Nir Yaniv

Nir Yaniv
Born1972 (age 51–52)
Jerusalem, Israel
OccupationAuthor, editor, musician
NationalityIsraeli
GenreScience fiction

Nir Yaniv (Hebrew: ניר יניב) is an Israeli multidisciplinary artist.[1]

He was active early on as a science fiction editor in Israel. In 2000 he founded the webzine of the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy,[2] and in 2007 he became chief editor of Chalomot Be'aspamia, Israel's only professionally printed SF&F magazine.[3]

As an author, Yaniv's short fiction has appeared in Weird Tales,[4] Apex Magazine,[5] The Best of World SF[6] and others. He collaborated with World Fantasy Award winning author Lavie Tidhar on two novels, including the "deranged sci-fi extravaganza" (per The Jewish Quarterly) The Tel Aviv Dossier and released the English language collection The Love Machine & Other Contraptions.[3] Yaniv returned to fiction publishing in 2024 with the novel The Good Soldier, an " amiable satire of the gung-ho heroics of military sci-fi".[7]

Yaniv has been active as a musician from early on, initially with the Israeli jazz-funk band Plutonium[8] and more recently with the Emmy Award winning soprano Hila Plitmann.[9] He released several independent albums, including "the first Hebrew-language SF Music themed album", The Universe in a Pita.[3]

From 2013 he has also been making short films as a writer/director,[10] including the animated Liftoff, a "touching, hand-illustrated piece of a man’s journey to the moon".[11] Welcome To Your A.I. Future (2023) dealing with emergent A.I. technology, was featured in New Scientist.[12] Loontown (also 2023), imagines "a Dystopian Los Angeles populated by sentient Balloons".[13]

Fiction

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In Hebrew

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  • Ktov Ke'shed Mi'shachat (One Hell of a Writer). Israel: Odyssey Press, 2006. A short story collection.
  • Retzach Bidyoni (Fictional Murder). Israel: Odyssey Press, 2009. A novel, with Lavie Tidhar.
  • Melech Yerushlaim (King of Jerusalem). Israel: Yaniv Publishing, 2019. a novel.

In English

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  • The Tel Aviv Dossier. Canada: ChiZine Publications, 2009. A novel, with Lavie Tidhar.
  • The Love Machine & Other Contraptions. UK: Infinity Plus Books, 2012. A short story collection.
  • The Good Soldier. Canada: Shadowpaw Press, 2024. Novel.

Selected Short Stories

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  • "A Wizard on the Road". Shimmer Magazine, 2006
  • "The Dream of the Blue Man". Weird Tales, September 2008
  • "A Painter, a Sheep, and a Boa Constrictor". Shimmer Magazine, 2009. Reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2010 ed. Rich Horton (2010).
  • "Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys". Apex Magazine, November 2009. Reprinted in The Best of World SF, ed Lavie Tidhar (2021).
  • "The Believers". Chizine, March 2010. Reprinted in Zion's Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, ed. Lottem & Teitelbaum.
  • "Undercity". Apex Magazine, August 2012.

Music

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  • The Universe in a Pita: a Hebrew science fiction rock album.
  • Funkapella: a concept-album using vocals and drums only, with no other instruments.
  • Happiness is Real: a live dance and music performance with choreographer and dancer Ilanit Tadmor.
  • The Voice Remains[14]

Filmography

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Short film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2013 MicroTime Yes Yes Yes
2017 Addict Yes Yes Yes

Animated short film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2014 Liftoff Yes Yes Yes
2018 Memories of a Third Planet Yes Yes Yes
2023 Welcome To Your A.I. Future Yes No Yes
2023 Loontown Yes No Yes

Short Form Animated Series

Year Title Director Writer Executive
producer
Creator
2024 Mars Machines Yes No Yes Yes

References

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  1. ^ "Multidisciplinary Artist Nir Yaniv Releases New EP the Voice Remains".
  2. ^ "The Universe in a Pita: An Interview with Nir Yaniv". 17 March 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "SFE: Yaniv, Nir". sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Weird Tales: Nir Yaniv on Writing Speculative Fiction in Israel". 9 December 2007.
  5. ^ "Nir yaniv Archives".
  6. ^ "Celebrating International Speculative Fiction: Lavie Tidhar on the Best of World SF Anthology". 4 December 2020.
  7. ^ https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781989398821
  8. ^ "מוזיקה – להקת פלוטוניום".
  9. ^ @HilaPlitmann (24 December 2018). "@niryanivmusic a.k.a 💝 @nyfiction sharing love from us two yokels to all of you #sunny #losangeles…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Nir Yaniv". IMDb.
  11. ^ "UK Film Festival 2013: Animation and Student Shorts". 16 November 2013.
  12. ^ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2369244-sci-fi-author-lavie-tidhar-using-midjourney-to-explore-ethics-of-ai/
  13. ^ https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/loontown
  14. ^ "In Conversation—with Nir Yaniv". 8 June 2018.
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