Science fiction is the literature of warning; it does what no other literary movement does. It holds up a mirror to us and cautions us not to destroy ourselves and make the world uninhabitable. In this case, it was almost impossible for Artificial Intelligence, one of the most thought-provoking and worrying topics of recent days, not to be caught on the radar of our writers.

Yasser Abu-Elhassab is one of Egypt’s most prominent science fiction writers, and in The Absolute Order Machine, he talks about a computer that intervenes in the decision-making process and eliminates random subconscious factors. This machine is advertised as a device that will make life easier and more meaningful (?), but our protagonist, Solomon, intends to prove otherwise.

Our Italian author Chiara De Giorgi tells us a story titled AI Detective Services. In a society where everything is managed by artificial intelligence and there is not much left for humans to do, two artificial intelligences named Sherlock and Watson, working in a detective agency, are assigned to investigate the death of Dr. Pernicker, who believed that the only way for the human race to survive is a society free of artificial intelligence.

The increasing number of environmental disasters and the inability of the world governments to do anything about it remain the most important problems of our times. In his story To Sleep and not Dream, Hephaestion Christopoulos from Greece tells the story of a botanist who visits a village where environmental disasters are causing some surreal phenomena. In a swamp reminiscent of the ‘zone’ in Tarkovsky’s unforgettable sci-fi film Stalker where people who enter it cannot understand whether what they witness is real or a trick of their minds, the protagonist communicates with a dead little girl.

Israeli writer Elana Gomel’s story Reality Rip warns about the problems that are/will be created by environmental disasters. In her horrifying world, humanity desperately tries to cope with the inter-dimensional rifts that open one after another.

In the world created by Dimitra Nikolaidou, a Greek Cypriot author you may remember from our previous selection, Omens of Doom, our civilization has already been flooded by environmental disasters… The story The Scar at the End of the World takes place two hundred years after the Great Flood that flooded our world. In this society, where everything left from our civilization is considered ‘antique’, treasure hunters diving in the Mediterranean look for a very special statue.

Tuğrul Sultanzade is our Turkish Cypriot author and in his layered and unique style with plenty of metaphors, he tells us what happens in a research station located in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Three people fight against an infectious disease that spreads in space and affects the brain. Tuğrul planned his dystopian story Reflection as a chapter of the novel he is writing.

While compiling a science fiction selection, it would be impossible to leave out space travels. In addition to Reflection, which takes place on an asteroid, we have also included French writer David Bry‘s story Even More Than Earth, which takes place on a ‘generation-ship’. The theme of a spaceship carrying the embryos of Earth’s remnants to another planet is often visited by in science fiction authors. However, it is very difficult to categorize Bry’s story, which also touches on hunger, war, refugees, racism (albeit in the background), and includes AI and three-dimensional projection technology… Nevertheless, it is possible to consider it a ‘hybrid’ story between Space Opera and Artificial Intelligence genres.

Cem Can has about fifty science fiction stories published in Turkey so far. The Impostor in our selection is again a ‘hybrid’ story with Cyberpunk and AI genre feeling. Our protagonist, involved in illegal activities, is commissioned by the ‘company’ to start anew and the hunt begins in the megalopolis of Istankara… The surprise ending makes this a memorable story.

It is almost impossible for science fiction literature that is so concerned with the course of society not to be political. In Opalescence, Selin Arapkirli from Turkey tells us about a woman who discovers the secret of invisibility in a society where women are ignored. It is an extremely dystopian story based on the murders of women and reactionary movements that are constantly on the agenda in her country.

Death Doesn’t Change Anything deals with domestic violence, or so it seems. French writer Julia Richard tells the story of a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage where she suffers violence from her husband. Our protagonist Alexa is not who she thinks she is; beware of the surprise ending…

Finally, Onur Selamet, in his story Crawling Things, which we can define as Cosmic fiction / Bio-punk, tells us about mysterious beings who perform strange experiments on humans. Onur is from Turkey and he is the director of the biggest literature portal.

We hope you enjoy our selection.

Ünver Alibey