Lemistry: A Celebration of the Work of Stanisław Lem is a 2012 anthology associated with the work of Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem. It includes three Lem's short stories translated into English for the first time, as well as a number of Lem's fanfics and essays about Lem's work.
Six stories from the book (Lem's stories, as well as "Snail", "Stanlemian", and "The Apocrypha of Lem") were nominated for the 2012 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards, category "Short Form Award".
Contents
The collection consists of three parts.
"Originals"
The three Lem's short stories were translated into English by Antolia LLoyd-Jones for the first time. Aiden O'Reilly notes that while these are not the best representation of Lem, they will be of interest to Lem's fans.
"The Lilo"
First published in Polish 1996, under the title "Materac" ("Mattress") in the collection Zagadka[pl] [The Enigma]; German title: "Die Blaurote Luftmatratze" ["Blue-red air mattress"]
"Darkness and Mildew"
First appeared in 1959, in the collection Inwazja z Aldebarana[pl] as "Ciemność i pleśń"
"Invasion from Aldebaran"
First appeared in 1959, in the collection Inwazja z Aldebarana A drunken villager defeats an alien invasion.
"Reconstructed Originals"
"Every Little Helps by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Reviewed by Stanisław Lem", by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Steve Mollmann, a co-writer of Star Trek, explains the title as follows: "The title is mean to be in opposition to "phildickian": whereas phildickian describes situations where reality is difficult to determine, stanlemian is used to describe situations where the problem has been solved." The story is about people gambling in virtual reality and the protagonist is hired by a gambler to get the money from the virtual into the real world without the knowledge of the gambler's girlfriend.
"The Apocrypha of Lem by Dan Tukagawa, J. B. Krupsky, and Aaron Orvits, reviewed by Jacek Dukaj", by Jacek Dukaj
Another spoof of Lem's faux reviews; a "review" of a book about the literary works (and legal wrangles) of three post hominem Lems (postLems), which are three different posthumous computer simulations of Lem based on different principles.