I grew up in a secular Jewish household where Yiddish culture, history, and politics were a part of daily life. As a result, when I began reading (and eventually writing) science fiction and fantasy, I would take note if I found a novel or short story collection that reflected any of the many flavors of Judaism and Jewish culture. While it is not all I read or write about (I make my living as a tech journalist and I have very eclectic tastes in literature), I find that my curiosity is particularly piqued when confronted with a new book that covers both those genres.
The History of Soul 2065 is a tale of the supernatural that follows the descendants of two young girls—one from Germany, the other from Ukraine—starting at the turn of the 20th Century and continuing through the terrors of the Holocaust and ultimately to the wonders of a future they never could have imagined. As each member of the family tree confronts their own challenges, the twenty connected stories encompass accounts of sorcery, ghosts, time travel, virtual reality, alien contact, and elemental confrontations between good and evil.
Wandering Stars is a landmark anthology that should be the starting point for anyone interested in Jewish science fiction and fantasy. It contains a collection of incredible short stories; it’s nearly impossible to pick out the best. My own favorites include William Tenn’s “On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi,” Avram Davidson’s “The Golem,” Harlan Ellison’s “I’m Looking for Kadak,” and Isaac Bashevitz Singer’s heartbreaking, “Jachid and Jechidah.”
Jewish science fiction and fantasy? Yes! The distinguished list of contributors includes: Bernard Malamud, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Pamela Sargent, Avram Davidson, Geo. Alec Effinger, Horace L. Gold, Robert Sheckley, William Tenn, and Carol Carr.
William Tenn's futuristic story "On Venus, Have We Got A Rabbi" takes on the volatile issue of "Who is a Jew?"--a question certainly as timely in 1998 as he imagines it will be in 2533. Asimov's "Unto the Fourth Generation" takes on the issue of Jews as endangered species in America, a theme that is even more apparent today than…
This fascinating novel is about two supernatural beings from two separate cultures—a woman made of clay by a Polish rabbi and an ancient Syrian jinni recently released from captivity—who, rejected by their own kind, join together to try to find a life in early turn-of-the-20th-century America. This is a wonderfully written and complex work about two very complex individuals; I couldn’t stop reading it. The second book, The Hidden Palace, is equally compelling.
'One of only two novels I've ever loved whose main characters are not human' BARBARA KINGSOLVER
For fans of The Essex Serpent and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock.
'By far my favourite book of of the year' Guardian
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899.
Start with the supposition that a district in the Alaskan panhandle was put aside to receive Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution, and that those refugees created their own Yiddish society—one that is now being dissolved as their rights to live there come to an end. The novel’s protagonist, a homicide detective living in a seedy hotel, must also contend with a murder that is being covered up by social and political forces. This is a fascinating traditional noir mystery set in an alternative historical environment; it introduced me to Michael Chabon’s writing and I’ve never looked back.
The brilliantly original new novel from Michael Chabon, author of THE ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY and WONDER BOYS.
What if, as Franklin Roosevelt once proposed, Alaska - and not Israel - had become the homeland for the Jews after the Second World War? In Michael Chabon's Yiddish-speaking 'Alyeska', Orthodox gangs in side-curls and knee breeches roam the streets of Sitka, where Detective Meyer Landsman discovers the corpse of a heroin-addled chess prodigy in the flophouse Meyer calls home. Marionette strings stretch back to the hands of charismatic Rebbe Gold, leader of a sect that seems to have drawn its…
It’s hard to describe Lavie Tidhar’s Central Station, except to say that it is a fascinating study of various humans and non-humans residing—some permanently, some temporarily—in a hot, dusty spaceport/city that has sprung up between Tel Aviv and Jaffa sometime in our future. They confront questions and answers about family, memory, reality, and what is human—and occasionally come up with answers. A wonderfully written, almost hypnotic book.
Appeals to fans of classic and contemporary science fiction and mainstream fiction
Contains international and multicultural themes
Israeli-born author has also lived in Vanuatu, Laos, South Africa, Israel, and the UK
If Wandering Stars was the first short-story anthology to explore Jewish science fiction and fantasy, People of the Book is its descendant. This collection features a variety of stories by modern authors such as Jane Yolen, Theodora Goss, Neil Gaiman, and Michael Chabon, and is an excellent way to discover some of the talents that have emerged in the 21st century—and their approach to the Jewish religion, culture, and society.
From Sholom Aleichem to Avram Davidson, Isaac Bashevis Singer to Tony
Kushner, the Jewish literary tradition has always been one rich in the
supernatural and the fantastic. In these pages, gathered from the best short
fiction of the last ten years, twenty authors prove that their heritage is alive
and well - in the spaces between stars that an alphabet can bridge,
folklore come to life and histories become stories, and all the places where old
worlds and new collide and change.
In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They discover their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? They fear their choice of new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave. They become convinced the village remains cursed despite their friends’ denials. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?
In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it. Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is…
