Science fiction literature has undergone significant changes since its origins, evolving in style, themes, and the diversity of its contributing voices.

The genre’s roots are often traced to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (1818), which is considered the first modern science fiction novel for its engagement with scientific ideas and their moral, social, and existential consequences.

Early science fiction also includes works such as Margaret Cavendish’s "The Blazing World" from the seventeenth century, as well as the late nineteenth-century novels of H.G. Wells ("The Time Machine," "The War of the Worlds") and Jules Verne, which helped popularize the narrative use of technological and speculative concepts as drivers of story and societal critique .

During the early twentieth century, writers like Aldous Huxley ("Brave New World") and George Orwell ("1984") used science fiction to examine social, political, and ethical questions through dystopian and utopian frameworks.

In Russia, Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" provided one of the earliest models for the totalitarian dystopia.

These texts reflect the growing recognition that science fiction is not only about technology or future societies, but also about exploring the possible consequences for humanity as a whole .

The mid-twentieth century is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of science fiction, dominated by authors such as Isaac Asimov (the "Foundation" series), Arthur C. Clarke ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert ("Dune").

This period was marked by optimism in the potential of science and technology, rational problem-solving, and a focus on space exploration.

The writing style of the Golden Age frequently favored clear prose, scientific accuracy, and stories built around puzzles, inventions, and galactic potentials .

Following this, the "New Wave" movement of the 1960s and 1970s introduced greater psychological depth, experimentation, and social awareness to science fiction.

Authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Samuel R. Delany explored themes of identity, consciousness, sexuality, and political power, often using literary techniques previously reserved for mainstream fiction.

This era marked a shift away from the strict technical focus of Golden Age writers and toward a more stylistically and thematically ambitious treatment of speculative subjects .

The 1980s saw the rise of cyberpunk with authors such as William Gibson ("Neuromancer") and Bruce Sterling.

This subgenre foregrounded the intersection of virtual reality, computer technology, and a dark, corporatized, and often dystopian urban future.

Cyberpunk stories expanded science fiction's capacity for social and technological critique, in particular focusing on how information networks, artificial intelligence, and post-industrial society impact individuals .

In recent decades, science fiction has increasingly addressed themes such as environmental catastrophe, resource depletion, artificial intelligence, posthumanism, and climate change.

The genre has also moved beyond its traditional Anglo-American and male-dominated boundaries to incorporate global voices and perspectives.

Contemporary authors explore a wide variety of topics, blending speculative technology with social critique and imaginative world-building.

International voices from China, South America, Africa, Russia, and the Arab world contribute to the genre’s evolving identity, with works like Cixin Liu’s "The Three-Body Problem," Nnedi Okorafor’s "Who Fears Death," and Ahmed Saadawi’s "Frankenstein in Baghdad" gaining global recognition .

The greater inclusivity of women writers and authors of color has been a major development in the modern era.

Early foundational contributions came from Mary Shelley and Margaret Cavendish, but for much of the twentieth century, women and people of color were underrepresented and their voices marginalized.

The situation began to shift significantly with the works of Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Left Hand of Darkness," exploring gender and societal norms), Octavia E. Butler ("Parable of the Sower," addressing race, environment, and apocalypse), and Samuel R. Delany, a Black gay writer whose novels expanded both the literary and sociopolitical horizons of the genre.

More recently, N.K. Jemisin has become a leading figure, winning multiple Hugo Awards for her "Broken Earth" trilogy, which challenges traditional power structures and brings new depth to fantasy and science fiction storytelling.

Other notable voices include Nnedi Okorafor, who forefronts African perspectives in works like the "Binti" series.

In China, the number and prominence of women writing speculative fiction are rising, with female-authored anthologies gaining traction and the content of science fiction becoming more varied and rich .

Despite progress, representation and inclusion continue to be challenges in the publishing industry and in cultural perceptions of the genre.

The works of authors of color and women often remain less visible than those by white men, particularly in educational settings and mainstream publishing.

Diverse writers have at times faced pressures to create within established stereotypes or have their work categorized according to identity, rather than literary merit.

However, an increasing share of major literary awards (such as the Hugo and Nebula Awards) are being awarded to a broader range of authors, pointing to greater recognition and influence of diverse perspectives .

The result of these historical changes is a rich and varied canon.

Traditional core works include "Frankenstein," "The Time Machine," "Dune," the "Foundation" series, "The Left Hand of Darkness," and "Neuromancer."

The contemporary canon now also recognizes the centrality and influence of "Parable of the Sower," "Binti," "The Fifth Season," and "The Three-Body Problem," among others, for their innovation, relevance, and capacity to broaden the audiences and perspectives represented in science fiction .

In summary, science fiction’s evolution has been characterized by several major phases: its emergence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a vehicle for exploring scientific and social change; the Golden Age’s celebration of technology and rationality; the New Wave’s focus on psychological complexity and social critique; the rise of subgenres such as cyberpunk; and, most recently, a broad expansion in theme, form, and authorship, resulting in a genre that is both wider and deeper than ever before.

Women and authors of color, long marginalized, are now central to the ongoing vitality, innovation, and relevance of science fiction across the globe.

Science fiction literature has undergone significant changes since its origins, evolving in style, themes, and the diversity of its contributing voices.

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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
A variety of Hong Kong in three novels
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.
1) The Love Method of the Overcrowded City
Author: Huang Yi
Publisher: United Literature (September 2021)
Before the winter solstice, I finished Huang Yi ’ s “The Love Method of the Overcrowded City ”.
Each short story is put together with a painting, and the words are light and light because of the power of the picture, so that the reader has the possibility of multiple reading.
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.
The novel was written in the past two or three years, the dark shadow of the era is like a shadow, but it does not reduce the warmth of the heart, love, the breath of youth so that people still have a little space in the oppression.
2) Single Bed
Author: Jiajun
Publisher: Mishan Bookstore (2021)
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.
In the book, Jiajun writes about Beijing, Xinjiang, Mongolia, South America and other places, but Hong Kong is always a lingering theme.
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.
As in the case of the righteous, there is a life of lawlessness, a life of lawlessness.
3) Nan Hui Truck: A Collection of Short Stories from New Territories West
Author: Wang Zen-heng
Publisher: Postscript Studio (January 2021)
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.
The black sand beach of Lung Kwu Tan, the disorderly walk on Castle Peak Road, the village entrance of Siu Lam Tsuen, and the unquenchable smoke head of the ground of the rear hill breaking down the primary school are obviously not the schizophrenic construction of "Illusion Love", but in fact, they are the cruel reality of the nightmare that impels Yuen Tin and even our city.
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.
This year has not been easy, and the road ahead is even more difficult. I just hope that you will continue to work hard and unleash more power than you can imagine.
Science fiction
Man TANG Ching-kin
The Crossing between Science Fiction and Pure Literature
If science fiction is still regarded as genre literature today, it would be too light on science fiction.
Now pure literature writers are happy to take science fiction as the topic, and actively explore the pursuit of literature with science fiction; on the other hand, many authors who are regarded as science fiction writers have gradually pushed "science fiction" to a new position beyond traditional types of literature.
If possible, I would prefer to use "Watsuki" to understand the relationship between science fiction and pure literature.
1) Clara and the Sun
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Translator: Lin Hongtao
Publisher: Shang Zhou (March 2021)
Nobel Prize winner Ishiguro Ishiguro has written many works with science fiction elements, but the literary laurels make him incompatible with the label of "science fiction writer".
But as soon as you start reading his words, you will immediately understand what I mean by "Watanabe".
Klara and the Sun is a bittersweet grown-up novel about Clara ’ s feelings and introspection as she grows up — the only thing special is that Clara is a robot made to be a companion to human children.
The novel uses a robot as a first-person narrative, so the novel not only responds to the growing fiction tradition in the history of literature, but also transcends it: how did the robot human spirit grow? How did Clara's knowledge of self and love get excavated under the pen of the novelist?
Ishiguro Ishiguro is one of the few writers to write gently and deeply about science fiction, and this new work after the Nobel Prize has not disappointed.
2) Zero Separation
Author: Imah
Publisher: Maitian (May 2021)
However, this kind of "crossing" is not limited to the topic of the novel.
In Taiwan, for example, a group of Mesozoic novelists even regarded it as a basic narrative skill, and science fiction has become a common material for them to practice narrative skills.
This year, I was particularly interested in the new book Zero Separation.
Since "The Dreamer", Yi has explained to the Chinese speaking world that he has the ability to lead Chinese novels to a new territory of "science fiction - (pure) literature".
The complexity of the narrative of the novel lies in the fact that he takes on the universe of The Dreamer and at the same time inserts various fictional "subtexts" such as preface, postscript, and dialogue to contain a future world written by a future author.
3) "Transit: 15 Trans Dimensional Travels by Le Guin"
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
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

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

The genre’s roots are often traced to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (1818), which is considered the first modern science fiction novel for its engagement with scientific ideas and their moral, social, and existential consequences.

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

Early science fiction also includes works such as Margaret Cavendish’s "The Blazing World" from the seventeenth century, as well as the late nineteenth-century novels of H.G. Wells ("The Time Machine," "The War of the Worlds") and Jules Verne, which helped popularize the narrative use of technological and speculative concepts as drivers of story and societal critique .

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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.

When did the Duchess of Newcastle Margaret Cavendish write "The Blazing World," considered to be the first work of science fiction?

During the early twentieth century, writers like Aldous Huxley ("Brave New World") and George Orwell ("1984") used science fiction to examine social, political, and ethical questions through dystopian and utopian frameworks.

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?

Which novels in the realm of dystopia have gained widespread fame?

Aldous Husley's "Brave New World"
George Orwell's "1984"

In Russia, Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" provided one of the earliest models for the totalitarian dystopia.

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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

These texts reflect the growing recognition that science fiction is not only about technology or future societies, but also about exploring the possible consequences for humanity as a whole .

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

Yusuf Azza al-Din Eissa's writes about humanity with what perspective?

The mid-twentieth century is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of science fiction, dominated by authors such as Isaac Asimov (the "Foundation" series), Arthur C. Clarke ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert ("Dune").

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?

Robert A. Heinlein
Isaac Asimov
Arthur C. Clarke

This period was marked by optimism in the potential of science and technology, rational problem-solving, and a focus on space exploration.

The writing style of the Golden Age frequently favored clear prose, scientific accuracy, and stories built around puzzles, inventions, and galactic potentials .

Following this, the "New Wave" movement of the 1960s and 1970s introduced greater psychological depth, experimentation, and social awareness to science fiction.

Title:

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.

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?

Authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Samuel R. Delany explored themes of identity, consciousness, sexuality, and political power, often using literary techniques previously reserved for mainstream fiction.

Title:

Content: Cancel Culture

Sensitivity Readers Are the New Literary Gatekeepers

Overzealous gatekeeping on race and gender is killing books before they're published—or even written.

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Alberto Gullaba Jr. was the type of author that publishers dream of having in their catalogs. A first-generation college grad, a child of working-class immigrants, and the recent recipient of a Master of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious University of California, Irvine, program, Gullaba was a debut novelist with a gift for visceral and vivid prose. His first book, University Thugs, had all the makings of a smash hit. A work of character-driven literary fiction steeped in immersive vernacular, it tells the story of a young black man named Titus who is trying to make his way at an elite university in the wake of a criminal conviction—all while the school is being rocked by racial scandals, not unlike the racial reckoning that consumed so many American institutions in the summer of 2020.

Gullaba's agent knew he had something special, and he was excited for a big submission push. But on the eve of sending the manuscript out to publishers, the agent suggested Gullaba update his bio to emphasize his racial identity. Publishers, he reasoned, would be excited to support a young black writer fresh on the literary scene.

There was a problem: Gullaba is Filipino.

"We had never met in person," he tells me, laughing. "I guess you can't really judge who's black or not based on a name like Alberto, and Gullaba is just ethnically ambiguous enough that it could be from Africa? I don't know."

What was clear, immediately, was that something had changed. The agent wasn't excited anymore. Actually, he seemed downright nervous, and he started asking for significant changes to the manuscript.

"The guy's frightened," Gullaba says. "God bless him, that's the reality of that world."

At first, Gullaba was asked to add an Asian character—east Asian, specifically, perhaps a Pacific Islander. Then it was suggested that Titus' wingman, the biggest secondary character, should also be assigned an Asian identity. And there was one more bizarre twist: Another agency employee, who we'll call Sally, was brought in at the eleventh hour to read the book and provide additional feedback.

"My agent was like, 'I don't want to do this, it makes me very uncomfortable,'" Gullaba says. "But then he says it."

Sally, the agent explained, was black.

Known as sensitivity readers, or sometimes authenticity readers, consultants like Sally are a growing part of publishing, hired to correct the pre-publication missteps of authors who don't share the same traits—or "lived experience," to use a favored buzzword—as their characters.

The sensitivity reader's possible areas of expertise are as varied as human existence itself. One representative consultancy boasts a list of experts in the usual racial, ethnic, and religious categories, but also in such areas as "agoraphobia," "Midwestern," "physical disability, arms & legs," and (perhaps most puzzlingly) "gamer geek." Another one lists individual readers with intersectional qualifications: Depending on the content of your novel, you might hire a white lesbian with generalized anxiety disorder or a bisexual, genderfluid, light-skinned brown Mexican with a self-diagnosis of autism. Every medical condition, every trauma, every form of oppression: Sensitivity readers will cover it all.

Unsurprisingly, the rise of sensitivity readers has proved controversial. Those who support it insist that they're no different from subject matter experts, not unlike the physician who proofreads a medical thriller to make sure the science is right. Critics, on the other hand, balk at the idea that being a member of a given demographic automatically conveys special knowledge about how everyone else in that group thinks or feels. (In Gullaba's case, his sensitivity reader had been born in the Caribbean and raised in the U.K. The idea that she could speak to the "authenticity" of a young, black ex-convict's experience at an American university was comical.) At a moment of ascendant identitarianism in so many institutions, sensitivity reading seems part of a larger, insidious trend in the arts: one that stigmatizes imagination and would, taken to its logical conclusion, make fiction itself categorically impossible.

Whatever else sensitivity readers are, they're a recent development—born in the small but influential corner of the literary world known as young adult (Y.A.) publishing. The Y.A. literary scene has always been a reliable incubator for incoming moral panics, dating back at least as far as 1975's puritanical spasm over sexual content in Judy Blume's Forever…: It's always been easy to get people amped up if you can invoke the specter of a vulnerable young person being harmed by a naughty book. In this case, you can see the seeds of the great media diversity eruption of summer 2020 in a Y.A. controversy from six years earlier.

In 2014, the same year Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, helped spark the first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, a survey by the publisher Lee & Low revealed that just 10 percent of the books published for young readers included multicultural content. The Y.A. community was scandalized, and authors rushed to address the issue.

Suddenly, every other book deal announced that year seemed to involve a multiracial cast of characters repping the whole rainbow of sexual orientations, alternative gender identities, and physical and mental disabilities. But rather than solving the problem, the new enthusiasm for diverse characters fueled a new outrage: No matter how multiracial the characters, the authors were still a bunch of white ladies, as were the editors, the marketing folks, the designers, and the publicists. It was white people all the way down.

Publishing is a longtime bastion of liberalism, but it is also an elite profession, largely inaccessible to all but the independently wealthy (or at least those with the means to live in one of America's most expensive cities on less than $40,000 a year). Between the notoriously low salaries and the limited opportunities for advancement, publishing houses had struggled for decades to attract and retain minority employees, a problem for which they were generally apologetic without ever embarking on the kind of bottom-up industry renovation that might actually fix it. But now they were being scrutinized by a new, young activist cohort—and the demands for change, amplified by social media, were starting to get loud.

Enter the sensitivity reader.

To understand why publishing would go all-in on a practice that not only interferes with an author's creative autonomy but traffics in crude stereotyping to boot, you need to know one crucial fact about sensitivity readers: They're cheap. The average cost of a sensitivity read is a few hundred dollars per manuscript, and it's a freelance job. This made it a godsend to publishers who wanted to merely look like they were giving people of color a seat at the table but didn't want to go to the trouble of buying all those additional chairs. Retaining a freelance stable of racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities created the appearance of diversity for a fraction of the cost.

Within the writing community, the practice was more complicated. In theory, sensitivity readers were a way to write outside your identity without causing offense by "getting it wrong." But the emerging consensus, especially in Y.A., was that it was even more wrong to stray outside your lane in the first place. In a particularly revealing 2018 feature on the culture website Vulture, a sought-after sensitivity reader expressed profound contempt for the authors whose manuscripts she was paid to vet.

"These writers think they're doing the world a service. Like, 'Look at me, I'm showing up for the social-justice movement.' But the problem is that they're showing up and they're taking a seat," she said.

The implications were clear: If you were a white author writing black characters, you were taking up space that could have gone to a more deserving marginalized writer. If you needed a sensitivity reader, then was this really your story to tell?

These questions don't serve as a deterrent for everyone. In the intervening years, sensitivity readers have become de rigueur—in young adult fiction, but also, increasingly, in work for adults. Sometimes a publisher will insist on this extra step; sometimes, a conscientious writer will seek it out on his own. The prevalence of the practice is more sensed than studied—there's no data on what percentage of books go through this sort of vetting—and it's highly variable depending on the writer's own genre and community; the ultra-woke author of prestigious literary fiction is a lot more likely to request or receive a sensitivity read than, say, a hard-boiled crime novelist.

Those who put stock in sensitivity reads seem to mostly imagine that the practice offers a form of insurance, preempting allegations of this -ism or that -phobia, although it rarely pans out that way.

When The Men, Sandra Newman's sci-fi novel in which everyone with a Y chromosome suddenly vanishes from the face of the earth, came under fire for what critics termed the "transphobic" implication that people with Y chromosomes are men, one of the chief questions was whether the author had engaged a trans sensitivity reader. But when Newman said that yes, she had, the outrage only multiplied. Why had she hired only one sensitivity reader? Did she think this was an excuse?

"That only makes it WORSE," one commenter wrote, "because you're claiming you KNOWINGLY did this."

Indeed, not even the professionally sensitive are safe when a cancellation comes calling. In 2019, sensitivity reader Kosoko Jackson frantically pulled his own Y.A. debut novel after he was called out for setting a gay romance against the backdrop of the Kosovo War. (As is typical of these controversies, it's hard to parse exactly what Jackson did wrong, but the complaints mainly focused on the offense of "centering" the wrong identity category—in this case, two American boys—in a story set amid a real-life tragedy that mainly affected people of another identity category.)

And yet, despite the rampant toxicity and the inconsistency in which books get canceled and why, some writers have come to see sensitivity reads as simply part of the process, a thing you do to check the boxes for both "good writer" and "good person." ("Just got my sensitivity read edits back, and it was…eye-opening," reads a recent, cheerful email from a friend who was self-publishing a Y.A. novel. "Turns out I'm your typically oblivious white man!") And while I've never used sensitivity readers for my own work as a novelist, I have agreed to perform the service for someone else who wanted a woman's perspective on a novel-in-progress—which ironically turned out to be exactly the sort of imaginative exercise that sensitivity readers are meant to obviate. My job was not to offer my take on the book, as a woman. It was to scrutinize the text from the perspective of a woman who was not me, someone far more sensitive and prone to taking offense than myself—a person whose perspective, thought, and feelings I could only imagine. But per the rules of sensitivity reading, I was allowed to do this, while the author, due to lacking the proper chromosomal and/or genital configuration, was not.

At the time, I felt the fundamental tension, even absurdity, inherent to what I was doing: suggesting edits that would take all the teeth out of the story, all for the sake of placating the type of person who would invariably just find something else to be offended by.

Sensitivity readers are still most prevalent in Y.A. publishing, but the ideology that fueled their rise is beginning to crop up elsewhere. Sensitivity reading is becoming more commonplace in adult books, as the belief that it's dangerous to draw too far outside the lines of your own experience takes hold not just among authors but in publishing houses and media; one much-discussed 2019 article in Vulture interrogated 10 authors about the decision to write diversely, under the querulous headline, "Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story?" Hollywood and academia are in the midst of similar spasms. Can a nondisabled actor be permitted to play Richard III? Does Scarlett Johansson have the right to take the role of gender-bending gangster Dante Gill from a more deserving, more authentic trans man? Can an academic study and publish on black urban feminist ideology if she's neither urban nor black? Invariably, what begins as a call to consult with members of a given identity group before telling stories about them evolves into the suggestion that you should just sit this one out. Imagining the interior life of someone from another identity group? That's appropriation. That's literary blackface. That's not yours.

In one recent controversy from north of the border, documentary filmmaker Barry Avrich used an award acceptance speech to make an urgent call for more black stories, saying, "It doesn't matter who tells them; we just need to tell them." The response was swift, and severe: "We absolutely agree with Barry when he says there are so many stories to tell, it's just like, why are you the one that has to tell them?" quipped the executive director of Canada's Black Screen Office.

At the moment, it's unclear how obligatory all of this is at the major publishing houses. There are whispered rumors of this or that author having a contract canceled when a sensitivity reader declared the work unacceptable. (I tried unsuccessfully to get one of these writers to talk to me for this piece.) There was a first-person account from author Kate Clanchy, who parted ways with her publisher after concluding that her sensitivity readers only wanted to "create a book that would play better on Twitter, not one that is better written." But given that it's tantamount to outing oneself as the author of work too offensive to publish, those who have books canceled for "sensitivity" issues remain unlikely to say so publicly.

More broadly, the rise of sensitivity reading seems to reflect an obsession with policing language in service of a hypothetical person who is not only maximally sensitive but also not very smart. We've even seen the advent of the first artificial intelligence sensitivity reader, as Google Docs rolled out a new feature designed to help users tailor their work to be more "inclusive." The results were amusingly disastrous; among other things, the bot repeatedly scolded writers for the publication Motherboard to consider changing the publication's name. But the A.I. will eventually learn restraint, as long as users duly let it know when it's overstepping. Human sensitivity readers, on the other hand, will surely be motivated to find increasingly esoteric forms of offense, in accordance with the very human desire to keep themselves in business.

In the meantime, we can be grateful for the constitutional rights that protect our written expression, because sensitivity reading reflects exactly the kind of sprawling, big-budget bureaucratic ethos that government actors would love to impose everywhere if they could: the love child of George Orwell's fictional Ministry of Truth and Ibram X. Kendi's fantasy Department of Antiracism, tasked with monitoring all public expression for expressions of wrongthink (though perhaps they'd call it "misinformation").

The irony is that sensitivity reading is, in itself, an exercise in exactly the kind of offensive generalizing it purports to help authors avoid—not just in the way it traffics in crude stereotypes about how people of a given race, gender, or sexual orientation move through the world, but in whose interests it ultimately serves. This is a practice driven primarily by the fears of privileged editors, agents, and publishers, and that is who it protects, too often at the expense of the diverse authors whose work they claim to champion. Writers such as Alberto Gullaba Jr. are sidelined, sandboxed, scolded away from taking creative risks, by oblivious white people whose own imaginations can only extend as far as the next cancellation.

As for Gullaba, the quest to racialize every character in the book so that it matched the author's identity eventually reached its inevitable conclusion when his agent asked him to make Titus Filipino.

"We're playing this horse trading game, with races, with little woke beats," Gullaba recalls. "Eventually he broaches the idea of, this needs to be your story. Your identity. The Filipino experience."

In the end, he chose to release University Thugs independently and pseudonymously, in its original incarnation. (The book is now available on Amazon.) He is now at work on his second novel. If an agent suggests a sensitivity read, he intends to decline.

"Realizing it came from good intentions," he says, "I want to be gracious, and politely and confidently refuse."

This era marked a shift away from the strict technical focus of Golden Age writers and toward a more stylistically and thematically ambitious treatment of speculative subjects .

The 1980s saw the rise of cyberpunk with authors such as William Gibson ("Neuromancer") and Bruce Sterling.

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 subgenre foregrounded the intersection of virtual reality, computer technology, and a dark, corporatized, and often dystopian urban future.

Cyberpunk stories expanded science fiction's capacity for social and technological critique, in particular focusing on how information networks, artificial intelligence, and post-industrial society impact individuals .

In recent decades, science fiction has increasingly addressed themes such as environmental catastrophe, resource depletion, artificial intelligence, posthumanism, and climate change.

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

The genre has also moved beyond its traditional Anglo-American and male-dominated boundaries to incorporate global voices and perspectives.

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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Most Read

Contemporary authors explore a wide variety of topics, blending speculative technology with social critique and imaginative world-building.

International voices from China, South America, Africa, Russia, and the Arab world contribute to the genre’s evolving identity, with works like Cixin Liu’s "The Three-Body Problem," Nnedi Okorafor’s "Who Fears Death," and Ahmed Saadawi’s "Frankenstein in Baghdad" gaining global recognition .

The greater inclusivity of women writers and authors of color has been a major development in the modern era.

Title:

Content: Have An Original Screenplay? Write it as a Novel!

In the competitive world of entertainment, getting an original screenplay noticed by Hollywood can be a daunting task. That’s if you even have an agent. Granted, studios love a well-written, ready-to-shoot original piece; however, for writers who have not been able to bowl over the gatekeeper, publishing can be the next and best attempt.

By transforming your screenplay into a novel, you can create a solid foundation for your story and attract a base audience, increasing your chances of seeing your work on the big screen. Or, at the very least, you might receive a great option deal, which, in my opinion, is a win-win—the announcement alone can boost readers and book sales. Nevertheless, you’re in the driver’s seat and the objective is to get your story on its feet and on its way to entertain, one way or another.

Why Novels Have Better Legs Than Original Screenplays

Many celebrated films and TV shows originated as novels, demonstrating the enduring power of written stories in captivating audiences. This route has proven particularly fruitful for African-American authors, many of whom have achieved critical and commercial success. The hope for the industry is that your story brings a perspective that’s current, fresh, unexpected, or overwhelmingly popular. Here are some notable successes:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Alexander’s award-winning novel in verse about two basketball-playing brothers was turned into a series on Disney+, bringing his poetic storytelling to a new medium. The series won an Emmy for Writing for a Young Teen Program.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This NY Times Best Seller had a profound impact which led to its adaptation into a successful film, highlighting societal issues and resonating deeply with viewers.

The Perfect Find by Tia Williams

Williams’s romantic novel was adapted into a film on Netflix, celebrating love and career aspirations in a vibrant, modern context.

Survival of the Thickest by Michelle Buteau

Buteau’s hilarious and heartfelt memoir was adapted into a Netflix series, showcasing her unique voice and perspective on life and love.

Nappily Ever After by Trisha R. Thomas

Thomas’s novel about self-discovery and hair politics was adapted into a Netflix film, resonating with many viewers.

Blood at the Root of Water by LaDarrion Williams

Williams’s powerful narrative was brought to life on Amazon Prime, highlighting the magical powers of inherited resiliency and important cultural and social themes.

Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

McMillan's novel about friendship and empowerment became a popular film that resonated with a wide audience.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was adapted into a film and a Broadway musical, twice demonstrating the story’s lasting impact.

Steps to Write Your Story as a Novel

1.      To begin crafting your screenplay into a novel, allow for more detailed storytelling and character development, which can appeal to publishers and readers alike.

2.      Submit your novel to literary agents and publishers. Even if traditional publishing proves challenging, self-publishing is a viable option.

3.      Promote your novel using social media, blogs, and author websites. Engaging with readers can create a dedicated fan base that attracts Hollywood interest.

4.      Join the Authors Guild. Fees are very reasonable for the plentiful resources available.

Educational Resources

·        Online Courses: Websites like Coursera and MasterClass offer courses on novel writing and screenwriting.

·        Workshops: Participate in workshops that focus on adapting novels into screenplays. This process will help clarify what’s important to expand upon or tailor in both mediums.

·        Books and Guides: Read books on writing and adaptation techniques to hone your skills. Writing a memoir? A good, easy read: “You Should Really Write a Book” by Brenda Richardson and Regina Brooks.

A Worthwhile Journey

When you love your story as much as your child or pet, nothing hurts like rejection. And when giving up isn’t an option, writing a novel is a great decision. You will feel more empowered and less likely to succumb to the woes of Hollywood. Becoming an author is rewarding in other ways, like connecting intimately with the audience, being celebrated for your commitment and accomplishment, and, best of all, children and/or adults will tell you what an impact you’ve made in their lives.

As for earnings, again, win-win is all in your effort. The icing on the cake? Your novel that was once a screenplay becomes an adaption for an award-winning TV series, or a box office hit. "The Hate U Give" grossed over $34 million worldwide, significantly boosting Angie Thomas’s profile and earning potential. "The Color Purple," well, that might be too much to quantify.

Personal Reflection and Inspiration

As the author of "Love Double Dutch!" (Penguin Random House), I have personally experienced the transformative power of storytelling. But when asked who inspired the author in me as a child, I immediately answered Judy Blume, the author of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. However, it saddens me to admit that I hadn’t known or read books by any African-American authors. Not Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, or any other prolific African-American writer I had heard of, especially during grade school. Truthfully, and I am baring my soul here, I hadn’t learned of such influential authors until I attended my alma mater, Morgan State University, an HBCU. This revelation underscores the importance of diverse representation in literature and its impact on aspiring writers.

So, yes, I encourage you to embrace the challenge, tell your story, and take the first step toward transforming your creative vision into a powerful reading experience. With determination, the right resources, and strategic networking, your journey from screenplay to novel and then to adaptation can be both rewarding and successful. Yes, you should really write a book!

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What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

Early foundational contributions came from Mary Shelley and Margaret Cavendish, but for much of the twentieth century, women and people of color were underrepresented and their voices marginalized.

The situation began to shift significantly with the works of Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Left Hand of Darkness," exploring gender and societal norms), Octavia E. Butler ("Parable of the Sower," addressing race, environment, and apocalypse), and Samuel R. Delany, a Black gay writer whose novels expanded both the literary and sociopolitical horizons of the genre.

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?

More recently, N.K. Jemisin has become a leading figure, winning multiple Hugo Awards for her "Broken Earth" trilogy, which challenges traditional power structures and brings new depth to fantasy and science fiction storytelling.

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Hong Kong '90s Jade Singer Lai Shih dies of cancer aged 58
Silicon Valley celebrity Hsieh Kai-ting also met the noble woman Nana fundraising scared to jump on the car.
Science fiction "Three Bodies" adapted into a new drama on the Internet to impact the Chinese scale
Created by Chinese writers, the “Three Bodies ” was adapted by Western producers as a series performed by a number of foreign actors, which not only greatly reduced the Chinese elements, but also opened with scenes of the Cultural Revolution fighting dead.
Like the story of the alien invasion of Earth, it is also impacting the “beliefs ” of many Chinese and the“ yardstick ” of the Beijing authorities.
“Three Bodies ” is a bestselling novel by renowned Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin, who has won one of the world ’ s most influential awards in science fiction literature. In China,“ Three Bodies ” has been considered “difficult to adapt ” for its puzzling time jumps, philosophical dilemmas and intensive exploration of scientific theory.
Today, the “Three Bodies ” are on the international screen through Netflix, a rare breakthrough in foreign media observation, in contrast to the suppression of science fiction in Chinese history.
★ A rare breakthrough under Beijing ’ s repression
Produced by Game of Thrones producers, Netflix ’ s new series “3 Body Problem ” is based on China ’ s best-selling science-fiction novel of the same name, according to the BBC. The novel is still popular in China despite China ’ s ongoing censorship of the genre.
The story structure of the “Three Bodies ” is roughly the same: one day in 1967, Ye Wenjie, an astrophysics student in Beijing, witnessed her father being beaten to death by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.
She joined a military project in Inner Mongolia to avoid being punished by a series of sit-ins, but on the condition that she never leave the base.
At this cold outpost, under a huge parabolic antenna, Ye Wenjie lost all confidence in humanity.
She devoted her life to research and made scientific breakthroughs, broadcasting high-power radio signals into outer space.
This action will have serious consequences, and it all stems from that disastrous day in Beijing.
In addition to the trans-cosmic plot, the Three Bodies also involve secret scientific projects; an alien species in the solar system beyond the stars; and a strange video game depicting the rise and fall of great civilizations over the millennia.
“The Three Bodies ” is the first of a trilogy of“ Past Events on Earth ” written by Beijing-born Liu Cixin. A Chinese adaptation of the film was shelved in 2017.
But now it ’ s on the international screen via Netflix, the belated return of Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss.
Early reviews were divided over whether they could be successfully adapted.
What ’ s more, the original novel has been an incredible success. It was first serialized in China ’ s Science Fiction World magazine in 2006 and translated to Western readers by Liu Yukun in 2014.
Its fans include former US President Barack Obama and "Game of Thrones" author George RR Martin.
He is the author of the Qur ’ an.
Liu Cixin won the most prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, and the book and its two sequels have sold nearly 9 million copies worldwide.
Today, Liu Cixin is credited with bringing Chinese science fiction to the world.
This is an incredible feat considering China ’ s historical suppression of science fiction.
The English translation begins with the words: “In more than 40 days, in Beijing alone, more than 1,700 victims were beaten to death at a protest meeting ” and“ many others have chosen an easier path to avoid this madness. ”
Set in 1967, the novel kills as many as 2 million people in the Cultural Revolution over the next decade as the student-led radical Red Guards gradually turned violent in support of the Communist policies of then-Communist leader Mao Zedong.
Many of the victims committed suicide to “end their suffering. ”
The report believes that, in the modern episode of the “Three Bodies, ” the unexplained suicides that have occurred in the scientific community hint at this fact.
But what ’ s more striking than how this real history shapes events in Liu ’ s work is how the Mao regime shaped the course of science fiction in the real world.
It was dormant in the 1960s.
Liu Cixin was born in 1963, three years before the Cultural Revolution.
Li Hua, a professor of Chinese at Montana State University, said that in that era, scientists, writers and other intellectuals were branded “counter-revolutionaries ” and sent to labor camps for“ ideological transformation, ” with few literary works published, “Chinese science fiction remained dormant from the early 1860s to 1967, ” and it was especially difficult to survive the turbulent political situation, with many common themes being taboo, such as Mao ’ s. Marxist-Leninism makes no provision for the existence of aliens in the universe.
But as the “three bodies ” postscript reveals, after witnessing China ’ s first artificial satellite painting the sky in April 1970, six-year-old Liu Cixin will still be moved by“ unspeakable curiosity and longing. ”
A few years later, he found a box of books under his father ’ s bed, including Jules Verne ’ s “Journey to the Heart of the Earth. ” Liu found that he had a determination, like the character in his book, Ye Wenjie, that would ultimately have a profound impact.
Mao Zedong died in 1976, and Ye Wenjie described that year in “The Three Bodies ” as“ the horrors experienced during the Cultural Revolution gradually subsided ”. After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1977, science fiction flourished for a short time. Deng Xiaoping said that “science and technology are the first productive force. ” Creation.
Fearing a greater spread of Western ideas to China, the CCP launched a campaign in 1983 to “clean up mental pollution. ”
Li said: “It aims to eradicate the Western-inspired trend of ‘ bourgeois liberalization ’.
The Propaganda Department singled out specific literary genres to attack and suppress, including sci-fi works of ghost stories, violence, sex, anti-scientific assumptions, and veiled criticisms of socialism, and classified them as “spiritual pollution. ”
Leading writers such as Ye Yonglie, who wrote stories about space travel when China launched its first satellite into orbit, were condemned, and Science Literary magazine was forced to publish non-fiction works, and in the process renamed the more unobtrusive “Strange Tales. ”
Li said that after a few months, Deng Xiaoping ended the event, but "many science fiction writers, disappointed and emotionally hurt, left the field."
Even if science fiction is revived again, political sensitivities are holding back its development.
Liu Cixin ’ s first full-length novel, China 2185, in 1989, describes cyberpunk fantasies about Mao ’ s resurrection in virtual reality.
This suggests that sci-fi narratives “were prevented from appearing in print due to sensitive sociopolitical topics, but were later published online, ” Li said, but many such works would soon be removed.
Most writers are self-censoring.
With its rapid economic growth in the 1990s, China is now a modern and prosperous country, and science fiction has flourished in China. In the 1990s, with films such as Jurassic Park and The Hacking Empire, Western works by Hugo Award winners Philip K Dick and Arthur C Clarke hit bookshelves.
By the turn of the century, “Science Fiction World ” had reached 400,000 copies, the largest of its kind. In 2019, another film,“ Wandering Earth ”, directed by Liu Cixin, became a hit in China, marking a watershed moment for Chinese science fiction films.
Li Hua believes that the change during this period is that the Chinese government's censorship system is relatively strict on social and political issues, but relatively lax on technical issues, so most writers will self-censor their works and avoid mentioning sensitive topics.
But the report believes that sociopolitical criticism is not impossible for Chinese writers.
Liu Yukun, a translator, said at the Reddit “Geek ” conference in 2015 that“ criticism of the Cultural Revolution is not a forbidden topic in China. ”
Liu Tsz Hin became the first Asian to win a Hugo Award, but his book nonetheless exposes the sensitive nature of his ideas. After all, chapters with a Cultural Revolution background were moved to the middle part of the original Chinese version for fear that government censors might find them too politicized, which is the beginning of the English version of the “Three Body ”.
Netflix ’ s new series “Three Bodies ” starts in the same way as the English version of the book, and they don ’ t worry about censorship.
But the new series is based on Liu Cixin ’ s original novel, and unlike the original novel, they will face the critical judgment of the audience.
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N.K. Jemisin is best known for which of her books?

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?

Other notable voices include Nnedi Okorafor, who forefronts African perspectives in works like the "Binti" series.

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

In China, the number and prominence of women writing speculative fiction are rising, with female-authored anthologies gaining traction and the content of science fiction becoming more varied and rich .

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Content: Science Fiction: Chinese Female Writers | Culture | DW | 21.10.2023
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Cultural warp and weft
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 progress, representation and inclusion continue to be challenges in the publishing industry and in cultural perceptions of the genre.

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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.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here .

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The works of authors of color and women often remain less visible than those by white men, particularly in educational settings and mainstream publishing.

Title:

Content: White authors are represented in school curricula nearly seven times more than Black authors, according to a new report from the Education Trust. Of the 300 books in the sample, 77% featured at least one white author or illustrator.

The report, released in September, analyzed representation in widely used grade school books.

“I still am gripped with the imbalance of representation,” says report author Dr. Tanji Reed Marshall, a former director of P-12 Practice at EdTrust, an organization dedicated to dismantling racial and economic barriers in the American education system.

RELATED: Is Book Banning Here to Stay?

‘Being Culturally Relevant Requires Responsibility’

While a book might seem inclusive and representative on the surface — like featuring characters of different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations — you might find something different when you take the time to “kick the tires and look under the hood,” Marshall says.

Less than half of the books, at only 39% of the sample, included groups of color.

Only half of characters of color studied were portrayed with a “complex representation,” meaning they are multidimensional, and have agency and a positive influence. But only a third of the books avoid stereotypes, immerse people in culture, and portray groups of color positively and as equally valuable to other groups, the report found.

More than half of the books studied that include people of color don’t meet those criteria, only having a “limited representation,” meaning through stereotypes or as background to the stories of others.

“What’s most important to understand is that being culturally relevant requires responsibility,” Marshall says.

We’re beyond visual representation, according to Marshall. Now it’s time to stop “counting the beans and feeling good about it.” Even though representation is shifting, if it still depicts negative stereotypes, Marshall says, “forget it, because you haven’t really done deep work.”

Cultural Detachment in Black Characters

The most common form of limited representation among Black characters was cultural detachment, or when a book highlights a character as a part of a culture, but fails to demonstrate a connection to their deeper culture.

Another common problem was an oversimplification of topics, playing into what Marshall calls “intellectual condescension” to young people. They’re made to believe that complex issues can be solved if “the little people” do their jobs — like kids solving pollution by recycling or solving racism by everyone being nice to each other.

RELATED: These Are the Top Books Black Teachers Want This School Year

It’s “reductive” and an “incomplete truth” intended to “make complex situations very easily solvable, as opposed to helping young people understand that they are part of a set of concentric circles where they are part of a world where they have their part, and there are systems and organizations and governments who play an even bigger part,” Marshall says.

There’s a need, Marshall says, to make the country’s history as simple as possible, but the oversimplification gives young people an incomplete understanding.

Marshall cites Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as an example. Students learn he was a preacher who stood before the Lincoln Memorial and talked about a dream. What they don’t learn, Marshall says, is that his dream was part of a larger speech, in which he challenged the fact that Black and brown children were sent to schools “with teachers who don’t believe in their intellectual capacity,” Marshall says.

Or they learn that Rosa Parks was a “little old lady” who didn’t give up her seat, but not that it was part of a long, orchestrated fight of civil disobedience, Marshall says. This incomplete and narrow way of communicating about the world leaves young people unable to engage in critical thought, according to Marshall.

RELATED: Psst, College Board: We See You Not Defending AP African American Studies

“It leaves them unable to meet the academic standards that call for them to be critical thinkers and critical analyzers of multiple texts and multiple perspectives,” Marshall says. “All of these limited, intellectually condescending texts are actually working against the very standards states say they want their kids to reach.”

Giving Characters and Children Agency

It’s important for Black and brown characters to have agency so that all young readers see these characters — and people — as decision-makers and problem-solvers.

“What happens on the pages of Black and brown children is that they are subject to the in the book.”

RELATED: These Organizations Connect Students with Diverse Books

The other problem is the way girls are portrayed, Marshall says. In one book that was analyzed, a boy is president of an organization, and a girl is vice president — but the girl is described as bossy. If no one flags that for you, Marshall says, no matter your gender, it influences your perception of girls.

“These subtle language messages happen when the representation is out of balance, and that’s harmful,” Marshall says.

So the report advises people choosing curricula books to keep in mind the portrayal of Black and brown children relative to white children, how all of these groups are being put together on the page, who the leaders are, and if there’s a balance across all people and cultures.

It’s Time to Ask Deeper Questions

Change has to start on multiple levels.

Book publishers direct the materials that land in classrooms, Marshall says, so they need to look at the representation and consider the unit being put together and what students will learn.

They need to have these conversations with the authors, who, in turn, need to look at their books through a more critical lens, Marshall says. This also applies to teachers, who need to “develop a new set of eyes with new questions,” she adds.

And parents, too, have a responsibility to help their children identify any harmful messages coming across so, when they go to schools, “they’re prepared to engage in a critical examination of what’s being put in front of them.”

While no single curriculum can “check every single box,” Marshall says, EdTrust has developed guidelines and suggests questions that schools and educators can consider when selecting books to teach. Are historically marginalized people multidimensional? Do they have agency? Are historical and social topics presented without sanitization? Do they include historically marginalized perspectives?

“People have to take the time to ask deeper questions to get them where they need to be,” Marshall says, “to help them challenge dominant, cultural stereotypes; to help them ask deeper, wider questions; to help them really understand how people, cultures, and topics are being represented in books and in instructional materials as a whole.”

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Maya Pottiger is a data journalist for Word in Black. She was previously a data journalist for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, where she earned both her BA and Master of Journalism. Her work has been featured...

Diverse writers have at times faced pressures to create within established stereotypes or have their work categorized according to identity, rather than literary merit.

However, an increasing share of major literary awards (such as the Hugo and Nebula Awards) are being awarded to a broader range of authors, pointing to greater recognition and influence of diverse perspectives .

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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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The result of these historical changes is a rich and varied canon.

Traditional core works include "Frankenstein," "The Time Machine," "Dune," the "Foundation" series, "The Left Hand of Darkness," and "Neuromancer."

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

The contemporary canon now also recognizes the centrality and influence of "Parable of the Sower," "Binti," "The Fifth Season," and "The Three-Body Problem," among others, for their innovation, relevance, and capacity to broaden the audiences and perspectives represented in science fiction .

In summary, science fiction’s evolution has been characterized by several major phases: its emergence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a vehicle for exploring scientific and social change; the Golden Age’s celebration of technology and rationality; the New Wave’s focus on psychological complexity and social critique; the rise of subgenres such as cyberpunk; and, most recently, a broad expansion in theme, form, and authorship, resulting in a genre that is both wider and deeper than ever before.

Women and authors of color, long marginalized, are now central to the ongoing vitality, innovation, and relevance of science fiction across the globe.

What is considered a major breakthrough in science fiction publication?