Not familiar with any other Belgian books but I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman is enough to include the country on a future list. Nigeria: - Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (or many of her other books) - Far from the Light of Heaven, Tade Thompson - War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi
Another French author you might check out is Gerard Klein. In particular, his novel The Overlords of War was also translated by another SF author, John Brunner.
that kalpa imperial book looks soo good! already ordered myself a copy. and french sci-fi bande desinee?!?! here ya go: enki bilal's the nikopol trilogy; alejandro jodorowsky and moebius' - the incal; and if you're familiar with snowpiercer, that one was based on an 80's french graphic novel by jaques lob and jean-marc rochette.
Spain Felix de Palma The Map Trilogy - a young man in love, 19th century, Jack the Ripper and what if HG Wells was writing about actual events? Incredible trilogy (big books). "Africa" James Brayken The Veiled Edge of Contact (This is not from Africa but so few science fiction books are set in Africa). Okon tracks his wife who disappeared into the jungle where he finds a tribe who holds, unwittingly, the key to everything. Not a word about race, the plot is A+++ and the twist is even better,. Looking forward to the next part of this video.
This is such a great idea for a video series! 🤩👍🏻 If you want to try Finnish scifi, how about Risto Isomäki The Sands of Sarasvati (climate fiction) or Hannu Rajaniemi The Quantum Thief? I've read Rajaniemi writes in English fyi. Have personally only read The Sands of Sarasvati, loved that book. 🥰
@@secretsauceofstorycraftAnother brilliant climate fiction book by a Finnish author that might be easier to find is Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta. 😊
Great video! I love to read and learn more about books from different cultures and societies. Metro doesnt get enough discussion on booktube, i think its a fantastic modern post-apocalypse series with so much atmosphere, and even more immersive if you listen to an audiobook version with a russian accent!
Love all this! I actually have my own Read the World project, though I do all genres - this will help fill in some gaps for sure. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
I really enjoyed this video. For translations of French graphic novels, I suggest checking out New York Review Comics. They have several volumes in print that are translated & that have a dystopian angle to them.
Great Video, this is definitely something that can be revisited. We and Blindness are great books and the German books sound interesting to me so I might pick up The Swarm.
If your library has Hoopla, The World of Edena by Moebius is available there-it’s a French sci-fi graphic novel. I haven’t read it yet but have heard great things! One of my French friends recommended The Ice People by René Barjavel, which is a French classic sci-fi, but it seems like it went out of print so it’s hard to get a hold of. I did happen to find a copy of it at a used bookstore in Tucson though so there is a chance you could find it. Some of the old English covers have naked people on them though 😂
What a great idea! I confess, I don't enjoy Russian science fiction or Russian literature. To be fair, I've only read Anna Karenina and Roadside Picnic LOL. But there's something so bleak about it all, even though I enjoy dystopian books. I added Swarm to my Want to Read list. I'm intrigued by Karen Lord, she's a favorite of another BookTuber I follow. I didn't know she was a Caribbean auther. Off topic, the lipstick you have on in this video looks really pretty on you!
Off topic - : Blindness, by Jose Saramago, seems to be a novelization of a similar idea put forth by Edgar Wallace, in his short story called The Black Grippe (1920) - the Wallace story was really just a well crafted pulp story, but it's interesting to see how writers are sometimes influenced by stories from the past - which I suspect is what had happened with Blindness... I came across The Black Grippe in a good anthology of old & forgotten short stories from the late 1800s to the early 1900s - called Strange Tales from The Strand Magazine, edited by Jack Adrian, which featured impressive names like H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Graham Greene, etc.. I just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone interested. 😊
Finland: Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish scifi writer although he lives in San Francisco and writes in english. There is also Emmi Itäranta, Risto Isomäki and Antti Tuomainen that have some of their works translated to english. Perhaps others as well, but these came to my mind first.
Thanks for the video! Just like you, I have had The carpet makers on my list for a while... I really should get to reading it. I really liked a short stories collection by Hao JingFang, so I'm waiting for a translation of Vagabonds in french. Speaking of french... It seems few "modern" french scifi authors are available in english, so maybe try: - The doctored man, by Maurice Renard (1921) - The warriors of silence (trilogy), by Pierre Bordage (late 90s scifi, space opera with quite a lot of spiritual/mystical influence from India) Graphic novels/comics I would recommend: - Carbon & Silicon, by Mathieu Bablet (AI/android, a bit post-apocalyptic after a while) - Infinity 8 (8 comic books series), by Lewis Trondheim and various artists (a bit goofy, pulp inspired, time loop, one album = one different main protagonist) - System preference, by Ugo Bienvenu (loved loooved this one, but expected english release date in september 2025...) There is also stuff that I have heard a lot of, but haven't read, like Snowpiercer, by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, and The Nikopol trilogy by Enki Bilal. And finally, a random taiwanese recommandation: Membrane, by Chi Ta-Wei. Now I will read the comments to get more book recommendations. 😁
I haven’t read any Jules Verne since I was a kid! Adam Roberts has used Verne as a source/influence for a couple of his novels, including 20 Trillion Leagues Under the Sea. I read the 3BP, who hasn't these days, and Roadside Picnic, but I haven’t read much translated sci fi at all, it seems. I have a massive book, Limit, by a german author, might have been the same guy you mentioned, not sure, haven’t read it yet. I will be reading Lem's Solaris soon, so there's that. Great video!
Limit is not as good as swarm, fyi! But yes 👍🏻 i couldnt call it translation fiction because lots of books are originally published in english despite being from non english speaking country….
Great video! The premise of Tender is the Flesh makes me squeamish. I don’t doubt you that it’s layered, and I now and then see lit-fic readers talk about it. Waste Tide sounds interesting!
French comics: The Incal by Jodorowsky & Moebuis and Valérian And Laureline by Jean-Claude Mézières, both influenced movies. Luo was a good character in The Dark Forest.
Tender is the Flesh: Great book, but it's horror. The Wall (Marlen Haushofer). 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami): Moid thinks this is SciFi. (...and it's been on your shelf for yrs). I'm looking forward to the future authors/nationalities. You always come up with amazing ideas. I'm currently reading The Inhabited Island (Arkady Strugatsky). I'll give the brothers another shot.
For Australia I like Sean McMullen and can recommend his Greatwinter Series and The Moonworlds Saga. A French graphic novel series is Snowpiercer which has inspired both a movie and television series.
I'm on my own "around the world" journey with sci-fi books, so I will happily to follow your lists, hopefully I will find some books for myself. From french graphic novels I enjoyed Snowpiercer. I would like to add something from Polish literature (my country). I recommend Nest of Worlds by Marek S. Huberath. There is also Lem, of course, but he is well known. Unfortunately many good sci-fi novels from Poland are not translated into English, especially books by Janusz Zajdel and "Zapach szkła" by A. Ziemiański, maybe one day they will be translated.
I would highly recommend I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman to add to your French reading list. Not a translated work as it was written in English, but one to add to your list when you reach New Zealand in this project is The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann.
Vagabonds is worth a read for sure, it's got vibes of Le Guin's The Dispossessed but with more of a YA feel. A more recently translated novel of Hao Jingfang's is Jumpnauts, also pretty good, but not quite on par with Vagabonds I think. I think the most impressive thing I've read by her is her novelette Folding Beijing, included in the Chinese SF anthology Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu. For a modern French sci-fi novel, check out Hervé le Tellier's thriller The Anomaly.
befor the vidoe start i was frustrated and thought "the same repeated books that all booktubers took about the russan guys and the cixin of china ext " but no i am surprised there is alot of foreign books that are new to me or little mentioned in booktubes -vagabonds -waste tide -saramago -german gang -mid and south america ladies good video
This summer, I read "The man who spoke snakish" by Andrus Kivirähk. It is an amazing Estonian novel that reads a little like an epic, following a character from childhood onwards. It is also a bizarre genre mashup of dystopian sf and historical fantasy. It is funny, it is very sad and it asks big questions about human nature. It also is based on a mythology that is very different from what we usually read. Loved it unreservedly, recommend it to anyone wanting something unexpected.
From China i can recommend The Machineries of Empire series, by Yoon Ha Lee. From France, try Serge Brussolo. I don't know about his latest stuff, try to find something from the '90s, like Territoire de fièvre or Les Semeurs d'abîmes. Unfortunately, I don't know if they were translated into English.
I have read The Carpet Makers but didn't like it, and I tried to read the Swarm but did not finish it. I'll try Qualityland, because I like other works by Marc-Uwe Kling.
To do a weird version of Germany and Russia: 1632 and 1636: The Kremlin Games by Eric Flint American hillbillies invade Germany when Shakespeare is still on the loose. Then send an agent provocateur to Moscow. And WE is Free on the Internet.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft you make great content. I believe the question of what the aliens were doing there was best left to the story. You are so good a reviewer and really cover a great range of topics. Keep it up!
The bleakness of Russian literature comes from the times of the Tsars and the "surfs", who were basically slaves, and were the majority of the population...
Arguably, the best SF story is only about 20 words long, & it's quite chilling. "This is my prediction for the future : Whatever hasn't happened will happen, & no one will be safe from it...(by John B. S. Haldane)
The Carpet Makers is awesome, I hope you like it!
ThNk you!! I do too
Not familiar with any other Belgian books but I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman is enough to include the country on a future list.
Nigeria:
- Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (or many of her other books)
- Far from the Light of Heaven, Tade Thompson
- War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi
🔥 we are same wavelength!!!
The first non-English science fiction I ever read was a collection of short stories by Stanislaw Lem back in the '70s.
🔥 wow 🤩
Ken Liu the translator of all the Chinese picks is an awesome author in his own right.
Yeah i need to read more by him….
I've got my eye on that LeGuin translation now too. Great video as always. Lots of obscure recommendations
Wow!!🤩 im so glad! Turns out le guinn translated several - so def keep an eye out
Another French author you might check out is Gerard Klein. In particular, his novel The Overlords of War was also translated by another SF author, John Brunner.
Added!! Thank you!
Love the video!!!!. Took note of many unheard authors and novels. My wish list has grown! Looking forward part 2
Awesome thabks for watching. Part 2 wont be for awhile yet….
Wow. That is a great list of books. I've just read a few and haven't heard of most of them. Thanks Whitney. Great video
As always dale! Thanks
that kalpa imperial book looks soo good! already ordered myself a copy. and french sci-fi bande desinee?!?! here ya go: enki bilal's the nikopol trilogy; alejandro jodorowsky and moebius' - the incal; and if you're familiar with snowpiercer, that one was based on an 80's french graphic novel by jaques lob and jean-marc rochette.
Ooooh thank you!!!😊
Spain Felix de Palma The Map Trilogy - a young man in love, 19th century, Jack the Ripper and what if HG Wells was writing about actual events? Incredible trilogy (big books). "Africa" James Brayken The Veiled Edge of Contact (This is not from Africa but so few science fiction books are set in Africa). Okon tracks his wife who disappeared into the jungle where he finds a tribe who holds, unwittingly, the key to everything. Not a word about race, the plot is A+++ and the twist is even better,. Looking forward to the next part of this video.
I actually own the map trilogy!!! I havent gotten to it yet. Thanks for reminding me!! Will look into the others
This is such a great idea for a video series! 🤩👍🏻
If you want to try Finnish scifi, how about Risto Isomäki The Sands of Sarasvati (climate fiction) or Hannu Rajaniemi The Quantum Thief? I've read Rajaniemi writes in English fyi. Have personally only read The Sands of Sarasvati, loved that book. 🥰
Boy, sands of sarasvati is awful hard to find! But i will keep an eye out for it… thanks.
@@secretsauceofstorycraftAnother brilliant climate fiction book by a Finnish author that might be easier to find is Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta. 😊
Great video! I love to read and learn more about books from different cultures and societies. Metro doesnt get enough discussion on booktube, i think its a fantastic modern post-apocalypse series with so much atmosphere, and even more immersive if you listen to an audiobook version with a russian accent!
So glad you found it useful! I agree about the Metro series. Although the second book was my least fave
Love all this! I actually have my own Read the World project, though I do all genres - this will help fill in some gaps for sure. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Wow thats great!! Second this ne wont be for awhile but ill have to check yours out!!
What a clever concept for a video. Intriguing to know where a book is from.
Thanks!! 😊
I really enjoyed this video. For translations of French graphic novels, I suggest checking out New York Review Comics. They have several volumes in print that are translated & that have a dystopian angle to them.
I'll check it out! Thanks for the help!
Great Video, this is definitely something that can be revisited. We and Blindness are great books and the German books sound interesting to me so I might pick up The Swarm.
I hope u do! I loved swarm!
If your library has Hoopla, The World of Edena by Moebius is available there-it’s a French sci-fi graphic novel. I haven’t read it yet but have heard great things!
One of my French friends recommended The Ice People by René Barjavel, which is a French classic sci-fi, but it seems like it went out of print so it’s hard to get a hold of. I did happen to find a copy of it at a used bookstore in Tucson though so there is a chance you could find it. Some of the old English covers have naked people on them though 😂
Sadly dont have hoopla…. But will keep an eye out
What a great idea! I confess, I don't enjoy Russian science fiction or Russian literature. To be fair, I've only read Anna Karenina and Roadside Picnic LOL. But there's something so bleak about it all, even though I enjoy dystopian books. I added Swarm to my Want to Read list. I'm intrigued by Karen Lord, she's a favorite of another BookTuber I follow. I didn't know she was a Caribbean auther.
Off topic, the lipstick you have on in this video looks really pretty on you!
Hope you enjoy the swarm! Also karen lord is highly recommended i hope others like her work more than this weird fluke…. (Hope its a fluke) 💄thanks!
Off topic - : Blindness, by Jose Saramago, seems to be a novelization of a similar idea put forth by Edgar Wallace, in his short story called The Black Grippe (1920) - the Wallace story was really just a well crafted pulp story, but it's interesting to see how writers are sometimes influenced by stories from the past - which I suspect is what had happened with Blindness...
I came across The Black Grippe in a good anthology of old & forgotten short stories from the late 1800s to the early 1900s - called Strange Tales from The Strand Magazine, edited by Jack Adrian, which featured impressive names like H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Graham Greene, etc..
I just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone interested. 😊
🧐 thanks!!
Finland: Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish scifi writer although he lives in San Francisco and writes in english. There is also Emmi Itäranta, Risto Isomäki and Antti Tuomainen that have some of their works translated to english. Perhaps others as well, but these came to my mind first.
Thank you! It helps having some names to try to find!!
Thanks for the video!
Just like you, I have had The carpet makers on my list for a while... I really should get to reading it.
I really liked a short stories collection by Hao JingFang, so I'm waiting for a translation of Vagabonds in french.
Speaking of french...
It seems few "modern" french scifi authors are available in english, so maybe try:
- The doctored man, by Maurice Renard (1921)
- The warriors of silence (trilogy), by Pierre Bordage (late 90s scifi, space opera with quite a lot of spiritual/mystical influence from India)
Graphic novels/comics I would recommend:
- Carbon & Silicon, by Mathieu Bablet (AI/android, a bit post-apocalyptic after a while)
- Infinity 8 (8 comic books series), by Lewis Trondheim and various artists (a bit goofy, pulp inspired, time loop, one album = one different main protagonist)
- System preference, by Ugo Bienvenu (loved loooved this one, but expected english release date in september 2025...)
There is also stuff that I have heard a lot of, but haven't read, like Snowpiercer, by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, and The Nikopol trilogy by Enki Bilal.
And finally, a random taiwanese recommandation: Membrane, by Chi Ta-Wei.
Now I will read the comments to get more book recommendations. 😁
This is fantastic!!!!’ Thank you!!!!🙏
I haven’t read any Jules Verne since I was a kid! Adam Roberts has used Verne as a source/influence for a couple of his novels, including 20 Trillion Leagues Under the Sea. I read the 3BP, who hasn't these days, and Roadside Picnic, but I haven’t read much translated sci fi at all, it seems. I have a massive book, Limit, by a german author, might have been the same guy you mentioned, not sure, haven’t read it yet. I will be reading Lem's Solaris soon, so there's that. Great video!
Limit is not as good as swarm, fyi! But yes 👍🏻 i couldnt call it translation fiction because lots of books are originally published in english despite being from non english speaking country….
Great video! The premise of Tender is the Flesh makes me squeamish. I don’t doubt you that it’s layered, and I now and then see lit-fic readers talk about it. Waste Tide sounds interesting!
Yay!!😀 thanks for watching Johanna!!
Great list!👍👍👍📚🤖🚀🐲Of course, I'm coming back to this one!
Please do! It’ll be here. ☺️
French comics: The Incal by Jodorowsky & Moebuis and Valérian And Laureline by Jean-Claude Mézières, both influenced movies. Luo was a good character in The Dark Forest.
Will try to get ahold of this one, i have heard of it somewhere…
Tender is the Flesh: Great book, but it's horror.
The Wall (Marlen Haushofer).
1Q84 (Haruki Murakami): Moid thinks this is SciFi. (...and it's been on your shelf for yrs).
I'm looking forward to the future authors/nationalities.
You always come up with amazing ideas.
I'm currently reading The Inhabited Island (Arkady Strugatsky). I'll give the brothers another shot.
Tender is the flesh is totally dystopian scifi. I wasnt even scared once…
Not heard of the wall. I hope to get to 1Q84 soonish
Ooo I haven't read We since I was in my 20s! I remember loving it!
It is goood!!!
For Australia I like Sean McMullen and can recommend his Greatwinter Series and The Moonworlds Saga.
A French graphic novel series is Snowpiercer which has inspired both a movie and television series.
Oooh!! 😲 thanks!!
I'm on my own "around the world" journey with sci-fi books, so I will happily to follow your lists, hopefully I will find some books for myself.
From french graphic novels I enjoyed Snowpiercer. I would like to add something from Polish literature (my country). I recommend Nest of Worlds by Marek S. Huberath. There is also Lem, of course, but he is well known. Unfortunately many good sci-fi novels from Poland are not translated into English, especially books by Janusz Zajdel and "Zapach szkła" by A. Ziemiański, maybe one day they will be translated.
I have been trying to get ahold of nest of worlds!! And just fyi- part 2 will take a bit these books are hard to find
I would highly recommend I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman to add to your French reading list.
Not a translated work as it was written in English, but one to add to your list when you reach New Zealand in this project is The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann.
I have the harpman book on my bedside table right now….. its not really scifi from what i hear tho…
Ken Liu is a pretty amazing storyteller, as well as those he translates. I prefer his fantasy, but all his stuff is good.
🔥
Vagabonds is worth a read for sure, it's got vibes of Le Guin's The Dispossessed but with more of a YA feel. A more recently translated novel of Hao Jingfang's is Jumpnauts, also pretty good, but not quite on par with Vagabonds I think. I think the most impressive thing I've read by her is her novelette Folding Beijing, included in the Chinese SF anthology Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu.
For a modern French sci-fi novel, check out Hervé le Tellier's thriller The Anomaly.
I loved folding beijing! Sounds like you have been diving in. Good to know vagabonds is still here best, i will likely go with that one then
befor the vidoe start i was frustrated
and thought "the same repeated books that all booktubers took about the russan guys and the cixin of china ext "
but no
i am surprised
there is alot of foreign books that are new to me
or little mentioned in booktubes
-vagabonds
-waste tide
-saramago
-german gang
-mid and south america ladies
good video
Thanks! 😊
This summer, I read "The man who spoke snakish" by Andrus Kivirähk. It is an amazing Estonian novel that reads a little like an epic, following a character from childhood onwards. It is also a bizarre genre mashup of dystopian sf and historical fantasy.
It is funny, it is very sad and it asks big questions about human nature. It also is based on a mythology that is very different from what we usually read.
Loved it unreservedly, recommend it to anyone wanting something unexpected.
Is there an english translation?? I’ll go look 👀 thanks!!!
@@secretsauceofstorycraft There is, the title is that of the translation!
For French SF you might like to try 'Travelling Towards Epsilon' by Maxim Jakubowski, a collection of short fiction.
🔥
From China i can recommend The Machineries of Empire series, by Yoon Ha Lee. From France, try Serge Brussolo. I don't know about his latest stuff, try to find something from the '90s, like Territoire de fièvre or Les Semeurs d'abîmes. Unfortunately, I don't know if they were translated into English.
Will check into english translations but if there arent any we are out of luck…
@@secretsauceofstorycraft You can always read it in French. It's like English, but more pretentious. Like "Yas queen", but through the nose.
Qualityland 2.0 is getting a translation??? When is it coming out? I can’t find it. I can’t wait to read it!!
It allegedly does but i havent been able to find it either…. Not sure why
Witch translation of we yevgeny zamyatin book I read the penguin classic I struggled with lack of knowing what was going on
Use one with intro by Margaret atwood
Love from Poland❤
Check out Genrich Altov. He is not depressing
Will do! Thank u
Let me know uf u have any reccs from your country! I have a few lem but i need more
Stanislaw Lem obviously.
Ice from Jacek Dukaj and wichtcher from A. Sapkowski
"Parasite Eve" by the Japanese author, Hideaki Sena, is worth checking out.
Thank you!!😊
I’d recommend Afterburn by D Andrews for Ireland 🇮🇪 🇮🇪
Ooh thank u
I’m pretty sure you’re already aware of:
- Stanisław Lem (Poland)
Solaris. Fiasco.
- Mikhail Bulgakov (Russia)
The Master and Margarita
- Herbert W Franke (Austria)
- Aliette de Bodard (French-Vietnamese)
-
🔥 🔥 still good suggestions
I have read The Carpet Makers but didn't like it, and I tried to read the Swarm but did not finish it.
I'll try Qualityland, because I like other works by Marc-Uwe Kling.
Let me know if you have other books to recommend!
Saeamogos book was a basis for the movie, that I liked for it psychological message. I have not read the book.
The book was just as good!! Bit more rambly tho 🤣
🔥🔥🔥
💜
Try another French author: Bernard Werber with his famous Empire of the Ants trilogy
Ooh thank you!!! 😊
The Empire of the Ants is excellent, but are the other 2 available in English? I've never found them but 'd love to read them if they are
Are there ANY happy Russian books?
Hahah not that ive found….
To do a weird version of Germany and Russia:
1632 and 1636: The Kremlin Games by Eric Flint
American hillbillies invade Germany when Shakespeare is still on the loose. Then send an agent provocateur to Moscow.
And WE is Free on the Internet.
Oooh we is free thats great! 👍🏻 also will have to check eric flint out.. sounds kinda fun
🌎 🌍🌏
🔥 🌍
Forgive me for my reaction to the giving away of the central resolution to the story of Roadside Picnic.
There was a resolution!? …. Sorry if u were bothered. 😕
@@secretsauceofstorycraft you make great content. I believe the question of what the aliens were doing there was best left to the story. You are so good a reviewer and really cover a great range of topics. Keep it up!
PORTUGAL CARAGO🎉
For France you can't go rongue with Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer is french? I had no idea!!
It's a comic too.
The bleakness of Russian literature comes from the times of the Tsars and the "surfs", who were basically slaves, and were the majority of the population...
👍🏻 guessnit wasnt long ago
@@secretsauceofstorycraft the civil war put an end to it, but the people's view of the world is slow to become optimistic...
Arguably, the best SF story is only about 20 words long, & it's quite chilling.
"This is my prediction for the future : Whatever hasn't happened will happen, & no one will be safe from it...(by John B. S. Haldane)
🔥