("27 Poems") saw print in 1947. Soon after, Colin came to affiliate with the Romanian socialist realist current, at which time he published the short story Flăcări între cer şi apă ("Flames between the Sky and the Sea", 1950), followed in 1951 by the novella Cormoranul pleacă pe mare ("The Cormorant Heads for the Sea") and, later that year, by Soarele răsare în Deltă. All three writings were set in the Danube Delta. Although they were largely compliant with the regime's cultural guidelines, these books were judged to be unsatisfactory by many who reviewed them in the communist press, becoming the subject of a lengthy literary debate. The Writers' Union convened a special session to review Colin's case. On that occasion, several of his writer colleagues expressed criticism on behalf of the Union, among them Ben Corlaciu, Petru Dumitriu, Alexandru Jar and Mihail Novicov, most of whom expressed the view that Colin was indebted to "formalism". 1953–1980 After he made his fantasy and children's literature debut with Basme ("Fairy Tales"), which earned him the State Prize for Prose for 1953, Colin adopted the fantasy genre as his preferred means of expression, following up with Nemaipomenita bătălie dintre Papură-Împărat şi Pintilie ("The Incredible Battle between Emperor Cattail and Pintilie", 1953), Toroiman (1954), Poveştile celor trei mincinoşi ("The Stories of the Three Liars", 1956), Zece poveşti pitice ("Ten Dwarfish Stories", 1957) and Basmele Omului ("The Fairy Tales of Man", 1958). These were accompanied in 1961 by mythopoeia, with Legendele ţării lui Vam, also known as A Mythology of Man, which became one of his most popular works. In 1968, Geo Dumitrescu included his translation from French poet Charles Baudelaire into the luxury bilingual edition of Les Fleurs de mal, released under contract with Editura pentru literatură universală. Vladimir Colin made his science fiction debut contributing short stories for Colecţia de Povestiri Ştiinţifico-Fantastice, which functioned as a literary supplement for the magazine Ştiinţă şi Tehnică and was edited by Adrian Rogoz. He became especially noted for his works in the science fantasy genre, beginning with the 1964 novel A zecea lume ("The Tenth World"). It was followed by the short story volume of 1966, Viitorul al doilea ("The Second Future"), the 1972 sword and sorcery novel Divertisment pentru vrăjitoare ("Entertainment for Witches") and short story collection Capcanele timpului ("Time Traps"), and the 1975 novella Ultimul avatar al lui Tristan ("Tristan's Final Avatar") and