- My Thoughts on SF in Korea (How and Why They’ve Changed)
- It’s Not Just the Lateness of Industrialization: How and Why Korean SF Doesn’t Quite Work
- Why SF Has Failed to Put Down Roots in Korea, Part I: To Start With, Questions…
- K-Raelians plus The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World by Thomas M. Disch, and The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson
- To All SF Geeks in Korea With [Patient or Interested] Korean Other Halves
- PiFan Book Fair: SF/Fantasy/Horror/Thriller novels and Magazines… in Korean!
- The KOFA 괴수 대백과
- Star Wars ROK Rock
- 2008 SF&F Festival (Seoul)?
- Reading The Host in Context, Part 1
- Reading The Host in Context, Part 2: How I Read The Host
- Seoul 2008 SF&F Festival Report
- Trope Salad and Penis Guns and Indie SF Films… No, Really.
- Matt on Symmetry in The Host
- Done, Fun, Thinking Some
- More SF Goodness, Including a Bunch of Korean SF in Translation…
- How Candlegirl and V Took on 2MB
- From Mt. Sobaek
- SOAO Workshop 2009 Pictures Up
- The SOAO Workshop @ Sobaeksan
- My Research Plan Application (Argh!) and a New Korean SF Organization (Yay!)
- Worth Reading, March ’09
- No Surprise
- Korea Society Talk on Robo Taekwon V
- “SF in South Korea Today” — Article Live
- Guest Blog on Global SF & Translation @ Apex
- Party Last Night
- Orcs!
- Star Wars: 스타워즈 프로젝트 컴필레이션 (2008)
- Outsider Writing
- Wackiest Korean Book I Ever Bought
- Geek Out
- Boyran, a novel by “World’s Youngest Fantasy Writer Wonje Song”
- 박민규의 지구 영웅 전설과 카스테라
- If Only I Were Part Robot…
- Dancing Stormtroopers in Seoul?
- [Literary] SF: A Social Phenomenon (Plus Some Detours)
- Addendum to [Literary] SF: A Social Phenomenon (Plus Some Detours)
- Addendum #2 to [Literary] SF: A Social Phenomenon (Plus Some Detours)
- Coming Soon: Gwacheon International SF Film Festival!
- 초능력자
- More About Korean SF, and Some Dougal Dixon Links
- Forthcoming Papers on Korean SF, “Good Night,” and a Summary of “Another Undiscovered Country”
- Vampires, Confucianism, Christianity’s Latent Monarchism, and the Translation of Sociohorror
- 천군 (Heaven’s Soldiers) revisited: Hanmura Ryō’s Sengoku Jieitai (戦国自衛隊), 독재자 (Dictator), and more Korean SF News
- 7광구 (Sector 7) — Setting Korean SF Back Decades
- Some Notes For Korean Film Companies Considering an SF Film Project
- Coming Soon: “Invasion of Alien Bikini”
- Gunpla Advertisement Analysis, and 우뢰매!
- Invasion of Alien Bikini, or, I Feel Sick
- Cantico del Seoul
- New Korean SF Movie(s)! 인류멸망보고서 / Doomsday Book
- 미래경 (Futuroscope) #3 Has Arrived
- Seoul SF&F Library — Relocated!
- Upcoming Korean SF Film: AM 11:00
- Korean “Disaster” Films: 연가시 / Deranged
- Seoul Cthulhu Festival of Film: 28 Feb 2012
- 사이코메트리 [Psychometry] — The Gifted Hands (2013)
- Seoul Comics World Convention #114 (December 2012)
- Korea in English-Language SF
- Articles on Korean SF in _list Magazine
- Asia’s First Steampunk Art Exhibition
- A.M. 11:00 (11 A.M.)
- Korean SF Festival 2014
- An Evolutionary Myth by Bo-Young Kim
- Old Movie Promo Posters in Korea
- Readymade Bodhisattva, “The Flowering,” Los Angeles/Riverside, and More
- “The Peppers of GreenScallion,” and More
- Korean SF 2020: A Rushed Update
- Boyoung Kim’s “An Evolutionary Myth”: Reviews and Comments, and Audio Version
- Djuna Interview Up at Clarkesworld
- A Lovely Discussion of a Lovely Story
So, recently, the Seoul SF & Fantasy Library relocated to Mapo-gu. The new location is near Hong-Ik Dae University, and is a wonderful space: large, bright, and very versatile, as well as above-ground — it is on the third floor of the building in which it is located. I was meaning to take some photos of the wonderful place, but it slipped my mind before I left, so that will have to await an update for this post.
I attended a reception there, where many of Seoul’s SF fans, authors, and other personalities were in attendance, and we celebrated the opening of the library. I also was given a little tour of the expanded holdings by Eunho Bae, during which I noticed a collection of older SF magazines (as well as a few books in English, a collection I’ll probably be expanding with some donations sooner or later). I think this summer, I will join up with a membership, and set about to making a complete catalogue of the SF in Korean — original pieces and translations — held by the library. It will probably take a couple of days of work, but I think it would make an interesting bibliographic list, especially for assessing patterns in the translation of foreign SF in Korea.
There was also, I heard, a planned marathon for the evening — they were going to show the Back to the Future trilogy late into the night — but I had a previous appointment so I had to miss it. (And, having seen an all-night marathon of the films a few years ago, I probably would have left after the first one anyway, even if I hadn’t had an appointment. I like the movies, but it’s a long ride home.)
It was great to see so many familiar faces (Mr. Park, Chang-gyu, Eunho), to get to know a few new people better (including Jaroslav Olsa, the famous Czech SF fan and ambassador to Korea), and to catch up a little bit. Sadly, I didn’t really get a chance to talk to everyone. (Some people took off even earlier than me!)
I’m really impressed with how the library is developing, with ongoing efforts to build up its collection, help in the development of fan-related events, continue and broaden its SF publishing enterprise, and host events. The way SF fandom in the West is greying, I have a feeling it might be a good idea if we started working on building younger fandom by such means in those places where SF’s popularity is waning, too.
If you’re interested in visiting the Seoul SF and Fantasy Museum, the website is here. Here’s a map:
(EDIT: Map updated.)
As you can see, the library is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but open Wednesday to Saturday from 1pm-10pm, and Sundays from 1pm-8pm.
And for those who are confused by the map, here’s another map (on Daum). It’s easy to get there:
- Go to Hongik Univ. Subway Station (line 2) and exit at the popular exit, which I think is Exit 5 or 6.
- There’s a bus stop in the middle of the street; you want the Shinchon-bound Bus 7612 (a green bus).
- Ride the bus until you reach the “연희동자치회관” stop. (It’s the third major announced stop, but there are a few smaller stops along the way, so you need to listen for the announcement. It’s about a seven to ten minute ride, if I remember right.)
- Cross the street and walk a block or so in the direct the bus went after you disembarked. You will see a “MASTER AUTO REPAIR”, and the library is on the third floor of that building.
If I understood the presentation at the opening party, I think there are membership dues for joining the library, though I doubt that anyone would have a problem with an SF fan showing up just to take a little look around.
Neat. Hopefully I’ll check it out before too long. (You know, when I get to Seoul, etc.)
Ha, well, if you come this summer I’d be happy to show you the place. It’s close to Hongdae so we could also have good food and whatever in the area…
That map you’ve posted must be for the library’s old location. It says it is close to Sadang Station.
HA, Noah, thanks. That is the old map. I don’t know how I ended up posting that… it’s even dated to 2010 in the caption. The new map works, though. I’ll update the post with a new map…