The Planet of Blue Phantoms

Do you remember the times when literature was reffered to only through the writings of the classics, plays and writings from antiquity till present age but not Science Fiction? The times when the SciFi genre was considered anything else but “true” literature? Very hard but with determination, have begun to appear and be permitted Science Fiction writers from the old soviet block, names that later became legends of this genre.
The first book from this cathegory that I have read was Solaris written by the famous Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. Back then I couldn’t understand the genre, finding it to hard to digest, not familiar.
But what was happening with the Romanian SciFi ? No, I don’t mean the SciFi we all see and experience every day on the streets, but the local Science Fiction literature.
The 2nd book from this genre that I have read, was a 100% Romanian product : The Planet of the Blue Phantoms. With this book, everything changed. I started to realise the infinit possibilities of a cathegory that would probably never run out of inspiration sources. Why did I change my mind, what made this book to mark the start of my prefferences for this genre?
The Planet of the Blue Phantoms is the book that I have first read somewhere during the 4th grade but also tens of times during university and there after. It is a book with not so many pages and relatively with a not very complicated intrigue, but a book that combines both a possible future and a past came out of stories. The book opens with images and heroes of a possible future, in the known style of the ‘80s when everybody competed in scenarios of all sorts, hoping secretly that their version would be the closest to the future, in something that seemed like a lotery. Those characters, with or without their will are involved in another intrigue, this time in a world we all know but few would have expected. New characters appear in what ressembles to the saying: “everything is new and yet too old”.
This book first addresses the children but also those who want to find themselves, for a few moments in the magical universe of their childhood.
The Planet of the Blue Phantoms appeared in 1993 at the publishing house Alma and is written by George Anania (born 1941) and Romulus Barbulescu (born 1924). The two of them, too little known in Romania, are recognised abroad as being the pioneers of this genre in our country and also some of the best Science Fiction writers from Eastern Europe.
Among their common works one can find : “The Water Constelation”, “Doando”, “How Small can the Hell be ?”, “Stone People Farm”, “The Gentle Snake of Infinity”.