01.08.07

You know, and I know, that there is a lot going on in Eastern Europe, both intellectually and economically. But if you only read English and French and Italian and Japanese, it can sometimes be difficult to get a grasp of it.

Over the next two months, the Infinite Matrix will present a series of stories by writers from Serbia, Ukraine, and other countries of Eastern Europe.

We are introducing these stories by first publishing Cory Doctorow's superb novella After the Siege, inspired by stories that Cory heard from his grandmother, who lived through the horrific, two-year-plus siege of Leningrad. It was first published in the Russian science-fiction magazine Esli. This is its first English-language publication.

Eileen Gunn is the editor and publisher of The Infinite Matrix, and a member of the board of directors of the Clarion West Writer's Workshop. She also writes short stories. Her new collection, Stable Strategies and Others, has been short-listed for the Philip K. Dick Award and the James Tiptree, Jr, Award.

Find out more at EileenGunn.com. Her cryptic personal site, Imaginary Friends was a Cool Site of the Day way back in 1997. Its amiable and equally aged companion, The Difference Dictionary, offers clues to Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine.