''Mir Fantastiki'' (), officially abbreviated as ''MirF'', is a Russian monthly

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

magazine. The name also refers to the website run by the magazine, Mirf.ru. ''Mir Fantastiki'' literally translates from Russian as ''World of Speculative Fiction''. In Western media it is often referred to as ''World of Fantasy'' or ''World of Fiction''.

Overview

''MF'' was published by Igromedia publishing house, along with video game magazine '' Igromania'', since September 2003. It is distributed in major ex-USSR countries via trade net and postal subscription, as well as through publisher-owned online shop Journalshop.ru. Its editorial office is situated in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. The magazine was envisioned by , later best known as a board game publisher in the Hobby World publishing house. ''Mir Fantastiki'' used to be one of the main Russian periodical SF&F editions, along with '' Esli'' and '. Since 2013 it remains the only broadly circulated survivor in its niche after an industry crisis. Unlike the other two, which were literary magazines publishing short stories, ''Mir Fantastiki'' is largely devoted to media review and sci-fi/fantasy

geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...

subculture. It covers all sorts of science fiction and fantasy media, whether literature, movies, TV shows, video games or comics. Their official motto is "Fantasy and science fiction in all their aspects". While the magazine is seen sometimes as a Russian counterpart to '' Locus'' or '' SFX'', ''Mir Fantastiki'' shares certain traits with both. Its book section is largest and contains not only reviews, but also literary criticism and

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

es of writing by experienced authors, most often by H. L. Oldie. However, in other sections it also covers mainstream western science fiction and fantasy franchises, such as

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

or ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', as well as video game and comic franchises. ''Mir Fantastiki'' reviews

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

as well, but less frequently than sci-fi and fantasy. ''MirF'' annually publishes "Year's totals" and names the year's best books, films, games and other media. The magazine operates a website and official communities in VK, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media. In 2018, ''Mir Fantastiki'' was sold to Hobby World. The magazine launched a crowdfunding campaign for revival in 2019 and raised over , setting a new record for Russian media crowdfunding (the previous record, , was held by ''

Iskusstvo Kino ''Iskusstvo Kino'' (Russian language, Russian: Искусство кино, ''Film Art'') was a film magazine published in Moscow, Russia. It was one of the earliest magazines in Europe which specialize on film theory and review alongside the Bri ...

''). Following campaigns raised 6 million in 2020, 8 million in 2021 and 2022, 11 mln in 2023, and 13 mln in 2024. ''Mir Fantastiki'' campaign was of the most successful crowdfundings in Russia.

Mirf.ru

According to Yandex, Mirf.ru is the second most popular science fiction & fantasy site in Runet. It was launched in 2004. Until 2015 it served as an archive of magazine's older articles and as a discussion forum. Mirf.ru was relaunched in 2015. Since then it is updated daily and publishes articles, reviews, news and other content that only partially overlaps with the printed magazine.

Content

There are several general sections in ''Mir Fantastiki'': # Book Row - reviews of new releases in Russia, interviews with writers, literary criticism and biographic articles. Also includes

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

subsection. Originally Book Row was the largest section of MirF, but throughout the 2010s it was gradually surpassed by Videodrome. # Videodrome - reviews of new films and TV series, interviews with filmmakers, articles about SF&F cinema of the past, notable filmmakers and special effects.

Anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

is covered occasionally. # Game Club - consists of the larger video game section and the smaller board game column. # Music Center - music album reviews. ''MF'' only reviews fantasy-, science fiction- or horror-related albums (in lyrics or

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

), that usually includes heavy metal,

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s. By 2016 it was adsorbed into Gate of the Worlds. # Gate of the Worlds - articles on the popular

fictional universes A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scienc ...

, creatures and characters. Often includes "Top 10" of various fictional things, conventions reports and interviews with

fantasy art Fantastic art is a broad and loosely defined art genre. It is not restricted to a specific school of artists, geographical location or historical period. It can be characterised by subject matter—which portrays non-realistic, mystical, mythi ...

ists. # Time machine - the

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

section: articles dedicated to future technology, history and mythology, "what if" research, "Arsenal" column about weapons and military tactics. # Fun Zone - the entertainment section. It usually contains a short story by a popular Russian writer, a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

by artist Alexander Remizov, a reader's contest, and occasionally a collection of geek humour.

Awards

''Mir Fantastiki'' is a recipient of many Russian and international science fiction and fantasy awards. *

Eurocon Eurocon is an annual science fiction convention held in Europe. The organising committee of each Eurocon is selected by a vote of the participants of the previous event. The procedure is coordinated by the European Science Fiction Society. The fi ...

"Best magazine" (2006, 2021) * Internet-Roscon (2011) - for the website. * (2009) * Zilantcon Durandal (2005) * Aelita (2008) * Ivan Yefremov

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

(2008) * Star Bridge (2008) * Bronze Icarus (2005) * The Second Try (2008) Personal awards to ''MirF'' contributors for their works published in ''MirF'': * Alexander Belayev

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

- to Mikhail Popov (2006) and Vladimir Puziy (2008) * Rosсon Awards - to H. L. Oldie (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) and Anton Pervushin (2009).

References

External links