of Liars and Deceivers (Domingo 2015), Thali Sharot’s The Influential Mind (Domingo 2018), and Jim Al-Khalili’s What’s Next? (Domingo 2020). He teaches courses on Data Mining, Human Factors, and Machine Learning at Istanbul Kültür University and has received awards in the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği Bilimkurgu Öykü Yarışması (Turkish Informatics Association Science Fiction Story Contest) three times with his stories “Son Mektup” (“The Last Letter” 2012), “Fırıldak” (“The Whirligig” 2013), and “Yüz Elli” (“A Hundred and Fifty” 2015).

Türkhan Bozkurt

Bozkurt, born in Kırşehir, graduated from the Faculty of Education at Gazi University. After completing an international assignment in France from 2005 to 2010, Bozkurt worked as a teacher in Adıyaman, Turkey. Bozkurt contributed to student development through participation in several European Union projects, particularly eTwinning projects. Self-described as a futurist, Bozkurt left behind works that contemplate future utopias. Influenced by Jacques Fresco and Alvin Toffler, Bozkurt gained recognition with the book “Yörünge 3185” (Orbit 3185, Edebiyatist 2019). Married with two children, Bozkurt tragically lost her life in February 2023 during the devastating earthquake in Turkey, caught under the rubble.

Uğur Aydın

Aydın is a novel and short story author and artist. His science fiction novel Sultan: Nebula’nın Mızrağı (Sultan: Spear of the Nebula) was published by Mantis in 2021, and his short story “Özür Dolabı” (“Apology Booth”) was published in the collection of Esrarengiz Hikayeler (Mysterious Tales, Mantis 2021). This story is also published in audio form voiced by Yalçın Altın (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvHUR-farO0). His story “Simetri” (“Symmetry,” Gelişme Hedefleri, Lora 2021) and one of his dystopian science fiction story series, “Yarı Uzaylı, Çeyrek Tanrı, Az da İnsan” (“Semi Alien Quarter-God Less Human”), were also published in audio form voiced by Yalçın Altın in 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJJckGsMJs0). He is one of the Seven Turks who founded the virtual online society Asgardia Space Nation Parliament (https://asgardia.space/en/social/users/ 172960), where he also serves as a Member of Parliament. He is an Asgardia Parliament Culture Committee chairman and member of the Culture Committee. Now, he spends most of his time building a digital library (www.digitalspacelibrary.com), and he lives in Izmir with his wife and his two daughters.

Ümit Yaşar Özkan

Özkan graduated from Atatürk University’s Department of Turkish Language and Literature Teaching in 2000. He is currently teaching Turkish Language and Literature in a high school and doing his Master’s Degree in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University, where his thesis on climate fiction in Turkish Literature is in the defense phase. He has won awards in several science-fiction contests: his story “Arıza” (“Malfunction”) came out second in the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği (Informatics Association of Turkey) Science Fiction Story Contest in 2002, and his stories “Evin Yeni Sahibi” (“The New Owner of the House”), “Meto’nun Tatili” (“The Holiday of Meto”), and “Mutant” came out third in the İthaki Jules Verne Short Story Contest in 2003 before being published in Hayal Gücünün Merkezine Seyahat: Jules Verne Öykü Ödülleri (İthaki 2005). He won an honorary mention for “Süleyman Dilmaç’ın İsimsiz Meseli” (“The Unnamed Tale of Süleyman Dilmaç”) in the Türkiye Bilişim Derneği (Informatics Association of Turkey) Science Fiction Story Contest in 2011 and third place in 2021 with his story “Mümkün Dünyaların En İyisi” (“The Best of All Probable Worlds”) for the 10th Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform) Short Story Contest. His award-winning stories were then published in various anthologies, such as “Arıza” in Bilimkurgu Öyküleri (Science Fiction Stories, Remzi Kitabevi 2005), “Sessiz Ortak” in Derinden Gelen Sesler (Deep Voices, Arka Bahçe Yayıncılık 2008), “Süleyman Dilmaç’ın İsimsiz Meseli” in Dünyalılar (Earthmen, İletişim 2016), and “Mümkün Dünyaların En İyisi” in Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor Bilimkurgu Öykü Seçkisi (Indigenous Science Fiction Rising Platform Science Fiction Story Collection, Liman Yayınevi 2022). He wrote in various periodicals, such as Beyaz Bulut, Arka Kapak, Zift Sanat, and Aynen. The six-volume Taş Masalları (Fable of Stones) series he wrote with his wife was published by Erdem Publishing in 2016. Bu Bir Masal Mı? (Is This a Fable?) was published by Beyazbulut Publishing in 2021. His stories are also published in the Monthly Story Selection of the Kayıprıhtım website (https://oykuseckisi.com/ author/umit-yasar-ozkan/

Cover image: Sezai Özden

Product Details:

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-80135-128-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-80135-129-4
Posthumanism Series: 6
Publisher: Transnational Press London
Published:  21/12/2023
Language: English
Pages: 361
Binding: Digital and Paperback
Interior Ink: Black and White
Weight (approx.): 1.35 kg
Dimensions (approx.): 18.9 cm x 24.61 cm

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