Science fiction as a literary genre has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with foundational works by authors like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, who explored themes of exploration, scientific discovery, and societal critique through imaginative storytelling.

H.G. Wells' novels, such as 'The Time Machine,' addressed philosophical and political questions, reflecting anxieties about industrialization and class struggles, while Jules Verne's works like 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' emphasized adventure and the marvels of scientific discovery.

These early pioneers established science fiction as a genre that combines speculative imagination with scientific principles, paving the way for later authors to explore broader themes such as space exploration, artificial intelligence, and societal ethics.

The socio-political events of the mid-20th century, including World War II and the Space Race, significantly influenced science fiction by introducing themes of technological advancement, existential threats, and the exploration of new frontiers.

The Cold War further shaped the genre, embedding ideological struggles and technological competition into narratives, often reflecting the tension between capitalism and socialism as well as humanity's aspirations for space exploration.

The aftermath of World War II and the rise of nuclear technology brought darker themes into science fiction, such as the potential for global annihilation and ethical dilemmas surrounding scientific progress, mirroring societal fears of the time.

The 'Golden Age of Science Fiction,' spanning from the late 1930s to the 1950s, emphasized hard science, space exploration, and futuristic themes, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein shaping the genre's identity.

Serialized science fiction in pulp magazines during this era provided a platform for these authors to reach a wide audience, helping to establish science fiction as a distinct literary genre.

While the Golden Age was dominated by white male authors, the genre has since evolved to include diverse voices, with contemporary authors like Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin addressing themes of race, gender, and social justice.

The New Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s challenged traditional science fiction narratives by rejecting rigid structures and predictable tropes, instead embracing experimental storytelling and deeper psychological, social, and political themes.

This movement introduced revolutionary narrative techniques, such as fragmented storytelling and unconventional character development, disrupting the traditional linear plots and heroic archetypes of earlier science fiction.

By focusing on the present rather than the future or past, New Wave science fiction encouraged readers to question societal constructs and assumptions about power, identity, and the human condition.

Authors like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler significantly expanded the scope of science fiction by introducing themes of gender, race, and societal structures, challenging traditional narratives and offering complex social commentary.

Le Guin's works, such as the Earthsea series, explored Taoist themes and the balance of power, while Butler's novels, including 'Kindred,' delved into the intersections of race, history, and identity.

The influence of these authors has been widely recognized, with Le Guin inspiring discussions on speculative anthropology and Butler celebrated for integrating African American experiences into science fiction.

Authors from underrepresented demographics, such as people of color, have enriched science fiction by addressing themes of identity, resilience, and societal issues, as seen in works like Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels exploring colonialism and migration.

Chinese female science fiction writers have also emerged as a prominent force, focusing on unique female experiences and societal issues, as showcased in anthologies like 'The Way Spring Comes.'

Despite challenges in publishing, Black authors have redefined the genre by offering authentic portrayals of Black experiences, broadening the scope of science fiction storytelling.

Contemporary authors like Gabby Rivera, TJ Klune, and Kacen Callender have further diversified the genre by exploring themes of intersectionality, identity, and inclusion through innovative narratives.

Over the past few decades, science fiction has increasingly integrated advancements in technology and scientific discoveries, using them as a foundation to explore complex ideas and make them accessible to broader audiences.

The genre has also responded to societal concerns about technology, such as artificial intelligence, with cautionary tales like Fadi Zewail's '2070: The Zanon War,' reflecting fears of technological overreach.

Contemporary science fiction has expanded to include interdisciplinary approaches, as demonstrated by the Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project, which fosters collaboration between authors and scientific researchers.

Traditional science fiction classics often focused on exploration and societal critique, while contemporary works frequently delve into complex social issues, identity, and speculative futures shaped by global challenges like climate change.

The inclusion of authors from underrepresented demographics, such as N.K. Jemisin and Ahmed Saadawi, has further enriched the genre by addressing issues of race, gender, and cultural identity.

The representation of gender, race, and cultural diversity in science fiction has evolved significantly, with early works often reflecting patriarchal and Eurocentric perspectives, as seen in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein.'

In recent decades, the genre has increasingly embraced diverse voices, such as Chinese female writers, marking a shift from male-dominated narratives to broader explorations of identity and inclusivity.

The rise of postcolonial and feminist perspectives has expanded science fiction's thematic scope, critiquing societal norms and exploring intersections of technology, culture, and identity.

Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' is widely regarded as the first true science fiction novel, setting the foundation for the genre by exploring themes of scientific experimentation and its consequences.

The mid-20th century saw the rise of authors like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, who emphasized hard science and speculative futures, while later authors like Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin introduced psychological depth and sociopolitical themes.

Contemporary science fiction has increasingly embraced global perspectives, with authors like Nnedi Okorafor and Liu Cixin bringing Africanfuturism and Chinese cultural narratives to the genre.

Subgenres like cyberpunk, steampunk, and dystopian fiction have emerged, reflecting the genre's capacity to adapt to societal and technological changes over time.

Cyberpunk, for instance, gained prominence in the 1980s with works like William Gibson's 'Neuromancer,' which explored themes of virtual reality and societal decay.

Science fiction has historically served as a mirror to societal issues, addressing challenges like capitalism, nuclear threats, and civil rights struggles in the 20th century, and later ecological crises and artificial intelligence in the 21st century.

The genre has evolved to critique societal norms and envision alternative futures, as seen in works like George Orwell's '1984' and N.K. Jemisin's 'The Broken Earth' trilogy.

Global perspectives have significantly influenced science fiction, with non-Western authors like Wang Jinkang blending philosophical science fiction with cultural themes.

The growing global interest in Chinese science fiction, led by Liu Cixin's 'The Three Body Problem,' has demonstrated how non-Western perspectives enrich the genre and attract international audiences.

Contemporary authors like Kazuo Ishiguro and Janet Winterson have blended science fiction with pure literature, using the genre to explore philosophical and societal themes.

The rise of speculative fiction has blurred the boundaries between science fiction and other genres, serving as an umbrella term for narratives imagining advancements or alternate realities.

Genre-bending works like 'Iron Widow' and 'Phoenix Extravagant' merge cultural magic systems with futuristic technology, showcasing the genre's adaptability.

One major debate within the science fiction community revolves around its role as a tool for social critique versus its escapist and imaginative qualities.

Science fiction anthologies, such as those featuring Chinese female authors, have played a significant role in showcasing diverse voices and expanding the genre's inclusivity.

Adaptations of science fiction literature into other media, such as film and television, have significantly influenced the genre’s evolution by expanding its audience and reshaping narrative structures.

Science fiction as a literary genre has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with foundational works by authors like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, who explored themes of exploration, scientific discovery, and societal critique through imaginative storytelling.

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Content: The exhibition “Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in Literature of the 1920s ” was opened at the State Museum of the History of Russian Literature named after V. I. Dahl.
The exposition is devoted to the images of the ideal “city of the future ”, presented in domestic literary utopias and dystopia.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
In the twenties of the twentieth century, utopias became one of the most popular literary genres.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
Exhibition curator Timur Khayrulin
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
“Mankind has always imagined an ideal future, whether it ’ s a garden of paradise, a transparent phalanster, or a blooming apple tree on Mars.
Utopia is a style of thinking about the future, not just a literary genre or political theory, but a universal idea, an extracted dream, characteristic of various cultural epochs, ” the organizers of the exhibition noted.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
A. S. Shaikhet, “Illich ’ s Lamp ”, 1925
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
On the imaginary map of the future world, ideal cities and countries are manifested: Khlebnikov's "Lebedia", Plato's "Chevengur", Vivian Itin's "Country of Gonguri", Yesenin's "Ionia", Alexander Chayanov's "Country of Peasant Utopia".
Fantastic urban landscapes of the future are contrasted with peasant ideas about an ideal society, and Russian theorists of cosmism dream of interplanetary travel and the arrangement of an ideal world in other universes.
Finally, the "future world" begins to depict critically: there is a forerunner of all the known dystopia of the 20th century - Zamyatin's novel "We".
Illustrations for the novel Zamyatin "We"
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
Illustrations for the novel Zamyatin "We"
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
Zamyatin "We"
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
Evgeny Zamyatin
From the polemics of various utopian systems, Soviet science fiction is born.
The authors of the 1920s enthusiastically painted in their works a world in which flights into space, robotization of production, prolongation of life, universal communication are possible.
What fantasies of writers have come to life, and what else are waiting for their possible embodiment, you can see by going through the exhibition.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Perpetual Engine
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The exposition presents samples introducing the viewer to the world of the future in the representation of V. Khlebnikov and E. Zamyatin, A. Platonov and A. Chayanov, A. Belyaev and A. Tolstoy, V. Mayakovsky and Y. Okunev.
The halls present drawings and models of the “mechanisms of the future ”, graphic images of“ flying cities ”, materials telling about the authors of utopias and the perception of their texts by contemporaries.
At the exhibition, the exhibits are arranged on themes in several halls: “City of the Sun ”,“ Between City and Country ”, “Beyond the Earth ” and“ Against Utopia ”.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The exhibition project was attended by the State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Multimedia Art Museum, the State Central Theater Museum named after A.A. Bakhrushin, the Political Museum, the Russian State Library, the Kostroma State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, the State Historical Museum, the State Central Museum of Cinema, the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The Crossroads of Utopias: The Future in 1920s Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM
The exhibition runs from April 13 to August 14, 2022 in the State Museum of the History of Russian Literature named after V. I. Dahl.
House of I. S. Ostroukhov in Trubniki at the address: Trubnikovsky lane, 17, p. 1.
Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature
Natalia Streltsova © IA REGNUM

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

H.G. Wells' novels, such as 'The Time Machine,' addressed philosophical and political questions, reflecting anxieties about industrialization and class struggles, while Jules Verne's works like 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' emphasized adventure and the marvels of scientific discovery.

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Content: Monday 27 December 2021
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Editor-in-Chief
Wael Lotfy
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Editor-in-Chief
Wael Lotfy
“Studies in Scientific Literature. ”
A book that explores the features of science fiction in Arabic works
Science fiction literature has witnessed a wide presence in Arab creative writings despite its emergence and prosperity in the Western world, and despite its creative popularity, it has not received sufficient critical attention. Based on this idea, the Syrian writer and critic Ahmed Ali Mohammed observes the features and features of science fiction in Arabic literature, both ancient and modern, in his book "Studies in Science Literature", recently published in the series of studies by the Arab Writers Union.
The Syrian researcher believes that the Arab criticism has overlooked the literature of science fiction, citing a number of arguments such as the immaturity of this type of writing in the Arab world, and the disregard of his writers for the features of literary writing, as well as the lack of scientific knowledge, which the writer considers weak, especially with the presence of remarkable writings in this field succeeded in setting a firm foot and overcome many shortcomings.
Leadership in scientific literature
Ali points out that the philosophical messages of Avicenna and Ibn Tufayl can be considered as the beginning of the link in ancient Arabic literature between literature and science, as the Arab heritage includes philosophical messages written in successive times that represented the basis of literary thinking based on science fiction, the most prominent of these messages: "The message of Hayy bin Yaqzan" by Avicenna.
Shahabuddeen al-Sahrawardi ’ s “Strange Alienation ” message is inspired by the story of the neighborhood of Ben Yaqzan, and Ibn al-Nafees ’ s“ Perfect Letter ” in which he followed the example of his predecessors.
The author says of the relevance of these letters to science fiction: "These letters draw a narrative basis based on the facts of science, elaborate on the imagination based on thought and knowledge, and depict part of the knowledge of their owners.
The most prominent aspect of these letters is the narrative imager related to the facts of science and the perceptions of philosophy, which confirms the existence of seeds of scientific literature in the Arabs. ”
Science Fiction Poetry
The writer points out that science fiction literature has been associated with narrative forms, was raised with the French writer Jules Verne, who published the first story in science fiction literature in 1863 entitled "Five Weeks in a Balloon" and then wrote another story entitled "Journey to the Hollow of the Earth" and then continued productions, including the novel "Time Machine" by George Wells and others.
Science fiction poetry is rare, including the poem "The Asteroid" by Russian poet Nikolai Glazkov, translated by Al-Azhar University professor Ahmed Shafiq al-Khatib, a poem based on the achievements of science fiction literature in terms of prediction, foresight and time travel.
Criticism of scientific literature
Some of the works of Tawfiq al-Hakim include The Year of One Million (1953), which is dominated by philosophical consideration of life, nature and the universe, and his play Journey to Tomorrow (1958), which involves a forward-looking view of the future related to man ’ s struggle with time, as well as his play “Food for Every Mouth ”." In which he talks about the problem of food that people will suffer from in the future, and his play "The Prayer of Angels", which deals with the impact of science on the happiness of humanity and the provision of its needs.
Political fiction literature
The writer monitors the branches of science fiction literature that not only addressed the problems of the environment, pollution, space and planets, but touched the problems of politics, society and economy through the literature of political fiction, which includes under its banner the literature of utopia and dystopia.
There are a number of writings concerned with depicting Utopia, which means a utopia without trace of corruption, evil or injustice, the most prominent of these writings is Thomas Moore ’ s “Utopia ”, which depicts an ideal world critical of the political, religious and social conditions of his time.
The literature of dystopia comes in contrast to utopia, but they belong under the name of political fiction, which is a branch of science fiction literature, as each deals with political life by storytelling accompanied by fiction, and dystopia means the literature of the corrupt city or the world of bitter reality that depicts a society full of corruption and highlights the phenomena of destruction, murder and destruction and transformation of human beings. A feuding.
The author mentions a number of Western and Arabic writings that have emerged in the field of dystopia, including George Orwell ’ s 1984, Aldous Huxley ’ s Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury ’ s Fahrenheit 451.
At the level of Arabic writings, a number of works can be observed such as the novel "The Front" by Izz al-Din Issa, the novel "The Tale of the Last Arab" by Wassini al-Araj, "Frankenstein in Baghdad" by Ahmed Saadawi, "The Second War of the Dog" by Ibrahim Nasrallah, "Mercury" by Mohammed Rabie, "The Line" by Basma Abdul Aziz, and "Novelist of the First City" by Omar Hazek. And "Orwell in the Southern Suburbs" by Fawzi Thebian.
Literary Studies
In his book, the Syrian critic offers critical readings in a number of works under the banner of science fiction literature, including the novel "Hala al-Nour" by Mohammed al-Ashri, seeking to stand on the aesthetic trend, especially with the departure of literary criticism from the study of the aesthetic aspects of science fiction literature, observing the methods of the novelist mixing the facts of science with the world mythical heritage.
The book provides another analysis of the collection “Behind the Dark Walls ” by the Syrian writer Taleb Omran, which falls within the literature of dystopia, because the stories depict worlds in which savagery, destruction, murder and destruction prevail, and on the other hand it monitors the Syrian storyteller ’ s interest in the method of scientific storytelling and its reliance on astronomical knowledge and geographical information.
The writer also analyzes the elements and features of fantasy in some of the works of Ahmed Khaled Tawfik as one of the most prominent writers in this field, explaining that science fiction is different from fantasy or wonder in the contemporary novel in that it starts from the modern scientific output, and depends on scientific knowledge specialized, while fantasy completely degenerates from logic and depends on the imagination and does not find a trace of laws we know in reality and depends on mythological and form It is in harmony not with the outside world but with its own world according to which it takes place.

These early pioneers established science fiction as a genre that combines speculative imagination with scientific principles, paving the way for later authors to explore broader themes such as space exploration, artificial intelligence, and societal ethics.

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Content: The novel is a cure for scientific infiltration.
Novelist art of the last three decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the present century is perhaps one of the most important tools for the dissemination of scientific knowledge and making it part of the general culture, as it has significantly reduced the gap between the scientific fiction and scientific applications in the field, through interesting stories and interesting characters.
Scientists can reach a wider audience and simplify complex ideas, which contributes to the promotion of scientific awareness and inspiration among readers; the integration of science with literature is not just an intellectual luxury, but a necessity for effective communication between scientists and society, especially as physical discoveries have become more confusing and fascinating than the most imaginative scientific novels.
When we read according to preconceived expectations, we marginalize the element of surprise with all its uncalculated potential, which may lead us to wonder and pleasure.
The use of the novel in the dissemination of science is not a new innovation, as literary stories throughout the ages have been an effective means of transmitting knowledge and values. Every sober novel must be a medium of knowledge, and therefore it undoubtedly requires a writer passionate about knowledge to touch a chord in the heart and mind of the reader. To achieve this, the reader must be engaged in learning.
But in modern times, with the increasing complexity of scientific theories and technology as a means of dealing with epistemological lava, epistemological narratives are no longer just lavish, but an urgent need and a simplistic tool that allows audiences to understand this knowledge more deeply.
To think of scientific novels as mere science fiction involves a great deal of predilection and prejudice, and I think it is more correct to describe them as an epistemological novel that satisfies in a fictional framework, and this can be seen by examining the dramatic and attractive survey that marked most of them.
With the proliferation of international novels and their drinkers, selective reading was inevitable; after all, we wouldn ’ t be able to read every recent edition.
Here comes the subjective approach; some are satisfied with the translator into Arabic, because there is no way for him to read another language, some read novels based on previous compliments of prominent critics and known for the excellence of their literary industry, others follow novels for their popularity and popularity, and there are readers who follow certain names for their knowledge of the creativity in their novels, and I think myself of the latter category. Although I sometimes tend to take the opinion of the first category, I think that when we read according to preconceived expectations, we marginalize the element of surprise with all its uncalculated potential, which may cause us to wonder and enjoy.
In Alice in Quantum Country, Robert Gilmar takes the reader on a journey through the world of quantum mechanics, in ways that draw the reader into the depths of this mysterious and complex field.
Gilmar uses a simple narrative style, with illustrations and famous experiences
I follow the work of Dan Brown and José Rodríguez dos Santos with great passion, and I make sure that I do not miss any of their work, and I think it is a wonderful experience that their novels and the works of other novelists who have taken it upon themselves to convey scientific ideas and concepts to a wide audience in an interesting and easy to understand way, especially by making them freely available to readers on the Internet. A large number of readers are paying to read it, and to see the most distinctive and unusual scientific investigations of our time.
By this I mean “particle physics ”, which is one of the most prominent sciences of the modern era, led by the Center for Nuclear Research in Switzerland (CERN), and the unprecedented revolution of communication, informatics and electronic applications, nano-engineering, and the science of industrially created materials; as well as“ quantum mechanics ”, which led to a revolutionary turn in science, thought and philosophy.
These are some of the most exciting and complex fields of science.
Thanks to their storytelling style, writers have been able to present these topics in a way that non-specialist readers can understand and enjoy, and keep up with the explosive stream of information generated daily; in Alice in Quantum Land, Robert Gilmar takes the reader on a journey through the world of quantum mechanics, in ways that draw the reader to the depths of this mysterious and complex field.
Through illustrative examples and famous experiments, such as the double-slit experiment and the Schrödinger cat experiment, Gilmar explains how qubits and quantum entanglement can be the foundations of new quantum computing, simplifying complex scientific concepts and making them accessible to everyone.
Dan Brown introduces elements of particle physics and electronic engineering into his novels, as shown in The Lost Symbol and The Origin.
It mixes scientific facts with literary fiction, creating interesting worlds.
The book is not just a theoretical exposition, it is a fictional journey into the quantum world, involving chapters with dramatic titles that rob the passionate reader: Into Quantum Land, Heisenberg Bank, Institute of Mechanics, Copenhagen School, Fermi-Boz Academy, Virtual Reality, Atoms in the Empty, Rutherford Castle, Particle Concert Masquerade, and the City of Experimental Physics Games.
Quantum Alice is similar to the Alice created by the novelist Lewis Carroll (who had an in-depth experience in mathematics).
It is a novel whose protagonists are electrons, neutrons, protons, photons, and quarks.
Alice goes to the Quantum Country — an entirely new version of Wonderland, smaller than an atom — and each landmark she frequents there illustrates a different aspect of quantum theory; there Alice encounters a number of extraordinary characters, through which she learns the uncertainty principle, wave functions, Pauli principle, and other concepts. Baffling, with a new intake that makes them all easy to absorb.
Along the same lines, Dan Brown introduces elements of particle physics and electronic engineering into his novels, as shown in The Lost Symbol and The Origin.
Braun blends scientific facts and literary fiction to create interesting worlds that help readers explore these fields without feeling overwhelmed; in Angels and Demons, Braun offers particle physics in an exciting way, tackling the story of antimatter smuggling, which prompts the reader to dive into this complex field of science, in an interesting narrative that highlights the challenges and adventures associated with this science.
José Rodríguez dos Santos, a Portuguese journalist and novelist, combines his journalistic and novelist skills to provide stories that delve into science in an exciting storytelling style, though he elaborates on scientific knowledge more than Dan Brown does.
In his novel The Mystical Hand, Dos Santos addresses the subject of biological evolution and astrophysics, mixing scientific facts with fiction, dissecting scientific concepts in a way that the average reader can understand, without losing the element of suspense and excitement in his plots.
I feel very grateful for this type of novel and its authors as much as I am for scientists and their discoveries, and I hope that it will be more popular in our Arab societies, whether by specialists in the scientific field or others, as a space for fun and learning.
In his novel The Gods of the Universe, Dos Santos explores topics such as the Big Bang and string theory, presenting them in the context of an exciting story.
Thanks to his journalistic background, Dos Santos has the ability to simplify scientific concepts, presenting them in a curious way.
What science fiction novelists do in their series is try to shift one ’ s mind from the superficial, fragile, transitory levels of thought to the higher horizons, which may seem invisible or intangible to many; understanding the basics is the foundation of every sober science, the necessary first step to contribute to intellectual and societal advancement, and not to dwell in the corners of indifference away from the scientific revolutions around us.
I feel very grateful for this type of novel and its authors as much as I am for scientists and their discoveries, and I hope that it will be more popular in our Arab societies, whether by scientific professionals or others, as a space for fun and learning, to turn on the disrupted senses, and to take a look at the worlds around us.
The views expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.

The socio-political events of the mid-20th century, including World War II and the Space Race, significantly influenced science fiction by introducing themes of technological advancement, existential threats, and the exploration of new frontiers.

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Content: The expansion of Western imperial power coincided with the rapid development of heavy industry at the time, particularly in the areas of transport, finance and telegraphy.
This development established the economic influence of important Western empires, even outside the official territories of the empire.
Therefore, it can be said that most of Latin America is actually an informal territory of the United States or the United Kingdom.
What ’ s more, as the largest non-Western economy, Japan has imperial power.
Heavy industry focuses on the production of iron and steel, especially the construction of ships and large machinery, as well as the production of military weapons. The best example is the expansion of the Krupp heavy factory in Essen, Germany, which produced artillery mainly for the German army.
However, with the growth of different industries, the company also diversified into emerging technologies, especially the chemical industry in which Germany excels.
Emerging industries and activities also included automobiles, film and television, as well as the Wright brothers' invention of the aircraft in 1903.
However, in most other parts of the world, the pattern of economic activity is still more traditional; agriculture remains an important economic source, with a large number of people engaged, especially in Asia.
At the same time, agriculture has changed.
With the development of large steamships, refrigeration technology and railways, it is easy to transport large quantities of goods, so the degree of commercialization of agriculture has also increased.
This phenomenon became more apparent in the 1900s and integrated many important sectors of the economy.
Coffee from Brazil, for example, could then be shipped to Europe and the United States, while beef from Argentina and lamb from Australia could also be shipped to the United Kingdom.
While protective tariffs existed, free trade flourished – reinforcing Britain ’ s strong position in commercial trade.
Various consumer behaviors at the time also reflected the potential for international production and trade.
For example, tea consumed by British workers may be imported from India and Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), with added sugar coming from the West Indies, while milk and teacups may be made locally.
However, we cannot determine whether such global economic consolidation is necessarily a good thing.
First of all, this process has been devastating for the environment and for humanity, and has continued throughout the 20th century.
Producing goods for distant markets, such as India and Ceylon for tea in the UK, can lead to tough and even harsh labour systems.
The national economy was highly dependent on specific crops (such as tea in Ceylon and rubber in Malaya), and the cultivation of crops was introduced by the imperial system, reflecting the influence of imperial power.
Another thing to note is that wherever there is money to be made, someone will always try to get a piece of the pie (illegal or semi-legal).
These industries, which are controlled by the state and regulated by the government, are largely unable to meet the needs of many people; therefore, the black market of smuggling, production, transportation and sales, and even the theft and sale of goods, are part of the economic activities.
It is important to understand that these are not "activities outside the normal society", but an integral part of forming society.
This also explains why it is often difficult for countries to seek policy support in poorer areas.
Emerging technology: "information" has become a daily necessities
The development of various emerging technologies has made people expect revolutionary changes, whether in the high-end technical sense, or things that can affect life more broadly.
For those who are always looking for reference goals, expectations, and routines in the past, such changes are hard to accept, and for others, the essence of life is the inevitable march into the future.
Some people are pessimistic about the future, but many more are hopeful, especially young people and urbanites.
Zeppelin – Improved Hot Air Balloon
Hot air balloons were badly designed for maneuverability, but in the 1870s, the combination of engines and hot air balloons formed the "airship", which was fitted with a metal frame to make it easier to operate.
The inflatable airship was developed by Zeppelin, Germany, who began experimenting with gas filling in cylindrical (rather than spherical) containers in 1899.
In 1908, Zeppelin's LZ-4 flew more than 386 kilometers in 12 hours, which attracted interest from the military, and science fiction writers began to use it as a theme, such as H.G. Wells's War in the Air and Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Strong Carter on Mars". John Carter of Mars.
Airplanes were born from internal combustion engines.
The wing design of early large gliders and limited success in manned flight were mainly due to the lack of suitable small engines.
However, the invention of the internal combustion engine made human flight possible.
The Wright brothers ’ success in 1903 was expected, at least according to Clément Ader.
However, to society, it was the Wright brothers' success that led to the realization of "controlled flight".
In addition, the Wright brothers also targeted the military market, winning a contract for military aircraft in 1908, creating an aircraft that could fly 200 kilometers at 64 kilometers per hour. In 1909, Wilbur Wright became the first pilot to photograph in the air, and Louis Blériot, a French aircraft engineer, flew over the English Channel in the same year.
Development of a four-cylinder long-range aircraft began in 1913, the same year the first pilot crossed the Mediterranean.
However, most of the airplanes of 1914 were nothing more than slow flying boxes.
Radio makes information a livelihood item
In 1904, the French novelist Edouard Estaunié coined the term “telecommunications ”, where“ tele ” means “distance. ”
Telecommunication was originally developed for long-distance communication between warships, but radio and telegraph are more convenient and flexible, and clearly have the potential to bring about deeper changes.
The British newspaper editor, Rob.
In 1913, Robert Donald spoke to the Press Association about the future of radio journalism:
“People can become lazy and reluctant to read, and news has to be delivered to their homes or offices like gas or water. ”
Residents will sit in the garden and listen to the day ’ s news with a vastly improved gramophone. ”
Changes in the military.
For the upcoming World War I, submarines and airplanes were the most far-reaching inventions of the time, but other changes in military technology are also important.
An article, signed "Colonel" and entitled "The Boer War: Attacking the Battlefield", was published in The Times on 27 December 1899 and read as follows:
“The modern defense consists of a breech-loaded rifle that combines modern weaponry with well-designed earthworks and is therefore indestructible; as long as the defenders have enough soldiers equipped with thick rifled rifles, it is almost impossible for the attackers to easily take the field. ”
Today, the breech rifle is being replaced by a continuous rifle, making the attack even more difficult unless the attacking party causes serious damage with artillery fire. ”
During the Russo-Japanese War, machine guns and barbed wire netting played an important role.
These changes had a profound impact on the world war that followed.
(This article is excerpted from "The Greatest 100 Years of Humanity" / Big is Cultural Publishing)
Before the 20th century, cavalry was a high-end weapon; since the 20th century, military equipment has not been extended to space even if it is a low-end country.
◎ Going abroad is the privilege of the rich. In the 20th century, the Boeing airliner appeared in the United States, and the working class can also holiday overseas.
In the agricultural era, dogs watched the house, cats caught mice, and in the large-scale urbanization of the 20th century, they were upgraded to pet owners.
Chaos theory, climate change, global warming, economics and environmental protection, which are important?
The emergence of the 20th century, including nationalism, the Cold War, the Spanish flu, the Internet and the Apple computer, these seemingly unrelated events have been linked to each other in the 100 years of the 20th century, shaping the subconscious of what you and I see today.
Author of more than 100 books, known as "the most prolific historian of this era" Jeremy Black, with more than 200 amazing, intriguing and even shocking photos, let you understand why the world is the way it is now?
What happened? What happened?
What is the future going to look like? You have to finish reading this book about the great events of the 20th century.
Author (s): Jeremy Black
A recipient of the Order of the British Empire, he is a Senior Research Fellow in Policy Communication and an Honorary Professor in the Department of History at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
He also served as a visiting professor at West Point, Texas Christian University, and taught at Durham University, where he completed his PhD at Oxford University.
In 2008, Black was awarded the Military History Society's Samuel Eliot Morison Award.
He has written more than 100 books during his career and is known as "the most prolific historian of his time".
It covers 18th century British politics, the history of war, and the cultural influence of James Bond.
His most recent books are A History of Europe, England in the Age of Shakespeare, and A Brief History of Portugal.
Gratitude and Mercy
He is a graduate of the Department of Foreign Languages, where he has a passion for literature and translation.
Translated into books such as "seasickness clinic", "body memory, more reliable than brain learning", "about dementia, the doctor is too busy to tell you" (above is a cultural publication), "the reader's confession" (willful publication) and so on.
# Empire # Economy # Heavy Industry # Protected Tariffs # Consumption

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

The Cold War further shaped the genre, embedding ideological struggles and technological competition into narratives, often reflecting the tension between capitalism and socialism as well as humanity's aspirations for space exploration.

Title:

Content: Countdown to the day of issuance
0
23
11
50.
Go to Election Zone
Wen Anli "Cold War": In the process of global hegemony, the elites of the United States and Russia think that they are carrying out the mission of Europe.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
What we want you to know is
In this book, Wen proposes a new perspective: In the last century, power contests and ideological struggles have transformed every corner of the globe.
The Cold War may have started on the edge of Europe, but it had the deepest repercussions in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where almost all groups had to choose sides.
These choices continue to define economies and institutions around the world.
The scope of this book is amazing and insightful, expanding our understanding of the Cold War in terms of both geospatial and temporal processes, and providing a fascinating new history of how today ’ s world was created.
Written by Odd Arne Westad
Thoughts: Creating the World
(previously)
The clash of ideas undoubtedly led to the bipolar structure of the Cold War.
The main ideology of the United States is universalist and linear, emphasizing the market, mobility, and mutability. Its deep-rooted belief is that all societies developed from Europe must move in the same direction as the United States.
From the very beginning, communism – the particular form of socialism developed from the Soviet Union – was framed as the antithesis of the capitalist ideology represented by the United States: an alternative future for people everywhere.
Like most Americans, Soviet leaders believed that an “old ” society based on local identity, social respect, and respect for the past was dead.
Competition is for the society of the future, and there are only two complete modern versions of competition: (imperfect and unjust) markets and (rationally integrated) schemes.
The Soviet ideology turned the state into a machine that operated for the good of humanity, while most Americans hated centralized state power and feared its consequences.
The stage of fierce competition has been set up so far, and the gambling of competition is the survival of the world.
This book attempts to contextualize the global phenomenon of the Cold War from a century-old perspective.
The Cold War began in the 1890s, with the first crisis of global capitalism, the European labor movement intensified, and the United States and Russia expanded into transcontinental empires.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States finally leapt to become a true global hegemony, and the Cold War ended in 1990.
The purpose of taking a centuries-old view of the Cold War is not to bury other major events – the World War, the dismantling of colonial systems, economic and technological change, environmental destruction, etc. – under a single, sophisticated framework, but to understand how the conflict between socialism and capitalism has greatly affected, and is again affected by, global development.
It is also to understand why a set of conflicts can be repeated over and over again throughout the century, and why all other contenders for power – whether material or ideological – must be linked to the Cold War.
From the end of the nineteenth century, at a time when European modernity seemed to be at its peak, the Cold War also spawned along the fault lines of conflict.
My argument (if there is a single argument in this long article) is that the Cold War was born out of a global transformation at the end of the nineteenth century, and was buried a hundred years later in a rapid upheaval.
As a clash of ideologies and an international system, the Cold War can be seen in terms of economic, social, and political changes that are far more far-reaching than the events created by the Cold War itself.
In a previous book, I argued that the profound and often violent transformations that took place in postcolonial Asia, Africa and Latin America were the main outcomes of the Cold War.
But conflict also has other meanings.
Conflict can be seen as a process of the advent of US global hegemony, as the (slow) collapse of the socialist left, especially the form advocated by Lenin, or as a critical phase of international rivalry that grew out of two world wars and was replaced by a new round of global disagreements in the seventies and eighties.
No matter which aspect of the Cold War is emphasized, it is necessary to recognize the intensity of the economic, social, and technological transformation in which conflicts occur.
In the 100 years between the 1890s and the 1990s, the global market collapsed at a dazzling pace, and the technology that previous generations could only dream of was changing, and some of it was used by interested people to increase their ability to dominate and exploit others.
Over the past 100 years, life around the world has been unpredictable, and almost everywhere the degree of mobility and urbanization has been straight up.
All forms of political thought, regardless of their influence, are deeply affected by the rapid changes of these changes.
In addition to the importance of ideology, technology was also a major reason for the enduring of the Cold War as an international system.
In the decades after 1945, there were four nuclear weapons plants.
In order to preserve the future of the planet, both powers are ready to destroy the planet – irony that readers will not miss.
As Soviet leader Joseph Stalin likes to describe it, nuclear weapons are “new weapons ”: not weapons on the battlefield, but weapons that wipe out entire cities, as the United States did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.
But only the two major powers have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world.
The twentieth century is connected by many important storylines that have developed more or less in parallel, as history has always done.
The conflict between capitalism and socialism has influenced almost every story, including the two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
By the end of the century, some of these developments had rendered the international system and ideological conflicts of the Cold War obsolete.
Therefore, it is likely that future historians will significantly dissolve the complexity of the Cold War.
They may be at the height of history, giving greater importance to the rise of economic power in Asia, the beginnings of space exploration, and the eradication of smallpox.
History is always a meticulous network of meaning, and the views of historians who write history are paramount.
What fascinates me is the role that the Cold War played in creating the world today.
But of course this does not mean belittling the sidelines and condescending the Cold War.
That ’ s just to say that in the long run, the conflict between socialism and capitalism has profoundly influenced how humans live and how they think about local and global politics.
Overall, the Cold War took place in the midst of two profound transformations in international politics.
The first is the emergence of new countries, which were established somewhat in the form of European countries in the nineteenth century.
In 1900, the number of independent countries in the world was less than 50, of which about half were in Latin America.
There are now nearly 200 independent countries, most of which share similar governance and administrative structures.
Another fundamental change is America ’ s ascendancy as a global power.
If the US defense budget in 1900 is about $10 billion in 2010, this is a significant increase from a few years ago, due to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and the pacification of rebellions in the Philippines and Cuba.
Today, defense spending has been scaled up a hundredfold to $1 trillion.
In 1870, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States was 9% of the world's, and in 1955, when the Cold War reached its peak, it was about 28%.
Although the United States has been declining for many years, it is still around 22%.
As a result, the Cold War shaped an era of growing numbers of countries and rising power in the United States, both of which influenced the direction of the conflict.

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

The aftermath of World War II and the rise of nuclear technology brought darker themes into science fiction, such as the potential for global annihilation and ethical dilemmas surrounding scientific progress, mirroring societal fears of the time.

Title:

Content: Extermination of Resistance in What Context?
Why does the civilized West accept the annihilation of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza?
Why does he accept the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians?
Why would he accept demolishing the entire sector on the heads and bodies of its inhabitants?
Why not intervene to stop the war decisively?
The annihilation of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza 2023-2024 is an episode in a long history of violence, the export of war and the extermination of the various, an early history that began before the annihilation of the Andalusian Islamic civilization in the Iberian Peninsula – Spain and Portugal – was finally completed with the surrender of Granada in 1492.
Until then, the Muslims were the kings of the seas, the Europeans were held hostage inside the continent, the seas were forbidden to navigate by the consensus of the Muslims, and then by the beginning of the 15th century they set foot in Ceuta on the coast of Morocco.
Colonization and enslavement
Then in 1482 they reached the mouth of the Congo River, and then in 1491 a Portuguese ship arrived with the first regiment of colonists, settlers, priests and missionaries, and established the first settlement in the name of the King of Portugal, and this was, as Adam Hotchchild says – in his book “The Ghost of King Leopold: A Story of Greed, Violence and Heroism in the Colonization of Africa ”. black".
p. 16.
At the head of the 15th century – in 1500 AD – a Portuguese ship loaded with priests, missionaries, adventurers, slave traders, and wealth seekers accidentally arrived on the shores of Brazil, and from this moment began the modern and contemporary history of Europe, an uninterrupted history, the colonization of America, the enslavement of Africa, the colonization of Brazil ’ s goods by the enslavement of African people.
Perhaps this explains some of the international reactions you see to the Zionist genocide in Gaza, where the West is a full partner in the genocide, and where both Latin America and Africa are at the forefront of the angry reactions, Latin American anger, and then African anger, which is unparalleled in the Arab and Islamic worlds.
Between colonialism and enslavement, local civilizations and cultures were annihilated, Catholic Christianization followed by Protestantism, capital was accumulated through commercial capitalism, the industrial revolution took place, scientific breakthroughs were achieved, Europe ’ s dominance over the rest of the world ’ s continents was confirmed, dry, sea, ocean, surface and interior.
In these five centuries, Europe and its successors — Canada, America, and Australia — have become an oasis of prosperity, wealth, and sustenance, just as it is the center of sovereignty, supremacy, and domination; in order to preserve the achievements of the five centuries, to secure that oasis of prosperity, to ensure continued domination, it has maintained its historical mission: to export war and violence, latent and apparent everywhere in the world.
Export Wars and Destruction
The last episode of Western violence revolves around the 20th century, a little before, and a little after.
This period, from the end of the nineteenth century to the present moment of the first quarter of the twenty-first century, is the present features of the Western mind, the distinctive features of the Western face, as seen at this moment, a mind that does not mind committing genocide, features of a face that is not disturbed by massacres that bombard the necks of innocent people.
In the last ten years of the 19th century, the genocide against the peoples of the Congo was carried out by Belgian colonists; the death toll is said to have reached ten million, followed immediately by the first massacres of the 20th century, in which German colonists exterminated tens of thousands of the people of Namibia, and at the end of the 20th century the extermination of Muslims by Serbs in Srebrenica in Kosovo (1995).
Almost a hundred years separate the extermination of the peoples of the Congo and then Namibia in Central West Africa, and the extermination of the Muslims in the Central Balkans in the heart of Europe, and between this and that, between the turn of the century and the end of the century, Europe and the West did not stop exporting war and violence to every inch of the world.
The First World War claimed ten million lives, the Second World War claimed sixty million, and the Cold War ignited countless regional proxy wars.
In the 20th century, Western civilization reached its peak as technology-industrial capitalist democracies, as well as a spring of violence, a cradle of war, and a fighting force that dominates the Atlantic Alliance, and has bound the universe with enough rules of war to destroy it thousands of times.
This Western peak – civilization and violence together – has ravaged and continues to ravage the Arab and Islamic worlds: the invasion of Afghanistan 2001, the invasion of Iraq 2003, the tearing up of the Arab Spring countries 2011, until this moment, when the Zionist extermination war against Gaza took place 2023-2024, the Arab and Islamic worlds were at their worst officially and popularly: the resistance was considered an extension of the currents of political Islam. And internationally, after it has almost taken full control - through democratic elections - over the entire region, and the logic is that the liquidation of the resistance in the context of the liquidation of those currents.
This explains to you the silence of governments in the Arab and Islamic worlds, as well as the silence of some anti-Islamist currents in general.
There is also a regional and international consensus that weapons belong to states and not movements, including resistance movements.
This is the lesson that these and those who came out of the experiences of the civil wars in the region in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions.
The concepts of jihad, victory, loyalty, innocence, and every machine of armed reaction have exhausted their purposes, and are no longer acceptable to those who made them for the first time.
Drain and lure
The idea of jihad — the last 100 years — was not of Islamic origin, but of Western origin, invented by the Germans in the early 20th century to mobilize masses of Muslims around the world against the British, it was the Germans who convinced the Ottoman Sultan to declare Islamic Jihad against the English in World War I.
The call did not bring any significant benefits, because the sultan ’ s standing among Arabs and Muslims had deteriorated at a moment when ideas of nationalism and independence flourished at the expense of the idea of unity and Islamic university.
The Sultan ’ s call for jihad also failed; because the propaganda of the English was smarter and shrewder, they promised everyone until they won, and then they broke their vows with everyone.
The second time that the idea of Islamic Jihad appeared on a global scale was invented by US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1928 – 2017, where he reused the idea of jihadism invented by the Germans, but in a different context and with good preparation, all currents of political Islam in the Arab and Islamic worlds were used to serve America and the West in their cold war and proxy against the Soviets, in coordination with a number of Arab and Islamic governments....
Political Islam was a decisive figure in the broad war against the Soviets, particularly against communist rule in Aden, then in Indonesia, and then in Afghanistan.
Political Islam unconsciously played its jihadist role in the service of the West until the fall of the Soviet Union.
From that date, the international importance of these currents began to diminish, and then began to liquidate them – gradually – so that you hardly hear about them, and hardly hear about the idea of jihad.
The broad back of the currents of political Islam that stood – strongly – with the Western-backed Afghan resistance against the Soviets, and against the communist regime in Afghanistan does not exist now, Dahir has lost his back, his voice has faded, his affairs have faded, then his consumption and exhaustion, then luring him to power, then pitting counter-revolutions against him, and then liquidating him except those who remained in prison or exile. Under siege but without presence, effectiveness or influence.
This is an important new development that needs to be taken into account: in the past, the forces of political Islam were highly organized, well-resourced, have widespread media capabilities, and have a large public presence that could have been as effective as, or perhaps more so than, governments.
Absence of back
There is no doubt that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza is facing annihilation, deprived of the support and support of this absent or missing Dahir until he knows only what is missing.
The resistance has been left with only support from the organizations of Shiite political Islam, whether in southern Lebanon, Yemen, or Iraq, which are exceptional cases, where the fragility of the central state allows these forces to play a significant role both within and outside the state, locally or regionally.
Since the Zionist project was a fetus in the womb of the unseen, it has been assimilated to the structure of the contemporary democratic capitalist colonial crusade, a project formed within the framework of the struggle against Islam for a thousand years, starting with the crusade against Islam in the Levant, then in Morocco, then colonialism, and then Zionism came to be the last stone in this integrated structure.
For five centuries, with the rise of Protestantism, Catholic-Jewish animosities and feuds gradually faded away, and a common word was met: the return of the Jews to Jerusalem is a necessary condition for the return of Christ, peace be upon him, and the repentance of the Jews at his hands.
Catholicism resisted this interpretation for a long time, but in the end it prevailed, and what we see today is a new crusade, a crusade with a Zionist mask, as well as a Zionism with a deep and deep crusader content.
This Zionism is nothing more than an evolution of the crusader idea, the idea that the cradle of Christ should not be under the authority of the infidels (Muslims), this new crusader explains to you why since the inception of Zionism as an idea, then a movement and then a state that has received the support of all the capitals of the West regardless of their sects and creeds.
It is true that the founders of Zionism were secular and perhaps atheist, and it is also true that the rulers of the West are secular and perhaps atheist, but Zionism was for those like the Crusader for those the root of the position towards the land of Palestine and the entire Islamic East, the root of difference and then the latent or apparent hostility, the root of culture and history that cannot be uprooted.
The Last Castle
This new crusade explains to you why the West, all the West, is ensuring that Israel is armed enough to outmaneuver all Arabs and Muslims together in the event, presumably, of a war between them all and Israel.
In this sense, Israel is the last castle of the Crusader, a castle that the West is building together, despite its differences, a castle that came to stay, not to disappear, if the signs of disappearance, in fact or in fiction, the whole West mobilized, arms flow, diplomacy activated, the media rises, conscience is banished, and there is no place for international and humanitarian principles and laws. The ghost of the mind.
Therefore, the natural response – from their point of view to the events of October 7, 2023 – is to release the hand of Israel to annihilate the last stronghold of the resistance, and the entire West behind it, providing it with arms and advice and turning a blind eye to its crimes and protecting it from accountability. He fled and paganism, providing it with the lights of Western civilization.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

The 'Golden Age of Science Fiction,' spanning from the late 1930s to the 1950s, emphasized hard science, space exploration, and futuristic themes, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein shaping the genre's identity.

Title:

Content: Supplement
Sunday literature.
Culture
Sunday Literature: Tu Chien's Years, Huang Hua and Long Memories: A Review of Books by Tu Chien
He died, and there was a great book about him, and a great book about him.
Born in Hong Kong on February 19, 1935 (also known as February 19, 1934), Du Chin studied at Lingnan Primary School and St. Stephen's College in Hong Kong. He graduated from the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University.
Du has been engaged in the editorial and translation work of newspapers and periodicals for 30 years. He has edited the monthly book “Open Volume ” and“ Readers ’ Friends ”. He is the author of “New Trends in Asian, African and Latin Literature ” (1976),“ Contemporary Foreign Writers and Works ” (1980), “The Night Voyage of the Book Sea ” (2 volumes, 1980, 1984),“ World Science Fiction ” (1992). He also translated several science fiction novels, including The Story of a Detective (1994), The Story of a Detective (2019), The Story of Three Generations (2014), Long Memories: The Eyes of a Teacher and Friends (2015), and translated several science fiction novels.
Du moved to Canada in his later years and died on July 23, 2022.
From Afro-Asian to Contemporary Foreign Literature
I have "Asian, African and Latin Literature New Trend", published by Hong Kong Wanyuan Book Company, this book from the left side, introduced the Asian, African and Latin literature, and it is rare to write a relatively mild, not too much ideological discourse.
From the illustrations in the book, Du Chen should have seen a number of foreign books before writing this book, including book reviews such as "Achebe's Novel Creation" and "Du Bois's Will", which discuss the more famous black writers, and scroll down a "text prison of a novel - this novel exposes the corruption of the police", from 1974 Nelson Marra The award-winning novel “The Bodyguard, ” and its associated spate of arrests, describes the repression of freedom of speech and the press by the Uruguayan police, as well as the repression of the literary and artistic world.
The incident has faded from the memory of ordinary literary readers, but Du Jian recorded it with a book review and became a page of literary history.
Towards the end of the 1970s, the tendency of the dogmatic left gradually faded, and Du Jian ’ s reading range became wider. Contemporary Foreign Writers and Works was published by the Hong Kong Ocean Arts and Culture Society, and its chapters were published in the magazine Ocean Arts and Culture.
Du introduced Graham Greene, John Cheever, Colette, Bertolt Brecht, Isak Dinesen, Nadine Gordimer, Ryuichiro Tanizaki and Ryuosuke Okawa, eight 20th-century writers who not only came out of the confines of Afro-Asian literature. As soon as the book is in hand, readers can enjoy the work from the two texts of the commentary and the translation. In “Contemporary Foreign Writers and Works, ” Du Jian chose to translate Ryuichiro Tanizaki ’ s“ tattoo ” and Ryuosuke Okawa ’ s “bamboo forest ”, both of which are popular and popular.
The South African female writer Gaudimet, introduced by Du Jian in the late 1970s, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.
Book Sea Night Flight
"Book Sea Night Voyage" two episodes published by Beijing Sanlian, when there were many prints in mainland China, naturally has a certain influence, these two books seem to have opened a window for long-closed mainland readers.
Some of the book ’ s reviews have been found in The New Trend of Asian, African and Latin Literature and Contemporary Foreign Writers and Works. The book is mainly a collection of book reviews written by Du Jian in his spare time between 1974 and 1978.
As for "Book Sea Night Voyage II", the content is equally extensive, there is no less than, the second set of the epilogue, Du gradually explained his own ten years as a day of three paragraphs on the reading method:
"I read there is no shortcut, and will not" speed reading ", using a stupid way, the old man actually read the book, there is no other way.
I divide the time into three sections every day, to work a section, do work concentrate on other, the other section is translation and writing, people engaged in writing in Hong Kong, every day have to be a "reptile", write thousands of words, earn some manuscript money to earn a living, is the so-called book is only for the straw.
Only in the evening, I have my own time, from eight o'clock to two o'clock at night, I use to read the books I like to read, write what I like to write, these five or six hours are my most precious, but also I can control a period of reading and writing time. 」
In the second part of the book, Du Jian pointed out that the title of the book was Yan Qingshu (pen name Tang, author of "Jinling Spring Dream") in the illness, Du Jian wrote this book to commemorate the death of his friend Yan Qingshu.
Tang Tao wrote the preface to The Book of the Sea and Night Voyage II. At a glance, when he saw that the book was written by Zhang Dai (Zi Zongzi) and Ah Ying's The Book of the Night Voyage, Tang Tao, a veteran scholar of books, wrote:
"The Book of the Sea of Night Voyage, the Night Voyage Collection, and the Night Voyage Ship have a common meaning, suggesting that the author began his life of reading and writing at a time of silence and complete silence."
The first three books deal with this.
However, Zhang Zongzi has his own experience and opinions, which deserve our attention.
He said that the world is the most difficult to deal with, except for the night boat.
Yu Yao custom, the children of later generations, all do not read, after 20 years of learning as a handicraft, so the hundred works of acrobatics, occasionally have questions, such as "Yingzhou 18 bachelor, Yuntai 28 generals", one by one registration, the answer is like a "two-legged bookcase".
This kind of question and answer is often carried out in the night sailing ship. "Tang Tao also mentioned the funny story of a monk and a man in Chang Dai's" The Night Voyage Ship ", so let's not record it, and if you are interested, it is not difficult to find it.
Science fiction and detective fiction
In the 1990s, two volumes of The World Science Fiction Literary Landscape, published by the Modern Education Research Society and published by the Hong Kong Triumvirate of Detective Reasoning Novels, were the first books Du Jian wrote for young students to read.
According to Li Weicai in the book preface, the article in the "World Science Fiction Literary World" came from 1987 to 1988, and Du Jian was the "Strange Book Talk" column of the "Commercial Daily".
Watching H.G. Wells ’ s “The War of the Worlds ” and“ The Invisible Man, ” as well as Jules Verne ’ s works, Du recalls, was captivated by science fiction.
"World Science Fiction Literary Grand View" divides science fiction into four eras of creation, development, gold and innovation. The originator is "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley (Mary Shelley), followed by Verne and Wales, and the development era has Huxley (Aldous Huxley) and George Orwell. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein and Frank Herbert, author of Dune, the era of innovation is even more grand, including Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and Ballard. J. G. Ballard is one of ten.
Ni Kuang's novels are highly readable because of their dramatic plot arrangements and vivid writing.
"World Science Fiction Literary Grand View" does not have esoteric nomenclature and academic discourse, but takes characters as a special chapter, and introduces the contents of representative works, which are all-encompassing, and is both a brief history of science fiction and a good primer for teenagers.
"Detective Reasoning Novel Talk" has an additional edition of "Detective Story", according to the reprint preface, Du Jian pursues "reading no forbidden area", since childhood likes adventure novels and detective novels, he also pointed out that Qian Zhongshu, Yang, Qian Yuan's family of three are fans of reasoning fiction.
"Detective Reasoning Novel Talk" from the beginning of the conversation between Allan Poe and Holmes, also mentioned Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, James Bond three novel characters; Japanese reasoning fiction also accounted for a considerable amount of space, the additional edition of "Detective Story" added "Little Roosevelt's" First Lady Detective Case "," The Cat Detective Case "female writer Lilian Brown", style change New materials were added to the four articles of Keigo Higashino and the New Trend of Reasoning Novels and the Past and Present of Chinese Detective Reasoning Novels.
Aged yellow flowers
In his later years, Du left behind two books, one is a memoir, "Years of Yellow Flowers: The Search of Three Generations", and the other is a collection of essays, "Long Face Memories: The Eyes of Teachers and Friends."
From the childhood of the beacon fire (1935 – 1946), experienced the ideal pursuit of studying in mainland China, the anti-rightist struggle, and the storm of the Cultural Revolution. After 20 years in mainland China, he returned to Hong Kong and lived in Hong Kong for another 20 years.
Due to the serious illness of his mother, Tu Chin returned to Hong Kong with the President of the Xinhua News Agency, Mr Leung Wai-lin, and then came to Hong Kong with a one-way permit to accompany his father, Dr Li Song, to work in a pharmacy.
In the past 20 years in mainland China, many books can not be seen, so once in Hong Kong, they constantly buy books to read.
Du Jian bought a collection of poems by Kahlil Gibran and translated some of the novels, but he wanted to kill time and practice writing. Moreover, "In the past few years, the pollution caused by the language of the Cultural Revolution in China, when I opened the newspaper, I saw all the big stories and false stories and official words, and it was best to clean the scum of my own language and words. I was able to learn his writing skills and practice my own Chinese writing, so I started translating Gibberlain ’ s novels. ”
He does not want to hide in the willow.
Du Jian went to the "New Evening News" to see the work, Rover asked Du Jian to translate a draft to see, Du Jian reluctantly to his own translation of the novel and the introduction of Ji Boren's short article to Rover.
The next day, Du Jian opened the "New Evening News" and found that his article introducing Gilbert was published in the newspaper.
As a result, Du turned to work at the newspaper office, because the newspaper was short of people, so he worked in the supplement of the newspaper.
He changed his name to Dujuan, meaning Dujuan Dujuan, to "Dujuan Dujuan".
My handwritten collection of Kiberon's novels, a small book by Daguang Publishing House in 1975, is a collection of translations from Du Jian's that year.
Du Jian said in "The Golden Flower of Time" that Zhang Huai, editor of Daguang Publishing House, is his acquaintance and has published several books for him, including "Life and Death", "People at the bottom", "New District Governor", "Golden City of Blood", etc. These books are not easy to find nowadays.
Teacher 's Eyes
In the preface to the book "I Know Du Zhen", the subtitle of "The Yellow Flower of Time", Lan Zhen points out that "The Yellow Flower of Time" "tells the story of the three generations of his family (grandfather Pan Ta Wei, father Li Song and Li Wenjian) who followed the truth and participated in the democratic revolution." His father was a little older, and his father was a little older, and his father was a little older, and he was a little older, and he was a little older.
It is divided into two parts: the first part is "Teacher's Letters", which, as the name suggests, are reminiscent of teachers and friends, including Lun, Chen Ti, Wu Chi-min, Lu Fu, Yen Ching-shu, Fan Yong, An Tzu Chieh, Kang Chun-fang, Li Liang-min, Xiao Qian Qian, Xu Xu, Lin Nien-tong, Huang Kuo-chih, Ma Kuo-chuan, and Qian. In the second half of the book, "Looking Back on History," Du Chien writes about the old stories of Liao An-hsiang, Pan Chu, Huang Leng-kuan, Pan Ta-wei, and Chen Lu-kui.
There are a number of overlaps between the "Love of the Teacher" and the "Yellow Flower of the Year". "From scratch" is a macroscopic view, and "Love of the Teacher" is even a micro-close-up. Du Jian writes old prose with the pen of a novelist. It is better to be lively and friendly, and everyone is alive. — Remembering my grandfather, Pan Ta-wei ” is a particularly detailed and wonderful article. Pan Ta-wei was influenced by Sun Yat-sen ’ s ideas and joined the Xingzhong Society. Later, Pan Ta-wei became the organizer of the Southern Section of the League.
The most famous story of Pan Ta-wei is the collection of the remains of the 72 martyrs of Huang Hua-gang. This passage is told by Du Chien through the words of his mother-in-law, Chen Wei-chang. When Chen Wei-chang died, Du Chien was very young. It was impossible to record his mother-in-law ’ s words. In other words, Du Chien used a small pen. The story of his father is told in the book of Revelation, and the story of his father is told in the book of Revelation.
Author: Wu Chi-min, editor of Readers ’ Liangyou Monthly (1984-1988, 45 issues), Science and Science Fiction Series (1990, 4 volumes) and Readers ’ Liangyou Library (10 volumes), Zhao Jiabi, Liang Yusheng, Hsu Ting-ming, Dong Ding-shan, Hsiao Chien, Ku Tsang-wu, Huang Ji-shih, Chen Hui-yang and Du Chien-chun.
Combining "The Yellow Flower of the Year" and "The Memory of the Long Face", now imagining Du Jian's career of writing books, translating books, and compiling books is bound to feel wonderful.
by Vincent Cheng
Art • Liu Ruoji
Editors • Chu Chien-hsun
Email • literature @ mingpao.com
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What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

Who are considered great masters of the golden age of science fiction?

Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov
Robert A. Heinlein

Serialized science fiction in pulp magazines during this era provided a platform for these authors to reach a wide audience, helping to establish science fiction as a distinct literary genre.

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Content: Liu Zaifu ’ s “Forty Lectures on Literature ”: History, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, the“ grafting ” spectacle of Chinese literary classics
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Liu Zai-fu, quoting literary classics from ancient and modern times, expounds in depth the meaning of literature in life, society, and human culture, not only the best primer to understand the meaning and value of literature, but also fully presents Liu Zai-fu's grand literary view.
Re: The Return of Liu
[15] Intersection of Literature.
One, two new types of inspiration
The topic I ’ m talking about today is a topic I thought about 30 years ago.
At that time, reading Lu Xun's essays, I felt that there was no such thing as "essays" in the history of literature.
This new literary category is the creation of Lu Xun, which is the result of his "grafting" of literature (prose) with political theory, contemporary theory, and contemporary criticism, and can also be said to be the intersection of prose and political theory, contemporary theory, and contemporary criticism.
Convergence, grafting and the production of another "quality", this is a large phenomenon of literature, you can do special research, you can write a paper, you can also write an academic monograph.
After the emergence of essays, some people do not admit that this is "literature", but Lu Xun said that it does not matter, one day, the literary hall will accept this new genre.
At a time when essays were gradually flourishing, another new genre of essays was emerging, called "reportage." Tsou Tiufeng, Fan Changjiang, Liu Binyan, etc., were all masters of reportage, and they became famous all over the world.
In the face of reportage, I also think of the phenomenon of "intersection" and "grafting", and feel that reportage is the result of the intersection of literature and journalism.
But it is not news, but literature, because the news can not have feelings, and the report literature is full of life and passion, the text is full of the author's thoughts and feelings.
Because of the report of literature, I entered the "literary intersection point" of reflection, and later because of the change in the environment, I did not write the paper to go abroad.
Today to pick up this topic, is completely forced by the classroom, but I do not intend to make a large article, but to put their own thoughts on literary intersection, grafting phenomenon to the students to express, I hope that the people here will be able to write the monograph of birth movement in the future.
Second, the phenomenon of "convergence" has existed in the past.
The phenomenon of literary convergence, that is, the "intersection of literature", refers to the intersection of literature with other disciplines or other forms of spiritual value creation, such as literature with history, philosophy, science, psychology, and even Buddhism.
This phenomenon has existed in China for a long time.
The great book that we all know, the History of Sima Qian, is the graft of literature and history.
"Historians", the focus is on history, that is, first of all, a great historical work, but no one can deny its huge literary nature, especially the characters in it and the characters listed.
Take "Xiang Yu Benji" as an example, the cornerstone of this era, that is, the basic material is history, but the protagonist (Xiang Yu) described is lifelike, flesh-and-blood, and can be read as a composition.
Xiang Yu ’ s story, which was later compiled into famous plays such as “Farewell to the Overlord ” and“ Hongmen Banquet ”, is the basis of this story.
Especially surprising to future generations is that many of Xiang Yu's life details must be Sima Qian's complement and imagination, such as Xiang Yu's last defeat and ran to the bank of the Wujiang River in a section description, can be said to be "not literature, more like literature."
We might as well read the text of this section:
So the king wanted to cross the river eastward, and the long boat of Ujiangting waited, saying, "Though Jiangdong is small, the land is thousands of miles, and the number of thousands is sufficient for the king."
I want the king to hurry.
The king laughed and said, "If I die in heaven, how will I do it?"
And by crossing the river with the children of Jiangdong, there is no one to return, even though Jiangdong father and brother have mercy and king me, what face do I see? Even if they do not speak, their independence is worthy of my heart? ”
When I was five years old on this horse, I was invincible, and tried to travel thousands of miles a day, and could not bear to kill it, so as to bless the Lord. "
Hundreds of soldiers were killed alone.
The king said, "If it were not for me," and the king said, "This is the king," and the king said, "I have heard that the king has bought my head a thousand gold, and I have a thousand households, and I have died for Jude."
And the king of Israel, and the king of Israel, and the king of Israel, and the king of Israel, and the king of Israel, and the king of Israel, and
Then came the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the horse, and the
Five of them together, all of them.
5: 5); and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts.
If Sima Chien had made the Book of History a pure historical book, it would have taken only a few words to write about Xiang Yu ’ s “end of the road ”:“ Xiang Yu stayed on the bank of the Wujiang River for a moment and felt that he had no face to see his father again, so he drew his sword and killed himself. ” In the book of Revelation, the Lord of the Rings tells us that He is the Lord of the Rings; that He is the Lord of the Rings; that He is the Lord of the Rings; that He is the Lord of the Rings; that He is the Lord of the Rings; that He is the Lord of the Rings, and that He is the Lord of the Rings.
In just four or five hundred words, he wrote a heroic ending and a heroic sad song, which is both sad and sad, and has both heroic spirit and heroic friendship, not only historical facts.
This section of text, both historical material value, can also be composition learning text read.
The History provides us with a successful example of the grafting of literature and history.
Literature can be grafted with both history and philosophy.
It can be said that Kafka and his later mainstream of modern literature, the so-called "absurd literature", are the result of the grafting of literature and philosophy.
Beckett, Yunescu, Pinter, Gao Xingjian, etc., all benefited from the intersection of literature and philosophy.
Professor Hu Yao-heng, an expert in drama studies at National Taiwan University, says that “Gao Xingjian ’ s plays are philosophical plays ” and is entirely correct.
Gao Xingjian ’ s plays, from “The Station ” and“ Beyond the Shore ” to “Dialogue and Conversation ” to“ The Night God ” and “Questioning Death ”, are the intersection of philosophy and literature.
Before Gao Xingjian, Beckett ’ s “Waiting for Godot ” and Yunesku ’ s“ Rhino ” were also philosophical and literary juxtapositions.
Its tone is no longer "lyrical", nor is it "verbal".
In the whole drama, only the author's profound understanding of the absurd world, which is both imaginary and philosophical.
The focus is on thoughts, not emotions.
From Kafka and Beckett to Pinter and Gao Xingjian, we can see the power of the intersection of literature and philosophy – it can change the tone of the literary world and create a new world of literature.
Third, the miracle of "grafting" in Chinese literary classics
If it is said that "History" is the intersection of history and literature, then "Journey to the West" is the marriage of literature and Buddhism, and "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the marriage of literature and psychology.
Without the Eastern Biography of Buddhism, there would be no Journey to the West.
The Book of Revelation is the book of Revelation and the book of Revelation, which is written in the Book of Revelation, and the Book of Revelation, which is written in the Book of Revelation and the Book of Revelation, which is written in the Book of Revelation, and is written in the Book of Revelation.
Sun Wukong accompanied Master Tang Monk to the West Heaven to take the Sutra, from the beginning to the end of the Sutra, it is all the logic of "Buddhism".
The Buddha of Rulai in Journey to the West is the most powerful, but not the absolute "savior".
The representative of the Buddhist world, Guanyin Bodhisattva, specifically helped guide the Tang monk and the Monkey King Master to overcome all kinds of difficulties and win the victory of the scriptures. She is God (Buddhism), but full of human feelings (literature).
The Lord is strong and powerful, and has the power of the devil, but the truth is perfect, and has the heart of the Buddha and the heart of the child; he is also a man, with the naughty and ideal of man.
There is no magic, no magic, no magic, no magic, no magic.
The Lord of hosts is the Lord of hosts, and the Lord of hosts is the Lord of hosts and the Lord of hosts.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" is like "Journey to the West", the whole book is full of Buddha light, children's heart pound.
"Journey to the West" is based on the Eastern tradition of Buddhism, and "Dream of the Red Chamber" is also based on the Eastern tradition of Buddhism.
But in contrast, the whole book of Journey to the West is saturated with Buddhism, and the Dream of the Red Chamber is saturated with psychology.
Therefore, I say, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the greatest work of psychology after the "Ecclesiastes" (Wang Yangming), and the difference is only that the former is intellectual psychology, and the latter is imaginary psychology.
Jia Baoyu, the protagonist of "Dream of the Red Chamber", is not so much a "person" as a "heart" - the purest heart that has never been seen in the history of world literature, like the dustless heart that was born on the first morning of Genesis.
If we regard Jia Baoyu as a "person", we will define him as a noble son, a playboy, and will feel that he likes poetry voice is "not doing good work", so that he feels that his "problems" are many and insufficient for training.
And if you think of him as a "heart", you will find that this heart is not stained with mud, and the thoughts and thoughts in the heart are completely different from those of the secular people.
This heart has no hatred function, no jealousy function, no vengeance function, no calculation function.
This heart is a boundless universe that can accommodate all things in heaven and earth, can accommodate all people, can understand and forgive all people.
Because he is a "heart", so it does not have the secular that some of the concept of distinction, I do not know that there are expensive and inferior points, high and low points, master and slave points.
Therefore, he regarded the "underlings" and "masters" as equals, and was willing to act as the "divine waiter" of these slaves and maidens (not only as the divine waiter of aristocratic girls such as Lin Daiyu). Jia Baoyu's life was only in childhood, adolescence and youth, and there was no middle age or old age.
So the Jia Baoyu mind we see, only the breath of youth and the breath of the universe.
The heart is filled with nothing but love.
New achievements in the intersection of literature and science
We talked about the difference between literature and science.
It is not difficult to distinguish this difference.
But this lesson is about how literature and science can also be intertwined and grafted.
In Lu Xun ’ s time, Lu Xun introduced the French “father of science fiction ” Verne ’ s“ Journey to the Moon ” and “Journey Under the Earth ”.
The intersection of literature and science, the most important result is the production of science fiction.
If we adhere to literary dogmatism, we may reject science fiction because it is not written about the “real world ” (and certainly not about reflecting real life), but the future world.
The characters in the book are not "real people" with flesh and blood, but "scientific people" in the author's imagination.
This kind of activity space for technological people is beyond the survival situation of traditional novels, and beyond the "rivers and lakes" environment of the martial arts novels.
Its heroes are not real heroes or heroes, but science and technology heroes.
If you stick to the definition of "literature is anthropology", then science fiction is difficult to be classified as literature.
However, if we use what I call the three elements of “mind, imagination, and aesthetic form ” to examine without demanding literature in ready-made literary definitions, then we cannot but admit that science fiction has all these three elements, especially imagination, and will happily accept science fiction.
It is worth noting that science fiction has made great strides in recent years, both in China and in the West.
Among them, the United States has even ushered in the golden age of science fiction, and Lu Xu, who was listening to the class, recently published an article in the "Bookhouse" about Ray Bradbury (United States) "Fahrenheit 451" and Liu Cixin (China) "The Three Body", entitled "The Humanities in Dystopia", which tells the two representative science fiction writers of the United States and China, half. In the 21st century, through creation, we hope that science and technology and humanistic spirit can meet and understand each other.
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 develops a "science fiction utopia" into a "science fiction utopia" that warns against the anti-intellectual (anti-humanistic) tendencies of human society.
And the recent emergence of Chinese writer Liu Cixin, published in 2006 science fiction novel "The Three Bodies", not only accepted by Chinese readers, but also won the United States Hugo Award (Best Novel Award), which brilliantly realized the intersection and grafting of science, culture and literature.
He consciously fought against the spiritual split between science and culture and humanistic culture, and put more humanistic feelings into it.
Roth said of the three:
A triple star system is a star system closer to Earth that interacts with three sun-like stars, resulting in chaotic orbits and poor survival conditions.
After establishing a connection with the Earth, the Three Kingdoms decide to launch a cosmic migration, and human society is facing a crisis of extinction.
The first part of the novel uncovers this reality, and the second and third parts depict the various efforts and struggles that humans have made to cope with the great crisis. For example, launching gravitational waves into the entire universe, exposing the coordinates of the Three Body World, so that the entire solar system, including the Earth, will become the target of the cosmic "dark forest".
In order to save itself, the earth even made a low-intelligence statement (using drugs and brain science technology to reduce human intelligence), and implemented technical self-harm, that is, to save the earth by limiting human development through technology.
This idea is to leave the final salvation to the humanistic spirit, and the literary pursuit of the "ultimate good."
From the examples of Ray Bradbury and Liu Cixin, it can be seen that the intellectual challenge caused by the intersection of literature and science is the highest intellectual thinking in the human world today, and it is also a new topic facing literature.
The emergence of outstanding science fiction, such as The Three Bodies, is challenging many traditional literary theories and definitions.
Looking at the history of literature, especially the history of modern literature, we will find that many new literary categories and literary patterns are the result of the intersection and grafting of literature with other disciplines, and over the past 100 years, we have also seen that the intersection of literature and psychology has produced the giant flow of consciousness novels such as Proust's "Remembering the Year of the Passing Water" and Joyce's "Ulysses.
Since then, we have seen Orwell ’ s Animal Farm, a new type of novel that has hit the world, which is actually the intersection of literature and politics.
We do not support literature as a tool of politics (including the idea that literature serves politics), but we do not deny that political life is also a part of real life, and political activities can also become a part of literature.
Orwell is familiar with literature, but also familiar with politics, he did not put politics above literature, but turned politics into the material and tool of literature, the art of politics refining and upgrading, so that politics is fully literalized.
The whole novel is written about politics, but it is also full of literary and artistic politics.
There are two camps in the novel: the “animal farm ” is a socialist state, the“ human farm ” is a capitalist state; the “animal ” is the oppressed and exploited party, and the“ human ” is the party that practices oppression and exploitation.
The struggle between “animals ” and“ humans ” is a metaphor for the resistance of oppressed people and oppressed peoples.
It can be said that these are well-known and commonplace political stories and political common sense.
However, Orwell designed the contemporary political struggle as a struggle between animals and people.
The characters of animal farms are pigs, dogs, horses, cows, sheep, goats, donkeys, old cats, pigeons, crows, chickens, ducks, geese, sparrows, mice, turtles, foxes, etc. Point wait.
These pigs, dogs, all anthropomorphic, and most importantly, full of comedy.
Liu Zaifu ’ s “Forty Lectures on Literature ”: Literature is moving toward“ Huineng ”, not toward “Nietzsche ”, which is my own unique expression.
Book Introduction
Forty Lectures on Literature: Common Knowledge and Wisdom, Joint Publishing
Author: Liu Zai
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One of the hottest defenders of humanity.
Let go of obscure hypotheses and ask for infinite truth.
Candles shine on the heart, bid farewell to ignorance, the shortest shortcut to enter literature
The world is so rich and complex, life is so vast and boundless, human nature is so colorful, literature face all this, naturally can also show their own charm.
There is absolutely no need to incorporate the narrow framework of a certain political ideology, whether it comes from the left or from the right.
Freedom can also be completely in their own hands, only when there is an awareness of freedom, can there be true freedom, and there is no need to wait for the objective conditions of freedom to mature before creating.
— — Liu Zaifu
In 2013 and 2016, Liu Zaifu accepted the appointment of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Institute for Advanced Study as a visiting professor.
According to the course, the book is divided into two parts.
The upper part of the "What is literature: literature common sense 22 lectures" from Chinese and Western literature common sense, from the definition of literature to the state of literature, and ultimately to pursue the "literary mind" in real life; the lower part of the "how to read literature: literary understanding 18 points", then carefully read the literature works need to think about the main points, in order to understand the mysteries of literature.
And...
Liu Zai-fu, quoting literary classics from ancient and modern times, expounds in depth the meaning of literature in life, society, and human culture, not only the best primer to understand the meaning and value of literature, but also fully presents Liu Zai-fu's grand literary view.
Editor-in-Chief: Weng Shihang
Editor-in-chief: Wang Zupeng
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While the Golden Age was dominated by white male authors, the genre has since evolved to include diverse voices, with contemporary authors like Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin addressing themes of race, gender, and social justice.

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

The New Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s challenged traditional science fiction narratives by rejecting rigid structures and predictable tropes, instead embracing experimental storytelling and deeper psychological, social, and political themes.

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Content: Julia Nagel/Sun Photography Editor

Fantasy author N. K. Jemisin speaks at a Bartels World Affairs Lecture in Klarman Hall on Oct. 4.

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N.K. Jemisin Gives Bartels World Affairs Lecture, Speaks on Building a Better World

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N. K. Jemisin, best-selling science fiction and fantasy author well known for her book trilogy “The Broken Earth,” spoke about building a better world at this year’s Bartels World Affairs Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m. in a packed Rhodes-Rawling Auditorium. Jemisin spoke about how building fictional worlds helps her discuss the reality of our society, and concluded by calling on the audience to make choices in order to build the world they wish to see.

Following her talk, Jemisin joined a panel of Cornell faculty to kickstart the latest Global Grand Challenge: The Future. Global Grand Challenges bring together people and resources to understand and develop solutions to humanity’s most urgent challenges. The first challenge launched in 2019, and this year’s challenge, “The Future,” focuses on how to employ creativity to build a more equitable and sustainable future world.

Supported by the Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellowship, the Bartels World Affairs Lecture is an annual, signature event hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies that brings renowned individuals to Cornell’s campus to speak on international matters with students and faculty.

Seats at the event sold out and an estimated 330 people attended. In-person watch party tickets were made available as well, where attendees live streamed the lecture from an adjacent classroom near the auditorium. More than 270 local, national and international viewers who registered through eCornell also streamed the event live.

Vice Provost for International Affairs Wendy Wolford said that in addition to launching this year’s Global Grand Challenge, this event also fits into Cornell’s academic year theme of Freedom of Expression. Wolford explained that the world building, kindness and empathy in Jemisin’s work encouraged the Einaudi Center to select this event as the launch for the University’s new Global Grand Challenge.

“The theme of this new challenge is fittingly ‘The Future.’ With this challenge, we invite all of you, students, staff and faculty to step back from the immediate questions of your studies, your work and your research, to think about the world you want to live in,” Wolford said. “The Global Grand Challenge calls on us to go beyond the cutting edge… to imagine what the world would look like if we asked not just what can I do, but what do I want? What do we want?”

Jemisin began her lecture by describing her background in higher education, in which she spent 20 years working as a career counselor, academic counselor and director of experiential education before becoming an author. Jemisin writes science fiction and fantasy novels that explore a variety of themes, including power, cultural conflict and systems of subjugation.

“Many of the questions I tend to get are: Why science fiction? Why fantasy? Why would you, an ostensibly intelligent and mature person, write this kid’s stuff? And I tell people the same thing that Octavia Butler has said in interviews, which is in science fiction, I can do anything,” Jemisin said during her lecture.

Jemisin explained how people’s fears in a specific time period are reflected in their writing, especially in science fiction. She cited underlying fears of the sexual revolution displayed in 1960s feminist science fiction as an example.

“There’s another misconception out there that typically happens, which is that people think of science fiction as being about the future. They think of fantasy as being about the past,” Jemisin said. “It’s neither. Science fiction and fantasy are actually about our present world.”

Jemisin also described the process of science fiction worldbuilding on two levels — macro and micro. Macro worldbuilding involves creating the physical world of a story, including planets, continents, climate and ecology. Micro worldbuilding is crafting the society the characters will exist in, which includes species, morphology, racialization and power, among other things.

“The point of this [worldbuilding] exercise is to get people to start questioning their assumptions,” Jemisin said. “Understanding how our society functions is a lot more constructive than they think, so it’s important that I get across that all of this is changeable.”

Jemisin also spoke about how real people build worlds, and how our current world is not arbitrary, but rather the result of a series of choices. She emphasized that different choices remain possible, and that our understanding of ourselves and self-identity is evolving. Jemisin encouraged the audience to consider reasons for both creating and resisting change.

“We are being blasted with a constant firehose of disinformation which is fueled by a whole lot of money,” Jemisin said. “The only thing that we can do in order to resist this is begin to question and push back on how we became the society that we are and begin to recreate that society in our own design.”

Following her lecture, Jemisin joined a panel with Cornell faculty members Prof. Anindita Banerjee, comparative literature and feminist, gender and sexuality studies; Prof. John Albertson, civil and environmental engineering; and Prof. Kaushik Basu, international studies and economics. Each professor took turns briefly speaking about how their field of expertise relates to building a better world, and Jemisin followed with her thoughts.

“We see society now envisioning futures and being bold, making pledges of decarbonizing our energy supplies, decarbonizing our economy and setting ambitious timelines on which to do that,” Albertson said. “It’s relatively straightforward to plan the direct linear path of what you need to do there. But the question is: where are all the other parts of society that are touched by each of these changes?”

Asher Bergmann ’26 said his goal going into his sophomore year was going to more school  events, and was excited to find this lecture as someone who reads a lot of fantasy.

“I think she did a good job of not diving too deep into fantasy to where some people wouldn’t be interested, because while she’s a fantasy author, the point of this lecture wasn’t actually writing fantasy,” Bergmann said. “I think she did a good job of balancing her goal with what other people may have come here to see her speak about.”

Annabel Baniak ’24 decided to attend the event at the encouragement of both her professor  and her mom, whose favorite book is “The Fifth Season” by Jemisin. Baniak said she enjoyed the event and left feeling motivated and inspired to create change in the world.

Jemisin left the audience with a message to continue questioning the current world and to work towards building an ideal society.

“I have been having conversations all day with the students here, and they’re thinking ahead of me. I have to catch up. It is an innate part of youth to question our reality, and if the way that we live makes any sense,” Jemisin said. “I have to retain my own youthful questioning. They are right to question reality, and the rest of us need to keep doing that.”

Grace Liu ’27 is a Sun contributor and can be reached at [email protected].

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

This movement introduced revolutionary narrative techniques, such as fragmented storytelling and unconventional character development, disrupting the traditional linear plots and heroic archetypes of earlier science fiction.

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Death with Peace: The Ultimate Choice of Life by New Wave Director Gundam
“There are two kinds of movies in the world: one is Gundam before and the other is Gundam after. ” Jean-Luc Godard, the famous director of the new wave of French cinema, confirmed his death on the 13th at the age of 91.
Gundam is the famous director of the historical watershed in the history of film, set off the "French New Wave" (La Nouvelle Vague) film revolution in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Since Gundam became famous in 1960, Gundam has continued to create until his old age. In 2018, Gundam, aged 88, made “The Book of Images ” the final work of his film career.
A rebellious Gundam, confirmed by his family to have been euthanized in Switzerland, died at the age of 91.
The family's statement that "Gundam is not sick and painless, but I am exhausted", the final choice of a generation of famous directors, has also reignited the debate on euthanasia in France.
Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris, France, on December 3, 1930, to a Swiss doctor and the daughter of the Monod family that founded BNP Paribas.
Gundam grew up in Switzerland and returned to Paris after the war to study high school. Despite coming from a very strict family, Gundam did not meet traditional expectations in terms of academic performance, but developed a strong interest in the art of film.
As a young man, he often visited film screenings in Paris, and made many friends who were of similar age and who also wanted the art and knowledge of film, including François Roland Truffaut, Claude Henri Jean Chabrol, and many other pioneers of the new wave of film.
Gundam began writing for the Motion Picture Bulletin in 1950, and shortly after Gundam returned to Switzerland to work at the local Dixie Dam, Gundam, 23, used his earnings to make his first film attempt – he bought a 35mm camera, made a short film, “Opération béton, ” and several short films.
In the 1950s, the world film industry was also entering the challenges and stimuli of the post-war era, with highly entertaining genres and problematic and experimental films.
The turbulent thinking and the uneasy ups and downs of Western society in the 1950s were not only reflected in the intellectual world, but also in film creation with a tendency to leapfrog from tradition and be critical.
Chu Fu, mentioned above, once criticized the contemporary trend with a film review "On the trend of French cinema".
In the same era of American film, the production model of the studio is becoming more and more mature, and it seems that there is a difference in the development of Europe; under the desire of the film to seek new things, it appeared in 1960.
Gundam ’ s first feature film was the 1960 ’ s “à bout de souffle ”, which surprised the audience when Jean-Paul Belmondo ’ s male protagonist spoke to the audience, then began a relaxed and natural plot, depicting the encounter with the heroine played by Jean Seberg.
The jump cut is a hallmark of its cinematic history, such as the repeated jumps of shots on the same character, not to convey a metaphor, but purely in the pursuit of the language and aesthetic form of the film.
Although it is no surprise that in the modern era when everyone has a mobile phone to film, there are still thresholds for photography and movies need to be made on a scale, Gundam ’ s approach is refreshing and brings the visual challenge of “movies can still be made like this ”.
The year before the release of the film, the 1959 Les quatre cents coups (Les quatre cents coups) was the first to hit the world of cinema, and the two films were regarded as the pioneers of the French New Wave.
Gundam, 30, won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival for "Broken Breath" and became a flag-bearer for the beginning of a new era in film.
In 1961, Gundam released Une femme est une femme and 1963 Le Petit Soldat.
Among them, "Minions" was produced from 1960, covering the Algerian War and the charges against France, which caused the French government to be banned, and it was not released until 1963.
Gundam combines a strong personal consciousness in his works, which is also a representative feature of the French New Wave, making the director ’ s role as a “creator ” more prominent, and the film has become a medium for the New Wave directors to express their thoughts and aesthetic awareness.
In the 1960s, when the anti-war tide and student movement demonstrations were raging, the atmosphere of social and political conflict also gave the directors of Gundam a spiritual stimulus; in addition to the political messages expressed in the works, the realistic posture was also more critical.
A series of actions is the "revolutionary period" of Gundam's film, and the expression of European "Maoist" ideas is often seen.
However, it was also after the end of the 1960s that the loathing of commercial movies was Gundam, and the concept of Chu Fu gradually drifted away, and even eventually turned against each other and attacked each other.
Gundam adheres to a critique of all central structures, especially Hollywood ’ s commercial productions, and is also known for his disdain for the Academy Awards.
For Gundam, reflection and criticism through the art of film is the highest priority.
But helplessly, the trend of the world's film industry and market is "going the other way", requiring a highly entertaining audience market, so that Gundam seems more crooked and widowed, but he may not mind at all.
The film is still in production until the end of its life.
Late 2010 saw Movie Socialism, 2014 Goodbye Language, and finally 2018 ’ s The Book of Images.
Gundam ’ s film achievements made France regard him as a national treasure of culture, but Gundam returned to Switzerland for a long time until his death in September 2022.
Gundam ’ s death was confirmed on September 13, 2022.
At first, the French "Liberation" and other major media only reported Gundam's obituary, but did not explain the circumstances of his death. It took about four hours before his family announced through a lawyer that Gundam had performed an assisted suicide procedure in Switzerland.
No further details were released about Gundam ’ s death, with Gundam ’ s family stating that Gundam was “sick and painless, just exhausted, ” while the family ’ s legal adviser told AFP that Gundam was suffering from a variety of illnesses that seriously affected his daily life.
Assisted suicide is a form of active euthanasia that requires rigorous medical identification and humanitarian considerations in Switzerland.
In France, there is only passive euthanasia – when the terminally ill have no chance of improvement, they have to give up the survival mechanism.
Gundam ’ s choice of assisted suicide is not legal in France, and because of Gundam ’ s death, there has been renewed discussion on euthanasia in France.
Previously there were botanical forests in France.
Vincent Lambert ’ s passive euthanasia controversy dragged on for 11 years, culminating in the death of his life-support system in July 2019.
The fight for a better life is still unanswered in today ’ s France, and President Macron mourned the passing of the French national treasure after Gundam ’ s death. At the same time, he publicly stated that France will discuss the further promotion of the legalization of euthanasia, which will also involve the issue of assisted suicide of Gundam.
The 91-year-old Gundam ended his life of rebellion in this way.
Film critics praised Gundam for erecting the bar, and others described the three revolutions in world cinema as:
The first revolution came in the 1920s with "sound" in film, the second in the 1930s with "color" in film, and the third in the 1960s with "Gundam" in film.
Whether Gundam agrees or not - his present life has influenced countless generations, not only in the study of film school, but also in the era of photography in which everyone can make films.
Up to now, few of the media to speak up, it seems that there is no "public last words" left, here only the famous words of his career as the final note:
“Cinema is the most beautiful scam in the world. ”
Film director Cannes Film Festival
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By focusing on the present rather than the future or past, New Wave science fiction encouraged readers to question societal constructs and assumptions about power, identity, and the human condition.

Authors like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler significantly expanded the scope of science fiction by introducing themes of gender, race, and societal structures, challenging traditional narratives and offering complex social commentary.

Title:

Content: Portland Author Alissa Hattman Shortlisted For 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize For Fiction

Hattman’s debut novel, “Sift,” is inspired by modern calamities.

Portland author Alissa Hattman has made the shortlist for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for her first novel, Sift (The 3rd Thing Press, 120 pages, $24.00). After an open nomination process last April in which authors and fans alike could nominate fiction novels that represented ideas reflected in Le Guin work, Hattman joins nine other authors on the shortlist. This year’s recipient of the prize will be chosen by a panel of authors including writers such as The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood and The Paper Menagerie author Ken Liu.

Le Guin was one of the 20th century’s most prolific science fiction writers, and lived in Portland most of her life. First striking critical success in 1964 with the beginning of her Earthsea series, Le Guin won numerous awards during her lifetime, even making history as the first female author to win both of the prestigious Hugo and Nova sci-fi literary awards.

The winner of the $25,000 Le Guin Prize will be announced through Le Guin’s website on October 21, marking what would have been the author’s 94th birthday.

“It’s a huge honor,” Hattman says of Sift’s nomination. “Since I first moved to the Pacific Northwest and I was first introduced to Le Guin, which was in 1999 with this short story called “Omelas,” I have been such a deep admirer of her work. I think having been shortlisted and having this book be in the orbit of Le Guin feels so meaningful to me.”

First published in 2023, Sift follows two women as they search for a place to plant crops in a world that’s structures and order have collapsed. Hattman was inspired to write Sift while doing a morning writing exercise. In an attempt to capture her biggest fears, she ended up delving down the sorrowful inevitability of the death of her loved ones, specifically her mother.

“It started becoming a letter to my mother that became fictionalized overtime into something larger, sort of an anticipatory plea for humanity as a whole,” says Hattman.

What resulted was a book inspired by the pandemic, social unrest, and the climate crisis. Sift’s characters are forced to deal with the struggle of a ruined world  “I started to envision these two characters that might be stronger than I could be in those moments,” says Hattman.

This isn’t the first time Le Guin has impacted Hattman’s life. She says attending a live conversation between Le Guin and Atwood at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in 2010 was particularly important to her as a fellow writer.

“It was so amazing to see the two of them on the stage,” Hattman says. “It was awe inspiring to me, like witnessing an eclipse or something.”

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Le Guin's works, such as the Earthsea series, explored Taoist themes and the balance of power, while Butler's novels, including 'Kindred,' delved into the intersections of race, history, and identity.

Title:

Content: 15th Annual Xingyun Awards for Chinese Science Fiction Finalists

The finalists for the 15th annual Xingyun Awards for Chinese science fiction have been announced by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony to be held in Chengdu, Sichuan, China on May 18, 2024.

BEST NOVEL 2023

  • Gods of the Earth: Return of the Dead, by Fenxing Chengzi (Shenzhen Publishing House; Science and Fantasy Growth Foundation)
  • The City in the Well, by Liu Yang (People’s Literature Publishing House)
  • Cosmo Wings, by Jiang Bo (People’s Literature Publishing House; 8-Light Minutes Culture)
  • The Age of God Making, by Yan Xi (Sichuan University Press; Science Fiction World)

BEST NOVELLA 2023

  • “The Fleeting Gravity of Words”, by Zhou Wen (Visiting the Stars: Chinese Stories of Flying to the Outer Space)
  • “The Solar System on Set: The Teahouse at the End of the Universe”, by Shuang Chimu (Shanghai Literature, No. 4 2023)
  • “Our Martians”, by Bao Shu (Visiting the Stars: Chinese Stories of Flying to the Outer Space)
  • “The Salt Bridge”, by Liang Ling (Lighting up Mars: Collection of Winning Stories from the 6th Lenghu Awards)

BEST SHORT STORY 2023

  • “Lake Breezes that Brush Over the Palace of Moon”, by Wanxiang Fengnian (Visiting the Stars: Chinese Stories of Flying to the Outer Space)
  • “A Window with a View”, by Bao Shu (Non-Exist SF, January 24 2023)
  • “Let the White Deer Roam”, by Cheng Jingbo (Science Fiction World, November 2023)
  • “City of Choice”, by Gu Shi (Beijing Literature, July 2023)

BEST TRANSLATED WORK 2023

  • Babel, by R.F. Kuang, translated by Chen Yang (CITIC Press)
  • The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi, translated by Gen Hui (New Star Press)
  • SF Soul: Autobiography of Komatsu Sakyo, by Komatsu Sakyo, translated by Meng Qingshu (Sichuan Science & Technology Press; Science Fiction World)
  • Escape from the Future, by Kobayashi Yasumi, translated by Ding Dingchong (Yilin Press)

BEST NON-FICTION 2023

  • Unlocking the Future: The Urban Imagination in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction, by Luo Xiaoming (Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House)
  • Gazing at the Stars: My Personal Encounter with Chinese Science Fiction, by Yang Xiao (Sichuan People’s Publishing House; Science Fiction World)
  • “Impressions of Chinese SF Practitioners on Foreign SF Culture: A Brief Analysis of the History of Introducing Foreign SF Culture”, by RiverFlow (Zero-Gravity SF, No. 12)
  • Chinese Science Fiction: An Oral History, Vol.1-Vol.3, edited by Yang Feng (Chengdu Times Publishing House; 8-Light Minutes Culture)

BEST REVIEW 2023

  • “From the Valleys to the Stars: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Speculative Anthropology”, by Jiang Weihe (The Beijing News, September 22 2023)
  • “The Curve of Human Destiny and the Poetics of Humanity: Reading ‘Last and First Men’”, by Shuang Chimu (Imagining Science: Reading SF Literature Classics)
  • “A Specter of the Anthropocene is Haunting: A Review of Mark Bould’s ‘The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate Catastrophe Culture’”, by Lyu Guangzhao (Science Writing Review, Issue 1 2023)
  • “‘Journey to the West’: An Atypical Segment of the Science Fiction Community”, by Xi Xia (Literature Press Wechat Official Account, April 4 2023)

BEST NEW WRITER 2021-2023

  • Lu Hang*
  • Qi Ran*
  • Wang Cencen*
  • Wang Xiaohai**

(*Finalists in their 3rd year of eligibility, **Finalist in his 1st year of eligibility)

[Thanks to Feng Zhang and the World Chinese Science Fiction Association for the story.]

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The influence of these authors has been widely recognized, with Le Guin inspiring discussions on speculative anthropology and Butler celebrated for integrating African American experiences into science fiction.

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Hugo ’ s Soul – Hugo Award, the highest honor in contemporary science fiction
A crazy idea from a science fiction novel has come true.
How can they give up this feeling of being in heaven? Of course they want to go on to heaven.
Heaven appeared in Chicago for the second time in 1940 and Denver for the third time in 1941.
However, the Second World War broke out and their annual extravaganza was interrupted.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the vast majority of science fiction fans enlisted in the military, and only a few stayed home.
Those who stay will send science fiction magazines to their comrades on the front lines, because the comrades who hide in the trenches must rely on them to protect their souls.
In 1945, a crazy idea in science fiction came true, two atomic bombs exploded in Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Japan, ending the war, bringing peace back, and, of course, heaven. In 1946, the Fourth World Science Fiction Conference reopened in Los Angeles.
At science fiction conventions, sometimes science fiction fans vote for their best novel or short story.
At the Eleventh Congress in 1953, a rocket-shaped trophy was presented to the winner, but it was only a temporary initiative that did not continue the following year.
It was not until the Thirteenth Congress in 1955 that the people decided to make the award a permanent ceremony, and the award was named The Science Fiction Achievement Award, but it was still called the Hugo Award in private in honor of Gensbach ’ s contributions.
In 1958, the Hugo Award became the official name.
And so the Hugo Award was born.
Nearly 70% of the awards were awarded.
Canadian author Jo Walton is the winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for fiction.
Starting in 2010, she spent three years reading the novels that won awards and were shortlisted in the 42-year period from 1959 to 2000, and published them on the science fiction website, and in-depth discussions with the science fiction community, which caused widespread response.
In 2018, she published An Informal History of the Hugos.
She said she expanded her reading range to include the finalists because she was curious to see if the winning entries were actually the best ones of the year.
She concluded that twenty-five of those forty-two years were indeed well chosen, equivalent to 69% of the winning entries.
In addition, why stop at the year 2000? She gives two reasons.
First, she has published her own work since 2000 and was shortlisted for the John Campbell Memorial Award in 2001, so she cannot include her work in the evaluation in order to remain detached and objective.
The second and most important reason is that the work must stand the test of time.
Since she started writing the column in 2010, a ten-year interval is a reasonable time frame.
For example, if a novel published in 2000 is not out of print by 2010, it can barely stand the test of time.
It takes time to see the works from the depth of history.
Finally, she said that because she also won the Hugo Award in 2012, deeply shocked, coupled with reading 250 novels and writing a column for three years, she is more convinced that the Hugo Award is indeed of extraordinary significance, indeed the most important literary award in science fiction.
The Ideal Science Fiction Reading Guide
So, for readers in Taiwan, what does the Hugo Award mean?
Compared to English-speaking countries, Taiwan's science fiction publishing is much cooler, however, with the efforts of many publishers, Taiwanese readers can still get access to some classic works in the history of science fiction.
Therefore, the Hugo Award can still be an ideal reading guide.
For example, the 1966 award-winning Dune is a classic in the history of science fiction.
The film based on this novel has been popular around the world since its recent release, which has sparked a rush to read the original novel.
Successful film and television adaptations do help drive readers ’ interest in science fiction reading.
Similarly, the 2016 Oscar-nominated film “Arrival ” is also based on classic science fiction.
The success of the film has made Chiang Feng-nan, one of the most prominent Taiwanese-American writers of the time, a household name.
His two collections of novels, The Story of Your Life and The Breath, won four Hugo Awards in 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2011.
And the 1966 Hugo Award "Best Science Fiction Series" of the "Base" series (Chinese translation fantasy base publication) is the history of science fiction super classic, the impact on the future generations is unparalleled.
A television series based on the novel is also popular.
The 1970 award winning "Left Hand of Darkness" and the 1976 award winning "Nothing" are representative works of the life of the female writer Esula Le Guen, who is familiar to Taiwanese readers.
The 2002 award for American Gods is the work of Neil Gaiman, a leading contemporary fantasy writer, and his award is the most successful example of a Hugo Award-compatible fantasy genre.
The publication of classic science fiction novels in Taiwan still has a long way to go. (Part II)
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Authors from underrepresented demographics, such as people of color, have enriched science fiction by addressing themes of identity, resilience, and societal issues, as seen in works like Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels exploring colonialism and migration.

Title:

Content: This one for Africa: The Nobel Prize ennobles itself

By awarding this year’s Nobel Prize for literature to Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Swedish Academy ennobled the prize itself.

Abdulrazak Gurnah is not exactly a household name in much of the English-speaking world. Those happy few who have known his literary output and critical writings of the last three decades, however, were not surprised that he received the 2021 Nobel Prize for literature. He richly deserves it.

As the world rushes to learn more about him and read his novels, and justly so, it would also be good to consider some of his non-fiction critical writings, such as the volumes he edited on Essays on African Writing (1993) or The Cambridge Companion to Salman Rushdie (2007). His works of fiction are the product of the same critical mind.

In its announcement, the Swedish Academy, which is responsible for the selection of the Nobel Prize laureates in literature, has said Gurnah was honoured with the award for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism”. That “compassionate penetration” (the academy needs to show a better command of idiomatic English) is the result of a lifetime of dispossession, exile, homesickness, and being subject to the horrors of racism and white supremacy. Such thematic traits may define the texture of his works of fiction but they do not on their own define his literary significance. We are in the presence of a powerful writer of fiction, not a political activist opting for a literary disguise.

Born in 1948 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) and having moved to the United Kingdom as a refugee in the 1960s, Abdulrazak Gurnah carries within him – in his mind, body and soul, and in the prose and poetry of his fiction – the history of colonial dispossession and postcolonial bewilderment of being a Black man in the cosmopolitan epicentre of British imperialism. His fiction may have begun with the terrors of colonialism, but it does not end there.

When Gurnah was born on that island in the Indian Ocean, the sun was finally starting to set on the British banner of thievery and tyranny around the world. The Brits were packing their Union Jack and leaving India, while the rest of their colonial possessions were equally up in arms. Gurnah grew up amid this upheaval and carries this history of British colonialism in one long and still unfolding literary career. His fiction is not a literary commentary on the history of European colonialism. It dissolves that history into an ennobling prose of our global whereabouts beyond the Asian, African and Latin American theatres of European colonial atrocities.

As a critical thinker, Gurnah is a child of colonialism and as a result there is an obvious autobiographical thrust to his fiction. From his birthplace all the way to his adapted home, the UK, where he eventually became a professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent, he maps out the trajectory of generations of Africans moving from the despair of their homelands to the neighbouring desolation of their colonial tormentors. Why are we, postcolonial people, all drawn to the epicentres of our colonial tormentors?

Colonial politics, postcolonial prose

Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel prize for literature in 1913. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez won it in 1982, and Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist Wole Soyinka in 1986. These recognitions brought the themes of Asian, African and Latin American lived experiences, and perhaps more importantly, the literary traditions these writers represent, to global attention.

For precisely that reason Gurnah should not be ethnicised and localised into “non-White” or “sub-Saharan African” pigeonholes, diminishing his importance as a literary artist. When Gunter Grass or Doris Lessing won the same prize people did not start reading them because they were white – so they should not start reading Gurnah merely because he is Black after he received the same recognition.

Writers like Gurnah, Soyinka or African American novelist Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1993, should not be reduced to the political issues that is embedded in their works of art. Towering novelist, essayist and critic Chinua Achebe in Nigeria influenced Morrison in the US not because he was an African writer writing on colonialism or politics, but because he produced sublime works of fiction. Gabriel García Márquez had a catalytic impact on the literary world not because he was writing about Latin American dictatorships, but because in his fiction he had invented a new magical way of coming to terms with reality.

Even beyond such continental divides, something else is happening to the writing of fiction. Today the ideas of being an African or a British novelist are changing – prolonged and traumatic experiences of migration, in escape of economic hardship or violence, have created a new condition of literary and artistic creativity. The Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani wrote his celebrated autobiographical account No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (2018) on his iPhone and texted it to a friend over five years while incarcerated in an Australian government immigration detention facility on Manus Island. Identity politics has long since faded into the urgency of a prose that defies fictional frontiers of home and exile.

Central to Gurnah’s 10 novels are of course themes of exile, dislocation, migration, alienation and anomie. In that context, Gurnah’s oeuvre can be read within four crucial moments. First, Memory of Departure (1988), where we read about the struggles of an African youth growing up under dictatorship and despair. Then in his most famous book Paradise (1994), where we follow the life of the 12-year-old Yusuf growing up in the larger landscape of an entire continent the author will soon have to leave behind. By the time we get to Admiring Silence (1996), this young man has already moved to England, married and settled to his dual marginality. In By the Sea (2001), the immigrant author is now deeply into coming to terms with the pathological racism of the country to which he has moved. Before Gurnah, other African novelists like Tayeb Saleh in his Season of Migration to the North (1966) and before him Albert Memmi in The Pillar of Salt (1955) had explored similar themes. Themes have remained constant, changing is the spirit of the work of fiction they have inspired.

English as an African Language

Though his mother tongue is Swahili, Gurnah writes in English. As such he is integral to the manner in which Asian and African migratory and diasporic experiences have enriched and altered English language and literature. The overwhelming majority of those who speak or read or write English are not British, let alone English. It is the exponential expansion of English language and literature, rooted in Britain’s colonial domination of the world, that spells out the incorporation of African or Asian writers into the evident canons of the language. Calling authors like Gurnah diasporic, exilic, or any other such self-alienating term conceals the fact that English was native to him even before he set foot in England. English colonial officers had brought it home to him.

To be sure, with Swahili as his first language, Gurnah has a glorious literary reservoir in Arabic and Persian at his disposal. Maritime traders for centuries have sailed from Arabia, Persia and India and mingled with the local Bantu populations eventually to give rise to Swahili – which comes from the Arabic word “Sahel/Coast.” Multicultural locations like Zanzibar, Malindi, Mombasa and Sofala carry the traces of this rich history in which Arabic literature, Persian poetry, and Indian philosophies have come to their African provenance.

The enriching of the literary worldliness of the Nobel Prize will in turn ennoble the prize itself given its past practices. The Swedish Academy, in general, does not have a stellar record of minding the moral depravity of people to whom it gives the Nobel prize for literature – just two years ago, it gave it to Austrian author Peter Handke, who is best known for his support for the genocidal Serbian regime led by Slobodan Milošević and denial of the extent of the terror Serbs inflicted on Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s in former Yugoslavia.

Even beyond such embarrassments, the Nobel Prize for literature still remains overwhelmingly white and disproportionately Euro-American. The massive literary movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America only have a token representation in this list. But Gurnah represents an even more iconic trajectory, which is the realm of the migratory literary minds, people born like him in Africa but forced into a life in the country of their colonial torment. The territories now under Tanzania have been colonised and brutalised by both Germans and the British.

Gurnah went to the UK and has now brought glory to his adopted country and to the English language the same way that many of us from Asia and Africa are drawn to the countries that have been the source of our historical horrors. This attraction begins as a psychopathological mystery, and yet it could end up with a Nobel Prize in literature.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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Chinese female science fiction writers have also emerged as a prominent force, focusing on unique female experiences and societal issues, as showcased in anthologies like 'The Way Spring Comes.'

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Content: Science Fiction: Chinese Female Writers | Culture | DW | 21.10.2023
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Science fiction: the rise of Chinese women writers
While the space for feminist expression in China has shrunk further over the past decade, there ’ s good news from this week ’ s World Science Fiction Conference in Chengdu: Chinese female writers are thriving in the science fiction world, making them one of the most striking trends in the genre.
The rise of Chinese female writers in science fiction has become one of the most striking trends in the genre, according to participants at this week's World Science Fiction Conference in Chengdu.
The World Science Fiction Conference, the world ’ s oldest and most influential science fiction event, was held in China for the first time this year and attracted a large number of local fans, both male and female.
China remains a relatively socially conservative country, and under President Xi Jinping, the space for feminist expression has narrowed further over the past decade.
But author and editor Regina Kanyu Wang, who was nominated for two prestigious Hugo Awards at the World Science Fiction Conference this year, said the number of women writers in science fiction has soared in recent years.
She said more and more women are now realizing that "it's not just nerdy, nerdy science-fiction novels like Liu Cixin [author of the three-body series] that can be published, or can be considered science fiction." Liu Cixin is great, and we all like him.
But there's a lot more to it than Liu Cixin's style. "
The good news, says Wang, is that once women start to become writers, they don ’ t feel they ’ re being treated unequally.
The market and readers need a new perspective, she said.
The 81st World Science Fiction Conference will be held in Chengdu from October 18 to 22.
"Now, many Chinese female science fiction writers focus on issues that women face that men may not feel," Zhou Danxue, a literary scholar at XJCC Liverpool University, told AFP. "These writers can reflect unique female experiences in their own way."
Wang said that in the past two years, four anthologies of Chinese fantasy novels written only by female or non-binary authors have been published, which is a major breakthrough.
There wasn ’ t even an all-female science fiction writer ’ s portfolio before that.
Before the 1990s, there were very few female science fiction writers.
An article in the collection "The Way Spring Comes", which Wang Kanyu participated in compiling, pointed out that the Internet is a training base for women and queer talents.
Author Ni Xueting explained that the widespread use of the Internet “not only brought a new sense of community to people, but also … removed many barriers to writing based on industry and social stereotypes, especially for non-male writers. ”
Chen Qiufan, one of China ’ s leading science fiction writers, told AFP that the genre had traditionally not received special attention and was seen as “written and read by boys. ”
He said there was now a "wider and more diverse audience", estimating that his readers were split equally between men and women.
Chinese women writers begin to make their mark in science fiction
Monet, a 21-year-old woman who visited the science fiction convention on Friday, said she sometimes felt isolated among her own fan base.
“It ’ s hard to share my interests with people who don ’ t understand me.
They ask, "Why does a girl like science fiction?"
She is optimistic about these changes in attitude, pointing out that there are a lot of interested primary and secondary school students at the conference site.
“I think interest in Chinese science fiction has to be nurtured from an early age, ” she says.“ We didn ’ t have that opportunity when we were young … I really envy them, to be honest. ”
(AFP)
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What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

Despite challenges in publishing, Black authors have redefined the genre by offering authentic portrayals of Black experiences, broadening the scope of science fiction storytelling.

Title:

Content:
American Fiction: Scathing And Accurate Portrayal Of The Obstacles Black Writers Face In Publishing

Author: Ellis Walker

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Warning: this article contains spoilers.

Drawing inspiration from Percival Everett's 2001 novel, Erasure , Cord Jefferson's directorial debut American Fiction follows disillusioned novelist-turned-professor Thelonious“Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) as he grapples with the challenges of the American publishing industry. Despite his clear talent, Monk continuously faces rejection for his latest novel.

It's never explicitly said but it's made pretty clear that his book is just not“black enough”. As a scholar exploring the relationship between black British literature and its intersections with the British publishing industry, I was struck by the similarities between the UK and US industries.

The industry continues to face global criticism and has come under constant scrutiny particularly after the Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 brought attention to the inequalities faced by black people, including the persistent lack of diversity and representation in creative industries like publishing.

Authors from historically marginalised communities, including black authors, repeatedly encounter obstacles to getting their work published, receiving post-publication support, or securing a safe platform that allows their voices to be heard.

The struggle for authentic representation

In American Fiction, Monk encounters the work of Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) who has gained major success with her novel We's Lives in Da Ghetto, the sort of“black book” publishers want. Monk considers the book as pandering“black poverty porn” and its success drives him to the edge.

In one scene, Monk asks a bookseller why his books are being stocked in the African-American Studies section as they're“just literature”. When he takes his books to sit among the general fiction, he's confronted with a large display of We's Lives in Da Ghetto.

The pigeonholing of books by marginalised authors is common. In 2010, the writer NK Jemisin wrote on her blog that she wanted libraries and bookshops to stop stocking her novels in the“African American Fiction” section as she doesn't believe such a section must exist. She went on to say that writers who find that their books are stocked in this section have a much lower earning potential after being marketed as a“black book” and rarely sell enough copies.

This pigeonholing reinforces the idea that only black readers find stories by black authors interesting. When framing certain stories as representative of the black experience, publishers overlook other black experiences – causing the market to be saturated with monolithic depictions of blackness.

The year 2020 was a perfect example of publishers commissioning“black books” to absolve themselves of guilt. A swathe of books by black authors were commissioned and aggressively marketed. As a result, books such as Reni Eddo Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race , a book with a target white audience by a black author, became incredibly popular during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

PEN America's 2022 report Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing found that waves of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts made by the publishing industry since 2020 have largely been temporary efforts. They engaged with these sorts of equity and diversity drives without enacting real structural change.

Publishing companies sought to“diversify” their catalogues, both as a marketing tactic and so that they could shape themselves as influencers of public opinion rather than be subject to it. In American Fiction, although it is not outwardly discussed, I believe these are the likely reasons for the publication of Golden's book. It reflects an idea of blackness and black experience that publishers are all too happy to buy into.

Commercial success vs. authenticity

After his sister dies unexpectedly, Monk becomes the primary carer for his mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's. In a desperate position, in need of money and support – and driven mad by the unfairness of it all – he begins to write.

Under the pseudonym Stagg R Leigh, Monk pens My Pafology (later renamed Fuck). It's his answer to the absurdity of the publishing industry, replete with almost every black stereotype he could think of, including gangs, absent fathers, guns and drugs. To Monk (and initially his agent) this is an unsellable book that obviously calls out the racism inherent in the success of such books like Sintara Golden's.

To his complete bewilderment, however, he's offered a $750,000 advance from a publisher who had passed on his other work. Part of the draw of this book for many of the white decision makers he encounters is the perceived“authenticity” of the story and, under the advice of his agent, he takes on the persona of Stagg Leigh, whom he makes a convict on the run from the FBI.

Unsurprisingly, Fuck quickly becomes a bestseller.

In the midst of all this, Monk is asked to be the diversity inclusion to judge a prestigious literary award. Fuck happens to gain a nomination and Monk is surprised to learn that Golden shares many of his criticisms of Fuck, labelling it“pandering”.

The conversation between the two touches on the complex issues surrounding authenticity, commercialisation,“selling out” and the definition of meaningful representation. Monk critiques Golden's novel as“trauma porn” – a needlessly traumatic story created to shock and entertain – arguing that narratives like hers oversimplify the black experience,“flattening” black lives.

Black authors constantly grapple with the pressure to conform to the expectations of the publishing market . These are undoubtedly extreme examples, but both Monk's and Golden's novels are a product of this pressure. While Monk seems to feel ashamed of chasing the money, Golden sees no issue with it, arguing that she is simply writing to the market's demand.

Sintara Golden being interviewed at a book fair about her bestselling novel We's Lives In Da Ghetto. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Black authors are more heavily criticised for writing books that feature stereotypically black experiences. Alex Wheatle's The Dirty South is one such novel that, to this day, faces criticism for depicting black people as“eternal victims”. Wheatle has defended himself stressing that he draws inspiration from his real, everyday life and that he thinks characters should be three dimensional.

Monk, however, isn't able to come to terms with his own fight against the burden of representation , wanting desperately to depict“true” black experience but seemingly unwilling to believe narratives that counter his own understanding of what blackness is. Without even meaning to, Monk is just as guilty of flattening the black experience due to his rejection of Golden's work.

Both the British and US publishing industries face parallel challenges concerning the portrayal and treatment of black writers. American Fiction showcases these issues and highlights the industry's tendency to pat itself on the back for small acts of perceived diversity, rather than take any meaningful action.

I thoroughly enjoyed American Fiction and it emerges as a clear voice among critics of an industry that has proven it is greedy for profit over inclusion and representation.

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Contemporary authors like Gabby Rivera, TJ Klune, and Kacen Callender have further diversified the genre by exploring themes of intersectionality, identity, and inclusion through innovative narratives.

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Content: Summer reading: 5 books on the joys and challenges of LGBTQ teen and young adult life

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Jonathan Alexander, University of California, Irvine

(THE CONVERSATION) In recognition of LGBT Pride Month, The Conversation reached out to Jonathan Alexander – an English professor with a scholarly interest in the interplay between sexuality and literature – for recommendations of young adult fiction books that feature LGBT characters. What follows is a list that Alexander – who serves as the children’s and young adult fiction section editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books – considers as “must-reads” for this summer.

1. “Juliet Takes a Breath”

Written by Gabby Rivera, this novel focuses on the experiences of Juliet, a Latina lesbian living in New York who takes an internship to serve as the research assistant for a famous white feminist writer, Harlowe Brisbane, living in Portland, Oregon.

Juliet heads to Portland, a bit unsure of herself and still trying to figure out what being a lesbian will mean for her life, particularly given how unsettled her mother is at the prospect. She hopes that Harlowe will help her out. Complications ensue. “Juliet Takes a Breath” is a super-smart book that challenges readers by looking carefully and critically at feminist and feminist-of-color histories and interactions.

2. “Heartstopper”

This book is getting a lot of attention as a television series. What you might not know is that the heartwarming queer story began as a webcomic and then morphed into a series of immensely popular graphic books.

Originally written by Alice Oseman, the narrative focuses on the burgeoning relationship of Charlie and Nick. Charlie is an “out” teenager at his school, and he falls in love with the charming and sporty but not-so-sure-of-his-identity Nick.

What makes “Heartstopper” engaging – and even groundbreaking – is how it presents sexuality as an identity for some but a possibility of exploration for others. Charlie knows he’s gay, but Nick might be gay or bi; he’s still figuring it out. Validating sexuality as fluid and even changeable seems like an important next step in representing intimacy, love and identity itself as complex experiences.

3. “Felix Ever After”

This work of fiction by Kacen Callender also refuses to shy away from complexity. Felix is a young African American trans boy trying to make his way through a summer arts program.

A talented young person, he is still struggling somewhat with his gender identity, despite having commenced his own transition. He eventually finds the term “demiboy” while researching gender identity and comes to identify with this term as an apt description of his deeply felt sense of gender.

A challenging but immensely relatable book, “Felix Ever After” also presents frankly the experience of transphobia while ultimately offering readers a message of empowerment for those working on their gender identity.

4. “The House in the Cerulean Sea”

This book by TJ Klune follows very much in the vein of young adult books that feature the presence of young people with magical abilities trying to make their way in a world of “normals,” or people who do not have such abilities and fear those who do.

Such a narrative formula, popular in young adult fiction as it sets up dramatic conflict between two distinct groups, gets a twist in Klune’s novel. The narrative is told primarily from the point of view of Linus Baker, a nonmagical caseworker who is assigned the task of visiting and inspecting various orphanages or homes that house magical youths who have been taken from their parents and relocated to be raised separately. This is much like Native peoples’ children across the North American continent being relocated to white-run schools throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries to assimilate them into white society and culture.

What makes “The House in the Cerulean Sea” particularly queer is not just the queerness of many of its characters, including Linus, but the ways in which it shows us how outsiders have generally been ostracized, and how many outsiders have in turn learned to embrace their queerness, not just to survive, but to thrive.

5. “The Outsiders”

This is a “classic” or older work of young adult fiction, one of the first written by a relatively young person for other young people: S.E. Hinton. She started writing the book at age 16.

For those who say this isn’t a queer book, on the surface, no, it’s not. But many contemporary readers, including many of my students, have picked up and enjoyed the book from a queer perspective, “queering” it in the process.

Set in rural Oklahoma, “The Outsiders” concerns a group of working-class teen boys. These “greasers” are always rumbling with the “socs” or “socials,” the middle-class preppy kids. The book’s focus on class conflict still resonates, but even more so does its portrayal of intimacy between the boys.

While they are never overtly sexual, there’s something delightfully warm, caring and intimate about these relationships that could serve as a model for young men today, whether or not they are questioning their gender or sexuality. Read – or reread – “The Outsiders” and think about how gender roles continue to change and as humanity evolves in its understanding and acceptance of what is “normal,” and what should be.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/summer-reading-5-books-on-the-joys-and-challenges-of-lgbtq-teen-and-young-adult-life-184631.

Over the past few decades, science fiction has increasingly integrated advancements in technology and scientific discoveries, using them as a foundation to explore complex ideas and make them accessible to broader audiences.

The genre has also responded to societal concerns about technology, such as artificial intelligence, with cautionary tales like Fadi Zewail's '2070: The Zanon War,' reflecting fears of technological overreach.

Title:

Content: Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
Mohamad Elbaz
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
Mohamad Elbaz
2070.
“The Zanon War. ”
Smart machines guard the paradise of the superior and conquer the poor
Decades ago, fiction and cinematic works of science fiction depicted technological development that seemed more fantastical than realizable, and despite the imaginary dimension of these ancient works, the cautionary tone of potential outcomes was never absent.
Today, with technological advances so unprecedented in human history that they threaten the foundations of the social and political construction of societies, the cautionary cries of fiction are only real fears that are strongly justified on the ground.
The issue of AI and its terrifying developments preoccupy Western philosophers; there are hundreds of conversations, books and discussions about the possible threats to the future, and the fate of man in a future in which the machine is expected to dominate and control, an era in which the machine will perform the tasks that humans used to perform along with intellectual discussions....
In the Arab world, the issue is present, but of course not as much momentum and wealth.
At the creative level, works that keep pace with the latest technological developments and their questions remain few, hence the novel “2070.
The Zanon War, by Egyptian programming engineer Fadi Zewail, and issued earlier this year by the Egyptian-Lebanese House, its importance.
The novel depicts a future world to be determined in 2070, in which the duality of East and West in today ’ s world is exacerbated by the division of the world into two groups of people; the first is the genetically distinctive sect that enjoys various characteristics and enjoys all that man previously imagined to solve his problems, the second is the flawed sect that retains its old genetic defects and lives according to the foundations of the past unchanged. A giant wall like the Great Wall of China, or the wall that Trump tried to build to prevent the flow of refugees to the United States in the past, but it is a virtual barrier of highly concentrated electromagnetic waves that extends into outer space to prevent any attempt of unwanted penetration from the sect of defectors.
This barrier prevents the crossing of environmental pollutants from the lands of the “defective ” community, which uses fossil fuels and petroleum.
The genetically distinct community of Europe and the Americas lives in what they call “paradise, ” creating for themselves all the superhuman imagination.
In heaven there are no feelings in general, and therefore there is no room for hatred, hatred and betrayal, and there is no room for dealing between humans, which has always resulted in wars and conflicts, except to the narrowest extent, and there is no room for sexual relations between humans, each human being chooses what he likes and what suits his desires and then can replace it with another if he feels bored or wants to change.
The privileged are free of physical disabilities, minors and poor structure, poor eyesight, anemia, immunodeficiency diseases or defective moral traits, such as susceptibility to depression, stressors, shyness and introversion, and extend their lives to 250 years.
The faulty population is less than 70 years old, and they carry the weak genes and therefore have to live only in Africa or Asia.
On the surface, the life of the privileged seems ideal, robots are made in accordance with the requirements of the labor market and the requirements of individuals, and it is not easy to distinguish between these electronic people called Zanon and the real man, and all fantasies and hopes quickly find their realization on the ground without much effort under a social system accurately formulated to ensure the well-being of individuals, similar in terms of the idea of the wonderful new world Aldous Huxley. What the narrative reveals is the fact that it is a masked hell.
This revelation is achieved by confrontation between the two communities. There are members of the sect of the defective decide to rebel against their inferior status and the two worlds meet. The people of Paradise discover that there is a vibrant life that they lack in the midst of their strict and precisely defined mechanical system. There are human feelings that led to a life unlike life. The fullness of human existence, or are human imperfections the essence of true life?
Each character writes a letter in which she reveals her life, obsessions, and plans, and also reveals the narrative structure of the novel in an intensification that avoids engaging in details that do not serve its basic questions, and also saves it from the shortcomings of the sometimes incomplete expression of the character ’ s multiple psychological dimensions.

Contemporary science fiction has expanded to include interdisciplinary approaches, as demonstrated by the Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project, which fosters collaboration between authors and scientific researchers.

Title:

Content: Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project considers next steps for the genre

The project brings together authors and Dartmouth professors to collaborate on new speculative fiction work rooted in scientific research on campus.

by Sophie Chadha | 53 minutes ago

From April 13 to 16, speculative fiction authors from around the country came to Hanover to participate in the Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project, a series of events which included interdisciplinary activities between visiting authors and Dartmouth faculty, as well as readings and panel discussions open to the public. The project aimed to foster collaboration between authors and Dartmouth faculty – with a focus on designing stories rooted in scientific research – and addressed the present and future of the speculative fiction genre.

The project was co-organized by engineering professor Solomon Diamond, English professor Rebecca Clark, the Design Initiative at Dartmouth program manager Paula Olson, Hugo award-winning speculative fiction editor Liz Gorinsky and author and former visiting film and media studies professor Sharang Biswas Th’13.

According to Hugo and Nebula awards finalist Nibedita Sen, speculative fiction is a general term that provokes valuable questions.

“The term ‘speculative fiction’ … works as an umbrella term: It is fiction which imagines things that do not currently exist, things that may come into being through science or through magic,” Sen said. “It could be advancement, or it could be, ‘What if we went backwards? What if we stepped to the side?’ It could be a different dimension, a different timestream.”

In a Q&A panel on April 15, some authors touched on the exchange of knowledge that occurs between scientific researchers and speculative fiction writers. Author K.M. Szpara said he believes the future of speculative fiction will become increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative.

Nebula award-winning author Sam J. Miller  said we should reframe one stereotype about fiction — that it is dismissive of reality’s problems — and instead view its creation of a world without societal problems as proof of the possibility that our society could exist without them.

“It is as simple as, ‘ … And then the housing crisis is over … And then all the people standing in the way of progress are gone.’” Miller said.

Calvin George ’24, who attended the Q&A, said he was intrigued by Miller’s concept of speculative fiction as a tool for social change.

“It was really interesting to hear from these authors [about] how imagining worlds where a huge problem like climate change is gone can actually help us solve those problems by giving us a sense of hope that they are not absolute or inevitable,” George said.

Sen said she views fiction as an important lens through which we can better understand the reality of our problems.

“A lot of people view escapism as a form of writing that is less than, but I don't believe in that. Like Tolkien said: Is it not a prisoner's duty to try to escape? Fiction is the spoonful of sugar that helps the truth go down,” Sen said.

Sen said this belief manifested in her own writing following the results of the 2016 presidential election, when she pivoted into the realm of horror as a form of catharsis.

“[In 2016,] people like me were being viewed as monsters, so I decided, ‘Well, I will show you what a monster really is,’” Sen said.

Looking to the future of speculative fiction, teacher, linguist and author Rob Cameron points to the genre’s growth over the past few decades from a niche, isolated faction of enthusiasts to a universal mode of entertainment.

“With the popularization of science fiction through film, especially Marvel, ‘geek culture’ has become much more expansive — you do not have to be a geek to enjoy it,” Cameron said. “At the same time, authors’ expectations of their readers have changed with these new mediums: Are people really going to sit down and read this book? This kind of thinking sparks novel ideas like ‘choose your own adventure’ narratives, comic books, video games and more.”

According to Biswas, the Speculative Fiction Project came to life when pitched the idea of centering speculative fiction around scholarship at Dartmouth to Diamond. When selecting the authors for the panel, Biswas shared that the organizers primarily aimed to represent diversity in both background and writing experience.

“If you’re claiming to do a project that looks at the future of humanity, you need to represent diverse perspectives,” he said.

Biswas added that if the project were to happen again, he hopes it can bring together an even more diverse group of people with more funding.

“In the future, with better channels of funding, we hope to have more geographic diversity and be able to bring in international authors,” Biswas said.

The Speculative Fiction Project will continue as authors workshop their stories with their research partners. These works of fiction will be presented at a Dartmouth symposium in June and will subsequently be synthesized into an anthology in Lightspeed Magazine next year.

According to Clark, students will be invited to submit their own stories and up to four of them will be chosen and featured in the professional collection.

Traditional science fiction classics often focused on exploration and societal critique, while contemporary works frequently delve into complex social issues, identity, and speculative futures shaped by global challenges like climate change.

What concepts does Ishiguro's literary science fiction novel bring up?

The inclusion of authors from underrepresented demographics, such as N.K. Jemisin and Ahmed Saadawi, has further enriched the genre by addressing issues of race, gender, and cultural identity.

The representation of gender, race, and cultural diversity in science fiction has evolved significantly, with early works often reflecting patriarchal and Eurocentric perspectives, as seen in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein.'

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"日本語版「フィーカス」について" (in Japanese).
To build a man who will always love me, from Frankenstein to Science Lovers.
2022 / 1 / 22 10: 34 (Updated on 1 / 22 11: 20)
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British author Janet Winterson pays homage to science fiction classic Frankenstein 200 years ago with Science Lovers. (Courtesy of New Classic Culture)
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British author Jeanette Winterson pays tribute to the science fiction classic "Frankenstein" 200 years ago with "Science Lovers".
The new classic culture invites two domestic science fiction writers Gao Yifeng (author of "2069") and Lin Xinhui (author of "Flawed Man") to talk, and the Central News Agency is authorized to publish the wonderful content of the talk, and share with you the common desire behind the strange man and his lover.
Gao Yifeng:
The year before last, I opened a science fiction reading and commentary course at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Literature at Beijing Arts University. The first book was “Frankenstein ” in 1818.
Before I was ready to read Science Lovers, all I had in mind was Mary Shelley ’ s Frankenstein, and the discussions I had with my fellow students at the Institute at that time.
As far as I ’ m concerned, Science Lovers started with the name.
When you look at the cover, you can see that the kiss in the middle is changed from the ken in the middle of Frankenstein to the kiss, and FranKISSstein becomes the new novel name.
Janet Winterson, a modern, powerful female thinker, uses this kiss to deconstruct Mary Shelley ’ s Frankenstein 200 years ago.
Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, but the name of the scientist who invented the weirdo.
The first time I read this novel, I found it very challenging - if you haven't read Frankenstein, you may not know why the author wrote an 1816 story first, and then through the story of Mary, to create a near-future science fiction story.
In this near-future story, frame another story where Mary Shelley meets her own character.
It has 3 very deep levels, which started with Frankenstein.
Because The Frankenstein of 1818 is the way to write a “framing novel ” — it uses a story with a narrator in it, and then tells you that the narrator has the next story.
In "Frankenstein" there is a nautical adventurer, in the snow and ice to see the scientist chasing the weirdo, rescued him, and began to tell the whole story.
"Science Lovers" has been paying tribute to Mary Shelley from the frame structure!
Science fiction writer Gao Yifeng said that "Science Lovers" changed the ken in Frankenstein to kiss, and used the kiss to deconstruct "Frankenstein" 200 years ago. (New Classic Culture provided)
The 19th century is a very patriarchal era, Mary this important writer experienced a complicated and hard life, eloped with Shelley, miscarried several times, but she and Shelley two people have always loved, very close to the theme of this: to build a person who loves me.
Why do we want to create a strange person out? It is actually as a human lust.
Why create a weirdo ’ s lover after creating a weirdo? It ’ s because the weirdo has an selfish desire.
The author is debating this.
As a woman, Janet Winterson pays homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as she contemplates the Old Testament descending from the Bible.
What was Adam ’ s function in the Garden of Eden in Genesis?
The first work of “he ” is to name creatures and even take out a rib to create women. Why do men create women?
The whole novel starts with the name, and she ’ s making fun of it all — I think it ’ s a very beautiful gesture.
There are many naming attempts in the novel: First, the scientist / creator Victor Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein) becomes Victor Stein (Victor Stein), and he and a transgender man named Ry Shelley (Ry Shelley) have developed a love that seems desegregated.
The author also uses a lot of naming skills for many people around him, such as Ron Lord (Ron Lord) is the reverse of the name Lord Byron.
Lord is the Lord of the Christian faith. This self-proclaimed character of the same name is the maker of sex robots in the near-future world.
This new creator, Longen, has created a female sex robot that can meet men - it is really possible to build a person who only loves me? Such a modern, sci-fi scientific lover, in the novel the author pushed farther - Longen Lord even thought: Is there a way for me to build sex robots for priests and priests?
This can also solve the problem of pedophilia in all priests.
In "Mythical Tales", Prometheus molded the clay man in the form of a god, and Athena injected the soul (wisdom) into man.
The male Creator created the human form, but the female God gave it to the inside.
This is in contrast to the “story of faith, ” in which Jehovah created Adam, who, as the Creator, split up another man, Eve.
This is the story of an "artificial man" and a "human being".
There are subtle differences and reflections between the two.
This process of creation has become something that the author has to resist and confront as a female thinker.
So when I read it, there will always be a strange, as a heterosexual, male perspective, the back will suddenly cool, not sure if she is accusing me?
Lin Xinhui:
I found that creating science fiction and gender attention, the two things seem inseparable.
When I started writing science fiction, I wrote a short story, "Hotel California," which, as everyone knows, refers to the Eagles' classic song.
I appropriated the lyrics to create, in the story reverse write "Eve was born from a rib of Adam" myth: the heroine in the novel is unknown, do not know whether she is human or biotic, she uses the length of the ribs to measure the human male protagonist, the male protagonist is instead deconstructed as a component of the rib.
The woman turned and used the rib to disassemble the man around her.
This is what I wanted to do when I first wrote science fiction.
Intentionally or not, I felt from the beginning that science fiction should be gender, it must be related to gender, why do I have this inexplicable intuition?
Many science fiction works, both ancient and modern, put women in non-human roles.
For example, Rachel in "Blade Runner" is a biotic, and the operating system for falling in love with the human male protagonist in "Cloud Lover" is also set to be female.
The robot, Sophia, who is considered a citizen in the real world, is also a girl.
Non-human beings are always assigned a female position, and in these stories, the protagonists are always men, and they are all humans.
Why isn ’ t there a sci-fi story to break this structure? Sci-fi is preset to be a male story from the start?
But in retrospect, today ’ s Science Lovers pays homage to Mary Shelley ’ s Frankenstein, which is considered the first science fiction novel ever written by a woman.
Echoing the deconstruction that Teacher Yifeng just talked about, the role of transgender doctor Rui brought out a lot of gender thinking, and a lot of female thinking is concentrated in the story line of Mary Shelley's history in 1816, the women's movement has just begun to flourish, not to mention Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of the first wave of feminism advocates.
Is “knowledge ” male or female?
There is a dialogue that women seem to bring disaster to the world, which Byron said: women are red face evil water.
If Pandora hadn ’ t opened that box, many of our things would have been less painful.
And Mary Shelley replied to him that if we didn ’ t hurt, it wouldn ’ t be human, because machines don ’ t hurt.
She said, “Does knowledge cause pain? ”
Or is the knowledge that women bring to make us human?
In this near-future storyline, Janet Winterson uses the role of Rui to bring out a problem of mind-matter dualism that we are still debating.
Our understanding of transgender may be that his body and his soul want to reach another state of harmony, not that he was not reconciled, but that he wanted to change.
For example, she was originally a biological woman and wanted to become a so-called "complete male".
The transgender doctor in the book, he did not become a so-called complete boy, his upper half is male, the lower half is female, but he likes the state: a soul lives in two bodies, he is both male and female, and then he is very comfortable in this state.
(New Classical Culture Provided)
Rui ’ s relationship with Vito thus has an undefinable ambiguity, which challenges the state of men and women in the era of 1816.
The love story of Ray and Victor is difficult to define as gay or heterosexual, which can be said to be a state of desegregation.
And the state of sexualization also echoes the world that Vito wants to create — the human consciousness is uploaded to the cloud, without the bondage of the body.
Without the body, there is no label: there is no label for skin color, and there is no label for gender.
In fact, Victor also wants to create a new human, just as Frankenstein in Frankenstein wants to create a creature.
There is a scene in the novel that is super scary: Ray opens the door and sees a lot of hands crawling around on the ground, which is very creepy.
This section reflects that Victor wants to create a new human body, and this human body can have its own will and drive itself? This part corresponds to "Frankenstein", whether the creature can drive its own will and body.
"Creation" is "life", and the back of "life" is actually talking about "death".
You want to bring the dead body back to life, you want to use technology to create eternal life, you want to upload consciousness to the brain, anyway, as long as you are conscious, you will live forever.
Vito said that at this stage, we are very comfortable with all kinds of life technology, such as when we are only pregnant, the mother's body will be subjected to various invasive tests: to see if your fetal position is correct, the sex of the fetus, whether it is so-called "normal health", and to preserve embryos, frozen eggs and other technologies... And...
In contrast, we have been vocal about technology ’ s desire to end death, perpetuate death, or immortality as a major moral issue.
Why are we optimistic about "life" and so afraid of "death"? Don't want to talk about it, don't want to imagine technology intervening in its world.
Gao Yifeng:
In the novel, page 174, a very simple sentence is mentioned: "So, Vidor, non-living forms of life, because their forms are purer, closer to the essence of love than we are?"
The story of the transgender doctor Rui, his body is neither a man nor a woman, such a body is more aware of love?
Absolutely fully tested Janet, with a classical, Gothic romance, to talk about the love story of Mary and Shelley. Mary's love is completely gender-neutral, she really loves Shelley the poet.
She loved that no matter how many children she had and how many times she lost, even if I was crazy, even if I did not know whether I could still have the next life in the future, whether the function of a woman given to me by the Bible or mythology could be achieved, I was willing to love you.
In "Science Lovers", Janet constantly probed this point through many characters, constantly asking: Is it possible in the world to create a person who loves me that way through a way like "Frankenstein"?
Want to create a person like this, even if it is not a living body, even if it does not have any gender to test, even if it is a kind of sex robot we can not predict, can it really have love?
Claire is a very old-fashioned sex robot.
Does such love exist?
At the heart of the book is its subtitle: a love story.
Beyond the gender we have to face, or the various discussions of organic and inorganic life, Janet Winterson is asking the same question she wanted to ask two hundred years ago under such complicated and highly literary writing.
I love Frankenstein so much that when someone challenges me, I think, "Okay, I see what you can write."
"Science Lovers" actually carried "Frankenstein".
Not only did he write about the monsters created by Frankenstein, but he also wrote about the love of Mary Shelley.
I think this is a great place.
Lin Xinhui:
When it comes to “love ”, I think a lot of discussion is about what“ reality ” is.
We all know that love is between two people, and the most basic consensus is "what is the reality we all recognize."
When both parties have a common understanding of "where the reality is going", there is the beginning of the "relationship".
Science fiction writer Lin Xinhui (middle) says that every chapter of Science Lovers begins with "What is reality?" (courtesy of New Classic Culture)
Every chapter of Science Lovers begins with “what is reality ” — reality is soluble in water, reality is the present, reality cannot withstand excessive human beings.
These inquiries about reality, on the one hand, are similar in the form of the novel and the "trans" of the transgender, which constantly appears in different chapters, a bit like the role of the past and the soul, or the reunion of the afterlife, or the feeling of the same soul into different bodies.
On the other hand, it is rooted in its sub-label: the love story.
But in the end, Rui and Victor are not together in Science Lovers.
Why can't they be together? Because their perception of "reality" is different - Rui's perception is "reality is the body", our love is based on the body; but Victor told him that sex does not have to be achieved by the body, he said that the perception of receptors in the brain everywhere, even a "brain in a vat" (brain in a vat), can still have sexual love. Feeling.
Even Victor would say that reality is an emergent: it is because your brain thinks that it exists, and there is no direct causal relationship between this reality and your nervous system (such as what structure creates what reality).
So that reality cannot be proved as a reality.
This inference, even Vito said, has entered a state of Buddhism.
All in all, Vito and Ri think differently about reality, so although they love each other very much, they can ’ t be together in the end.
This also leaves a lot of suspense, because we don ’ t know what happened to Vito.
There are no quotation marks in this book – many foreign readers are scolding it.
But the fact that there are no quotes is still functional in the end, because it will make the reader uncertain whether the person who is speaking now is Mary Shelley or Ray? The last person they call together is Victor or Frankenstein? Because Mary Shelley and Frankenstein later meet in a fictional way.
Rui calls his beloved Vito until the end, but we no longer know if he is alive or dead.
In a way, the old Vito is still alive, and the Vito at this point in time seems to be missing.
Their last common call was, “Vidor, is that you? ” and it ended.
This is the end of a beautiful love story. (Editors: Huang Shufang, Wang Jingyi) 1110122
(New Classical Culture Provided)
Title: Science Lovers: A Story of Love
Author: Janet Winterson
Translated by: Chen Jialin
Publisher: New Classical Culture
Publication Date: 2021 / 12 / 01
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In recent decades, the genre has increasingly embraced diverse voices, such as Chinese female writers, marking a shift from male-dominated narratives to broader explorations of identity and inclusivity.

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

The rise of postcolonial and feminist perspectives has expanded science fiction's thematic scope, critiquing societal norms and exploring intersections of technology, culture, and identity.

Title:

Content: Science Fiction and Politics in Literature and the Arts (Symposium, Toulouse)

Science Fiction and Politics in Literature and the Arts

The aim of this symposium run by the LLA-Créatis laboratory at the University of Toulouse Jean-Jaurès is to develop open thinking about “political” questions, in the broad sense of the term, that science fiction narratives allow. Different types of stories can be considered, in different literary genres or in cinema, video series and comics. It can be studied and interrogated from a historical, political and social perspective by involving, where appropriate, the possible contributions of different analyzes (anthropology, semiotics, feminist studies, postcolonial studies, etc.) Diversity of perspectives and questions raised by gender.

The entire twentieth-century period produced works in San Francisco that were marked by ideologies such as capitalism and its “communist” counterpart, but also by threats associated with civilian and/or military nuclear power, religious-related abuses, racism, minority liberation struggles, and pollution. , etc. These perceptions persisted, but in the period from the last 20 years of the 20th century to the first 20 years of the 21st century, other concerns were voiced: ecological pesticides, the climate crisis, demographic crises, resource depletion, or the danger. The scientific and technical potential (transhumanism, “artificial intelligence”, etc.) is being carried away.

The link to the realities of the times (as in the collection “Le Passager Clandestin / Dyschroniques”) can of course depend on one or more authors, take into account a work or compare several (especially in the case of short stories and short films). The broader perspective will consist in considering the basic ideologies, either in relation to the literary prizes awarded, or in relation to the works themselves, the semantics of these presenting themselves from the outset sometimes as criticism, sometimes as propaganda, the two being able to be combined according to modalities that tend to be ironic, Satirical, disruptive, etc.

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In any case, it would be a matter of highlighting the “exploratory potential” in these works, of identifying the “problematic tools” and of making the ideas put forward in fictional form productive from the point of view of political theory. (Y Rambhala).

Of course, it is advisable to include works belonging to different geographical and linguistic fields so that the panorama of this search is sufficiently realistic.

Provisional schedule of courses (date adjustments possible)

Oct 20, 2-4 PM / Nov 17, 2-4 PM / Dec 15, 2-4 PM / Jan 19, 2-4 PM / Feb 9, 2-4 PM / Mar 15, 2-4 PM / May 31 , 2-4 p.m

Contribution proposals must be sent Before October 1, 2023 To the following addresses: frederics[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' is widely regarded as the first true science fiction novel, setting the foundation for the genre by exploring themes of scientific experimentation and its consequences.

Title:

Content: 60 Sci-Fi Books That All Science Fiction Fans Must Read

Are you looking for a new science fiction book to read? Looking to fill up your reading list with journeys to strange new worlds and fast-paced science fiction adventures? You're in luck because we've compiled a list of the best sci-fi books.

Whether you're looking to dive into the great sci-fi classics you missed out on or you're looking to delve into brand new tales from up-and-coming indie authors, you're sure to find something that will spark creativity and excitement for you. Science fiction and fantasy novels provide us with allegories, cautionary tales, and deep dives into the human condition told through the lens of the fantastical and the cutting-edge.

The Best Sci-Fi Origins Books

Where did it all begin? Read these early tales with impossible futures, fascinating creatures, time travel, and alien invasion!

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein brought us the iconic monster made by Victor Frankenstein. Considered the first true science fiction novel of the modern era, it would foreshadow genetic tinkering stories of the future.

The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish (also called The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World)

Considered to be the first science fiction work, in the 17th century, Duchess of Newcastle Margaret Cavendish wrote of a utopian world.

Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The third Oz book by L. Frank Baum features Tik-Tok, the wind-up clockwork man Dorothy Gale encounters in the Land of Ev. Tik-Tok is basically one of the first robots in literature. Other wacky features in Ozma of Oz include a sand-sailing boat and lunch pail tree.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

A 19th century classic by Wells, depicting time travel and inspiring science fiction tales for over a century.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The book would go on to inspire a radio program that terrified people into thinking Martians were actually invading Earth. Wells would kickstart first contact stories and alien invasion at the same time, offering up a cautionary tale that touches sci-fi to this day.

The Best Sci-Fi Space Epics Books

Transport yourself across the universe with these pillars of world-building in science fiction, all of which are either now adapted for TV or film or soon will be.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert’s Dune is considered a masterwork of world-building and family intrigue, inspiring other famous series and their respective houses. In the first book, Paul Atreides encounters the resident free people of the planet Arrakis (Dune), the Fremen, and achieves a destiny of messianic proportions. Dune recently graced the big screen in a new adaptation by Denis Villeneuve.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor's Binti novella series begins with Binti, a Hugo-award-winning Africanfuturistic science fiction horror story published by Tor.com. Binti is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the most exalted institution of higher learning in the galaxy. She faces the choice to accept the offer and give up her place in her family so that she can travel among the stars. Hulu has ordered a pilot for Binti.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

The beginning of the Foundation series reveals the “psychohistory” developed by mathematician Harry Seldon. Seldon would establish a new empire called Foundation to preserve the culture from societal collapse. Foundation debuted as a TV show on Apple TV in 2021.

Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell

Gareth L. Powell's award-winning trilogy Embers of War follows the war-weary crew of the sentient spaceship Trouble Dog, who after becoming disgusted by her role in war joins the House of Reclamation. Trouble Dog and her captain Sal Konstanz are sent on a rescue mission, which intersects a mission to find missing poet Ona Sundak. The galaxy teeters on the brink of another war, just as an alien presence makes itself known, altering the course of things to come. Now under development for TV.

Rendezvous with Rama by Sir Arthur C. Clarke

A strange spacecraft enters the solar system, and humanity investigates. The secrets within the enormous craft, called Rama, reveal the heritage of an advanced alien civilization. Rendezvous with Rama is in development for a film adaptation with Denis Villeneuve at the helm.

The Best Hard Sci-Fi Books

If you like your science fiction taut with the edginess of battle and the implication of future wars, you must add these books to your collection!

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

This classic military sci-fi epic details the tragic effects of time dilation on a group of soldiers fighting a seemingly endless war.

Ringworld by Larry Niven

Set in the 29th century, Louis Wu and his companions explore a vast, Earth-orbit-sized, constructed world. Their adventures uncover the alien civilization that built it.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

First set with the backdrop of China’s cultural revolution, this new epic involves secret scientific experiments, alien invasion, challenging moral dilemmas, and impressive world-building.

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

A man in his 70s is recruited as a soldier in the Colonial Defense Force, and altered physically in unexpected ways. Strong on character development, this kickstarts the Old Man’s War Series.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

This classic military sci-fi tale follows Johnny Rico and military recruits who become involved in a battle between humans and aliens nicknamed Arachnids or “Bugs.”

If you love Starship Troopers, check out our review of the wisdom of Grand Admiral Thrawn – Michael

The Best Sci-Fi Robot Stories

The future of robots is here and is complex and necessary reading in these sci-fi tales.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov’s intriguing work introduced the laws of robotics that all robots must adhere to work alongside humans.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The first novel in the Murderbot Diaries, All Systems Red, follows a cyborg that goes by the name Murderbot contends with self-awareness in the corporate-dominated future.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

The beginning of the Lunar Chronicles series is a retelling of Cinderella from the point of view of a cyborg.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

Famed for its eventual big-screen adaptation, Blade Runner, this novel recounts a future in which highly realistic artificial fugitives are on the run from bounty hunter Rick Deckard.

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Mattie is an automaton in this steampunk and urban fantasy novel involving gargoyles, Mechanics, and Alchemists.

The Best Sci-Fi Mars Stories

Our neighbor, the red planet Mars, beckons to us. What would it be like to walk on the shifting red sands of Mars? Find out in these Martian classics.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s mesmerizing prose introduces us to a Mars full of exotic possibility, soon plundered by humanity’s arrival.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

The first in the Mars Trilogy, Red Mars, involves the colonization and terraforming of Mars and the conflicting moral questions that result.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Astronaut Mark Watney is left behind on a Mars mission and must draw upon his skills and ingenuity in order to survive.

Mars by Ben Bova

Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman joins the first expedition of scientists exploring Mars. The grounded approach Bova takes to all the interaction, politics, and bureaucracy help achieve a plausible future story.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

The first book in the Red Rising Trilogy envisions a future of planetary colonization in which caste systems abound. Darrow must fight against this system of overlords.

The Best Sci-Fi Fantasy Books

Fly high with dragons, roam lands on epic quests, and learn the hearts of true heroes in the fantasy masterpieces.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien’s magnum opus spans three books, opening up a fantastically detailed and wholly invented universe in Middle Earth that was hinted at in The Hobbit. Considered the ultimate work of fantasy, The Lord of the Rings brings myth, allegory, poetry, song, war, and melancholy to heights of realism and wonder.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The first novel in The Earthsea Cycle tells the tale of the wizard Ged, and his journey to redeem his reckless past.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin

Beginning with A Game of Thrones, Martin’s elaborate, dark fantasy series covers land in which seasons last decades, and a terrible force from the north threatens to bring an icy apocalypse to an area filled with rulers jockeying to take the Iron Throne.

The Dragonriders of Pern Series by Anne McCaffrey

This remarkable series takes place in the world of Pern, where people telepathically bond with dragons. Dragonflight is the first in the series.

The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1 by N.K Jemisin

The Fifth Season marks the first book of the award-winning The Broken Earth trilogy. Set against civilization’s collapse and natural disaster, Essun endures great personal tragedy in her quest to rescue her daughter.

The Best Sci-Fi Dystopian & Apocalyptic Books

Set in a nightmare future, these dystopian and apocalyptic legends will keep you up at night.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

In a totalitarian future America, handmade Offred is forced to bear children to men of a ruling class. The tale follows her harrowing life in a bleak future, and the attempt to escape and bring down the subjugating class to restore rights.

The Stand by Stephen King

A deadly pathogen escapes a military installation, rapidly spreading and bringing civilization essentially to an end. A group of survivors makes its way to a form of a promised land while battling a malevolent group seeking domination.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

In the near future breakdown of the society of Los Angeles, empathic teenager Lauren believes in a better future entailing traveling to other planets. Lauren gathers followers to her belief as she makes her way north.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Set in the Great Lakes region of America, a group of nomadic creatives picks up the pieces after the fall of civilization due to pandemic flu. Station Eleven has been adapted for HBO Max.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The first book in the Hunger Games Trilogy follows the immense challenges that Katniss Everdeen faces in the post-apocalyptic version of America called Panem. She takes her sister’s place in the government-sponsored Hunger Games to compete for survival in a no-holds-barred and deadly competition.

The Best Sci-Fi Near Futures Books

The future is here, or nearly so, in these ground-breaking novels set close to our present day.

Contact by Carl Sagan

Scientist Ellie Arroway detects a potential extraterrestrial signal from space, which appears to instruct humanity in how to build a machine. She faces self-doubt amid scrutiny to uncover the mysteries of the discovery.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

This cautionary tale about genetic engineering in which scientists make living, cloned dinosaurs for an amusement park. Mayhem ensues.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Mysterious monoliths appear across many worlds, seeding life with intelligence. Following the discovery of one such monolith on the moon, Dr. Bowman and a team of scientists investigate the signal it sends to Saturn’s moon Iapetus. The onboard AI begins exhibiting dangerous behavior during the journey.

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer

A physics experiment creates an unintended consequence of everyone on earth losing consciousness for two minutes. Each person sees a “flash forward” decades in the future while they are unconscious. The resulting accidents and visions challenge everyone’s ideas of free will.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In dystopian 2044, impoverished Wade Watts navigates through the virtual reality world of the OASIS, seeking to reverse his fortune.

The Best Sci-Fi Books for Younger Readers

Take adventures through time and space, no matter your age!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

The Murry children and Calvin O’Keefe crosses universes and space-time to try to find their missing father. Their tale is a mind-bending adventure of good vs. evil.

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass/The Subtle Knife/The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass/Northern Lights begins this sweeping saga of two children, one born in a parallel universe, one born in our own. In Lyra’s world, people’s souls exist in animal form, called daemons. Her father and mother represent warring factions determined to control all universes. Filled with talking animals, witches, airships, and strange creatures, His Dark Materials packs an emotional punch.

The Apothecary Series by Maile Meloy

Set in the 1950s, The Apothecary starts this highly entertaining, thrilling adventure series in which American Janie Scott meets Benjamin Burrows, the son of an apothecary. After Benjamin’s father is kidnapped, the teenagers uncover a terrifying plot that could result in humanity’s end. They use potions with magical effects to try and stop the impending doom.

The Serpent's Secret (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #1) by Sayantani DasGupta

The first of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series, book one begins with Kiranmala discovering her parents are missing, and there is a demon in her kitchen! Two princes recruited her and sent to another dimension, where she must battle the Serpent King and the Rakkhoshi Queen to rescue her parents and save the Earth.

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

This delightful middle-grade novel recounts a discarded robot named Roz and her search for love and acceptance.

The Best Sci-Fi Ponderous Books

These mind-bending sci-fi novels will have you thinking for a long time afterward.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Raised on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith returns to Earth and tries to fit in. His unusual upbringing makes him seem superhuman, but he attempts to help his Earth kin understand things from a different perspective.

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

Set in the 24th century when telepaths (“Espers”) are common, and police are telepathic as well. Ben Reich tries to evade the telepathic police for a murder he wants to commit. The story opens up the moral issues of using telepathy, regulated mostly by a guild, but raises concerns about the exclusion of telepaths who run astray as well as psychological intrigue.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Solaris follows humans’ failed attempts to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence. The sentient planet tests the researchers with their memories and emotions.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

A story spanning time and space and connections between various characters, Cloud Atlas explores the theme of fate with a mind-bending narrative.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

This classic tale follows the journey of Genly Ai on his mission to the planet Gethen. The ambisexual Gethenians present challenges and growth for Ai.

The Best Sci-Fi Cyberpunk Books

If you dream of the future lit by neon, shadowed by noir, and fueled with intrigue, these seminal cyberpunk novels are for you!

Neuromancer by William Gibson

In the first novel of the Sprawl Trilogy, hacker Henry Case is hired to help an AI take over the global network called The Matrix.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

A modern cyberpunk tale is weaving together magic and science, with wit and feeling.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Set in the 25th century, humans have spread through the galaxy and can be preserved after death via cortical stacks, then essentially regenerated or “re-sleeved” into another body. Takeshi Kovacs stumbles upon a vast conspiracy after his latest “sleeve.”

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

This early entry into cyberpunk sci-fi follows teleporter Gully Foyle, an outcast considered dangerous.

Synners by Pat Cadigan

The synthesizers, or Synners, are people who can turn mental images into products for consumption. The story is told via various characters’ viewpoints.

The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books by Indie Authors

Discover the latest sci-fi and fantasy stories, while supporting independent authors!

Mindful Things by Mya Duong

Nineteen-year-old Lauren begins to experience visions and uncovers the fact her deceased parents were witches. A madman hungry for power pursues her, and she must embrace her magical heritage to try to stop him.

The Infinite by John W. Akers

The inventor Pax works on a secret project that can revolutionize human cognition. His plans are derailed by a computer virus that could end civilization, so Pax is forced to choose how he can help humanity survive.

Threadwalkers by Joanna Volavka

Miranda Woodward undergoes a discordant series of events following her father’s death. This is a young adult time travel tale.

Resonance by Jennifer Greenhall

In Book One of the Resonance Series, Sophia Walsh uses her psionic abilities for good but finds herself the next target of a killer.

Heliopause: The Questrison Saga®: Book One by J. Dianne Dotson

Heliopause by J. Dianne Dotson kickstarts The Questrison Saga®, a four-book series science fiction and fantasy series. In Heliopause, a mystery at the edge of the solar system reveals a galactic menace. A galactic natural disaster unfolds, aiding the monster in the void. Human Forster and human-looking, ageless Galla-Deia team up with telepaths, galactic mages, aliens, and androids to face the greatest threat to all life in the galaxy. Full of diverse characters and exotic worlds, found and made families, heartbreak, and whimsy, this space opera recalls Star WarsDoctor Who, and Game of Thrones.

At Your Money Geek, we are huge fans of the science fiction genre, everything from military science fiction to novels about space travel, parallel worlds, and fantasy novels. We are always looking for new books to read and exciting sci-fi writers to profile, let us know in the comments what authors you are currently enjoying.

This post was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

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J. Dianne Dotson dreamed up other worlds and their characters as a child in the 1980s in East Tennessee. She formed her own neighborhood astronomy club before age 10, to educate her friends about the universe. In addition to writing stories, she drew and painted her characters, designed their outrageous space fashions, and created travel guides and glossaries for the worlds she invented.

As an adult, Dianne earned a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology, and spent several years working in research. She published Heliopause: The Questrison Saga®: Book One (2018) and its sequels Ephemeris: The Questrison Saga®: Book Two (2019), Accretion: The Questrison Saga®: Book Three (2020) and her last novel in the saga, Luminiferous: The Questrison Saga®: Book Four (2021).

Dianne is also a science writer, content writer and manager, short story writer, watercolorist, and illustrator. She lives with her family.

What is considered the first true science fiction novel of the modern era, which foreshadowed genetic tinkering?

The mid-20th century saw the rise of authors like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, who emphasized hard science and speculative futures, while later authors like Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin introduced psychological depth and sociopolitical themes.

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

Who are considered great masters of the golden age of science fiction?

Contemporary science fiction has increasingly embraced global perspectives, with authors like Nnedi Okorafor and Liu Cixin bringing Africanfuturism and Chinese cultural narratives to the genre.

Who wrote "Binti," a Hugo-award-winning African futuristic science fiction horror story?

Subgenres like cyberpunk, steampunk, and dystopian fiction have emerged, reflecting the genre's capacity to adapt to societal and technological changes over time.

Title:

Content: Swords & Spaceships

8 Excellent Genre-Bending Sci-Fi Tales To Take You to the Next Frontier

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Lyndsie Manusos

Senior Contributor

Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis.

Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald, published by Grove Atlantic

The must-read queer sci-fi thriller of the summer! In a world just one perilous step from our own, an unlikely pair sets out on the most dangerous and otherwordly mission of their lives. When a diner suddenly appears in a remote field, Adam and Rao are confronted with the most devastating weapon they have ever seen: Prophet. No one knows who created it, or why, but this spooky substance is bringing happy memories to life, then stifling people with their own joy. Despite their troubled past, the two are drawn closer than ever to defend what they hold most dear.

As I said in my 2022 science fiction subgenre primer, the genre of science fiction is expanding. Like our universe, it is expanding quickly, redefined with every story, be it short or long-form. And beneath the large umbrella of science fiction, subgenres are added and redefined. All in all, there are endless ways to tell a science fiction story (don’t let any old guard tell you different).

And then — subgenres aside — there is genre-bending science fiction. There is science fiction that centers horror and science fiction that is fabulist and weird. There’s science fantasy, as well as science fiction romance. There’s science fiction that is nearly unclassifiable, a mixture of so many things, or even all the things. I’ve mentioned in my Book Riot oeuvre that genre-bending of any shape or size is my kind of work. When writers are bold and brave in their genre weaving, that’s when the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. That’s when I rub my hands together and think, “oh, this is going to be good.”

Genre-bending science fiction doesn’t have to be confined to the novel form, either. Short fiction science fiction is in a golden age right now. Check out the latest finalists and winners for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus awards, and I promise you will find mindblowing, genre-bending, exceptional work.

Below I will showcase eight tremendous genre-bending science fiction tales, ranging from short stories to novels, and everything in between. I believe I’ve mentioned at least one in a previous post from last year, but you’ll notice the genre coverage is different. Ergo, these stories are genre-bending.

In any case, I hope you’ll enjoy these stories as much as I do.

Genre-Bending Science Fiction: Novels & Novellas

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Fatima had a past before she became known as Sankofa. Before those around her called her the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. With a mere glance, an entire town could fall. But before that, the world was different.

So much of what Okorafor writes is genre-bending science fiction (the Binti trilogy!). This novella begins in an almost fantasy-horror like fashion: Sankofa walking, leaving fear and horror in her wake. But as the story unfolds, it becomes this all-encompassing tale of African futurism, how the world shapes us, and then how we might reshape the world.

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

One of the things I love about including this book is seeing this title on Goodreads and reading all the genres it’s described as. Hint: it’s like all the genres. Fantasy, science fiction, time travel, magic, dragons, robots, portals, you name it, Hexwood probably has it. And clearly, none of this should surprise you coming from the legendary Diana Wynne Jones.

The tale follows Ann Stavely as she watches people disappear through the farm’s gate. She meets a sorcerer, and time begins to move differently in the woods nearby. Little does she know that far beyond Earth, Controller Borasus receives word that an ancient machine has been awakened.

I mean, clearly, genre-bending at its finest.

Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

I love how Victor Manibo is always able to craft the perfect mystery within his brilliant science fiction worlds. Manibo is a master at showing Earth just around corner, especially if we keep on our current trajectory. Picture a world of hyper-capitalism, a luxury liner — Space Habitat Altaire —and a ruthless world of amassing “points” in order for the chance to start a new life on Mars.

Now, add a decadent mystery of whodunit with a sprinkle of who’s willing to do anything to get what they want: Ava wants to find out who murdered her brother; Laz wants to win Ava’s heart; Sloane wants to collect secrets as his family’s wealth declines; Henry will do whatever it takes to get to Mars.

And all this is set during a class reunion on a luxury space liner, with twists and turns you won’t see coming. Get your science fiction Knives Out fix with this one.

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

I still think about this book. I still think about Borne and that giant bear, Mord. This book is solidly science fiction, but it’s also just fucking weird. That’s honestly the best way to describe it, too, which is why I love it so much. It’s post-apocalyptic, and it manages to be both epic and extremely intimate.

Rachel is trying to survive in a world that wants to kill her at every turn. Then she finds Borne, an amorphous creature, in the fur of a Godzilla-sized bear named Mord. Rachel cannot bring herself, nor allow her lover Wick, to destroy Borne. Borne reminds her of better times and better places, and an attachment grows between them. This book is personal as well as out of this world. It’s weird fiction at its finest. It’s science fiction at its most profound.

Genre-Bending Science Fiction: Short Form

This list includes short fiction, though that ranges in word count. Below you’ll find tales that are short stories or novelettes.

Foxfire, Foxfire” by Yoon Ha Lee from Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Let me begin by saying that the publication of this story is in a highly respected (and one of my personal favorites) genre magazine called Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Its mission: to publish the very best in “literary adventure fantasy.” And yet, this story also has beautifully crafted science fiction elements.

This novelette follows Baekdo, a magical, shapeshifting fox who is able to speak to gods. Baekdo is set on becoming human, which requires him to kill — and devour the liver of — 100 humans. Baekdo has no qualms about coming to his 100th kill, but things don’t go as planned. Baekdo’s 100th victim is the pilot of a Cataphract, a giant battle mech. Baekdo swears on the tiger-sages that he will keep his oath with the pilot, Jong, and finish her mission. It’s an intimate, magical tale while also being epic in scope. Truly, a genre-bending masterpiece.

The Gondoliers” by Karen Russell from Orange World and Other Stories

Karen Russell is a masterful genre-bending writer. I fell in love with Russell’s work over ten years ago, with her first collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Like Kelly Link, Russell was vital in redefining, for me at least, what fiction, especially literary fiction, can do. “The Gondoliers” is a wonderful example of this.

It follows Janelle Picarro, a.k.a Blister, in a post-apocalyptic world where parts of Florida have fully submerged underwater and is now called New Florida. Blister is a gondolier, ferrying people across the waters. Blister and her sisters use echolocation to communicate and steer. There is a little bit of everything in this story, and you won’t be the same when you reach the end.

Memories of Memories Lost” by Mahmud El Sayed from khōréō

khōréō is one of my favorite speculative fiction magazines. “In Memories of Memories Lost,” El Sayed crafts a devastatingly personal short story of memory, loss, and sacrifice.

After aliens take over Earth, humans must pay a “memory tax” to their cosmic invaders. The story follows Ahmed, who chooses, for his tax, to give a large family memory in the form of a heirloom. In doing so, he can assure the comfort of his father, who suffers from dementia. It’s a story of complex relationships and love. It’s a story that begs hard questions of ourselves, our souls, and our loved ones: What if we could give traumatic memories away? Would we regret the loss?

The Dizzy Room” by Kristina Ten from Nightmare Magazine

Look, I know I’ve mentioned this story before, and it’s because the story is that good. Published in the renowned horror magazine Nightmare, this story is about a video game, but it’s also a horror story about memory and language. There are images and a multitude of sensory details that will haunt me forever.

This is science fiction horror at its best, with a mounting dread that will have you tempted to lean back while also leaning forward, closer to the page, admittedly desperate to hear the sounds of the game itself beckoning you. I am not at all surprised that this story is a finalist for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Awards.

Find Genre-Bending Stories Everywhere

Every genre has trailblazers, writers who take a genre and build upon it, question and criticize it, and remold it into something new. These are the writers I seek out again and again to dissect and study these genres, rediscovering them and also falling in love with them all over again. They are out there now, and their stories are waiting.

If you’re interested in more genre-bending work, check out these other Book Riot gems:

Cyberpunk, for instance, gained prominence in the 1980s with works like William Gibson's 'Neuromancer,' which explored themes of virtual reality and societal decay.

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Content: Explanation of the sci-fi trope “Simulation of Life”

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Science fiction is the art of imagining what the distant future or the far corners of space might be like if humanity ever survives to see those times and places. However, one uniquely common image of this genre does the opposite, suggesting that the banal everyday appearance that can be expected on Earth is only a technological illusion.

When Neo woke up for the first time in Wachowski’s groundbreaking 1999 science fiction The Matrix, it was one of the best twists in modern cinema. This momentous moment in the history of science fiction is built on a mountain of previous material and influenced everything that followed it.

The easiest way to summarize the image of the simulation of life for most of today’s viewers is to point to the premise of the “Matrix” and stop there. This image suggests that someone or something has created a virtual reality that perfectly mimics the experience of real life. It can be sold as a consumer product that gives you the opportunity to enjoy reality without leaving home. It could be a video game similar to The Sims, but much more advanced, which offers an overly realistic experience thanks to powerful new hardware. But most often it is a technological panoptic super-drama that lures its theoretically infinite victims into a fake reality in which they do not know that they are.

The original philosophical rationale for the simulation of life comes from ancient Greece. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, first published as part of his work The Republic in the early 6th century, is a big idea underlying concepts such as The Matrix. A cave is a narrative thought experiment describing a group of people chained to a wall for life. The only thing they can perceive is shadows playing on their faceless wall, so it becomes their reality. Although it’s not a representation of real life, shadows are all the prisoners know, so this is their version of experiential life. The moral of this story is that reality is perceptible and that conditions can force a person to accept incorrect sensory data as fact. Science fiction, as it often happens, reinforced this idea by presenting technologies of a fantastic future.

One can imagine that the life of those who are in the cave will be hell, but with illusions much more advanced than the shadows on the walls, this state can be improved without real reality seeping in. Lawrence Manning’s 1933 novel “The Man Who Woke Up” tells the story of Norman Winters, a man who plunges into suspended animation for 5,000 years to experience new eras firsthand. In the third story of this anthology, which takes place in 15,000 AD, people voluntarily enter a machine that replaces all stimuli with programmable electrical impulses. This allowed humanity to sleep forever and completely control their sleep, allowing them to live a perfect life. Since most of the population is constantly sleeping, Norman realizes that society will soon collapse due to complacency. It probably wasn’t the first look at this concept, but it laid a great foundation for its future.

The idea of virtual reality achieved surgically is one of the fundamental elements of cyberpunk science fiction. Neuromancer, William Gibson’s 1984 sacred text for this subgenre, postulates life in virtual reality as an excellent substitute for real life, and not as a forced simulacrum. In this novel, the term “cyberspace” was most often defined by the line “A consensual hallucination experienced by billions of legitimate operators every day.” Gibson was based on Manning’s ideas, imagining a complete society and an infinite potential for interaction in a simulated reality, and turning real reality into a nightmare requiring escape.

Gibson’s work inspired decades of further cyberpunk fiction, from Neil Stevenson’s “Snow Crash” to Ernest Klein’s “The First Player to Get Ready.” Of course, the two most diligent researchers of Gibson’s cultural movements were the Wachowski sisters, who even borrowed the name of Gibson’s cyberspace center — The Matrix.

This virtual reality is so prevalent in fiction that it has evolved into real-world conspiracy theory ideas. Countless people have been convinced that the reality in which they were born is an intricately created simulation with a variety of consequences. Some suggest that humanity is a toy of some incredibly advanced alien species, an intelligent Sim. Others legitimately claim that the machines have already taken over, perhaps suggesting that The Matrix was a documentary and a form of bragging. Some even wake up every morning, convinced and grateful for the false reality they have created. The nature of reality is perceptual, and this creates constant idiosyncrasies in everyday life. If someone were looking for this, people could convince themselves that computer code better explains their reality.

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

Science fiction has historically served as a mirror to societal issues, addressing challenges like capitalism, nuclear threats, and civil rights struggles in the 20th century, and later ecological crises and artificial intelligence in the 21st century.

What time period produced science fiction works that included idealogies such as capitalism, and communism, and also threats of nuclear power, racism, pollution, and more?

The genre has evolved to critique societal norms and envision alternative futures, as seen in works like George Orwell's '1984' and N.K. Jemisin's 'The Broken Earth' trilogy.

N.K. Jemisin is best known for which of her books?

Global perspectives have significantly influenced science fiction, with non-Western authors like Wang Jinkang blending philosophical science fiction with cultural themes.

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Content: Interview with Wang Jinkang, 2024 Hugo Finalist

INTRODUCTION: Eight Light Minutes(8LM) Culture of Chengdu has given permission for File 770 to reprint the series of interviews with Chinese science fiction writers which they have been running this week on Facebook. The first one is a question and answer session with Wang Jinkang, whose novella Seeds of Mercury is a 2024 Hugo Award finalist.

SUPPORTING CHINESE WRITERS SERIES (1): 2024 HUGO AWARD NOMINATION INTERVIEW WITH WANG JINKANG

Translated by Joseph Brant.

Wang Jinkang(王晋康) was born in Nanyang, Henan Province in 1948. He is a senior engineer, and a member of the Chinese Writer’s Association (CWA), The China Popular Science Writing Association (CPSWA), The Committee of Scientific Literature and Art, and the Henan Writers’ Association. Since the publication of his first story, The Return of Adam, in 1993, he has published over 90 short works, and 20 full novels, including Cross, We Together, Escape from The Mother Universe, Parents of Heaven and Earth, and Cosmic Crystal Eggs, totaling over six million words. He has won China’s Galaxy Award 16 times, as well as The Chinese Science Fiction Nebula’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is considered one of Chinese science fiction’s ‘Four Heavenly Kings’, and his emblematic work Seeds of Mercury was shortlisted for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Hello Mr. Wang! Before we start, I would like to congratulate you on Seeds of Mercury’s shortlisting for 2024’s “Best Novella” Hugo Award. This is news that has excited countless Chinese science fiction fans. Ever since the publication of Chinese Science Fiction: An Oral History, readers have commented that your contributions have particularly appealed to them and would like to know more about your life and work. Hopefully, this long-awaited interview will provide some of the insights the sci-fi community has longed for.

Q1Mr. Wang, despite having produced many great works, this is the first time you’ve been shortlisted for the Hugo. How did you feel when you learned that you’d been shortlisted?

Wang Jinkang: Of course I was elated. Although I’ve won many awards in China, in fact the most Galaxy Awards in history, this is the first time I’ve been shortlisted for a Hugo. It felt like 31 years ago, when I first saw The Return of Adam in print, and when I won my First Galaxy Award. I think every author experiences these moments of excitement. It’s excellent that Chinese science fiction has reached a certain level, after years of growth, it’s now more and more visible internationally, which is fantastic. Of course, what we value even more, is these works transcending their era, and surviving the tides of time to reach future generations.

Religion and Science are enemies who love each other.

Q2Mr. Wang, as one of the ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ of Chinese science fiction, you’re already very well known in China, with a creative career spanning over thirty years, with works such as Leopard Man, Ant Life and Survival Experiment and so on. This shortlisted work is such a quintessential piece. However, this interview is not just intended for the Chinese sci-fi fans, but for readers around the world, who may not be familiar with Seeds of Mercury. Could I ask you to introduce it for the benefit of the overseas sci-fi fans?

Wang Jinkang: Seeds of Mercury is a two-threaded story. The first one follows a female scientist named Shawu, who discovers a new formula for life, and creates a fluid metal nano life form. When she dies, she entrusts that formula to Chen Yizhe, a businessman with a pure heart, along with the message “real life cannot be bred in pens. In the Solar System, there happens to be a suitable place for it to breed freely – Mercury”. Chen Yizhe accepts this monumental legacy enthusiastically, using his personal wealth to maintain the laboratory. In order take the next step, of “seeding Mercury”, he must turn to the society around him. Mr Hong, a multi-billionaire with a disagreeable personality but a benevolent soul, decides to liquidate his empire to facilitate the spaceship’s construction. Furthermore, Hong makes another astonishing decision: to relocate to Mercury, have his body frozen in the millennia-old ice caves of the planet’s north pole, to be awakened every 10 million years, to assist the evolution of these micro-lifeforms. In just 15 years, Chen Yizhe sends Hong to Mercury to seed the nano-life into the liquid metal lakes of Mercury, after which Hong settles down in its polar caves. Meanwhile, Hong’s lawyer, and soulmate named Yin, bids her painful farewells from the distant Earth.

The second storyline is set 100 million years later, when the Suola race have evolved on Mercury, their metal bodies adapted to the hundred-degree temperatures of the planet. They are sustained by light (drawing energy directly by photosynthesis). With no sense of hearing, they rely on the flashing of light through two orifices in their abdomen to communicate in binary. The entire Suola race are devout followers of Shawu, venerate the Star Father, the great god Shawu and her earthly incarnation. They have been initiated in science, and after studying their Holy Book, scientist Tu Lala discovers that much scientific knowledge has been disguised and hidden within. From this he deduces that life on Mercury originates from The Blue Planet. He implores the high priest to send an expedition to search for the Holy Site in the depths of the ice, with the excuse of reviving the incarnation of Shawu, as the Book prophesied. The high priest consents, sending a chaplain to supervise the mission. Tu Lala actually locates the Holy Site, and discovers the incarnation of Shawu (Mr Hong), frozen in the ice, along the sacred rites of “how to revive the incarnation of Shawu”.

However, unexpected occurrences, mainly due to the ignorance and blind devotion of the believers, result in Tulala’s unfortunate violent death (as metallic organisms, the Suola can easily resurrect after a sudden death, but those who do are considered an untouchable caste). In order to protect Mr Hong’s body, Tu lala risks the humiliation, but tragically, his student Qi Qiaqia denounces him, exposing his untouchable status, and inciting the crowd to him, During which time, Mr Hong’s body is destroyed in the scorching sunlight. To avoid blame, Qi Qiaqia suddenly declares that the incarnation of Shawu was a false god, which is why the Father Star could destroy it. This narrative is accepted by the devotees, who hail him as their new high priest. In the thousands of years that follow, Suola society descends into darkness, religious cruelly suppressing science, but from among the population comes a new “Sect of Repentance”, apparently founded by an untouchable. Silently they preserve everything related to science, awaiting the next rebirth of Shawu in future millennia.

Q3Seeds of Mercury was first published in 2002, and its appeal still endures, even after all this time. What inspired you to write this story?

Wang Jinkang: The initial inspiration probably came from a sad epiphany I had as a teenager. The human body is too fragile. Our proteins start to coagulate above 80°C, our brain suffers irreversible damage if we don’t breathe for five minutes, our body can’t withstand radiation, and we can die from disease, hunger, dehydration, drowning and freezing… It’s admirable that such a fragile life form has been propagated on for billions of years, but it also makes me apprehensive that humanity would not survive a disaster. Human civilisation is a great achievement, which is why we are proud of it; but it also makes me anxious, worrying that humanity may not survive the next cataclysm. I couldn’t help but imagine, what if a creator, or god of evolution, created a metallic life, invulnerable to fire and flood? Many years later, I combined these youthful imaginings with my subsequent concept of “Templates for Life” and turned it into this novella.

Q4Seeds of Mercury is a piece about the sublime act of Creation, and a reflection on the transitory nature of life. Did you write it with the intention of exploring the contradiction between Science and Religion? Or did that grow naturally out of the creative process? Also, do the sentient beings you write about reflect your own views and positions?

Wang Jinkang: I didn’t intend to construct that dichotomy between Science and Religion, but it’s exactly what happened on Earth, so when I created a history for Mercury’s civilisation, those episodes just appeared naturally. Religion and Science are enemies who love each other. European Papacy cruelly persecuted Galileo, Bruno, and other ‘heretics’, and strictly forbade the theory of evolution, but medieval Europe became the birthplace of modern science. When we look back at the history of Civilisation over millennia, you can’t help but sigh that history is full of paradoxes, and that The Creator is always full of mischief, making fun of the theories of Cause and Effect. As to whether this new life carries some of my own views or positions? Of course. Tu Lala is the heir to the human spirit, with his scientific rationality, adventurous spirit, sense of responsibility, fortitude, and self-sacrifice. In the story, when Tu Lala meets the holy body of Shawu Incarnate, and he figures out that the great god was a scientist. Thus, demonstrating that the intellectual spirits of all scientists are inter-relatable, even if they are alien. That is what I believe in my heart.

Today’s AI isn’t quite up to the standard of “Return of Adam”

Q5Mr. Wang, the world has moved on 22 years since the first publication of Seeds of Mercury. What changes do you think have occurred in science fiction writing in the present day, compared to the early years both in terms of the environment, and the core themes?

Wang Jinkang: These 22 years have brought great changes, and it could be said that civilisation has reached a critical point, that we’re on the cusp of drastic changes. However, for the science fiction writer, who is used to seeing the world from a god-like point of view (through the eyes of science) we think in millennia, so 22 years is too short a period to affect the themes of my work. For example, my debut story Return of Adam showed a society where AI had overcome natural humanity, though it had taken on a parasitic approach, augmenting the processing power (IQ) of the human mind to far outstrip the basic brain, and in fact, became the core of human consciousness. The rapid development of AI today, especially the LLM systems, is amazing, even frightening, but in general, today’s AI isn’t quite up to the standards of Return of Adam. Still, I’m saddened that some things I wrote about, which I assumed would be far in the future have come to pass in my lifetime. For example, in 1997, when many Chinese people asserted that AI could never triumph in the field of Weiqi (Go), I was convinced it eventually would, and wrote a scene of an ‘AI beating a human chess master’ in one of my stories, before it actually happened. I just never expected to see it in my lifetime.

Q6Before Liu Cixin appeared, you “held up half the sky” in Chinese Sci-fi. When you first appeared in China’s science fiction circles, you were relatively older, and more experienced. Do you think that maturity allowed your work to appear more rounded?

Wang Jinkang: My life and experiences have been quite unique. I’ve lived through a very special time in China’s history, worked as a rusticated youth, a miner and model maker. I went to university at 30, became a mechanical engineer, wrote literary novels, and only broke into the science fiction world by chance at 45, publishing my first sci-fi story. If anything, my near-fanatical reading of literature at university paved the way for my future writing. At that time, the reforms were already happening in China, and it was opening up to the world. A huge amount of foreign literature was pouring into the country, dazzling readers like me. There may be another special factor, which is, because I was studying engineering, I was standing atop this wall of science and watching this river of literature racing by, I had a sense of detachment. Add to that I only started writing SF decades after experiencing the rise, fall and distilling of the wave of literature. I suppose that’s why my writing style has a poised, bleak, and sombre character.

Q7What sort of stories do you think are expected from the current literary ecosystem? Which sci-fi genres do you expect to take off in the future?

Wang Jinkang: I have always felt that science fiction is unlike any other form of literature. The richness of mainstream literature does not necessarily coincide with the strength of a country. As the aphorisms go, “classics are born from chaos”, and “poets are fortunate when the country is not”. However, the success of science fiction is reliant on enough readers and authors being educated to a certain threshold, and so depends on the country’s economic, scientific, and technological development, which can be proven by the movement of science fiction’s centre from Britain and France to the United States over the last century. Over the past 40 years, China’s overall economic development has been good, and as one of the oldest sci-fi writers in the country, I’ve experienced this first-hand. I feel that as China continues to modernise and converge with the rest of the world, the creative environment of Chinese sci-fi will continue to improve. As for which themes, I feel will start to emerge? It’s expected that artificial intelligence and space themes, with more emphasis on exploring the human condition, are going to be the stories of importance, but other themes will also develop immensely.

Science fiction writers are used to seeing the world from a god-like viewpoint.

Q8 Mr. Wang, science fiction has taken root in China now for around a century, and you have played a pivotal role in the history of science fiction in the country. Irrespective of whether or not you win this Hugo Award, you have influenced a generation of sci-fi fans and creators. How do you view your own Creative Achievements?

Wang Jinkang: I’m flattered, but I only really played a leading and inductive role in the early stages of the so-called “New Generation” of Chinese sci-fi back in the 1990s. I’m content with the two aspects of my writing career, firstly, in forming the genre of Philosophical Science Fiction, which is based on the latest technological advances, and digs deep into the influence it has on alienation, civilisation, and so forth, to discover this genre’s philosophical uniqueness. This genre did not originate in my work, foreign writers including Mr. Arthur C. Clarke have long created excellent works of philosophical sci-fi, but these elements in my work are more concentrated. Furthermore, with regards science fiction as “the most cosmopolitan form of literature”, I consider my work, whilst still cosmopolitan, to be imbued heavily with Chinese styles and themes, which adds a certain flavour to the genre.

Q9Do you feel that science fiction writing is shifting from short-form to long form, and what difficulties do you feel are associated with that?

Wang Jinkang: In my experience there are three main issues faced when moving into the long-form. Firstly, there must be enough knowledge, from the accumulation of experience and information. Secondly, there must be a more mature view of Nature and human society, in their entirety. These are not necessarily the dominant trait of the novel but will play important roles in the story’s development. Thirdly, the ability to comprehend the entirety of the larger story. This ability to grasp the complete story is equally important to mainstream literary writers, but in science fiction, concepts always play a driving role in the whole work and should be logically consistent in themselves.

Q10In your eyes, what is the role of Morality and Ethics in Science Fiction?

Wang Jinkang: Science fiction authors often look at the world from a godlike point of view, and in the eyes of a creator, survival comes first, and morality and ethics are just auxiliary codes established by humans once they reached a certain level of civilisation. They are also conducive to the overall survival of the human race. As Humanity develops, and “co-operation” becomes more central to society, the role of morality and ethics becomes more and more important, but they certainly won’t stay the same, and the rules will certainly have additions and deletions. For example, once technology becomes suitably advance, the ethics of “strict prohibition regarding editing the genes of a human being” are very likely to change.

Q11Throughout your career, which of your stories are you most satisfied with?

Wang Jinkang: Of my short and medium length works, I like Seeds of Mercury’, Bee Keepers and The Song of Life, and of my longer works, I’m most satisfied with Ant’s Life and the Alive Trilogy (Escape From The Mother Universe, Parents of Heaven And Earth, and Cosmic Crystal Eggs).

Thank you, reader, for giving meaning to my life.

Q12Mr. Wang, some sci-fi fans have pointed out you are ‘the oldest non-American writer shortlisted for the Hugo Award’, which is an impressive feat. What are your hopes for the Hugo Awards?

Wang Jinkang: There’s a bit of a special circumstance here, where a story I wrote 22 years ago, was only translated into English last year, and shortlisted according to the translation’s publication date, even though, I’m very happy to hold this “World Record”. I hope it will go further than just being a finalist, but even if it doesn’t, I still consider it a great honour to be shortlisted.

Q13What would you like to say to the readers regarding the inclusion of Seeds of Mercury in the Hugo Awards shortlist, which was voted for by individual sci-fi fans one after another?

Wang Jinkang: I’ve always had a reverence for my readers. The two most common inscriptions I write to fans at signings are “The reader is the god of authors”, and “Thank you reader, for giving meaning to my life”. Out of the millions of publications each year, in a sea of stories, to have any number of people read your work, enjoy it, and keep it in their memory after that relentless tide of time, is a rare blessing. One might even call it a great gift from the readers to the author.

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The growing global interest in Chinese science fiction, led by Liu Cixin's 'The Three Body Problem,' has demonstrated how non-Western perspectives enrich the genre and attract international audiences.

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Content: Home>>

Growing global interest in Chinese sci-fi: reports

(Xinhua) 10:03, April 30, 2024

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese science fiction, led by titles of Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin, has seen growing global interest and media exposure in recent years, according to two newly released reports.

The global search trend and media reports about Chinese sci-fi works had been on a steady rise between 2018 and 2023, according to a report on the overseas footprint of Chinese sci-fi.

The report, compiled by the China Science Fiction Research Center and the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, was released at the eighth China Science Fiction Convention, which concluded on Monday.

"The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin has led Chinese sci-fi novels in terms of overseas influence, while films adapted from Liu's "The Wandering Earth" are the top influencer in the movie category, the report said.

"Big IPs (like Liu's works) can become a trailblazer. They have piqued interest in Chinese sci-fi and prompted the translation of other Chinese works into various languages," said Ji Shaoting, a member of the science fiction committee of the China Writers Association.

She noted that a similar trend has emerged in Japan, with numerous Chinese science fiction titles being published in Japanese, fueled by the immense popularity of "The Three Body Problem."

Another report on the global impact of "The Three Body Problem" intellectual properties indicates that elements drawn from Chinese history and culture are particularly embraced by international fans of Chinese science fiction, surpassing other aspects such as human emotions and advanced technology.

Nearly 80 percent of overseas interviewees have expressed a wish to understand China after watching the Chinese TV adaptation of "The Three Body Problem," according to the report jointly released by China Science Fiction Research Center and Tencent Horizon.

"Many sinologists I met in Europe are excited about 'The Three Body Problem.' They told me that the work has sparked an enthusiasm for studying the Chinese language," said Wu Yan, a renowned researcher on Chinese sci-fi.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)

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Contemporary authors like Kazuo Ishiguro and Janet Winterson have blended science fiction with pure literature, using the genre to explore philosophical and societal themes.

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Content: Sunday Literature ‧ 2021 The Most Awakening Book List (Literature)
Post Date: December 26, 2021
【 Ming Pao Newsletter 】 Fiction
by Sunfai
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In the past, I actually read less and less Hong Kong literature, and this year I wanted to distance myself from some words that were too timely to respond to society, and also found that I was getting farther and farther away from the younger generation, so I specially found some young writers' novels to look at, and taste the multiple Hong Kong in different eras and frames.
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Whether it is heterosexual love, homosexual love, complex entanglement of love, the author wrote so naturally, but as a reader of my psychological reaction turned out to be so twisted.
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2) Single Bed
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Because of the promotion of "Sunday Literature", I read the first book by Mishan Bookstore, "Single Bed", and was surprised at the resilience of the younger generation.
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Central white-collar life is certainly not easy, but occasionally open anal, bladder jokes, the meaning of life still has to rely on their own to find.
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3) Nan Hui Truck: A Collection of Short Stories from New Territories West
Author: Wang Zen-heng
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But the most profound, or after the vernal equinox read "Nan Hui truck: New Territories West short story collection".
The workers in the northwest New Territories under Wang Zen-heng ’ s pen, the crane workers, the massage girls, the unmarried women from the Mainland who came to Hong Kong, the border youths, and the low-level agents of the anti-triad unit, are not the groups I have come into frequent contact with in my life, but I know that they are the background of this society.
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I am 30 years old and 40 years old, I am particularly taught by the post-90s generation this year, whether it is music, YouTube Channel, or the creators of novels.
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This year, I was particularly interested in the new book Zero Separation.
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Translator: Yan Yun
Publisher: Trojan Horse Culture (August 2021)
Finally, I have to recommend a science fiction writer in the strict sense.
Her "six songs of earth and sea" has long been a science fiction type of classic.
This year, Taiwan translated her short story series, “Changing Planes, ” a series of stories about moving through different dimensions.
Under Le Guin ’ s pen, science fiction stories are written as ethnography, spreading the magnificent and mixed heterogeneous universe.
Literary readers with a clear heart can also read a kind of intertextuality: the novel refers to many literary names, such as Bochs, Calvino, and Dostoyevsky.
As I read, I twirled between the “sci-fi universe ” and the“ literary dimension. ”
This is the experience of reading contemporary "science fiction - (pure) literature".
prose
Mann Chan Yen-kai
1) Copy the "Unfathomable": "Drifting Clouds"
Author: Li Rikang
Publisher: Postscript Studio (January 2021)
Those frightened, harsh eyes were staring at me.
He is forcibly taken away by a dog squad with a dog pen, or has become a dish on someone else ’ s table.
It was the black dog that accompanied me through my childhood.
It turns out that "a lot" is also the case, which may be the fate of rural dogs.
Li Ri Kang ’ s “Leaving the Clouds ” also revealed the scars of my childhood.
The author says this book is about misinformation.
While studying in Kyoto, he enjoyed Japanese aesthetics, but also encountered natural disasters.
In the summer of 2018, I was editing a collection of student essays, and I soon received an article entitled “A Journey to Kyoto ” from Li Rikang.
The article explains the various aspects of visiting students, and carefully explains the experience of copying ancient books in college.
A year later, someone is determined to open the Pandora box, and the result is “unexpected ”.
Later, people experienced "grief, sigh, destruction, mystery, fear, determination, and dreams."
There is also a "mishap" to be written.
Man Hsu Ti-chung
Guarded by Dragons: Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People
Written by Rick Gekoski
Publisher: Constable (August 2021)
When Gekoski was a student, he sold a set of Shakespeare and made his first pot of gold, which led him to start his gold business by trading old books.
His original occupation was a professor of English at Warwick University, and he probably taught Tao Jie. Obviously, being a rare bookseller is much more fun than teaching.
The subtitle of this book, "The Best Book and the Best People", can also be used in the previous similar work, Tolkien's Gown (American version of Nabokov's Butterfly), both to write books, and more importantly to write people, these people, mostly famous writers, Gekoski help them sell books, or Their book heritage, written about their great personalities and behaviors.
So the bookseller can not be offended, otherwise he will explode your dark side - rest assured, after you pass.
3) "Geng Zi Hai Wu Xu"
Author: Yeh Han-liang
Publisher: OUP (April 2021)
Yeh Han-liang is now widely known as a martial artist. When he knew his name, he was a musician and a broadcaster.
When I bought this book, I wanted to see if he was teaching people how to spend years and fortune telling.
If so, you might end up putting the book down.
There is only a small amount of talk in the book, and because of the circumstances, it is not selling cucumbers.
And Ye Han-liang is the same generation, he talks about the old life, I can most of the experience, feel the same.
The words in the book are quite beautiful - a little higher than fluency, Li is the meaning of sprinkling.
He studied foreign languages at university, but has long paid attention to "national history", and academic numbers, had to understand Chinese classics, the pen quotes the ancients, pure and natural, will not give people the feeling of dropping a book bag. Geng Zi, that is, 2020, 2019, 2018, is the eventful autumn of Hong Kong, the article is more lyrical than emotional (in fact, it is absolutely not), it is not only political, it is more everyday.
4) 《 Love Bookstore 》
Author: Yosuke Ikouchi
Publisher: Small Bookstore Small Case Publishing (July 2021)
The coronavirus epidemic has dealt a heavy and even fatal blow to various industries, and the book industry naturally bears the brunt of it, with fewer people taking to the streets. But according to the author of the book, some booksellers have turned to selling books online, and their business has been ahead of the curve.
Another interesting phenomenon is the addition of a number of independent bookstores and independent publishing houses in that year alone (2020).
I found that this is also the case in Hong Kong, in addition to bookstores and publishing houses, as well as magazines, it is because of curiosity that we have to see what is happening in the Japanese book industry.
The author visited 10 independent bookstores in Japan and their founders, and his list is said to be as long as 40.
These bookstores have their own characteristics, but they generally have one thing in common, which is that they often host lectures and events, and even publish.
In Hong Kong, some bookstores offer paid lectures, classes, and even become a major source of income.
The author is Japanese, understands Chinese, and the book is written in Chinese, so there is no translator.
Man Lee King-heng
I ’ m not a fan of new books, but I ’ ve recently read a couple of memorable books that happened to be published in 2021.
5 ） 《 Shop Life 》
Author: Huang Guoxuan, Zheng Junhan
Publisher: Extraordinary (March 2021)
I rarely read the prose, but this collection of essays calls me unrelenting.
The article in the book depicts the daily life of the bookstore, but in the clever arrangement, the whole book structure is complete and unified, the content is comprehensive, and thought-provoking.
The story begins with two people entering the bookstore and ends with a review of everyone ’ s departure.
The author briefly and warmly outlines the daily work of the bookstore — ordering, unpacking, putting on shelves, stocking, packing, book fairs, and even dealing with rat plague floods, as well as the fate and interests of bosses, colleagues, guests, publishers, authors, book club owners, and even porters.
The book permeates the author's ideal mission and realistic management of books, reading, bookstores, and even social life care and reflection.
Reading this book about books and bookstores made me feel the texture and temperature of the book.
6) Running to the Night: A Collection of YOASOBI Novels
Author: Hoshino Dance Night, Ishigaki Aota, Ishigaki no, Underwater Wave
Translator: Chen Fanfan
Publisher: Cutting-Edge (May 2021)
I like books and I also like music.
This “musical novel ” project, which combines music and literature, is very special: the record company first released the draft under the premise that the winning works will be adapted into songs, and the Japanese duo YOASOBI wrote and interpreted the lyrics based on the winning works. YOASOBI is good at subtly composing melodies of melancholy and melancholy, and subtly composing melodies through the contrast of form and content. It is a simple but complex rhyme.
This book contains four original novels adapted by YOASOBI as songs on the album THE BOOK, including young people ’ s feelings and reflections on death, fate, love, and the end.
Hoshino Dance Night ’ s “The Temptation of Sonatos / Dissolve in the Night Sky ” is a story about death in an ingenious and one-of-a-kind way, and the song“ Run to the Night ” has been downloaded over 100 million times.
But I prefer - whether it is a song or a novel - "Maybe", like it to capture the sadness and helplessness left by a couple after their love fades with a precise but understated brush stroke.
7) Becoming Simonova
Author: Kate Kirkpatrick
Translator: Zhang Wei
Publisher: Acropolis (June 2021)
Simompova is a legendary woman: an open relationship with Saudi Arabia; an existentialist following Saudi Arabia; a world-renowned feminist. It is absolutely amazing to read this more than 500 pages of Being Simompova with these impressions.
Based on the letters and diaries published after Bova ’ s death, the author presents one of the most three-dimensional complex Simone Bova has ever seen.
Rather than being the perfect embodiment of ideal love, Bova and Saudi Arabia are more like partners on the intellectual road.
In fact, she is much more passionate about other heterosexual and same-sex relationships, and has been deeply hurt by Saudi Arabia ’ s popularity and coldness.
Academically, Bova ’ s ability to argue is higher than Saudi Arabia ’ s, forming ideas about existence and nothingness earlier, and even developing a set of existential ethics on her own.
She was dissatisfied with the feminists of the time, and wrote "Second Sex" originally only to organize their own growth experience, but unexpectedly became the most influential feminist.
Finally, I have to mention that the foreword of this book is very wonderful, and even if she is not a Bova fan, she will certainly feel endless fun.
WEN YARAN
(8) The Complete Seventies.
Author: 7th Grade
Publisher: Imprint (December 2020)
A full set of 13 books, with novels, poems and essays, published in December 2020, should not be excessive if it is included in the 2021 awakening book list.
I have not read the seventh grade before, it is after his death in 2020, the printing and publishing of this set of complete began to read.
The words of the seventh class are really powerful, like one of his masterpieces, the short story "I Love Black Eyes", is pouring rain, pedestrians scramble to climb the ladder to the roof of the house to avoid flooding, he wrote: "He has never hated human beings as much as at this moment. The goal of the project."
The words of the seventh class, I would say, have a unique dark atmosphere, and when asked where this atmosphere came from, the prologue in the second book of the Complete Collection provides an answer: that is, "the characteristics of the rhythm of the text."
In the words of the seventh class, the rhythm is different from other, there is "the breath of life, the beating of the blood."
You will understand when you read.
9) The past is not as good as smoking.
Author: Zhang and
Publisher: OUP (September 2021)
When you see the author ’ s name, you know it ’ s a must read book.
The six characters in the book, like the first book published in 2004, are the stories of the upper echelons of Chinese society and the last aristocrats, all of whom have been talking to the author's father, Zhang Bojun, for many years.
In China before and after World War II, as well as resisting foreign enemies, the elites of these countries wandered between the two parties, and in their lives, there were questions about where the country should go and what role they should play and what role they should play.
There are dramatists like Hong Shen, who was once a member of the Kuomintang, and later hoped to be recognized as a communist after his death; there are also political figures like Zuo Shunsheng, who was once the secretary general of the NLD, an important figure of the third force outside the KMT, and was the object of Mao Zedong's active recruitment.
It was only after 1949 that he did not go to Beijing and did not go to Taiwan, choosing to settle in Hong Kong and continue to discuss politics as a scholar.
Under the political storm, there are at least six examples of what people can choose and how they should choose.
"The Anatomy of Melancholy"
Author by: Robert Burton
Publisher: Penguin Classics (July 2021)
The Chinese translation "Anatomy of Depression", first published in 1621, and finally revised after the author's death in 1651. In 2021, the Penguin Classic reprinted this monumental work in hardcover.
This year, there is such a book on the pillow, there will be a calming effect. More than 1,300 pages, talking about what depression is, was written by Robert Burton in Oxford.
The book is very thick, but in addition to the opening preface, there is actually no need to read from scratch, find the chapter that interests you, that is, a specific depression that troubles you, or what kind of curiosity you are about depression, like the root of love depression, or why we are angry or afraid, the author as early as the 17th century, has the answer.
Wen Yi-jen
11) The Mayfly of the Great Age
Author: Shao Songxiong
Publisher: Mishan Bookstore (December 2021)
Shao Chung-hsiung studied in the 1980s, and has a wide range of knowledge and interests in the humanities. In the past, Oxford published only three collections of essays on music: Black and White, The Joy of Music, and The Twilight of the Gods.
"The Mayfly of the Great Age" just compiled his column articles written in the last years of the Apple Daily, from memoirs of the pioneers he encountered during his school years, to talk about Hong Kong popular culture such as movies or TV dramas, from family education to learning boxing and cooking, etc., and chatter and talk, and let the reader savor the image of the last student.
The book is divided into six parts by content: floating life, religious views, teaching, world style, humanities and film arts.
Shao Songxiong ’ s words do not have beautiful words, on the contrary, he sincerely shares his experience and insights with readers in a solid text, which is a long example of scholarly prose in the classical humanistic tradition.
"The Soul of the Old."
Author: Guo Ting
Publisher: Maitian (July 2021)
What are old things? Why are old things important? Guo Ting, who grew up with the elderly in Shanghai, seems to have a firm belief in old things.
From the old things, she saw people who had lived and died in a single line of time and did not return, leaving behind a chance to reconnect with the lost time.
While studying in the UK, she found that the society has been relatively stable for hundreds of years, and its charity shop has left a large number of intact old things, from fashion to porcelain, from books to vinyl records, and even home furnishings. Guo Ting will be her rich knowledge and passion for charity shops, second-hand shops, and old bookstores, focusing on the soul of old things. It is written in a very detailed manner, and it is written in a poetic manner.
How did the sad days pass?
Author: Huang Shu-han
Painting: LAI En-tsi
Photographer: Ruan Chi Him
Publisher: Shi Ching Culture (November 2021)
After two turbulent years, many Hong Kong people re-examine the past life and find the shadow of the past life. Huang Han-sook's "How to Live the Sad Days" recorded some of her own experiences and thoughts in the past few years: as a person in the education system, a witness of my city's aging, a patient, how should she view the city people's evasion of negative things?
In search of the whole, she listens to other people ’ s stories; in search of answers, she reads classic literary novels.
The book contains not only her simple words, but also the paintings of theater director Ryan Enci and the street scenes photographed by Ruan Zhiqian, which show a more three-dimensional look of sadness.
Poetry collections
Mann Chan Tzu-him
1) Save me with her little tongue.
Author: Cao Shuying
Publisher: Black Eyes Culture (June 2021)
Cao Shuying is good at short poetry and rapid segmentation, full of improvised fun, you can never guess where it will turn, how to stop.
This book is published in Taiwan, but it is full of memories of Hong Kong. At least four and a half of the seven chapters refer to this place: Hong Kong, Tai Yu Shan, Night Kowloon, Heart Lake City, Green Island.
Some poems seem to have no local memory, and the author still does not forget the point at the end of the poem, which shows deep feelings.
On the other hand, poetry does not always flow into reality, but can also plunge into the mind.
Also written in Taikoo, Cao Shuying ’ s “In Taikoo ” does not outline the landscape and concentrate history like the“ Taikoo ” of Ru Ming, but says that those “women like robots ” and“ men like silk ”, “should not walk in King ’ s Road, Jusco, Percy ’ s Restaurant, / They should walk in Rome, Prague, Brooklyn. ” A mysterious rope is drawn.
How far can poetry go from life?
2) "Simboska. Collage of Life"
Author: Alice Milani
Translator: Lin Wei-yun
Publisher: BIG CULTURE (July 2021)
Simboska is very popular in the Chinese world, and there are many translations of poetry, but no biographies in Chinese have been seen so far.
Based on biographies, interviews and other materials, the graphic novel "Simboska. Collage of Life" is a virtual reality, which not only presents the poet's life turning point, changes in literature and political beliefs, but also infuses imagination with fun.
Poets love to collage images, and so does this book, which uses crisp splicing to connect different time and space.
When it quotes poetry, it often does not restore the writing background like a biography, but deliberately mismatches the poetry to another time and space, and uses it to interpret the poet's psychology and arouse the reader's imagination.
Simboska is known for his humor, and the book is just as humorous, and even the dullest thank-you note makes me laugh: “Finally, I want to thank my unparalleled manager, Alexandra Sparta. ”
He has my love and 70% of my income. "
The Rose Is Open for No Reason: 40 Paths Approaching Modern Poetry
Author: Liao Wei-tang
Publisher: New Classical Culture (May 2021)
Roses bloom, there is no need for reasons, but when the city people can not feel the poetry, who will give them the reason to read poetry, or temptation? "Roses are open for no reason - approaching the 40 paths of modern poetry" does not intend to generalize all poetry issues, prefer to give the right medicine, and respond to the public's questions: Is modern poetry and classical poetry incompatible?
Is there no musicality without rhyming? Why branch?
Therefore, this book does not look like a hard textbook, but a dialogue with a living person.
There are 40 chapters in the book, each with two or three poems carefully read to explore a poetry topic. It is obvious that Liao Wai-tong does not first have concepts and then find examples, but first draws inspiration from poetry reading and then distills concepts.
Therefore, the discussion of the topic in the book may not be complete, but the appreciation is always written brilliantly, as tempting as poetry.
Art • Liu Ruoji
Editor • Kwan Hsiao-yang
Email • literature @ mingpao.com
fb: http: / / www.facebook.com / SundayMingpao

The rise of speculative fiction has blurred the boundaries between science fiction and other genres, serving as an umbrella term for narratives imagining advancements or alternate realities.

Genre-bending works like 'Iron Widow' and 'Phoenix Extravagant' merge cultural magic systems with futuristic technology, showcasing the genre's adaptability.

Title:

Content: 10 Science-Fantasy Books for You Funky Space Sorcerers

Science-Fantasy isn’t a new genre, per se, but it is one that is starting to get some clearer definitions within publishing, making it a buzzy place to read. Combining tropes and conventions of both science-fiction and fantasy, magic and time-space travel often go hand in hand. There are often unexplainable forces are at work alongside high tech machines and gadgets. Jumping off from the Spelljammer media list (which included a couple great science-fantasy books), I’ve conspired to get even more science-fantasy books on Gizmodo! Check out some of my favourites.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

I love This is How You Lose the Time War — it’s genuinely one of my favourite books. Two rival time agents leave messages for each other across worlds and universes, attempting to win the never ending Time War… and avoid falling in love. The twist at the end is so tone-perfect that it’ll make you want to read it again immediately.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

Taking fairy tale retellings and mashing them into a planet-jumping adventure/romance, How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a subtly magical space romp.

Winter’s Orbit

Definitely light on the actual science, Winter’s Orbit is much more of a romance than anything else, but it’s also a fun space opera full of court intrigue and politics. If you enjoyed Leia’s standalone Star Wars novel Bloodline, Winter’s Orbit is for you. Read an essay from the author on Gizmodo here.

Iron Widow

An absolute genre wreck of a novel, Iron Widow combines Confucian-based wuxia fantasy tropes and mashes them into giant evolving battle machines as the main characters fight aliens in this alternate-history retelling of Chinese historical figures. Read an excerpt on Gizmodo here.

The Unspoken Name

I’ve screamed about The Unspoken Name before, and I’ll do it again, but this debut epic fantasy novel has it all. It’s definitely more fantasy than science fiction, but with jump gates, flying ships, and ancient stasis technology, it definitely belongs here.

The All-Consuming World

Clones, a sentient universe, and the magic of memory all come to play in The All-Consuming World. With fervor and flair, this book navigates trauma and technology without missing a beat. Read an excerpt on Gizmodo here.

Saga

If you haven’t heard of Saga at this point, I’m just thrilled I get to introduce you to this incredible science-fantasy epic comic run that took the nerd world by storm nearly 10 years ago. It’s just been picked up again after a few years on hiatus, and I cannot recommend this emotional and fantastic tale of a family who are fighting the whole universe to stay together.

Dreadnought

I can’t mention science fantasy without at least one steampunk novel, and while Dreadnought is technically the sequel to Boneshaker, it stands entirely on its own, and was my first introduction to the Clockwork Century books. With an incredible heroine in Mercy and enough world-building to make you really believe in the proposed alt-history, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

With a stunning magic system that spans an entire universe, making up the very code of existence, A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is one of those books that starts out fast (literally, during an intergalactic space-race) and never stops.

Phoenix Extravagant

Following up the science-heavy science-fantasy Ninefox Gambit (which launched a rather wonderful series), Yoon Ha Lee dove into fantasy-heavy science-fantasy with Pheonix Extravagant, which takes place in an alt-fantasy Korea amid invasions and occupations and explores how different cultural magic systems interact with technology in a beautiful and totally original way. Also there’s a mecha-dragon. So if that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.

One major debate within the science fiction community revolves around its role as a tool for social critique versus its escapist and imaginative qualities.

Science fiction anthologies, such as those featuring Chinese female authors, have played a significant role in showcasing diverse voices and expanding the genre's inclusivity.

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

Adaptations of science fiction literature into other media, such as film and television, have significantly influenced the genre’s evolution by expanding its audience and reshaping narrative structures.

Title:

Content: Science Fiction Conference Concludes at Jeddah Book Fair with "Anime" and "One Thousand and One Nights"
Specialists, writers and experts discussed the most important issues during 8 sessions and workshops
Part of the sessions of the Science Fiction Conference in Jeddah
The Commission for Literature, Publishing and Translation concluded yesterday the Science Fiction Conference, which is being held for the first time in the Kingdom, coinciding with the Jeddah Book Fair, held in (Super Dome).
Through eight sessions and a workshop, specialists, writers and experts discussed a number of issues related to science fiction, fantasy and anime, in addition to global trends in the manufacture of science fiction and sound fiction books, books and novels in film and television, and a number of related topics and themes.
In the first session of the second day of the conference, entitled "Pioneers of science fiction, fantasy and anime", the participants discussed the challenges of women in writing about science fiction and the worlds of fantasy and anime, reviewing some of the difficulties they faced during writing in this art, and how they overcome them to reach what they are today. The last three.
During the second session, which was entitled "Global Trends in the Science Fiction and Audio Fiction Industry", it discussed the most important challenges facing the audiobook market, as well as ways to turn science fiction fiction into attractive audiobooks, a statistical review on the rise in the Arab world towards audio books, the presence of 8,000 Arabic audiobooks available through audio content applications, pointing to the growth of audiobooks and listeners following the Coronavirus epidemic to 400%. I have the podcast; the number of listeners in 2015, 200 million listeners; while this number increased in 2022 to reach one billion listeners of various podcast materials.
On their most prominent experiences in this field, a number of Saudi writers and authors, who enriched the content of science fiction with a number of novels that appeared on the shelves of libraries and publishing houses, talked about a number of issues and topics related to science fiction and fantasy, and explained the difference between science fiction and fantasy and the change of concepts and culture of the new generation, which has become more comprehensive.
In the fourth session, entitled "One Thousand and One Nights: The Fantasies of the Old World", intellectuals agreed on the validity and merit of keeping the novel (One Thousand and One Nights) under consideration, as it has a progressive vision of history for each creator, and that it suffers from an old and new crisis "old as texts that carry in the eyes of some, and a new crisis after being honored externally", and referring to its pivotal role in music, Video and many literary and cultural fields.
The fifth session is entitled "Books in Film and Television".
Licensing, Copyright and Production ", which deals with intellectual rights that take place between the author and the production company and are subject to contracts agreed by the parties and are not subject to certain terms.
Noting that the literary agent represents the lawyer for the author or writer of the novel, and that the Arab world is very late in appointing a literary agent; but it began to spread in the present time, and facilitate the writer to devote himself to writing without thinking about the stages of publication and others.
In a session entitled (Beyond the series "Stranger Things"), she stressed that the confident director faces all obstacles and challenges, and that imagination helps to get out of the traditional roles, but it needs a lot of training, especially in scenes of fighting, and sometimes taking risks if there is no alternative.
The session reviewed the series (Altered Carbon) and the most prominent stations and scenes that the work went through to turn it on TV, in a session entitled "Soul, Body and Memory in Science Fiction", and talk about the construction of plot, scenes and sites, fantasy works that are seen from different perspectives and locations and different images on paper, and the difference in reality in changing some events and characters, and talk about innovation in technology and moving between bodies in a quarter. A century, and the emphasis on creative things in the content until it becomes a film, and the importance of the creative crew of directors, designers and artistic vision, to put the content better; where things start small and then grow to come out to the viewer with a beautiful fantasy plot.
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