Croatian science fiction

Croatian science fiction consists mostly of literature, novels and stories published in various magazines and story collections, and some movies and graphic novels. The first Croatian occurrence of science fiction happened in 1919 and since then, the region has seen the birth and death of several countries/states. This dynamic left a mark on the genre.

Beginnings (1919–1940)

The first elements of science fiction in Croatian literature appeared in the novel "Crveni ocean" ("Red Ocean") written by Marija Jurić-Zagorka. Zagorka was almost exclusively a mainstream author and "Crveni ocean" was an adventure novel with occasional SF elements. This is why it is usually considered that the first "real" Croatian science fiction novel was "Na Pacifiku godine 2255." ("In the Pacific in the Year 2255") by Milan Šufflay. Where Zagorka only touched the SF motifs for the purpose of an adventure story, Šufflay dived into the genre with all of its apparatus: technological achievements and social and political change. As the title says, the novel takes place in the far future, following the collapse of Western civilization.

The pre-WWII era ended with a few more authors and novels, mostly serialized in newspapers, such as "Gospodin Čovjek" ("A Man of Stature") by Mato Hanžeković in 1932, and "Muri Massanga - the Man Who Conquered the World" by Mladen Horvat in 1927, with the latter even printed in Germany as "Der Neger Muri" ("The Black Man Muri"). Josip Smolčić used the pseudonym Aldion Degal to publish several novels: "Atomska raketa" ("The Atomic Rocket") in 1939, "Zrake smrti" ("The Death Rays") in 1932 and "Smaragdni skarabej" ("The Emerald Scarab") in 1938. "Majstor Omega osvaja svijet" ("Master Omega Conquers the World"), serialised in 1940 and signed by "Stan Rager" (a pseudonym for Stanko Radovanović and Zvonimir Furtinger) was also popular.

After World War II (1950–1975)

During World War II, there was little room for publishing any literature, with Croatia ultimately ending up in political turmoil. As soon as the situation stabilised, the genre started recovering, first through publishing science fiction works from USA and Soviet Union, and then works by one of the aforementioned authors - Zvonimir Furtinger - who began a tandem with Mladen Bjažić and published several novels over the course of a decade, starting in 1959.

A wide spectrum of topics can be gleaned from the titles alone: "Osvajač 2 se ne javlja" ("Conqueror Two Not Responding") in 1959, "Svemirska nevjesta" ("The Space Bride"), “Varamunga – tajanstveni grad" ("Varamunga – the Mysterious City"), the young adult novel "Zagonetni stroj profesora Kružića" ("The Mysterious Machine of Professor Kružić") in 1960, "Mrtvi se vraćaju" ("The Dead Return") in 1965, "Ništa bez Božene" ("Nothing Without Božena"- actually an extended version of "Professor Kružić") in 1970. The second was the founding of Sirius, a magazine that published science fiction stories mostly originating in the US and the United Kingdom, but occasionally picking the best works from other countries, mainly - but not exclusively - the Soviet Union. Sirius was declared the best European SF magazine. During the 13 years of its existence, around 500 stories by Croatian authors were published on its pages. Apart from the aforementioned Bjažić and Furtinger, new names emerged to become the cornerstones of Croatian SF. These included Predrag Raos, Darko Macan, Vera Ivosić-Santo (later known as Veronika Santo), Branko Pihač, Živko Prodanović, Neven Antičević (who went on to become the founder of one of the biggest publishing houses and bookstore chains in Croatia), Radovan Devlić (mainly a comic author), Damir Mikuličić, Darije Đokić and many others.

In parallel to all of this, SFera immediately outgrew its initial role as a SF fan club. In its second year, SFera started its fanzine Parsek. Parsek had a concept similar to western fanzines - which was in turn similar to that of professional magazines - to nurture writers and theoretical work, as well as acting as a bulletin for the club members. Since 1979, SFera has also organized SFeraKon, its annual SF convention, which immediately became the biggest fan and professional gathering in the region.

In addition, SFera established the first literary award in Croatia called "Sfera award". Sfera was first awarded in 1981 and has been active since. In 1996 SFera also started a youth program, organizing a national contest for stories and literary works for all primary and secondary school students in the whole country. Several hundred works per year have been revised, with the latest number of entries going into more than a thousand. Some of the later emerging authors got their first break from this contest.

The Independence War and the Aftermath (1990–2000)

The war for independence caused the breakup of Yugoslavia and the collapse of socialist system followed. The fragmentation of the market into six smaller republics (some of which were at war with each other) was detrimental to the publishing projects that became more risky and of questionable profitability. After the initial shock of a war, the science fiction scene soon started showing signs of life. After the 1991 SFeraKon was skipped due to war, the convention resumed in 1992.

Sirius was extinguished in 1989 at a circulation of around 10,000. There was a three-year lull and then, in 1992, a small private publisher started what was to be the spiritual heir to Sirius, a magazine called Futura. Both the SFERA and Artefakt for several categories continue to be awarded every year.

New fandom and semi-professional groups have emerged since 2010: in Slavonski Brod the SF group "Orion" came into being with a convention called "Marsonicon" (after Marsonia, the old Roman name of the city), a series of Croatian and regional SF annual collection series titled "Marsonic", started in 2012, and a fanzine named "Svemirski Brod" in 2013. By the end of the decade, the city of Split followed suit with FantaSTikon and one more series of annual collections of Croatian science fiction in print.

In 2020, eight years after the first Croatian Eurocon, the second was held in Rijeka along with Rikon, dubbed Futuricon. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held mostly on-line with lectures, talks, panels and other program items broadcast through Discord and other networks.

A project started by a small publisher named Hangar 7, was another continuation: that of the never forgotten Sirius. The first issue of Sirius B saw the light of day in 2011 and continued with the old concept: mostly translated foreign stories, with most, if not all, coming from the English-speaking world - due to scarcity of funds needed for translating from other languages, this was the only option - and the occasional story by Croatian authors.

In 2019 a different kind of project emerged: Alienus publishing, based on self-sufficiency. The idea is that the full profit of a book is directed towards publishing subsequent books and the work on publishing a new book starts only once there are sufficient funds.

Films

Izbavitelj (1977)
Visitors from the Galaxy (1981)
Infection (2003)
Zagorski specijalitet (2012)
Zetstapo (2012)
Reptiloid (2013)
Moj dida je pao s Marsa (2019)
Slice of Life (2019)

Awards

SFERA Award
Artefakt

Magazines

Sirius (1976 - 1989)
Futura (1992 - 2005)
Ubiq
Sirius B
Morina kutija

Conventions

SFeraKon (http://sferakon.org/)
IstraKon (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101121604/http://www.istrakon.hr/)
RiKon (http://www.3zmaj.hr/rikon/ )
Liburnicon (former Abbacon) (http://www.liburnicon.com )
FantaSTikon
Krakon
Isle of Wonders

Societies

SFera (http://www.sfera.hr)
3. Zmaj (http://www.3zmaj.hr)
Udruga F&ST (https://www.udrugafst.hr/)
Krapinjon (https://www.krapinjon.hr/)
U.S.S. Croatia (http://www.usscroatia.hr)
Udruga Shtriga
Realms Long Forgotten (https://realmslongforgotten.com/)
Klub Titan Atlas (http://klubtitanatlas.hr/)

Fanzines

Parsek (http://parsek.sfera.hr)
Via Galactica (http://viagalactica.com)
NOSF (http://nosf.net)
Eridan (http://www.3zmaj.hr/eridan/)
The Void Fanzin (http://thevoidfanzin.wordpress.com/)