Διεθνής Ανθολογία ΕΦ από το Γερμανικό NOVA

Οι εκδότες του Γερμανικού Περιοδικού [Nova] προετοιμάζουν διεθνή ανθολογία Ε.Φ. και δέχονται συμμετοχές από όλες τις χώρες του κόσμου στα Αγγλικά.

Ο Χριστόδουλος Λιθαρής εντόπισε το θέμα ενός νέου περιοδικού, έγινε η σχετική ενημέρωση και παρακάτω βλέπετε την απάντηση στο mail που είχε στείλει η Βάσω Χρήστου στον Michael Iwoleit του γερμανικού περιοδικού Nova, καθώς και ένα γενικότερο μήνυμα για το περιοδικό αυτό. Τα χρονικά περιθώρια στενεύουν. Κινηθείτε γρήγορα!
(Παρεμπιπτόντως αν κανένας ξέρει κάτι για τον κ. Αυξεντίου που αναζητά ο Iwoleit, ας μας το πει να του απαντήσουμε...)

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Dear Vasso Christou,

many thanks for your mail and your interest.

Our project will be even more than a magazine for european sf writers. It will be a truly international sf magazine, published twice a year in english language, not excluding american or british writers, but mostly compiled with stories, articles and artworks from all those countries that are generally neglected by the angloamerican-centered sf markets. Nova international is already supported by writers from great britain, croatia, ukraine, israel, italia, india, china and south africa. Of course, ambitioned sf writers from greece are welcome too.

Below I attach a detailed concept for our project that explains the background and further details. You'll see that we will start very humbly, but maybe the project will surpass all our expectations and be a base for a close international collaboration. There are many ways to support our project, just have a look. Let me know if you need further information.

By the way: during my researches I found an interesting sf and mainstream writer from greece, visilis afxentiou, and wanted to invite him to contribute a story. Unfortunately, the email address that I have vafx@hol.gr is not valid anymore. Can you help me to get in touch with him?

Looking forward to a good collaboration.
Yours
Michael Iwoleit
www.nova-sf.de

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Dear friends & colleagues,

most of you have already been informed that we plan to publish an international edition of our magazine nova in english language. During our last editorial meeting in wuppertal we discussed details of this project and we are now ready to present you the results. Your comments are welcome.

Let us first explain the background. The first issue of Nova was published in december 2002. The magazine was intented to be a long-term forum for current german science fiction. Since sf magazines always had a hard stand in germany we decided to produce it as book on demand to reduce costs and to make it self-sufficient and independent. Our plan was to sell enough copies of each issue to earn the production costs for the next, and so far we have been successful.

Part of our concept was to include in each issue an interesting classic reprint or a story by a foreign guest writer. Famous writers like greg egan and brian aldiss were so kind to contribute stories which was well-received by our readers. There are, however, far more good writers interested to be translated for Nova than we can publish in only three german issues a year. Thus the idea of an international edition was born.

Since Frederik Pohl's short-living [international sf] in the late sixties a truly international science fiction magazine has never been attempted again. The internet and book on demand, however, have made things easier and so we think it can be done with more success today. Nova international is intended be a showcase of contemporary sf writing in all those countries that are generally neglected by the Anglo-American centered sf markets. American and British writers will not be excluded but the main intention is to feature stories and essays by writers who are rarely published outside their home countries. We will try to be as international as possible, advancing our editorial work into countries and areas that are rarely associated with science fiction.

Let us state clearly that nova international will be impossible without the help and support of our foreign colleagues. There are several crucial tasks that we surely cannot manage properly without your competent help. Here are the main points of our concept:

1) Nova international will be published twice a year (january and july) as book on demand paperback, 200 pages, illustrated by international sf artists, layout similar to the german edition, featuring mostly stories, with one or two essays on science fiction and related issus. We plan to start in january 2005.

2) The editors of the german edition will also edit Nova international, but in slightly different configuration:
Michael K. Iwoleit will select the stories
Ronald M. Hahn will select articles and essays
Olaf G. Hilscher will select covers and inside illustrations
They should, however, be supported by an editorial board of colleagues outside of germany. Their work will be to give hints to interesting writers and artists, forward stories and artworks and keep us up-to-date about sf writing in their home countries. If your are interested to become member of the editorial board, please let us know.

Marc-Ivo Schubert will handle press-contacts within the german language area. However, we will need press contacts in as many other countries as possible, willing to promote nova international in the internet and print media. If you are interested please drop a line.

3) To make Nova international available in as many countries as possible the magazine will be published in english language which has become the lingua franca of the international sf community. This has one major drawback that we can't avoid: writers will be required to provide their texts in english translation.

4) We can't expect all translations to be word-perfect so we need english native speakers - writers or editors - willing to proof-read each issue before it is put into print. If someone of you is interested to help, please contact us.

5) As its German counterpart Nova international will be a pure science fiction magazine, no fantasy, horror and so on (no offence intended!). We will try to reach as high a literary standard as we can. We are looking for intelligent, stylish and entertaining modern sf stories, original in idea and conception. Stories which address cultural and social issues in the countries of their origin will be especially interesting. Don't forget: Nova international will be independent!

6) Essays in nova are mainly intended to cover the history and current developments of sf writing in countries generally neglected on the sf world map. Of course we will be open for anything that is interesting.

7) We aim to publish mainly new stories and essays, except of one or two interesting classic reprints in each issue. (Hints to classic works that deserve reprint are welcome). in the first two issues, however, it may be necessary to reprint stories already published in their home countries, just to make a start and to attract readers and writers.

8) Nova international will start as a non-profit project. We aim to sell enough copies of the first two issues to be able to pay for contributions from issue 3 onward, at least a little. For all writers willing to support the project with free contributions to the first two issue, we think it is fair to present a preliminary calculation here:

deducting bod production costs for mastering (*mastering is one-time cost, lower for each copy the more copies are sold*) and print, shipment, taxes and 30 % bookseller discount (*no discount for all the copies that we distribute ourselves within the german language area*) the profit margin is in average 2.40 euro for each sold copy of nova.

here a minimal calculation of the payment for one nova international issue

180 pages stories and essays, [ 6 euro/page] 1.080,--
10 inside illustrations, [ 25 euro each] 250,--
cover illustration 100,--
proofreading, [ 1 euro/page] 180,--
editor payments, [250 euro each] 750,--
editorial board* 200,--

total** 2.560,--

* We suggest to pay editorial board members similar to literary agents. If someone has suggested a story or an article that is published he will receive 15% of the payment of the writer.
** Payments for press contacts, depending on their amount of work, must be added.

To sum it up:
We have to sell about 1.100 copies of a Nova international issue worldwide to make this possible (payments can be raised accordingly if we sell significantly more). We hope we are not too optimistic to be convinced that this could be done (or even surpassed)!

9) Within germany, austria and switzerland we will distribute Nova international ourselves (as we do with the German issues). Apart from that we are interested in distribution partners, maybe specialized booksellers or dedicated fans, interesting to distribute Nova international in their home countries resp. their home areas. They can order nova international in quantities of up to 50 copies in each shipment with a bookseller discount of 30 %.
The price of a nova international issue will be 14.80 euro.
To get started we are interested in distribution partners in at least the following areas:
- france
- italy
- spain
- eastern europa generally
- baltic area
- russia, ukraine, former ussr states
- israel, near east
- usa
- great britain
- latin america
- south east asia

You are invited to comment or improve our concept.
All your remarks and suggestions are welcome.
For all matters concerning nova international please contact Michael K. Iwoleit at mki@iacd.de
We are sure that nova international could be a real chance to promote international sf writing to our mutual benefit. Let's take the chance.
We hope you'll be as enthusiastic as we are.

All the best
Ronald M. Hahn, Olaf G. Hilscher, Michael K. Iwoleit, Marc-Ivo Schubert
www.nova-sf.de

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Βάσω Χρήστου (12/05/2004)