ELEMENT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY

Azerbaijani science fiction is a part of our culture which is unjustly little remembered, although at one time our science fiction was the best in the region after Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are a whole host of writers who at one time were very popular and fans are familiar with, such as the co-authors Voyskunskiy and Lukodyanov, Pavel Amnuel, Genrikh Altov, Olga Zhuravleva and, of course, Maksud Ibrahimbayov [Ibragimbekov].

How it all began

Science fiction is a specific genre, so it isn't surprising that all over the world lovers of science fiction have always formed their own clubs. Here, this movement was called SLC - Science Fiction Lovers Clubs - and in Europe and the US - "fan clubs". The first SLC in Baku emerged at the beginning of the 1960s during the so-called thaw. The writer Pavel Amnuel, who now lives in Israel, recalls those times: "It so happened that in Baku, a city somewhat isolated from the union centre of culture, the number of science fiction writers per capita was higher than even in Moscow and Leningrad."

The club's first chairman was Yevgeniy Lvovich Voyskunskiy, a member of the Azerbaijani Writers Union, who already then had made a considerable contribution to Azerbaijani literature. With a sound knowledge and feel for the Azeri language, he translated many Azerbaijani authors into Russian, mainly works of realism and military literature. Nevertheless, he also took part in the publishing of two anthologies of science fiction in Azeri by local authors. In addition, at his instigation, writers such as Stanislav Lem, Isaac Azimov and Ray Bradbury were translated into Azeri.

Voyskunskiy began as the author of works of realism: novels about the Great Patriotic War. He was qualified to write about that period because he served in the Navy and took part in the defence of Hanko Island. "Whereas people spoke about the 'trench truth' of Viktor Nekrasov's war novels, of Yevgeniy Lvovich Voyskunskiy it was perfectly possible to talk about 'naval truth'," Amnuel says of him. Today Voyskunskiy is 91 and lives in Moscow and is the oldest known author of Russian science fiction.

The first anthology of Baku science fiction "Formula of the Impossible" was published in 1964, and the second - "These Amazing Stars" - was published with a huge circulation even for those times (especially for a republican publishing house) of 200,000. The third collection of Baku science fiction - "Pole of Risk" was published in 1970, and in addition to Baku authors, the then well-known Georgiy Gurevich was involved in it.

Another well-known author of those days was Pavel Amnuel. "As far as I recall the first book of his that I read was 'Time Bomb'. It was this story by Pavel Amnuel that caught my attention," the well-known literary editor and co-chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association of Lovers of Science Fiction, Irakli Vakhtangishvili, says in an interview with R+. "Pavel Rafaelovich occupies a special place in my chart of authors' values. It is very rare when an author of science fiction, writing mainly in the science fiction genre, combines scientific knowledge and a grasp of literary language in such a harmonious way." "In Russian and Soviet science fiction I have singled out just three great literary stylists - Loginov, Prashkevich and Amnuel,"Vakhtangishvili says. "One rarely comes across an exceptional grasp of language and science. Amnuel is the only author whose works I sent directly for publishing - not to the editor, not even to the proof-reader, but straight for publishing because there was virtually nothing to correct in Pavel Amnuel's works!" Furthermore, Vakhtangishvili says, Amnuel was not only a great science fiction writer, but also a great critic and a popular exponent of science. "He wrote a great many interesting and entertaining articles on various scientific subjects. And the big thing that I noticed about Amnuel was that he was very compassionate. He was a humanist in everything he wrote, even detective fiction," Vakhtangishvili says."One can see this and feel it - he loves people and empathizes with their feelings and desires, and he writes about this in many of his books. The main thing is not to miss this sub-text - I am sure that anyone who loves the works of Pavel Amnuel, who goes back to them time and again, will never miss it!"

In speaking about Azerbaijani science fiction, one cannot fail to mention the outstanding writer and inventor Genrikh Altov (Altshuller). Altov was a man with a very unusual fate. In 1948 he wrote a letter to I.V.Stalin sharply critical of the situation regarding invention creation in the USSR. On 28 July 1950 he was arrested and sentenced without trial to 25 years in prison. Whilst in camp he made a number of inventions. He was rehabilitated in 1954. His debut as a science fiction writer was the story "Icarus and Daedalus" in 1958.

In an interview for R+ the well-known Russian translator, editor, publisher, anthologist and activist of the Science Fiction Lovers Clubs, Andrey Chertkov, recalls the Baku science fiction scene of the 1960s and 1970s. "I was only a young man at the time, not an expert or a publisher. Of course, I had read all the Baku sci-fi writers since I was a child and highly rated Altov and Voyskunskiy and Lukodyanov who were very popular then," Chertkov says. "I believe Altov's stories from the collection 'Scorching Mind' to be little masterpieces, and the same applies to Zhuravleva's stories about the psychologist Kira and her tale 'Snow Bridge over the Abyss'."

Voyskunskiy and Lukodyanov's novels "The Crew Mekong", "Black Horse" and "Ur, the Son of Sham", Chertkov notes, are some of the best examples of science fiction of that time. "I focused on Amnuel in the 1970s from his writings in 'Urals Pathfinder', but unfortunately little of him has been published, and he never became a superstar of science fiction, although he had every opportunity to do so, but it was the wrong time for him, like a whole generation in the 1970s and 1980s."

Science Fiction today

Of today's authors one may mention Lacin Samadzada, a laureate of many literary prizes in the field of realistic prose, and also a winner of the prestigious European science fiction competition "Zlata Kan". His stories were published in the collections "Other Times" and "Kaleidoscope of Worlds", published by Azerbaijan's first Science Fiction Lovers Club "Southern Triangle". The chairman and organizer of the club was the writer Yana Kandova. Meetings and discussions of the stories of the members were held regularly at the club. Stories by Alekandr Khakimov, Yana Kandova, Leyla Mammadova, Miloserdov, Dmitriy Zakharov, Maharram Zeynalov, Igor Revva and Vasiliy Silchenko were published in collected works by the club.

"This was the first science fiction lovers' club in modern Azerbaijani history and the first collections of national science fiction for many years," the sci-fi writer Aleksandr Khakimov recalls in an interview with us.

During these years Aleksandr Khakimov has managed to publish five works of science fiction and is soon preparing to bring out a sixth. Aleksandr Khakimov said the book will be entitled "The face of science fiction's nationality." "This will be a collection of new, previously unpublished stories of mine, as well as articles and sketches," he says. "Generally speaking, following the trend, I can say that Azerbaijani science fiction, despite all the upheavals, and the fact that literature is apparently going out of fashion, continues to exist."

And this is indeed the case. A new science fiction lovers club "Science Fiction Baku", which published author' stories on its own website, has been operating for two years now and it regularly holds meetings where stories are discussed, RPG games are arranged and sci-fi films can be seen.