Fenix
Entry updated 26 May 2025. Tagged: Publication.
["Phoenix"] Polish monthly Print Magazine of Fantastika launched in 1990 and active until 2001. It aspired to a monthly schedule, but the full set of 12 issues in a year was achieved only twice, in 1996 and 2000; other years saw closer to ten or so issues. In total, 107 issues appeared, beginning with Volume 0 and ending with volume 7/8 (107).
Fenix was an initiative of several Polish Fantastika writers and Fandom activists, in particular Rafał A Ziemkiewicz, Jarosław Grzędowicz, Krzysztof Sokołowski, Andrzej Łaski and Dariusz Zientalak Jr. It continued the name and tradition of a short-lived Fanzine published by the Polskie Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Fantastyki ["Polish Fantastika Fan Association"] (PSMF) from 1985 to 1986. In the last issue of the professional Fenix, which appeared in Summer 2001, the editor-in-chief claimed that the magazine had not gone bankrupt, but had changed its publisher again; however, no further issues appeared. In January 2018, the magazine tradition was briefly revived by a new publication entitled Fenix Antologia, founded by Bartek Biedrzycki and Krzysztof Sokołowski, with nine issues published to 2020.
Its first editor-in-chief, from 1990 to 1993, was Rafał A Ziemkiewicz. The second editor, until its closure, was Jarosław Grzędowicz. It changed publishers three times, from its initial small press Radwan to the larger publishers Prószyński i S-ka (in 1991) and near its end, to MAG (in 2000).
The magazine initially had an A5 format in its Radwan period, then adopted a "pocket book" or Digest format, which increased slightly in the last dozen or so issues published by Mag.
Like most similar Polish magazines, the primary focus of the publication was short fiction, although it did not shy away from longer forms such as novellas. It featured the expected mix of Polish short stories and translations of foreign authors (the latter translated mostly from English). One of its more interesting features, from 1995 to 1997, was "Hitalia", a Shared World in a Space Opera setting, a form of non-digital Interactive Fiction/Role Playing Game, featuring primarily short works by new writers: all readers were invited to create a character in the setting, and briefly describe their actions; compilations of the best stories or excerpts therefrom were featured in the magazine. After the project was dropped by Fenix, it continued to live in Polish fanzines and online until 1999.
The magazine also featured reviews of books and occasionally movies, critical texts on broadly understood fantastika, and occasional interviews and Comics. The most famous critical feature was arguably the "Kącik złamanych piór" ["Corner of Broken Quills"] column run by the writer Feliks W Kres, literary advice corner for young writers, in which Kres commented with much sarcasm on texts sent to the magazine editors; many years later the columns were collected in book form as Galeria złamanych piór (coll 2005). Another notable and enduring column was Marek Oramus's "Piąte Piwo" ["Fifth Beer"].
Fenix was launched at the moment of Polish transition from a Soviet-controlled communist country to a sovereign, democratic capitalistic state, and soon became the strongest competitor to Poland's dominant fantastika magazine, Nowa Fantastyka. With 107 issues, it remains the second most successful Polish magazine in this genre (with Science Fiction launched around the time Fenix folded, being the third); as such, the magazine played a significant role in shaping the generation of fantastika writers in Poland during the 1990s, and popularizing the (mostly Western) genre literature through its translations. It was also notable for its focus on more action- and adventure-focused stories, whereas Fantastyka, under its long-time editor Maciej Parowski, was inclined to more refined and experimental stories. [PKo]
links:
- "Hitalia" project archive
- Fenix Antologia – last updated 2023, still up as of 2025.
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