Santos, Domingo
Entry updated 26 June 2023. Tagged: Author, Editor.
Pseudonym of Spanish author, editor, translator, anthologist and columnist Pedro Domingo Mutiñó (1941-2018), the major contemporary Spanish sf writer, considered as the father of sf in his country. Throughout a lifetime devoted to sf he published about forty novels (several in collaboration), a dozen collections, a hundred stories, fifty Anthologies, almost a thousand translated works, and hundreds of articles, introductions to books and editorials for magazines. Most of his fiction was sf, although he also wrote Fantasy, Horror and non-fantastic books. His work as editor and translator over five decades forged the tastes of several generations of readers, not only in Spain but also in many countries of Latin America.
His first sf book was ¡Nos han robado la Luna! ["They Have Stolen the Moon!"] (1959), which appeared when he was not yet eighteen years old. In the next five years he published sixteen Pulp-style novels under the pseudonyms P Danger, Peter Danger and Peter Dean. They were of course pulp adventures but with intimate subjects, far away from the great galactic scenarios of Space Opera. Another pseudonym which he used in the 1960s was Milton Starr.
Volveré ayer ["I Will Come Back Yesterday"] (coll 1961) was his first important book, published as by Domingo Santos. It was followed by La cárcel de acero ["The Steel Prison"] (1961), Gabriel, historia de un robot ["Gabriel: The Story of a Robot"] (1962; vt Gabriel 1975), Civilización ["Civilization"] (1964), El Visitante ["The Visitor"] (1965), Burbuja ["Bubble"] (1965), Meteoritos ["Meteorites"] (coll 1965), Mundo de autómatas ["World of Automatons"] (1966), Los dioses de la pistola prehistórica / El extraño inquilino del zoo de Londres ["The Gods of the Prehistoric Gun / The Strange Tenant of the Zoo of London"] (coll 1966), Extraño ["Strange"] (coll 1967), La bestia ["The Beast"] (1967) and La barrera ["The Barrier"] (1967). His style was indebted to the Golden Age of SF, with a marked philosophical and moral message; his favourite subjects were Time and Robots. His best known novel is the above-cited Gabriel, about a robot not subject to the Laws of Robotics, in search of its own Identity and humanity. Santos also compiled one of the first Spanish sf Anthologies: Antología española de ciencia ficción ["Anthology of Spanish Science Fiction"] (anth 1967).
In parallel to his work as a writer, Santos began a job as editor that would give him world fame. He ran the magazine Anticipación ["Anticipation"] (1966-1967) in collaboration with Luis Vigil for seven issues, in imitation of US magazines such as Analog or Galaxy. Later, with Vigil and Sebastián Martínez, he ran the most important and longest-running sf magazine in Spanish: Nueva Dimensión ["New Dimension"] (1968-1983), popularly known as ND, which published 148 regular issues, five extra issues and several collections of books. ND published stories and novellas by the most important writers of its time, from not only America but also other countries, mainly European; it offered opportunities to Spanish and Latin American writers, being the place where the majority of the current Spanish writers were forged. Apart from fiction, its famous green pages (due to the colour of the paper and later the ink) abounded with essays, articles, reviews, comics, news and mail from the readers that strengthened an incipient Spanish Fandom. Among its international collaborators were Forrest J Ackerman, Harlan Ellison, Dean R Koontz, Robert Silverberg and Donald A Wollheim. In May 1970 there was a serious incident with Franco's censorship which had international repercussions, when issue #14 was impounded for including the story "Gu ta gutarrak" ["We and Ours" in the Basque language], an ironic tale about the origin of the Basques that was accused of incitement to Basque separatism (see also Basque SF). The influence of ND was huge not only for Spanish and Latin American fans but at a global level: it received the Special Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Magazine Production at the 1972 Los Angeles Worldcon and in the same year the Specialized Professional Magazine Award at the first European convention (Eurocon), held in Trieste.
At the beginning of the seventies, Santos began to publish Nomanor, the first epic fantasy saga created in Spain: El mito de los Harr ["The Myth of the Harr"] (1971) and El bárbaro ["The Barbarian"] (1971), both written with Luis Vigil. The sequence continued with "La niebla dorada" ["Golden Mist"] (August 1974 Nueva Dimensión #58) and four further stories in the lost, unpublished collection «El bardo de Yisé» ["The Bard of Yisé"]. He also published two more anthologies: Antología de novelas de anticipación XIII ["Anthology of Novels of Anticipation XIII"] (anth 1971) and Mutante ["Mutant"] (anth 1975).
Shortly afterwards he began to combine his work in ND with better paid jobs as editor in charge of various specialized sf publishing imprints, which hindered his development as a writer. Between 1974 and 1982 he was responsible for the prestigious Acervo Ciencia Ficción, whose first published book was his own translation of Flowers for Algernon (April 1959 F&SF; exp 1966) by Daniel Keyes. Later he translated such classics as Gregory Benford's Timescape (1980), John Brunner's The Jagged Orbit (1969) and The Sheep Look Up (1972), Samuel R Delany's Dhalgren (1975), Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions (anth 1967), Robert A Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Frank Herbert's Dune (fixup 1965), Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man (September 1966 New Worlds; exp 1969) and many others. Owing to this dual role as editor and translator, Santos was one of the few full-time professionals in Spanish sf. Acervo also published his two important, very pessimistic anthologies: Antología no euclidiana ["Non-Euclidean Anthology"] (anth 1976) and Llorad por nuestro futuro. Antología no euclidiana/2 ["Cry for Our Future. Non-Euclidean Anthology/2"] (anth 1978).
Santos was also responsible for the first period of the SuperFicción imprint of the Martínez Roca Publishing Company (1976-1986); Grandes Éxitos Bolsillo for Ultramar (1979-1992); Biblioteca Orbis de Ciencia Ficción (1986-1987), an important sf line distributed in kiosks which popularized sf in Spain more than any other; Cronos for Destino (1988-1992) and Etiqueta Futura for Júcar (1988-1992). All of them published the most important authors of their time, books still remembered today.
In the 1980s and 1990s Santos produced some books with a more mature and literary style. Futuro imperfecto ["Imperfect Future"] (coll 1982), his best collection, presents a dark view of a future society; El extraterrestre rosa ["The Pink Alien"] (1983) is a kind of revenge of Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982); Hacedor de mundos ["World Maker"] (1986) is one of his best novels, features a man with the power to change reality, leading to interesting philosophical discussion about the origin of the universe and the history of humanity; No lejos de la Tierra ["Not Far from Earth"] (coll 1986) is set in the Near Future and often concerned with Ecology and the threats that endanger the quality of our lives. Anthologies included Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción española ["Best Spanish Science Fiction"] (anth 1982), one of the best-known anthologies of Spanish authors; La ciencia ficción a la luz de gas ["Science Fiction by Gaslight"] (anth 1990); and collections of Jules Verne, H G Wells and Soviet sf (see Russia). The best of Santos is found in his short fiction of this period: "Mi esposa, mi hija" ["My Wife, My Daughter"] (in Visiones 1997, anth 1997, ed Rafael Marín), winner of Spain's 1997 Ignotus Award; "Bienvenidos al bicentenario del fin del mundo" ["Welcome to the Bicentennial of the End of the World"], (in Premio UPC 1997, anth 1998, ed Miquel Barceló); or "La piel del camaleón" ["The Skin of the Chameleon"] (in Sol 3, coll 2000).
From 2003 to 2005 Santos ran the Spanish edition of Asimov's for the Robel Publishing Company. He had already edited this magazine briefly on two previous occasions: four issues for Fórum (1987) and four issues more for Megamultimedia (2002). In his 21 further issues (2003-2005) he published a large amount of quality material from the original magazine and Spanish authors.
In his last years, freed in large part from his duties as editor, Santos published more books: Gabriel revisitado ["Gabriel Revisited"] (2004), his classic novel Gabriel rewritten forty years later with a new style; La soledad de la máquina ["The Solitude of the Machine"] (2004), a novella; El día del dragón ["The Day of the Dragon"] (2008); El extraño lugar ["The Strange Place"] (2010), a horror story; Crónicas de la Tierra y el espacio ["Chronicles of Earth and Space"] (coll 2011), an historical compilation; David y el laberinto del Sprite ["David and the Labyrinth of Sprite"] (2012), a fantasy; Homenaje ["Tribute"] (coll 2012), stories written as tributes to classics; and Bajo soles alienígenas ["Under Alien Suns"] (coll 2012), his last book, comprising three novellas. His biography was published as Domingo Santos: Una vida de ciencia ficción ["Domingo Santos: A Life for Science Fiction"] (2021) by Mariano Villarreal.
Through the magazines he ran, Santos promoted local Fandom and the Spanish national sf convention, HispaCon, whose story contest was named after him; there is also a special Ignotus Award called the Gabriel which honours the work of a lifetime and was awarded in 2003 to Domingo Santos himself. He worked significantly all his life to promote Spanish sf writers, and some of their most important books were published through his efforts, such as Lágrimas de luz ["Tears of Light"] (1984) by Rafael Marín, Mundos en el abismo ["Worlds into the Abyss"] (1988) and Hijos de la eternidad ["Children of Eternity"] (1990) by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Javier Redal, and La Trilogía de las Islas ["Trilogy of the Islands"] (1989) by Ángel Torres Quesada. Some of Santos's novels and stories have been translated into several foreign languages, including "La canción del infinito" translated as "The Song of Infinity" in New Writings in S.F. 14 (anth 1969) edited by John Carnell, "Gira, gira" translated as "Round and Round and Round Again" in The Best from the Rest of the World (anth 1976) by Donald A Wollheim, and his novella "The First Day of Eternity" (January-February 2011 Analog). For all these reasons, Domingo Santos is known in Spain as "Mr. Science Fiction". [MV]
Pedro Domingo Mutiñó
born Barcelona, Spain: 15 December 1941
died Zaragoza, Spain: 2 November 2018
works
series
Nomanor
- El mito de los Harr ["The Myth of the Harr"] (San Sebastián, Spain: Buru Lan, 1971) with Luis Vigil [Nomanor: pb/Enrich]
- El bárbaro ["The Barbarian"] (San Sebastián, Spain: Buru Lan, 1971) with Luis Vigil [Nomanor: pb/Enrich]
Leyendas de la Luna Roja ["Legends of the Red Moon"]
All as by Nomanor, reportedly a pseudonym of Santos in collaboration with others who have not been identified.
- La leyenda del esclavo ["The Legend of the Slave"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1989) with others as by Nomanor [Leyendas de la Luna Roja: pb/Antoni Garcés]
- La leyenda del dios insecto ["The Legend of the Insect God"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1990) with others as by Nomanor [Leyendas de la Luna Roja: pb/Antoni Garcés]
- La leyenda del fantasma ["The Legend of the Phantom"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1990) with others as by Nomanor [Leyendas de la Luna Roja: pb/Antoni Garcés]
- La leyenda del hacedor de sueños ["The Legend of the Dream Maker"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1990) with others as by Nomanor [Leyendas de la Luna Roja: pb/Antoni Garcés]
individual titles
- ¡Nos han robado la Luna! ["They Have Stolen the Moon!"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1959) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- El planeta maldito ["The Cursed Planet"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1960) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Nieblas blancas ["White Mists"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1960) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- El umbral de la Atlántida ["The Threshold of Atlantis"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1960) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Los hombres del Más Allá ["The Men of Beyond"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1960) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Mensaje al futuro ["Message to Future"] (Barcelona, Spain: Toray, 1960) as by Peter Danger [novella: pb/]
- ¡Robot! ["Robot!"] (Barcelona, Spain: Toray, 1960) as by Peter Dean [novella: pb/]
- ¡Descohesión! ["Descohesion!"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1961) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- La ruta de los pantanos ["The Route of the Swamps"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1961) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- La amenaza sin nombre ["The Unnamed Threat"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1961) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Viaje al infinito ["Voyage to Infinity"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1961) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Extraña invasión ["Strange Invasion"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1961) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Los habitantes del sol ["The Inhabitants of the Sun"] (Barcelona, Spain: Toray, 1961) as by Peter Dean [novella: pb/]
- Más allá del infinito ["Beyond Infinity"] (Barcelona, Spain: Toray, 1961) as by Peter Dean [novella: pb/]
- La cárcel de acero ["The Steel Prison"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1961) [pb/]
- Expedición al pasado ["Expedition to the Past"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1962) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Gabriel, historia de un robot ["Gabriel: The Story of a Robot"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1962) [pb/]
- Gabriel ["Gabriel"] (Barcelona, Spain: Producciones Editoriales, 1975) [vt of the above without subtitle: hb/Enrich]
- Gabriel revisitado ["Gabriel Revisited"] (Bilbao, Spain: Juan José Aroz, 2004) [rev vt of the above: significantly rewritten: pb/Koldo Campo]
- El Sol estalla mañana ["The Sun Explodes Tomorrow"] (Valencia, Spain: Valenciana, 1963) as by P Danger [novella: pb/]
- Civilización ["Civilization"] (Barcelona, Spain: Cénit, 1964) [pb/Andreu]
- El visitante ["The Visitor"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1965) [pb/Enrich]
- Burbuja ["Bubble"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1965) [pb/Enrich]
- Los dioses de la pistola prehistórica / El extraño inquilino del zoo de Londres ["The Gods of the Prehistoric Gun / The Strange Tenant of the Zoo of London"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1966) [coll: novel plus 1 story: pb/Enrich]
- Mundo de autómatas ["World of Automatons"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1966) [pb/Enrich]
- La bestia ["The Beast"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1967) as by Milton Starr [pb/Clavé]
- La barrera ["The Barrier"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1967) as by Milton Starr [pb/Enrich]
- El extraterrestre rosa ["The Pink Alien"] (Bilbao, Spain: Cumbre, 1983) [pb/Scaramouix]
- Hacedor de mundos ["World Maker"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1983) [pb/Antoni Garcés]
- La soledad de la máquina ["The Solitude of the Machine"] (Madrid, Spain: Robel, 2004) [novella: Dos: pb/Nacho Reina]
- El día del dragón ["The Day of the Dragon"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones B, 2008) [pb/Enrique Iborra / Estudio Ediciones B]
- El extraño lugar ["The Strange Place"] (Granada, Spain: AJEC, 2010) [pb/Estudio AJEC]
- David y el laberinto del Sprite ["David and the Labyrinth of Sprite"] (Barcelona, Spain: Planeta, 2012) [novella: ebook: na/]
collections
- Volveré ayer ["I Will Come Back Yesterday"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1961) [coll: pb/]
- Meteoritos ["Meteorites"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1965) [coll: pb/Bas]
- Extraño ["Stranger"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ferma, 1967) [coll: pb/Enrique Torres]
- Revista Nueva Dimensión Extra #2 ["Nueva Dimension magazine #2"] (Barcelona, Spain: Dronte, 1970) [coll: pb/Enrich]
- Futuro imperfecto ["Imperfect Future"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1982) [coll: pb/Julio Vivas]
- No lejos de la Tierra ["Not Far from Earth"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [coll: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Sol 3 ["Sun 3"] (Gijón, Spain: Semana Negra de Gijón, 2000) [coll: pb/Juan Miguel Aguilera]
- Crónicas de la Tierra y el espacio ["Chronicles of Earth and Space"] (Bilbao, Spain: Juan José Aroz, 2011) [coll: pb/Koldo Campo]
- Homenaje ["Tribute"] (Granada, Spain: AJEC, 2012) [coll: pb/Estudio AJEC]
- Bajo soles alienígenas ["Under Alien Suns"] (Gijón, Spain: Sportula, 2013) [coll: pb/Sportula]
- Ayer, hoy y siempre ["Yesterday, Today and Always"] (Madrid, Spain: La Biblioteca del Laberinto, 2021) [coll: pb/Toni Garcés]
- P. Danger, el luchador del espacio vol.1&2 ["P. Danger, the Space Fighter vol.1&2"] (Spain: A.C.H.A.B., 2022) [coll: pb/]
works as editor
- Antología española de ciencia ficción ["Anthology of Spanish Science Fiction"] (Barcelona, Spain: Edhasa, 1967) [anth: pb/Bas]
- Antología de novelas de anticipación XIII ["Anthology of Novels of Anticipation XIII"] (Barcelona, Spain: Acervo, 1971) [anth: mostly trans by Santos: hb/]
- Antología de relatos de espanto y terror 1-35 ["Anthology of Horror and Terror Stories", 35 volumes] (Barcelona, Spain: Dronte, 1972-1975) [anth: some stories trans by Santos: pb/Enrique Torres]
- Mutante ["Mutant"] (Barcelona, Spain: Producciones Editoriales, 1975) [anth: hb/Enrich]
- Antología no euclidiana ["Non-Euclidean Anthology"] (Barcelona, Spain: Acervo, 1976) [anth: trans by Santos, often in collaboration with Sebastián Castro: hb/El Cubri]
- Llorad por nuestro futuro. Antología no euclidiana/2 ["Cry for Our Future. Non-Euclidean Anthology/2"] (Barcelona, Spain: Acervo, 1978) [anth: trans by Santos, often in collaboration with Sebastián Castro: hb/Domingo Santos]
- Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción española ["Best Spanish Science Fiction"] (Barcelona, Spain: Martínez Roca, 1982) [anth: pb/Salinas Blanch]
- Antología de novelas de anticipación I ["Anthology of Novels of Anticipation I"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Antología de novelas de anticipación II ["Anthology of Novels of Anticipation II"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Antología de novelas de anticipación III ["Anthology of Novels of Anticipation III"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción soviética I ["The Best of Soviet Science Fiction I"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción soviética II ["The Best of Soviet Science Fiction II"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción soviética III ["The Best of Soviet Science Fiction III"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [anth: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- La ciencia ficción a la luz de gas ["Science Fiction by Gaslight"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1990) [anth: trans by Santos: pb/Antoni Garcés]
- Fragmentos de futuro ["Fragments of the Future"] (Bilbao, Spain: Juan José Aroz, 2006) [anth: pb/Koldo Campo]
single-author collections as editor
- Jules Verne. La ciencia ficción de Julio Verne ["The Science Fiction of Jules Verne"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1986) [coll: mostly trans by Santos: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- H G Wells. La ciencia ficción de H.G. Wells I ["The Science Fiction of H G Wells I"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1987) [coll: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
- H G Wells. La ciencia ficción de H.G. Wells II ["The Science Fiction of H G Wells II"] (Barcelona, Spain: Orbis, 1987) [coll: pb/Tomás C Gilsanz]
about the author
- Mariano Villarreal. Domingo Santos: Una vida de ciencia ficción ["Domingo Santos: A Life for Science Fiction"] (Málaga, Spain: El Transbordador, 2021) [nonfiction: pb/Toni Garcés]
links
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Domingo Santos at La Tercera Fundación ["The Third Foundation"] (in Spanish)
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