My short story “To Defeat Water” has been translated into Spanish as “Derrotar al agua” and published by Microficciones y Cuentos. Léalo aquí/read it here.
The site is run by Sergio Gaut vel Hartman, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is one of the founding fathers of Spanish-language science fiction, and his novels have won major awards.
I often translate other people’s work from Spanish into English, and it’s an honor to have my work published in Spanish, especially by someone as prominent as Sergio. ¡Gracias!
If you want to read the story in English, it was originally published here by The Lorelei Signal.
I’ve discovered that there’s an entry about me in Grokipedia, and since I am the world’s leading expert in all things regarding Sue Burke, I took a look. Wow, 4,500 words, more than I think I’m worth. I don’t recommend you check it out, though. Let me explain why.
In case you haven’t heard of it, Grokipedia describes itself as “an AI-generated online encyclopedia operated by the American company xAI.” Elon Musk created the project because he believed Wikipedia had been influenced by the “woke mind virus.” Grokipedia asserts a commitment to neutrality in its AI-curated outputs, claiming to deliver “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” through an automated synthesis aligned with objective knowledge representation.
But it’s an AI, so it possesses only an illusion of understanding — and a recognized tendency for overstatement. I have “growing recognition,” “earned accolades” and “professional accolades” as well as “significant recognition” and a “growing reputation in the field.” Such flattery!
But there are errors. Here are a few.
It says I won the American Translators Association Lewis Galantière Prize in 2010. I did not. I checked the footnote, and what I think happened is that my name and the prize were both mentioned on the same page of an ATA magazine (see photo). Proximity amounts to correlation for an AI.
The entry says, “In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Burke relocated briefly to Austin, Texas.” During those “brief” years — actually, during all the years from 1955 to 1998 — I lived in Milwaukee. I lived in Austin from 1998 to 1999.
Since there was no internet until the 1990s, Grokipedia has little to say about the first four decades of my life, although I assure you I was busy.
It says I published either “more than 40 short stories” (correct) or “about 25.”
It also slightly misstates a whole lot of things, and it invents causal connections that don’t exist. For example, it says that certain freelance jobs “significantly refined Burke’s stylistic precision and narrative voice.” Not true. I got those jobs because I already had the skills.
The AI tries very hard to create a narrative, so it adds cause and effect everywhere it can. In reality, my life has had a somewhat random quality to it. Things happened, and then I tried to make the best of the changed circumstances. There was no masterplan.
Grokipedia’s AI also tries to draw unwarranted conclusions. It says, “Burke keeps her family life private” and “no children are mentioned in available biographical accounts,” suggesting that I do have children, I just don’t tell anyone about them. Most people have children, so statistically I do too, right? In fact, I have talked about my family life, although there’s not always much to say. Children are one of life’s great adventures, and if I had them, they would be the smartest, best, most talented children in the world, and I would never tire of telling you about them.
My husband read my Grokipedia entry, and he had one good thing to say about it: “Now you don’t have to create a fake resume. The AI made one for you.”
If you like futuristic military techno-thrillers, you’ll probably like this book. Do I need to say more? Let’s consider the many varieties of book reviews including consumer, preview, sponsored, literary, professional, and academic. In this case I’m a reader (or consumer, if you prefer that term, which I don’t). This is a preview because the book will be released April 7 (although you can pre-order it). It’s almost sponsored because I know Bruce and critiqued earlier versions of the opening chapters, and he sent me a free copy of the final book, but I’m writing this review because I want to give my honest opinion. Tips on how to write a review usually recommend writing a summary of the book. To my thinking, this habit largely results from an unexamined hangover from middle school book reports when you had to summarize a book to prove to the teacher that you actually read it, no matter how tedious your summary was (and is). We’re adults now, and we have all the tedium we need. You can just read the book blurb, which is blissfully brief. A critical assessment is also recommended for a review. In this Electromagnetic Assault, bullets fly around and things blow up a lot. For this reason, I found the battle that takes place in my old neighborhood in Milwaukee especially entertaining. There are endless plot twists, as befits a book of this type. To say more would spoil your fun. So much for my summary and assessment. The reviewer is also advised to mention relevant information about the author. Bruce is a former Air Force officer. You will notice the expertise. More broadly, I think there three types of book reviews: • The first is for readers who haven’t read the book but wonder if they want to. That’s what we’re doing here. • The second is for readers who aren’t going to read the book but want a useful, thoughtful summary from a professional so they can feel like they’ve read the book. The review provides a lengthy non-tedious analysis. You can often read these in upscale magazines and academic settings, which is not where we are now. • The third kind of review subjects the novel to literary criticism regarding its writing style and thematic development. I think the very short chapters add to the velocity of the book, which is an appropriate attribute for a thriller. To discuss its literary merits further, we would both need to have read the book, and so far only one of us has. To conclude, I believe Electromagnetic Assault is a worthy addition to its sub-genre. Enough said.
My translation of “Bodyhoppers” by Rocío Vega, published at Clarkesworld Magazine, has been nominated in the category of the Best Translated Short Fiction for the British Science Fiction Association Awards. The annual awards are voted on by members of the BSFA and will be presented at this year’s British National Science Fiction Convention, called Eastercon because it takes place over Easter weekend, April 3 to 6.
I’m honored to be listed among such talented translators, and the full BSFA Awards shortlist is a great reading list. Congratulations to all the nominees!
Sue Burke 