2016
2016
Grand Prize
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. In 2016, another Grand Prize of Żuławski Award went to him for "Niebiańskie paswiska", in the same year also nominated for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award.
(2016)
Niebiańskie pastwiska
(Heavenly pastures)
The next volume of the "Horyzonty zdarzeń" series is inhabited by extraordinary figures, who at all costs try to cope with - or even gain something - in a world resembling a battlefield.
The greatest war humanity remembers is dying out in the universe. Entire systems were wrecked. The wrecks of dozens of orbital cities plummet to the ruins of ravaged planets. The Union of Common Spaces is getting ready to rebuild after the suppression of the civil war. The survivors of the defeated are trying to outlast, the winners are already starting to fight each other for the loot.
Against the background of the ruins, a war correspondent looks for new, strong topics for himself. A private detective takes an enigmatic assignment. The general of the defeated side is carried away by desperate hope for himself and his soldiers. A handful of theoretically victorious veterans discover that their new leaders doomed them - Pniak, Pies and Rachuba find themselves embroiled in big politics and set out to find their lost fleet. War will show claws, they will all meet in the heat of battle. Some will discover that death is only the beginning of problems...
An excellent text combining masterful inspirations: the momentum of space opera by Peter F. Hamilton, the metaphysics of Frank Herbert and the hard realism of the war under the sign of Glen Cook.
(Source: Katedra.nast.pl)
2016
Gold Distinction
Jakub Małecki
Born in 1982, a graduate of the University of Economics in Poznań. Writer and translator, author of eight books. He published in 'Newsweek', 'Polityka', 'Angora', 'Miesięcznik ZNAK', 'Nowa Fantastyka' and 'Tygodnik Powszechny'.
He translated from English, inter alia, "Dirty Wars" by Jeremy Scahill, "Undisputed Truth" by Mike Tyson, "Paris: After the Liberation 1944-1949" by Antony Beevor and two volumes of "Unforgettable Letters" (group work).
Laureate of the Book of the Month Award of the ‘Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI’, the Śląkfa Award, also nominated for the Angelus Central European Literary Award, Poznań Literary Award, Janusz A. Zajdel Award and erzy Żuławski Literary Award. In the 2016 edition of Żuławski's Award, he won the Gold Distinction for "Dygot".
(2016)
Dygot
(Trembling)
A ballad with a shocking mystery about the beauty and cruelty of the Polish countryside. Thrilling obsessions, destructive passions and the terror of passing.
A German woman fleeing from the Red Army curses Jan Łabendowicz, who refused to help her. Soon his wife gives birth to a misfit – a boy with skin as white as snow. And the rural community does not accept the antics of nature... Bronek Gelda's daughter is chased by the curse of the Gypsy. At the age of several, the girl is severely burned by an explosion of a pomegranate.
The fate of the Gelds and Łabendowiczs is influenced not only by successive historical turmoil and predictions, but above all by personal weaknesses and obsessions. The paths of both families intersect in surprising and unexpected ways. They are bonded for good by the feeling of two misfits, an introverted albino and a girl mutilated in flames. After several decades, the dark family secret was unintentionally unraveled by their only son Sebastian – a loser and scammer who decides to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Poznań, a metropolis teeming with life.
Jakub Małecki tells a story about the pre-war Polish countryside, the war, the years of the People's Republic of Poland and the present day. Magic realism is combined with the grotesque, and nostalgia for a world that has passed is intertwined with the terror of existence in a way worthy of the masters: Wiesław Myśliwski and Olga Tokarczuk.
(Source: Katedra.nast.pl)
2016
Silver Distinction
Robert M. Wegner
He made his debut in 2002 with the short story "Ostatni lot Nocnego Kowboja". His book debut was the collection "Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Północ-Południe", published in 2009. In 2012, the first novel, "Niebo ze stali", was published, set in the previously outlined reality of Meekhan.
Five-time laureate of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award, and in 2012 and 2015 he was awarded a double prize (for a novel and a short story). He has twice won the Silver Distinctions of the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award for the novels: "Niebo ze stali" (in 2013) and "Pamięć wszystkich słów" (in 2016). At Eurocon in 2014, he received the European Science Fiction Association (ESFS) Award for the most promising young artist – Encouragement Award.
He lives and works in Silesia. He says about himself: "the husband of a wonderful woman, the father of two beautiful, intelligent and malicious beasts called daughters". As a hobby, he reads books - various, watches films - also various, from fantasy, through crime stories, psychological films, to anime. But most of all he writes, although he supports himself and his family from non-literary work. A higher education diploma is dusting in the drawer, but – he says – "like most graduates in our country, I can use it as a support under the wardrobe". He strictly separates private life from the pleasure and hobby of writing, among others that's why he writes under a pseudonym.
(2016)
Pamięć wszystkich słów
(Memory of all words)
The fourth part of the best-selling fantasy series. You liked the heroes of the Witcher saga by Andrzej Sapkowski and the surprising plots of "Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin? Read Wegner, you won't regret it.
"Tales from the Meekhan borderland" – stories from the North, South, East and West make up an exotic story about the worlds of different nations, languages, beliefs and magic. Written on a grand scale, "Pamięć wszystkich słów" takes the heroes to an inhospitable desert, to the dangerous streets of glamorous eastern cities or to the very heart of an island dominated by warring families, the seat of a local god. Between the ancestral revenge and the slave revolt, thrown among the powers playing their game with Fate, Wegner's heroes have to make a choice when it seems there is no choice left. And even immortals will bow when it comes to the honor, loyalty, and oaths made to the shadows of those who have passed away.
Wegner's prose is captivating and fascinating. Check how a phenomenon is born.
(Source: esensja.pl)