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A Blast from the Past: A Look at Ooligan’s Prior Translated Titles in Preparation for The French Sci-Fi Project

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We are so excited for Ooligan’s first translated anthology, the French Sci-Fi Project, to publish next Spring. In preparation for this exciting project, we thought it would be nice to spotlight some of the past translated titles that Ooligan has published. The following books were translated from Croatian and published by Ooligan Press within the period of 2001-2008.

  • The Survival League by Gordon NuhanovićIn The Survival League, Gordon Nuhanović delves past Croatia’s post-war politics and focuses on its people struggling to heal old wounds and create new lives. Through Nuhanović’s natural storytelling voice, we hear the stories of survivors, not only of war, but of life and its challenges. The Survival League’s humanity is universal, but a brief history of Croatia and an author’s note about the origin of each story create a firm cultural context for the English-speaking world. The book is not only an ironic glimpse into the limits of human endurance but also a lesson in modern Croatian culture.
  • Zagreb, Exit South by Edo PopovićThis book tells a story of hope by offering stories of multiple, diverse characters living in post-war Croatia. Zagreb, Exit South is a deep, melancholy book about the resignation of the forty-year-old and about people who have given up on life—who can only exist on the street or in bars because they fear and dread going home to their high-rise caverns in New Zagreb where the rules of an allegedly organized world reign. But Popovic’s characters have no patience with the lies of this world. They have no patience because they have neither homes nor a homeland: they have lost all their illusions.
  • American Scream: Palindrome Apocalypse by Dubravka Oraić TolićWhat is America? For renowned Croatian poet Dubravka Oraic Tolic, it is “what is born from our dreams without our knowing.” As Columbus’ dream of reaching India was interrupted by the discovery of a new land, we too discover unexpected lands in pursuit of our dreams. These new lands are the reality of our hopeful voyages. “American Scream” explores the tension between a nation’s dream of freedom and the outworking of that dream. “Palindrome Apocalypse” explores the history of the twentieth century, beginning with the October Revolution of 1917 and ending with the bombing of Zagreb in 1991—a shadow of apocalypse. Here the exceptional poem is presented side-by-side with the Croatian so the reader can appreciate the amazing palindromic verse.
  • Do Angels Cry?: Tales of the War by Matko MarušićIn 1991, war broke out in Croatia. Matko Marušić’s short stories offer a human perspective on the war that is not told in history books. Each story illuminates the love and dedication the Croatian people have for their country, and their struggle to find purpose and meaning in the midst of tragedy. Matko Marušić’s other writings include a novel–a collection of short stories for children–and two additional collections of short stories for adults. Do Angels Cry? Tales of the War was originally published in Croatia and Great Britain in 1996. A preface, written by Dr. Stanimir Vuk-Pavlovic, has been added for the American edition.

What’s going on with the French Sci-Fi Project?

The French Sci-Fi team just finished up working on our fundraising campaign. Thanks to everyone who donated, we were able to raise $1,965 to cover the cost of rights and translation fees! We are so grateful for your support! Now that we are done working on campaign promotion, we have been getting back into working on marketing. We are currently finishing up our marketing plan, and starting the branding brief. This step in the process is all about creating the book’s cohesive branding that we will use to market the book going forward. Some fun things moving forward include beginning the cover design and editorial processes starting next term. Stay tuned for more exciting updates soon!

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 Start to Finish: An Introduction to THE FRENCH SCI-FI PROJECT

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Ooligan Press is very excited to announce our newest title, tentatively called The French Sci-Fi Project, publishing in Spring 2024! This book will be a collection of translated French science fiction short stories. These stories cover many topics ranging from language and technology to utopia and health in futuristic contexts.

We are thrilled to be working with
Dr. Annabelle Dolidon for this project. Dr. Annabelle Dolidon is a professor of French at Portland State University. She teaches French language classes as well as literature seminars and courses on film and comics. She specializes in post-WWII novels and short stories and has a special interest in science fiction. She has published articles on the genre in academic journals and an open-source textbook for all to use, available on PDXScholar, the open educational resources platform of the university. She has also published three other textbooks for the French classroom.

The goal of this project is to introduce the French science fiction genre to English readers and foster discussion. Each of the stories will feature an introduction by Dr. Dolidon and discussion questions to accompany the story and help guide conversation around the topic.

This project is Ooligan’s first translated anthology title, which makes it extra special and allows the press to learn additional skills. Our Rights department has been working closely with French publishers and authors to acquire the rights to the stories and negotiate their terms. At this point, we are in the early stages and still working on acquiring rights to the remaining stories and going through the process of contracts. The translation process for the titles we have acquired is currently taking place as well.

My name is Kyndall Tiller, and I am the current project manager. We have a fantastic team currently working hard on this project! Over the summer our team started working on the beginning marketing stages. We did a lot of market research, which is crucial since science fiction is not a genre that Ooligan works with a lot. In our research, we created personas to best identify who the target audience for this book will be. We also looked at comparative titles and their place in the market, along with their marketing strategies. During the fall term, the team focused on the marketing plan and continued to build our contact list. Some of the marketing aspects we’ve been working on are key selling points, keywords, and brainstorming marketing strategy. Because of how unique this project is, this process has been really interesting and allows for a lot of creativity from the team. We are also working on a fundraising campaign to raise money for the rights and translation costs, so keep a look out for that!

This project is so fun because it is something completely new to the press. We have a longer timeline than the past few titles have had, which is going to give us the opportunity to experiment with some really cool marketing and publicity ideas. It will be a learning process for everyone involved and allows students to work with a new genre and translations. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project!