Have you ever read or heard about Turkish science fiction? If not, you might pay a visit at FABISAD (Fantasy and Science Fiction Arts Association), a website that offers some useful information about Turkish SF & F.
From FABISAD:
Gathering Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror producers of Turkey, FABİSAD (Fantasy and Science Fiction Arts Association) is a society that aims the development of the art, protecting the artists, enhancing their awareness, expanding the reader and follower mass, allowing better quality artwork, and describing the significance of imagining. The Turkish Association for Artists of Fantasy and Science Fiction (FABİSAD) was officially founded in October 2011. The decade-old dream of a few writers and graphic artists, FABİSAD was formed to promote these genres by creating a national award for outstanding SF&F work , as well as organising seminars, book drives and festivals.
FABİSAD has been dreamed in 2006 by a group of artists of the genre inspired from the fantasy, SF and horror samples from abroad. However, the idea of establishing a society rather than a dream could come true in 2011. After all infrastructural work during six months, in October 2011, the society has been officially established by gathering the artists from the areas of fantasy, SF and horror and the professionals, editors, publishers and producers who contribute for the improvement of those genres.
The founding members are: Altay Öktem, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu, Doğu Yücel, Ege Görgün, Erbuğ Kaya, Kenan Yarar, Yıldıray Çınar,Yiğit Değer Bengi.
As you can see from the members presentation, FABISAD proves that Turkish SF & Fantasy has a great potential, with many authors or activists dedicated to their work. Just an example: Levent Şenyürek.
From FABISAD:
Levent Şenyürek (born in 1975) is a science fiction author, engineering graduate and a FABISAD member. He has worked in several fields like automation engineering, sales support, product development and simulation in both private and public sectors. His first book Çıldırtan Kitap (The Infuriating Book) – a collection of short stories – was published in 2007, which is translated into English in 2009 with the title The Book Of Madness.
His second book, Alacagöl Efsanesi (The Legend Of Alaca Lake) is a novella published in 2008. The book tells about mysterious events happening around a mountain lake in the southeastern part of Turkey. On a background of a strange kind of war, a third lieutenant tries to solve the puzzle of mysterious deaths from both sides, civil people and animals, which doesn’t really seem to be a direct result of the fight. Story concludes with a scientific but still mysterious explanation emphasizing the meaninglessness of the war.
His first novel, Cennetin Kalıntıları (The Ruins Of Heaven) was published in 2011, which is the story of a man being hibernated, who wakes up in a distant, mysterious future. First part of the book explains a cross section of our present day life while the second one describes a dark tomorrow as a silent warning. The distopian novel was selected as one of the best 100 novels published in Turkish in 2011 and is being translated into English nowadays (2012).
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