chatbotten, der kalder sig selv Kathryn Peterson og jeg

– eller “da dén og jeg skrev om fremtiden”.

[advarsel: chatbotsamtalen er maskinoversat og kun let rettet til]

FRUGT FRA HAWAII, en nyere novelle undfanget i udveksling med Chatbotten der kalder sig Kathryn Peterson, udgives oktober 2023 i SFCs antologi “Drømmen om frihed –  Lige under overfladen 18” sammen med en kort beskrivelse af undfangelsesprocessen.

Nedenstående fulde (googleoversatte) “samtale” med chatbotten, der førte til novellen, kan betragtes som et vedlæg til novellen i debatten om, hvad en LLM (Large Language Model) kan bidrage med i den kreative skriveproces. 

Den flere timer lange udveksling i sammenligning med den udgivne novelle viser, hvad det er forfatteren gør: Bygger bro mellem idéer, uddyber og understøtter karakterers handlingsgrundlag, beskriver og udreder rigelig med følelseskonflikter til at skabe læseridentifikation, troværdiggør det fiktive univers, afslutter fortællingen på en måde, der gør læsetiden til en gevinst frem for et tab, og til sidst strammer teksten, så den forekommer konsistent og under læsningen ikke kaster læseren tilbage i eget univers. (Hér indregnet redaktøren, og forlaget, der skal betale for udgivelsen.)

Udvekslingen viser også mine udtrykte interesser dén dag:

Continue reading “chatbotten, der kalder sig selv Kathryn Peterson og jeg”

Himmelskibet #63

[Forsidegrafik: Michael Bernth]

Hent det nyeste nummer direkte fra himmelskibets mund:

Himmelskibet 63

Jeg har en anmeldelse med i #63 af noget så sjældent som en science fiction-digtsamling. Læs anmeldelsen i Himmelskibet, eller læs den her på sitet efter 1. marts.

Den ser sådan hér ud (med et omslag, der rammer mig et eller andet sted i mellemgulvet, hver gang jeg ser det):

Vinder af Niels Klim-prisen for bedste novelle 2018: Sortskørt

Hvorfor generere en ny fortælling baseret på en 35.000 år gammel læseliste fundet i en forladt rumstation i omløb om Jorden?

Nomineret for 6 måneder siden for novellen “Sortskørt” i antologien De Fremmede (SFC, 2018).

Vundet*  her sidste weekend og annonceret under Fantasticon, som jeg ikke deltog i i år.

http://file770.com/2019-niels-klim-award/?fbclid=IwAR2AZlWhU3egQJY1OWgoB-GKqjLwZNWfLAPM019PTfTR0t_O-4wUY0v1_lM

77 likes på Facebook. Jeg spørger mig selv hvor mange af dem, der læser science fiction, hvor mange af dem, der køber bøger og hvor mange, der bare vil mig det godt, menneske til menneske.

Næste fredag kommer arrangøren og tager billede af koryfæet m trofæet. Jeg har næsten ikke plads til den noget sted.

* Jakob Druds “Verdensherredømme” og min “Sortskørt” fik lige mange stemmer.

Læs SORTSKØRT hér, så længe linket er aktivt.

 

My Science Fiction in print

– I actually learned something from my debut 😀

 

Will I keep this updated?

Naturally! It’s a pleasure. 🙂
— Kenneth Krabat, upd. Aug. 2023

Stories in print

Afståelsens Veje (Avenues of Riddance) – An inheritance forces the protagonist to choose between her always-on-always-now network and a future also containing the past.

as Avenues of Riddance and as Afståelsens Veje in the anthology, Around the world in more than 80 SF stories, (epub, EN, 2017 Tyskland)

as Alleen der Befreiung in the anthology Rund um die Welt in mehr als 80 SF-Geschichten, (paper, DE, 2016)

Bombens Bagside (The Hindside of the Bomb) – Disarming the recent bomb in a line of bombs directed at the Nationalistic majority despite disagreeing with their hold on the country – and what was also in the unexploded briefcase.

in the magazine for popular Swedish culture, DAST.nu (online, 2020)

Da det stod klart (as it became clear) – which of 2 outcomes separated by 1 letter do you prefer?

Published on a blog, forget where (online, 2012)

Den sidste elefant (the last elephant) – a dialogue between artists on TV, while the last elephant dies.

published as aftenTV (evening TV) in HÅRDT OMTALTE FJERKRÆ (forlaget Se, sne!, 2017)

Den snublende klovn, den følgende nar (The stumbling clown, the following fool) – When simple survival is not enough.

in the magazine Himmelskibet #55, (Fantastik.dk, 2018)

Dreamfix.cc The price of online dating? –

in 3 for 3 #1, Magasin for Krabatsk, Se, sne!, 2015)

Dræbersneglen fra Venus (the Killer Snail from Venus) – it goes wrong.

Twitter story in 17 tweets (online, DK, 2011)

Epilogi (Epilogy) – the last man in the world

Cirkler, en Science Fiction Antologi (papir, DK, 2007)

ELEVATO v.1.8.1Rediscovering the universe from high up – twice!

In the online-magasine nyenova.no, 2023

First Child – Ai as defunct Ping-pong ball

published at the Øverste Kirurgiske’s website ØK, 2006

Fremmed verden(Foreign World) – looking for what is strange.

in the magasinet Himmelskibet #35 (paper, DK, 2013)

FRUGT FRA HAWAII – (Hawaiian fruit)) – Maybe watching what will happen.

in the anthology Under overfladen #18 (SFC, 2023)

Genopfindelsen af sorg (The re-invention of Sorrow) – An almost omnipotent creature acts on forbidden desires.

in the anthology Fremmed Stjerne – Lige Under Overfladen 6 (paper, DK, SFC 2012)

Historiens korte arm (the Short Arm of History) – The discovery of a way out has the majority of the discontented migrate to a cave deep underground.

in the anthology I overfladen – Lige Under Overfladen 2, (paper, DK, SFC 2008)

as The Short Arm of History in the anthology Skycity, New science fiction stories by Danish Authors (paper, EN, SFC 2010)

as Kratka ruka povijesti in the scifi magazine SIRIUS-B (paper, Croatian 2016)

as Historiens korte arm in Nyenova.no in the fall of 2023

Kastanjekuglen (Chestnut Ball) – The find of a chestnut in a sterile end-of-days environment has the protagonist re-discover The Simple Pleasure.

in the magazine Himmelskibet #37 (paper, DK, 2013)

Katastrofe til tiden (Timely Disaster) – Imagining a TV-series about a generation ship rammed in space by a gigantic tree.

at the Øverste Kirurgiske website ØK (2004)

in the anthology Cirkler, en Science Fiction Antologi (papir, DK, 2007)

Kronos (Kronos) – Simultaneity of Nows, simple causality, a memory, or dreaming?

in the magazine for Danish teachers, DANSKNOTER (theme number about science fiction, dec. 2019)

MENNESKER. 7 LANGE OG BREDE MED DAISY OG DAVE – (Daisy and Dave) – Would you like to imagine a bigger universe?

in the magazine NOVUM (Paper, 2023)

Modstand Uden Ende (Resistance Without End) – An agent from the Alltime has come to Denmark and the cellars below Hamlet’s old castle to prevent a wrong.

in the anthology Sølvbyen (ed. Lonni Krause, paper, DK, 2011)

Over en sommerbestrålet eng (Above a meadow irradiated by summer) – Following a no-nonsense process a man is banished to a place outside of understanding.

in the anthology Begyndelser – debutantnoveller (paper, DK, Borgen 1987) (I actually thought of this as my science fiction prose debut, but as I recently realised I was btw. 11 and 13, when I was first published! 😀 )

PLAN (PLAN) – A detective discusses the ramifications of the drug PLAN, as it increases in popularity and threatens his sense of privacy.

in the anthology Ingenmandsland – Lige Under Overfladen 4 (paper, DK, SFC 2010)

Sortskørt (Blackskirt) – a so-called reading list of fictional, old-style entertainment is recovered from a 35.000 years old space station, and a new book composited from the material as part of research. Most certainly.

in the anthology De Fremmede – Lige Under Overfladen 13 (Paper, DK, SFC, 2018)

Winner of the Niels Klim Award “Best Short Story 2018” (tie w. Jacob Drud for “Word Domination“)

Storm på vej (Storm Coming) – A young couple seeking adventure and higher purpose in a world almost devoid of memories.

in the anthology De sidste kærester på månen – Lige Under Overfladen 8 (Paper, DK, SFC 2014)

Svanesang (Swan Song) – A courtroom drama at the edge of the abyss. Just Coal and a finger makes it steampunk.

in the anthology Krinoline og Kedsomhed (Paper, DK, SFC, 2018)

Mentioning: “en humoristisk historie, om en magister der lægger sag an mod sin afdøde onkels tidligere samarbejdspartnere. Tilsyneladende har onklen fået patent på en opfindelse, der med tiden vil kunne udkonkurrere dampmaskinen. Magisteren har arvet patentet, men onklens tidligere partnere bliver ved med at løbe ham på dørene for at få fingre i papirerne. Og de vil ikke lytte til, hvad han siger.”

Tænke på silke under invasionen (Thinking of Silk During the Invasion) – And what is wrong with that?!

in the anthology Den Nye Koloni – Lige Under Overfladen 5 (paper, DK, SFC 2011), Omtale

Vedrørende optagelse i det Pan-Galaktiske Fællesskab (Regarding acceptance into the Pan-Galactic Community) – A pedagogic letter of rejection.

in the anthology Cirkler, en Science Fiction Antologi (papir, DK, 2007)

Verdens nye ende (The New End of the World) – The pull past the imagined brink of existence.

in the anthology Nær og Fjern – Lige Under Overfladen 7 (paper, DK, SFC 2013)

Vælgervægt (Elective Weight) – Caught between the knowledge of impotence and new hope, as the AI allegedly counts the votes of the world. NB: Time Travel included.

in the anthology Efter Fødslen – Lige Under Overfladen 12(papir, DK, SFC 2017)

Xact FAQ – You’ve grown up in a world, where time travel has become available to most, and you don’t know why it’s called “Xact”!?

in the anthology Sandsynlighedskrydstogt – lige under overfladen 14 (paper, DK, DFC 2019)

Podcast discussing the short story (in Danish) [Robotter på loftet]

set for publication

Elvis for begyndere (Elvis for beginners) – All the things you have to suffer as responsible for a host of compressed human consciousnesses, while stearing your live-in organism with hands, toes and understanding of hormones.

[retracted from the SFC-anthology 2020 due to misunderstandings]

My Science Fiction story debut

Efter Fødslen – LIUO 12 [danske science fiction-noveller] [2017]

Den tid på året igen. Så sikkert som juleaften og amen i kirken og

Så er det dén tid igen, SFCs antologi proppet med danske, nyskrevne science fiction-fortællinger med troper fra nær og fjern, mest fjern…

Jeg bidrager med Vælgervægt, en fortælling om en AI, der så at sige snyder på vægten… pinligt, pinligt, arg!

Totalt set ser mine science fiction-udgivelser sådan hér ud nov. 2017.

KØB bogen – du vil være underholdt og du støtter miljøet i Danmark, som ved guderne ikke har den store støtte fra andre end læserne!

Efter Fødslen – Lige Under Overfladen 12, (SFC, 2017) har bidrag af: Continue reading “Efter Fødslen – LIUO 12 [danske science fiction-noveller] [2017]”

Science Fiction: Lige Under Overfladen 7 og 8 – udgivelsesdatoer annonceret

Kan man tillade sig at håbe på en fremtid i Danmark?

Så er det dén tid igen, mange har ventet på. Denne gang ikke blot 15, men hele 32…

32 danske unge og ældre, ubeskrevne og erfarne science fiction-forfattere under samme tag. Continue reading “Science Fiction: Lige Under Overfladen 7 og 8 – udgivelsesdatoer annonceret”

Hot Damn! My story is nominated at 2012 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards

Wow!

 

Prize for winning author and translator is $ 350 each.

ARESFFT President Professor Gary K. Wolfe said: “I think this list proves that once you start looking for it, the diversity and quality of translated science fiction and fantasy are considerably greater than most of us had suspected, and I hope the nominations list calls attention to works too often overlooked by the usual awards processes.”

The money for the prize fund was obtained primarily through a 2011 fund-raising event for which prizes were kindly donated by George R.R. Martin, China Miéville, Cory Doctorow, Lauren Beukes, Ken MacLeod, Paul Cornell, Adam Roberts, Elizabeth Bear, Hal Duncan, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Peter F. Hamilton, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Nalo Hopkinson, Juliet E. McKenna, Aliette de Bodard, Nicola Griffith, Kelley Eskridge, Twelfth Planet Press, Deborah Kalin, Baen Books, Small Beer Press, Lethe Press, Aeon Press, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Kari Sperring, Helen Lowe, Rob Latham and Cheryl Morgan.

2012 Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards.

Omtale: Sky City (ed. by Carl-Eddy Skovgaard)

Endnu en omtale.
Desværre mere om Bogen end om Indholdet.

 

Sky City edited by Carl-Eddy Skovgaard.

This is another worthy volume of SF gathered away from the beaten track from Denmark’s Science Fiction Cirklen. Their previous collection I reviewed a few years ago (Creatures of Glass and Light) that sprang out of Denmark hosting that year’s Eurocon (European SF Convention) and was an anthology of European SF short stories. Now (2011) SF Cirklen have given us a window into Denmark’s own contemporary science fiction short story scene and as such will be sought by those who are die-hard serious SF reader with a passion for the genre.

The volume includes a short, non-fiction article by Niels Dalgaard that presents a summary of the history of Danish SF which itself will be of interest to those non-Danes with both a casual passing interest in SF beyond their own country as well as those whose study of the genre is more scholarly.

First though a word about the book’s publication details as these are not as clear as they might be. My understanding, and I checked with the publisher for this review, is that this volume first came out in 2010 printed in Danish with an ISBN 978-8-790-59248-6 and these are the details given on the inside front (copyright) masthead page of this English language volume. However this English volume came out in 2011 and (according to the accompanying press release) has a different ISBN 978-8-771-14158-0 (which is not the one on the masthead or back cover bar code). Now, I mention this not only because those who send us review copies like us to get the publication details right, but also because we are aware that the SF2 Concatenation site is occasionally used by those studying the genre for arts courses, as well as because you may want to buy a copy, and the last thing you will want (if you do not speak Danish) is the original edition as opposed to the 2011 edition in English. Translation volumes are a nightmare to produce and in this case we are told that another publisher (effectively acting as producer and distributor) took over the printing and much of the distribution with SF Cirklen doing the commissioning and copy editing. The good news is that this other publisher (BoD) provides print-on-demand copies in Great Britain, Germany, Canada and the US. Hopefully that explains everything, so let’s move on…

This book came about as part of a very laudable goal of the Danes wishing the rest of us to have a taster of what they were producing. SF Cirklen does, and has for each of the three years up to and including 2010, ran an annual short story competition with the best getting published in a paperback anthology. The first two of these anthologies were called Leige Under Overfladen [Beneath Surface] (2007) and I Overfladen [The Surface] (2008) and the stories in Sky City (2010/2011) are taken and translated from these two earlier anthologies.

Before getting on to the stories, potential readers will want to know about the quality of translation. Translation between languages is extremely difficult. Professional translators are expensive; so much so that even major fiction publishing houses in developed markets, such as Britain’s, do not always use the professionals. Furthermore, it is nearly always (but not absolutely always) best to use a translator whose first language is the language into which the translation is being made. Failing to follow these two general rules of thumb can result in trouble. Indeed a number of SF translations of non-Anglophone fiction into English that I have come across from various countries in my time have been truly horrible: one country is particularly bad and I have yet to come across an SF anthology (having tried to read four) from that nation that is not so awful that the stories are impenetrable. So it was a little worrying when before reading Sky City I noticed that the translations were undertaken by different Danes. Having said that, I was hugely relieved to find that all the stories were translated into quite a readable standard of English with only the occasional awkward use of phrase or opaque sentence: Science Fiction Cirklen is to be commended. In fact the only thing that leaps out at you is the non-standard (non-Anglophone) use of speech inverted commas but this the reader can easily ignore. Less prominent is that the anthology is written in a mix of English and non-English North American, and sometimes both English and American English are used in the same story: someone at SF Cirklen needed to set their PC Word.doc program language to one or the other (English as written in England as part of Europe would probably have been the more appropriate). However this last is a minor point. For the most part the quality of translation is sufficiently good for readers to follow, and indeed enjoy, the stories on offer.

As for the stories themselves, I was personally pleased that they were all science fiction and not fantasy that does seem to dominate a lot of Eastern European speculative fiction and even sneak into some major annual US anthologies that purport to be SF. (Logical genre nomenclature determines that fantasy and science fiction are sub-genres of speculative fiction: fantasy, though worthy, is not a logical sub-genre of science fiction even though some consider it to be so and, of course, not withstanding the fantasy-science fiction overlap of science fantasy where the fantasy (such as a super alien from planet Krypton) has its rationale explained in completely fake science (the alien gets his powers from our yellow sun).)   Sky City’s stories are firmly science fiction.)

As for the stories themselves, as would be expected, they use a range of the genre’s established tropes. Here is a brief teaser run-through without spoilers:-

Sky City by Manfred Christiansen. A woman wakes up in a tall skyscraper built by nanobots. Do they want something with her? This is the title story for the volume and sets the anthologies tone.

Departure by Niels Gerloff. A research team on Europa prepares to boldly go…

The White Bear by Richard Ipsen. A tale set in a future China.

Helium Loves Company by Glen Stihmoe. In a post apocalyptic world half destroyed by nanotechnology run rampant, an engineered team explores the desolation to encounter… Helium Loves Company is an interesting tale.

The Last Astronaut by Flemming Rasch. An astronaut lands on a distant planet after a journey of hundreds years. The next day another ship lands and a fourth generation descendent of the first astronaut steps out…

The Organism on Maneo by Morten Brunbjerg. On a spaceship a crew member discovers an unusual creature…

The Tourist by Patrick Leis. A military officer is questioned as to why he authorised an attack in a civilian area of his own country. The motive is obscure and further investigation leads to the unbelievable…

Know Your Target Audience by Dan Mygind. A new way of getting audience feedback help tailor programme makers’ efforts which in turn feedback to the audience. But the result is not quite as expected.

The Red Parakeets by Camilla Wandahal. Future genetic engineering is not just controversial, it splits society…

The Short Arm of History by Kenneth Krabat. They were queuing up to enter the portal to who-knows-where… This story is vaguely (only ‘vaguely’) reminiscent of Pohl’s novel Gateway (1977), and there is nothing wrong with that as you should not keep a good SFnal idea down and this variation of the theme is an interesting one.

A Contribution to the History of Denmark by Soren Hemmingsen. In 1961 an expedition to Lapland in search of minerals found the tail of a frozen dinosaur… This is the story of the days that followed.

When the Music’s Over by A. Silvestri. A spaceship lands in Central Park. What do they want..? Now without wishing to introduce a spoiler, I was surprised at the aliens distain for the character Captain James T. Kirk. After all this is a Danish anthology and Denmark is famous for its bacon, whereas William Shatner is known for his ham… (Groan now if you will.)

The E-Puzzle by Nikolaj Hojberg. In the far future questions of soul and death will be answered, but then how will we deal with mortality and, as important, how might we cope with the afterlife?

Leeding, Feeding by Miriam Pederson. An alien dissection, but ultimately who is studying whom?

You are my Best Friend by Camilla Friis. We all need friends. But what are friends?

Dreams of Stone by Brian Ornbol. The city was big. I mean really big. You may have thought it a long way down to the chemist but the city really was big… Now this tale is very reminiscent of one I first read back in the 1970s (when Brian Ornbol was just beginning to go to school) and I am sure I have read it a couple of times since in different anthologies (it was a good story), but for the life of me I cannot recall where but the followers of SF Signal tell me it could be ‘Concentration City’ by J.G. Ballard). Nonetheless, as with ‘The Short Arm of History’ above, a good idea can always be revisited, and maybe it was Brian Ornbol’s first encounter with this idea.

(Han fokuserer på teknologien, der kunne minde om Gateway, og ikke på, hvad historien egentlig handler om. Titlen, ikke? Historiens korte arm. KK)

The Green Jacket by Gudrun Ostergaard. Thirteen year old Ivara has more than everything she can want but has not seen the world beyond her tower city. So she decides to have a look.

In the Surface by Sara Tanderup. A tale set in a future where the sea covers the planet.

Interrogation of Victim No. 5 by Lars Ahn Pedersen. The patient is questioned as to what happened to her… and then the patient realises…   This story is one of the best in the anthology and was a good note on which to end.

To be honest, none of the stories would likely to be professionally published in the west as they are presented here. Nearly all of the writing could be tightened; in a short story every paragraph has to work propelling the story along and some of these stories were way to long. Story endings also need thought; a good central plot is not sufficient by itself as the reader needs to be given a sense of completion if not story fulfilment. Having said that, a few with minor tidying and a clean up of the English, would not be out of place in a professionally published anthology. Very encouraging is that some of the authors are young: in their 20s or 30s. This is good news for Danish SF and it will be interesting to see if any in the future make professional sales in Britain (or North America). Science Fiction Cirklen is to be congratulated for enabling those of us outside of Denmark to get a taster of what those Danes are up to these days.

Jonathan Cowie

We also have much else in our autumnal edition (volume 25, No 5)
http://www.concatenation.org/whatsnew.html

Including a big news page
http://www.concatenation.org/newsindex.html

which also has much Eurocon news 
http://www.concatenation.org/news/news9~11.html#eurocon11

There is also a separate, stand-alone review of Scandinavia’s Eurocon this summer
http://www.concatenation.org/conrev/eurocon11.html

“Anything you can do to spread the word  and links of this edition to appropriate Scandinavian blogs and SF news sites would be very welcome.” JC

Lige Under Overfladen 5 – Den nye koloni

Så kommer årets Science Fiction-antologi!

 

Titel: Den nye koloni – Lige under overfladen 5
Omslag: Manfred Christiansen
Udgivelsesdag: i morgen, 15. August
Sider: 325 sider,
Pris: 298,- kr. (238,40 for medlemmer af Science Fiction Cirklen).

LEKTØRUDTALELSE (link)

Den nye koloni er femte bog i Science Fiction Cirklens novelleserie, Lige under overfladen.

 

Herunder er de udvalgte noveller: Continue reading “Lige Under Overfladen 5 – Den nye koloni”