João Manuel Rosado Barreiros (born July 31, 1952), also known by the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
José de Barros, is a
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
writer, editor, translator and critic.
He graduated in
Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
from the
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
in 1977, and has been teaching it in
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
since 1975. His experiences in education eventually led him to write a semi-autobiographical
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
titled "The Test" in 2000.
Fiction
Barreiros's writing style, influenced by that of
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand ...
and
James Tiptree, Jr
Alice Bradley Sheldon (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author better known as James Tiptree, Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death. It was not publicly known un ...
, is distinctively sardonic and shows a marked tendency towards satire and
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
.
His plots frequently employ unlikeable
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
s in
dystopic
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
settings, where they are faced with the brutality of everyday life and are often thwarted by their own actions in the end. The stories tend to offer extremely graphic depictions of violence, and utterly reject
political correctness
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
and its icons —
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
and
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
are frequent targets of derision by Barreiros, for example, and he has gone so far as to cast
Big Bird
Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skat ...
analogues as the principal
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
s in ''A verdadeira invasão dos marcianos''.
Some of Barreiros's work has been translated into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
,
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
Serbian
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguat ...
.
He has twice won the
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian
Nova Award, offered by fans to the best foreign short story published in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, for "Um Dia com Júlia na Necrosfera" (in 1992) and "A Arder CaÃram os Anjos" (in 1994). He was won the Adamastor Prize for Short Stories in 2014 with "O Coração é um Predador Solitário".
Miscellaneous activity
João Barreiros's book and film reviews have appeared in publications such as ''
Público'', ''
O Independente
''O Independente'' (Portuguese for ''The Independent'') was a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1988 and 2006.
History and profile
''O Independente'' was first published in May 1988 by Miguel Esteves Cardoso, wh ...
'', ''Ler'' and ''Os Meus Livros''. The mercilessness of Barreiros's criticism earned him a reputation among Portuguese
science fiction fans
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...
, and his
titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
nib
fountain pen
A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkw ...
gained legendary status as a result.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Barreiros edited two science fiction and fantasy labels for Editora Clássica and Gradiva. Among the writers he introduced to a Portuguese audience are
Iain M. Banks,
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...
,
Peter Straub
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
,
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes wi ...
and
A. A. Attanasio
Alfred Angelo Attanasio, born on September 20, 1951, in Newark, New Jersey, is an author of fantasy and science fiction. His science fiction novel ''Radix'', winner of the French literary award, the Prix Cosmos 2000, was also nominated for the ...
. Publishers usually balked at Barreiros's unorthodox picks, and so books like
Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for ''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'', his ten-novel fantasy series. His work is characterized by psychological complexity ...
's ''
Lord Foul's Bane
''Lord Foul's Bane'' is a 1977 fantasy novel by American writer Stephen R. Donaldson, the first book of the first trilogy of ''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'' series. It is followed by ''The Illearth War''.
__TOC__
Plot summary
Thomas Co ...
'',
Nancy A. Collins
Nancy A. Collins (born September 10, 1959) is an American horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue.
Collins has also written for comic books, including the ''Swamp Thing'' (vol. 2) se ...
's ''
Sunglasses After Dark'' and
James Blaylock
James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wel ...
's ''
The Last Coin'' were translated but never published.
Barreiros also co-founded Simetria — Portuguese Science Fiction and Fantasy Association in 1995 (he later broke from it, in 1999), and the
Portuguese Association for the Fantastic in the Arts in 2005.
BibliographyJoão Barreiros
at Bibliowiki. Retrieved on 2009-08-11.
* ''Duas fábulas tecnocráticas'' (collection, 1977)
* ''O caçador de brinquedos e outras histórias'' (collection, 1994)
* ''Terrarium: Um romance em mosaicos'' (with
LuÃs Filipe Silva
LuÃs Filipe Silva (born 6 December 1969) is a Portugal, Portuguese writer of science fiction. He has won the Editorial Caminho de Ficção CientÃfica Prize in 1991 with the book ''O Futuro à Janela''.
Bibliography
As an author
* ''O Futuro à ...
, 1996)
* ''Disney no céu entre os Dumbos'' (2001
nline 2006
rint
C mathematical operations are a group of functions in the standard library of the C programming language implementing basic mathematical functions. All functions use floating-point numbers in one manner or another. Different C standards provid ...
* ''A verdadeira invasão dos marcianos'' (2004)
* ''A sombra sobre Lisboa'' (contributor, 2006)
* ''A bondade dos estranhos: Projecto Candyman'' (2007)
* ''Se acordar antes de morrer'' (collection, 2010)
* ''Lisboa no ano 2000'' (editor and contributor, 2013)
*Crazy Equóides (2018)
References
External links
*
Detailed bibliography
Fiction
*
at ''E-nigma''
at ''
Infinity Plus
''Infinity Plus'' (sometimes stylized as ''infinity plus'' and ''infinityplus'') was a science fiction webzine active from 1997 to 2007, ''
"Synchronicity" at ''Fantastic Metropolis''
"The Test" at ''Fantastic Metropolis''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barreiros, Joao
1952 births
Living people
Portuguese science fiction writers
Portuguese satirists