2015

Paweł Majka

Born in 1972 in Krakow. He attended an elementary school, which previously housed a boarding house for for bourgeois girls, and a high school with a fallout shelter in the basement. Between the two schools, he wrote a fantastic short story for the "Świat Młodych" competition. He took third place in it, receiving his first payment for a short story. In high school, he became involved with an amateur theater group, and thanks to that he can enter the role of Antigone in his biography. During his high school days, he also wrote comedies, which he then directed and staged in schools and community centers.

His studies killed his interest in theater, but revived his fascination with the absorption of knowledge. He studied political sciences (with a specialization in journalism), history, philosophy, and even physics for six months (as a result of a bet), to finally discover that the science for which he was born was ethnology. He traveled to the Balkans to study traditional customs and pastoral beliefs (a Romanian shepherd said that he should choose his profession), people's behavior in a war situation and mythologization of political systems (on the example of the Tito cult). At the same time, he wrote for local newspapers and collaborated with local radio stations. He also happened to work in one of the nationwide television stations.

Changing to a job that did not require commitment 24 hours a day seven days a week allowed him to find time to write, thanks to which he began to publish stories in online magazines (‘Esensja’, ‘Fahrenheit’), monthlies: ‘SFFiH’, ‘NF’, ‘F&SF’ (Polish edition) and in anthologies: "Tempus Fugit", "Kanon Barbarzyńców" (Fabryka Słów), "Nowe Idzie", "Science Fiction" and "Rok po końcu świata" (Powergraph). In 2014, he made his debut with the novel "Pokój światów" at the Genius Creations Publishing House; in the same year, the novel "Dzielnica Obiecana" was published by the Insignis publishing house, the action of which takes place in the world of ‘Metro 2033’. In 2015, the Rebis publishing house released Majka's space-opera novel "Niebiańskie paswiska". For the short story "Grewolucja" published in ‘Nowa Fantastyka’ on 5/2013, he was nominated for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award for 2013, and in 2015 he was nominated in the novel category for "Pokój światów". In 2015, for this novel, he received the Grand Prize of Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award.

(2015)

Pokój światów

(Peace of the worlds)

The Earth after the Term.

World War I was a tragedy, but it didn't end as the history textbooks say. The Martians have landed on Earth. The invasion was repulsed and the invader trapped on the surface of the planet was assimilated, but from then on nothing was as it used to be.

The mitbombs dropped by the Aliens released the energy of faith that revived characters from mythology, fairy tales and legends. The houses are surrounded by protective barriers, divine patrons guard individual cities, and wraiths and magicians stroll the streets. The former states were replaced by commercial companies, the Republic of Nations and semi-conscious states-organisms: the Eternal Revolution, the Eternal Forest or the Taiga Mother.

What is the expedition to the East organized by Nowakowski – a wealthy Krakow Martian – looking for? Does the colorful jumble of individuality – Mirosław Kutrzeba, possessed by hatred, the blind god Sharp of Fate created in the laboratory, addicted to devil's milk former railway inspector Grabiński, the gypsy Sara, the giant Burzymur and the naive Jasiek – know what they have done? The nightmare that inhabits Kutrzeba's body will make sure that revenge is not forgotten.

The daring novel by Paweł Majka is an adventure speculative fiction at the highest level, which delights with the dynamics of events, the consistency of the described world and the size of the creation. Since the time of H.G. Wells' war of the worlds has not been drawn on such a grand scale!

(Source: lubimyczytac.pl)

Michał Cholewa

Born in 1980 in Katowice. His passion for fantasy stories came from books read to him by his parents and films watched stealthily, a mosaic composed of "Bajki robotów" ("Fairy Tales of the Robots"), "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings", and finally the "Space Odyssey" watched way too soon.

The first truly literary work (according to him) was a novel written in a squared notebook, and the next - a collage completed (to this day defends the thesis that it is "sophisticated") of scenes from computer games, films and fragments of books – those that he took for the quintessence, and which of course they were not. For some reason the publishers turned out not to be very kind. It was 1988.

He returned to writing several times, each time for a while and without undue success, largely in local competitions at the late elementary and high school levels. Later he went to study mathematics, firmly convinced that this was exactly what he wanted to do – which, in the end, turned out to be true.

When the Literary Section was established in the Silesian Fantasy Club under the leadership of Anna Kańtoch, he became its member – it took place in 2007. Activity in the Section resulted in publications in 'Essence', 'Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror', 'Nowa Fantastyka' and in the anthology 'Epidemie i Zarazy'. He also published in two club anthologies – these were "Smoki urojone", issued on the occasion of Eurocon 2010, and "Światy równoległe".

The first novel, "Gambit", was published by Warbook in 2012, the next, "Punkt Cięcia", in 2013. The third in the series, "Forta", brought him the Janusz A. Zajdel award for 2014, the Silver Distinction of the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award and the Kwazar award for scientific concepts in science fiction literature.

(2015)

Forta

The race is underway for worlds lost years ago, when the Day came and technology turned against people.

Another novel by Michał Cholewa, after "Gambit" and "Punkcie cięcia", takes the reader to the rocky and dark planet Atropos. The colony on it was cut off from the rest of humanity for many years.

Now finally a rescue expedition arrives aboard the EU cruiser. Cut off from support on a harsh planet, Union soldiers must confront a mysterious enemy to solve the puzzle from a world that has passed.

Corporal Wierzbowski and his squad, caught up in a dangerous game, learns more and more about the planet, their opponent, and in the face of dilemmas forced by cold calculation... about themselves.

And it is not known which of these things is the most terrifying.

(Source: lubimyczytac.pl)