New Publication: “Light Bringer” at Proxima Kosmos

October 3, 2025

My latest short story is now live! I was privileged to participate in Proxima Kosmos, an initiative by the Berggruen Institute that teams up some of the world’s leading scientists with science fiction authors. The scientist is asked to imagine a planet where a form of life different from our own might have evolved, and to write an essay about it. Then the science fiction writer expands the scientist’s vision into a short story.

I was teamed up with Dr. Lee Cronin, a brilliant chemistry professor from the University of Glasgow, who imagined light based life. Instead of carbon chains, its building blocks are optical structures composed of light and matter that function as both living cells and data processors.

For my story “Light Bringer” I posited that these optical structures, or “grains,” form “rings,” complex biological computers capable of intelligent thought. Welcome to the world of Nousterra.

You can read the story here. The website is fully interactive and you will need to scroll all the way down through the introduction before Dr. Cronin’s essay and my story are displayed toward the bottom of the page.

I’m confident this is the best non-humor short story I’ve written in the last few years, and I hope that you will enjoy it!

https://proxima-kosmos.com/planets/nousterra/

There are also stories by Caroline M. Yoachim, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Murphy, and S.B. Divya, with several more planets that are still being explored.

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

International Translation Day

September 30, 2025

Cross-posted from the UFO10 Kickstarter campaign update – please support this project here!)

Today is International Translation Day! Celebrate this by watching a dubbed TV show, reading a translated novel, or simply using common expressions such as “ravages of time” which wouldn’t exist were it not for a decision made by a literary translator centuries ago (though few people realize this.)

As a professional translator, sharing works from outside of the Anglosphere is very important to me. For over five years I edited Future Science Fiction Digest which focused on translated stories and other stories written in primarily non-English speaking countries. The archives are still free to read at the above link.

UFO10 will include at least one translation — “Opacity” by Leo Kaganov, which I translated from Russian. Leo’s stories have previously appeared in Clarkesworld and Asimov’s (also in my translation.)

An entire book of short stories I translated (plus one translated by my friend Anatoly Belilovsky) is coming out from Fairwood Press this October! Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K.A. Teryna is fabulous; her stories remind me of Borges, Le Guin, and Link. It’s not a part of this Kickstarter campaign but I encourage you to check it out. You can sample some of the stories online for free, here and here.

Strange Horizons just published a wonderful review of the collection.

The collection can be preordered at the publisher’s website or on Amazon, B&N, and all the usual places.

International Translator Day is also the perfect time to launch the Kickstarter campaign for the full-cast audiobook of Tales of the Wandering Mists by Oleg Veretskiy.

This enchanting children’s book for all ages was written by a Ukrainian author who is currently fighting on the front lines to protect his country. It’s the first book in the trilogy and I really appreciate Pierce Press for working to support him and to bring Ukrianian literature to Anglophone readers. I had the privilege of blurbing this book and this is what I wrote:

“Mists blends the wild imagination of Alice’s journey to Wonderland with the melancholy wisdom of The Little Prince to create an altogether unique narrative.”

The audiobook samples sound fantastic! Please support their campaign here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/piercepress/tales-of-the-wandering-mists-audiobook

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Podcasts! Two stories at StarShipSofa

September 17, 2025

I don’t know why, but I haven’t had many stories appear on podcasts lately. Which is a shame since I so love listening to audiobooks and narrated fiction. In a bid to correct this, there are two fabulous narrations that are up on StarShipSofa now!

“Golf to the Death,” originally from Galaxy’s Edge, is a humorous SF golf story. I really enjoyed making fun of golf, because it’s easy and because golf fans have a sense of humor about their sport as opposed to some of the other fans of ludicrous sports (I’m looking at you, baseball.)

“The Errata” by K.A. Teryna was translated by me into English and originally appeared at Asimov’s. It’s an excellent story and the narration here really elevates it.

Give both of them a listen!


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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

The Middling Affliction releases in Bulgarian Translation

July 26, 2025

THE MIDDLING AFFLICTION releases in Bulgarian translation next month! Издателство Протон publishes a mix of translations and Bulgarian authors. I’m in good company as the other American authors they publish are Heinlein and Silverberg!

I don’t envy any translator the task to bring all shades of meaning of the title to another language. In Bulgarian, the title will be THE HALF-MAGE EPIDEMIC.

I will be attending Bulgacon and Sofia Book Festival in September to help promote the release.

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

New publication: “Serpent Carriers” by K.A. Teryna

July 1, 2025

“Serpent Carriers” by K.A. Teryna is live at Clarkesworld today!

This absolutely brilliant long novelette is perhaps the most complex translation I’ve had to perform to date, but it is well worth it! I can’t wait for everyone to read this story.

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/teryna_07_25/

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Short Story Good News Roundup

May 18, 2025

There are several short story-related bits of good news from the past few weeks. Here goes:

  • My 2700-word short story “Life in the Future” has been accepted at The Daily Tomorrow. Publication date is pending but you can subscribe to their free newsletter here. You will receive a daily story tidbit, and my story will eventually be available in this format too.
  • My 11,000-word alternate history novelette about Olga of Kiev, “The Messenger Birds,” will be published in August. More details on that are forthcoming.
  • “Serpent Carriers,” a 15,000-word SF novelette by K.A. Teryna (translated by me from Russian) will be published at Clarkesworld, likely in the next couple of months. Another short story by K.A. Teryna has also sold to a top-tier pro venue, and I’ll announce the details when we eventually receive the contract.
  • My flash story “The Traveling Fair” will be a part of a live performance by Liminal Tales in the UK. The theme is The Bizarre Bazaar and you can watch the trailer here.
  • “Good Stories” by Ken Liu, originally published in my The Digital Aesthete anthology, has won the inaugural Art of the Near Future Award. Congratulations, Ken! You can read “Good Stories” here.

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

The Cosmopolitan Life of “Rumspringa in Sunzheika”

March 31, 2025

I may not be an international man of mystery, but this short story could claim the title (and possibly play the next James Bond, too?)

The typical thing is for your story to be published and then, if you’re very lucky, for it to find one or more translation opportunities down the line. This story did not play by the rules. It is about teenagers growing up in the world where augmented reality is ubiquitous and how (also, why) they learn to cope without access to the layers of information is plasters over the natural world around them.

A few years ago I was asked to contribute a story to the SF Gala event organized by the Future Affairs Administration. So I wrote an original story knowing it’d come out in Chinese before it found a home in English. (The same thing happened with “Repairs at the Beijing West Space Elevator” which was eventually published in Analog and became a Canopus nominee)

This time, I wrote a story set in the futuristic Ukraine. Specifically at the seaside resort near my home town of Odesa, where I stayed a couple of times as a child. The story is set in the world where augmented reality is ubiquitous, and how (also, why) young people learn to cope with situations where it might be turned off.

The English text found a home in Shapers of Worlds V anthology edited by Ed Willett but as the book made its slow way toward publication, I sold the Ukrainian rights to the Me and My Robots anthology edited by Henry Lion Oldie. My friends (who write at HL Oldie) translated the story into Ukrainian just as I had translated some of their past work into English and, for a while, it looked like English would be the third publication language for my story!

I am excited to see both out in the world, but especially the Ukrainian text since it’s my first Ukrainian publication.

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

“The Rattler” is an Asimov’s Readers’ Award Finalist

March 28, 2025

“The Rattler” by Leo Kaganov (and translated by me) is Asimov’s Readers’ Award Finalist!

Readers’ Award Finalists

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

2025 World SF Bundle!

March 20, 2025

New SF Story Bundle is live! For as little as $20 you can get all ten of these fabulous books! (Well, nine fabulous books and my short story collection The Golem of Deneb Seven, but who’s counting, right?)

Also, I had the privilege to blurb Nir Yaniv’s antiwar satire The Good Soldier and that book is a gem.

I know a lot of my friends like to support international SF. This is a very real and practical way to do so!

https://storybundle.com/scifi

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

“Songs of the Snow Whale” is a BSFA Award finalist

March 19, 2025

BSFA posted the short list for their annual awards and “Songs of the Snow Whale” written by K.A. Teryna and translated from Russian by me is a finalist this year! I’m super excited for the recognition this story is receiving. Huge thanks to Ann Vandermeer who acquired it for Reactor!

K.A. Teryna’s English language short story collection will be released late this year and I expect we’ll be able to share the very cool cover in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Meantime, you can read “Songs of the Snow Whale” here:
https://reactormag.com/songs-of-the-snow-whale-k-a-teryna/

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

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