A View from the Stars

November 1, 2023

After winning several awards in China, Liu also received a Hugo for the English translation of his best-selling The Three-Body Problem. This new book collects his essays and short stories, ranging across the past three decades. With a 75K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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February 12, 2024
With this vital collection of 19 essays, forewords, interviews, and early works, Hugo Award winner Liu (The Three-Body Problem) preaches for the “The ‘Church’ of Sci-Fi.” Distinguishing science fiction from other forms of literature in “Poetic Science Fiction,” trans. by Emily Jin, Liu argues that a focus on worldbuilding and setting replaces mainstream fiction’s emphasis on the inner lives of characters. In “Time Enough for Love,” trans. by Adam Lanphier, Liu, who conceives of science fiction’s mission as bringing readers an appreciation of the grandeur of the universe, describes years spent feeling isolated as a reader and writer of the genre, “standing solitary guard over a forlorn frontier.” The fiction entries, featuring drug-smuggling cybernetic whales (“Whale Song,” trans. by S. Qiouyi Lu) or chaos theory physicists trying to prevent a war with tiny nudges of global weather patterns (“Butterfly,” trans. by Elizabeth Hanlon), may be more down-to-earth, but they’re unafraid to ask big questions, including “What is the purpose of the universe?” (“Heard It in the Morning,” trans. by Jesse Field). For Liu’s many devoted fans, this will be a welcome compendium.

Starred review from February 15, 2024
This new book from Liu (The Three-Body Problem, 2014) explores his craft and his visions of what sf is and could be. The format, mixing nonfiction with short stories, all translated by multiple contributors, will give new context to old fans while introducing new readers to a true genius of the genre. For example, in his essay "The 'Church' of Sci-Fi" (translated by Adam Lanphier), Liu argues that religiosity, or a level of awe in the bigness of the universe, is necessary for good sf. In the story that follows, "End of the Microcosmos" (translated by S. Qiouyi Lu), an old, pious shepherd present at scientists' attempt to split the quark is the first one to understand the profundity of what they discover. Liu's stories and essays give the reader small, wry ironies and fearsome miracles and put our little planet in perspective. Stories such as "Heard It in the Morning" (translated by Jesse Field), in which the truths of the universe become a spiritual experience, and essays such as "Civilization's Expansion in Reverse" (translated by Lanphier), in which Liu examines whether the future of humanity is not in expansion but in microscaling, will leave readers refreshingly excited not just about sf but about humanity's future.

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April 1, 2024
This collection of Liu's essays, interviews, and early short works spans three decades (1987-2015) and offers up a palatable blend of speculative science fiction and insightful articles on the genre's past and future. The essay "Thirty Years of Making Magic out of Ordinariness," filled with so much insight into the genre, should be recommended reading for all aspiring science fiction writers: "Science fiction is a literature of youth. Its spirit is the youthful yearning for new worlds, and new ways of living. Mainstream literature is like Chinese baijiu, tasting better as it ages; science fiction, on the other hand, is like tap beer--you've got to drink it quick. Read today, even sci-fi classics seem feeble, not revelatory. The nature of science fiction is to shine brightest in the present, then to be quickly forgotten." In "Time Enough for Love," Liu recalls when he first discovered science fiction as a child (reading Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth), his early struggles as a writer, and the genre's unique position in Chinese culture. In "The World in Fifty Years," Liu embraces futurology and makes some wild predictions about humankind in the near future. The short fiction selections included within are all gems, both in terms of storytelling prowess and thematic impact. A crime lord uses a whale controlled by a bio-organic device to smuggle tons of heroin into the United States in "Whale Song." Set in 1930s Princeton, New Jersey, "The Messenger" chronicles an old man with a penchant for playing the violin who meets a space traveler with a world-changing revelation. "Heard It in the Morning" follows a radically advanced being who offers the world's scientists and mathematicians the opportunity to understand all the secrets of the universe--the one catch being that they have only 10 minutes to live afterward. A must-read for SF fans and writers alike.

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