do you ever read scifi or fantasy in french? i am trying to read more sff that was originally published not in english but it's not easy to find 💀
I do! It’s not my favourite genre but one of my friends loves it so I read a bunch of SFF books every year ahead of her birthday to try and find a gift for her. I’m glad I do this because it’s allowed me to discover N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy which was amazing, and I don’t know if I would have picked it up otherwise!
Here are some French-language authors I’ve read or plan to read (unfortunately English translations are few and far between :( I bolded the names for which I found English translations—if you read in another language you can check out the non-bolded authors, there are often translations available in other languages long before English ones)
When it comes to classics you've got Pierre Boulle (Planet of the Apes of course; also Garden on the Moon, which is (deservedly imo) less known), Jacques Spitz (La Guerre des mouches—it was translated but not into English), René Barjavel (The Ice People, Ravage, Future Times Three—I read them a long time ago but I remember them as very sexist even by French classic standards), Bernard Lenteric (La nuit des enfants rois), Alain Damasio (La Horde du Contrevent—maybe too recent to be a classic but it’s everywhere. I was surprised to find no English translation!), Bernard Werber (I feel like he rehashes the same 3 ideas again and again but some of his earlier stuff was fun), Alexandre Arnoux (Le règne du bonheur), Jules Verne of course, Stefan Wul (Oms en série which was adapted into the film La Planète sauvage—Fantastic Planet in English. I like the film better!) And some I haven’t read: Georges-Jean Arnaud, Serge Brussolo (I liked his Peggy Sue series when I was in middle school but it spooked me so much I haven’t dared to pick up any of his SFF for adults, like Les semeurs d’abîmes), Élisabeth Vonarburg.
Newer authors: Estelle Faye (L’arpenteuse de rêves, Un éclat de givre—I tend to like her worldbuilding more than her plots); Sandrine Collette (The Forests—if you count speculative fiction as SFF) (I didn’t like it at all personally but others might), Jean-Philippe Jaworski (I really liked Janua Vera; didn't like Gagner la guerre but it was mainly because I have a low tolerance for rape scenes in fantasy books) (he’s about to be translated into English according to his editor), Stéphane Beauverger (Le déchronologue)
More authors I haven't yet read: Pierre Pevel (The Cardinal's Blades—I've been told it's "17th century Paris with dragons"), Romain Lucazeau (Latium), Laurent Genefort (Lum’en), Christian Charrière (La forêt d’Iscambe), Roland Wagner (La saison de la sorcière), Aurélie Wellenstein (Mers Mortes—I love the synopsis for this one), Magali Villeneuve (La dernière Terre, trilogy)
And non-French, non-anglo SFF authors: Maryam Petrosyan (my review of the Gray House last year was that I understood maybe 1/3 of it but I liked it anyway!), Hao Jingfang (haven’t read her yet), Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (idem), Jaroslav Melnik (I’ve read Espace lointain (originally Далекий простір) but didn’t like it much), Andreas Eschbach (The Carpet Makers), Walter Moers (I read The City of Dreaming Books back when I was still learning German and found it very charming), Liu Cixin (I loved The Three-Body Problem but The Dark Forest was so sexist it made me not want to pick up the third volume), Lola Robles (El informe Monteverde, translated as Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist), Elaine Vilar Madruga (Fragmentos de la Tierra Rota), Tatiana Tolstaya (The Slynx), Karin Tidbeck (Amatka), Emmi Itäranta (Memory of Water, The Moonday Letters), Angélica Gorodischer (I’ve read Kalpa Imperial and found it only so-so but it always takes me a while to warm up to characters or a setting so I struggle with short story collections. I’ll still give Trafalgar a try) Also my favourite fantasy book as a kid was Michael Ende’s Neverending Story, I was obsessed with it. I re-read it in the original German a few years ago and it was still great.
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Okay, so what I was saying in my long Gabriel analysis rings true. (Ha ha...rings....) He changed to be accepted by Emilie's parents.
Deep down, Gabriel probably relates to Marinette. In the story Feligami tell...Marinette could easily be the poor tailor, while Adrien is the heir to the empire, ready to throw it all away for her.
At some point, Gabriel got twisted and sold out his values. It was probably a gradual process, which explains why Emilie initially fell in love with him and then stuck with him despite her unhappiness with him later.
In one of her videos for Nathalie, she said Gabriel got stuck on things. He was good enough for her but not for himself.
When he looks at Marinette, he sees a little of what he used to be. When he gives her that speech about being naive in the fashion world...he's talking about himself, once upon a time. I think he once had a dream like hers, and he let it go, focusing instead on the wealth and status he needed to be good enough for his in-laws.
Now, he envies Marinette, even if he's unaware of it. That's the only reason a grown man would be fixated on her in that way. He's treating her the way Emilie's parents treated him. He has to break her and get her out of his son's life because if he doesn't - if she achieves her dreams of marrying Adrien and becoming a designer without selling out her principles - it means he could have done this too. It will force him to reflect and take accountability for his bad decisions...and he just can't cope with that.
Similarly, when he hurls abuse at Cat Noir about what an ill-mannered child he is, and when he goes to such lengths to control Adrien...I really think he's seeing a reflection of his younger self there too.
Underneath the pancakes and bad dancing and total insanity, the man is nothing but a writhing heap of regrets and won't see that he had so many chances to do things another way.
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Tia Tana
Magdalena Eriksson x Hardersson!Reader
Aitana Bonmatí x Hardersson!Reader
Part of The Big Adventures Universe
Summary: The match against Spain
Spain knocks Sweden out of the World Cup...Well, Sweden still has to play for the third-place title so you suppose they're not fully knocked out but knocked out enough that they won't be continuing to the final.
It's a little sad and Morsa looks a little teary as she holds you tight for a few seconds before drawing back and pushing the hair out of your face.
"You're still going to get a medal," She tells you," Another bronze to hang in your room."
You nod. "Okay."
Despite the loss, the other Sweden girls seem content to mill around with Spain and laugh and joke with them. It's a little weird but you're fine with it and Morsa lets you go on the provision that you don't leave the pitch.
You think she worries too much but do as she says.
You make a few stops on the way. You give Johanna and Zećira big hugs on your way around and make sure to stop to take a picture with Nathalie and Filippa before beelining straight for moster Frido.
She picks you up instantly, without you even having to ask, and you move about until you're on her back.
"Moster," You say," When I'm older, are you going to come watch me play at the World Cup?"
She laughs. "Of course I will. You're still giving me your shirt, right?"
"Not my final one," You reply," Because I already promised that to someone else but maybe another one."
"Well," Frido says," As long as I get one of them, I don't mind."
"One of what?"
It was a new voice this time but definitely a vaguely familiar one. You perk up on Frido's back and look down to see Aitana standing in front of you both.
Frido bounces you. "This little monster's going to compete in a World Cup one day. She's already promised someone her final's shirt but I've bartered for another one. You should make an agreement now. By the time this one plays a World Cup, she might not have any more jerseys to give out."
Aitana smiles, all warm and happy at you. "Well, in that case, I'd like to reserve the one that you wear when you play against Spain."
"Okay!" You agree, hanging precariously on Frido's back," Moster, did you hear? Aitana wants my shirt like she wanted Momma's shirt."
"I did hear," Frido says, her arm reaching back to grab at you. She twists you around until you're hanging by your ankles and your special Morsa jersey is covering your eyes.
"Moster?" Aitana echoes as you're placed upright again and stumble around for a few seconds. "What does that mean?"
"Auntie," Frido says as you fall to the ground and giggle about the headrush," I've known her for longer than anyone else on the team except maybe Nilla but that's only because she played at Wolfsburg with Pernille when she was born."
"You are the favourite then?"
"Second favourite," Frido says begrudgingly," Zećira's her idol. It's kind of cute. She's holding herself to Zećira's standard when she's older, swears up and down that she's going to be just as good. Sadly, the rest of us have to settle for being less popular than Zećira."
Aitana laughs as she swaps her shirt for Frido's like they had agreed earlier.
"Just watch. Hey, y/n, who's your favourite Sweden player?"
"Zećira!"
"See? Poor old Auntie Frido, never the favourite."
You pat her on the side and nod along. "It's okay," You say," Not everyone is as cool as Zećira. Morsa says it's good to know what your weaknesses are."
Aitana giggles as she kneels in front of you. "You know, Spain has some pretty good goalkeepers too. Do you want to go meet them? Some of the Barcelona girls who sent you their jerseys are here too. I can introduce you."
You think for a moment and lean to the side to look at Frido. "Can I?"
"Off you go," She says," But don't wander into their changing room, okay? And come back to me or someone else in yellow when you're done!"
"Moster Frido worries," You tell Aitana," She babysits when Momma and Morsa go on dates back in Sweden."
"Is Sweden your home?" Aitana asks.
"Sometimes," You reply," And sometimes Denmark. Momma and Morsa like to talk about where we'll live when they retire. They don't know yet."
"Well, where do you want to live?"
"Er..." You've never really thought about that. "I don't mind. If we live in Denmark, we get to see Momma's parents all the time but Moster Frido goes home to Sweden a lot and it would be nice to see her too."
"In Spanish," Aitana says as you both approach a group of girls in Spain red," Moster is Tia."
"Tia," You repeat. Aitana's pretty cool and she plays in Spain for Barcelona. Morsa's told you that Barcelona is a very good team. Maybe when you're older and before you go to Wolfsburg, you'll play for Barcelona too. It could be fun. You'd have to learn Spanish too.
Aitana seems to think the same because she gives you words in English before translating them to Spanish but you're still hung up on Tia.
You get closer to the girls in red. You recognise only a few, Alexia (from the few times you've met her) and Ona (who you know from Not-Wolfsburg matches against Manchester United) but most of them are unknown to you.
You hang back a bit, clinging to the familiar yellow of the shirt Aitana swapped with Frido.
"Tia Tana?" You ask," Up, please?"
She's frozen for a fraction of a second before you're up on her hip so you can meet everyone at the same level.
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