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“Futurchia” is an anthology of 7 stories able to best introduce you to the world of Turkish science fiction, almost completely unexplored in Italy and in the world
Futurchia
“The future is right here; it’s much closer than before. If so, we as residents of a very complicated and difficult region like the Eastern Mediterranean must develop new utopias for the future. And so we have to start today.”
Seran Demiral.
Translated for the first time into Italian by Ebru Sarıkaya in collaboration with Ünver Alibey of the Istanbul Copyright Agency, these seven stories signed by the best authors and authors of the genre, return the composite image of a country always poised between the past and the future, uniting the ancient sense of the wonderful of Turkish myths and traditions with genetic engineering, augmented reality, the Atwoodian dystopia, the technocratic tendencies of cyberpunk and the arrival of artificial intelligence. Few thresholds are more fascinating and courageous to cross than the one that leads to Turkey.
Anthology of Turkish science fiction
In this short 135-page anthology we will be catapulted into Turkish science fiction, a new and almost completely unexplored imagery even by the Turks themselves, something that is certainly destined to explode in the near future, also given the recent success of products such as Sıcak Kafa and in general to the rediscovery of the beauties of Turkish and Anatolian culture.
Through the 7 stories that make up this work, we will be able for the first time to get an idea of where the compass of the Turkish imagination is moving, exploring authors such as Tevfik Uyar, Selin Arapkirli and Seran Demiral, rightly considered among the most talented in Turkey.
Obviously, also due to its size, it cannot be considered as a complete and exhaustive anthology but, also thanks to an excellent preface and an equally excellent afterword, it will give for the first time a clue on where to look for the most beautiful works, also coming in contact with some of the most recurring themes of this historical period.
The themes
Contrary to what would inspire a superficial vision, in fact, science fiction, even as it tends to be a niche genre, has always been conceived not only for mere playful purposes, but also as a tool for analyzing the society that surrounds us and trying to ask ourselves where the future will take us.
It is no coincidence that most of the main themes of the book revolve around the role of women (and especially motherhood), the increasingly marked division between rich and poor and the role of justice for the functioning of consciences and the state; absolutely profound and intense themes, able to fascinate even readers not accustomed to the Turkish world, stimulating a reflection on how the perception of the future is increasingly global, so much so that these ideas and suggestions are increasingly able to transcend national and cultural borders .
I have no idea if there will be a “Futurchia 2”, but I sincerely hope so, also because in the next one I hope more than ever to be able to read new examples of Otto-punk (Ottomans and cyber/steam-punk), a genre that has given me always fascinated and which de facto is only mentioned in this text.
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