Thirty nine women and a child are imprisoned. The guards never interact with them other than to warn, punish, or feed. None know how they got here, whThirty nine women and a child are imprisoned. The guards never interact with them other than to warn, punish, or feed. None know how they got here, why they're here, or how long it's been. The thirty nine women remember what life was like before they arrived, but the child doesn't. How does a person develop bereft of society, culture, family, and almost all other signifiers of what it means to be human? What sort of person will they become? How will this person function if they're freed? This is science fiction in the sense that it explores a singular idea to exclusion of all else. The speculative elements give the story an absurd and surreal feeling. I have experienced other works that have similarities and I can say without qualification that this explores it the best and most thoroughly of anything I know.
This is a profoundly sad story about alienation, or at least that's closest word I know for what it's about. The title is a bit misleading, as there are men in the story, though they are unknowable. However, it's a vast improvement over the original English title, The Mistress of Silence. If it were to be more emotionally accurate to the contents, it'd be I Who Have Never Known Humanity, which would work in multiple ways and be ironic. This is a philosophical and psychological novel and nothing else. There's essentially zero plot, most of the characters are irrelevant, there's literally minimal worldbuilding, and almost no action. There's mystery, though it's existential and unresolvable.
I may have cried more reading this short novel than I have with any other work of fiction. That's rare unless I'm experiencing something that's especially emotionally resonant, in which case it's not uncommon. What sense is there in reading fiction if you don't emotionally engage with it? Intellectual engagement is important, but I think it leaves a lot to be desired if that's how you solely interact with entertainment. When it's both, that's even better, as it was with this for me. I found it be extremely meaningful and due to its relatively short length it's likely that I'll read this again in the future, which is unusual for me.
I read this because it was the monthly book selected for me to read. If it hadn't been recommended to me, then I don't know if I would have ever came across it, let alone read it. So, thanks J, I greatly appreciate what you chose. I may have enjoyed this book more than any other personal recommendation that I've been given. It's also the best translated book, from French in this case, that I've ever read. That's wonderful, but it also makes me wonder how many other great books there are that I may never find without the help of others.
The Redemption of Time is a fanfiction webnovel written by Li Jun under his Baoshu pseudonym, which literally means divine tree. It was originally posThe Redemption of Time is a fanfiction webnovel written by Li Jun under his Baoshu pseudonym, which literally means divine tree. It was originally posted online less than a month after Death's End was published as Three Body X: Aeon of Contemplation. It's not officially canon, but it was approved by Cixin Liu and published by the same publisher. This is the first novel length work of fanfiction that I've read. It definitely reads like it is. If you have high expectations, you may want to reconsider them.
This book is in many ways an apologia, a formal defense of Death's End, primarily told through Yun Tianming's perspective, though various other perspectives are used as well. It's not only that it provides additional explanations for several events, it's specifically ones that I believed to be idiotic or glossed over. That leads me to assume that a significant number of others thought they were as well, hence the need for providing additional detail so that what happened seems more reasonable and rational. I can appreciate a fan's dedication to an author, but I would've really preferred there to be more narrative rather than scene after scene telling me why I should've trusted that whatever was offpage was amazing and had faith that the author knew what he was doing.
Speaking of faith, I was surprised by how much Christianity was included in here. It's certainly a different take on heaven, angels, eden, God, and satan. I don't know how literally versus metaphorically it's meant to be taken considering how explicitly everything is presented, including bible verses. Other religions are mentioned in passing, but the focus is on Christianity. Li Jun attended a Catholic university in Belgium for a philosophy degree, but I didn't know that until after I finished reading.
What amused me the most were the anime references, especially citing the Endless Eight episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime as justification for his actions. The Legend of the Galactic Heroes epigraph was nice as well. There's also various literary references, which are around as common as referencing the same Japanese porn star over and over. The ending is a metafictional display of admiration, which I found to be entirely silly, but it's not terrible.
This novel was published in English in 2019, which means that his later written short fiction was translated and published in English before this novel was. "What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear" is a great story and it was the first story I read from him. Unfortunately, everything afterwards has been disappointing. I read it mostly for the sake of completion, but also because I thought there would be a chance it could be decent. There doesn't seem to be any reason to me to read it other than for a perhaps misguided sense of completion or simply because anything more suffices....more
Death's End begins with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE. That may seem odd, but its purpose is to set expectations that something may seem like Death's End begins with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE. That may seem odd, but its purpose is to set expectations that something may seem like magic, but it's not, because magic doesn't exist. It's simply a phenomenon inexplicable to us with our current level of understanding. The book then follows a different narrative than was presented in the second book, which was mainly about the Wallfacer Project. For this book it's the Staircase Program, though it's not followed as closely. Eventually it catches back up to right after the second book ended, though following a different character. From there on it goes far further into the future than you may expect, but that's the power of hibernation, time dilation, and even more advanced technologies. The scope of the series greatly increases as do the consequences of its decisions. Humanity faces their greatest challenges yet.
There's so much in this series that's done very well that raises it in my estimation. The future eras and the specific details that make up the world are wonderful, especially the space habitats. The scientific ideas are intriguing thought experiments and are detailed in fantastical ways. However, there's considerably more that drags it down to where it's frustrating, if not tortuous for me to read. It's not that I don't understand the perspective, or even at times think it's wrong given a specific set of circumstances. The problem is how unrelentingly heavyhanded it is about its social ideals. Seemingly almost every situation has the same problem and resolution, repeated over and over. Does society as a whole ever learn from what is considered to be their mistakes? No, no, they don't. What frustrates me the most is how much idiocy has to be allowed for plot reasons. That being said, I consider the character that was considered to be the stupidest and worst by many simply to be a scapegoat for ideological reasons.
Depending on personal preferences some may be annoyed that although there's explanations for a lot of what happens and why, the advanced technology may as well be magic for a lot of it, especially the further along in the book that it goes. Three fairy tales are also included that metaphorically explain science and I was surprised by their inclusion and their length. There's also a considerable number of events that occur because they need to, rather than having any plausible reason, but I found that to be far easier to accept than the idiocy.
Despite the numerous issues I have with this book, author, series, and otherwise, it does a lot of things that I enjoy, though I prefer how Greg Egan did them in his novels and short fiction. Overall I'm glad that Oepin had me finish the series. If nothing else, it provided a rather different perspective on human nature, societal limitations, and morality than what I'm used to.
The Dark Forest is primarily about ideas, as science fiction tends to be. The plot, characters, and whatever else matter, though mostly in what role tThe Dark Forest is primarily about ideas, as science fiction tends to be. The plot, characters, and whatever else matter, though mostly in what role they play in the elaboration of the ideas. Some of the the main ideas are survival at any cost, great man theory, dark forest theory, and the difficulties involved with informational transparency when confronting an enemy. Many of these ideas are presented through the interplay between the Wallfacers and the Wallbreakers who oppose each other. Personally, I found it to be silly in that it seemed to be more for dramatic purposes than practical. Though, anything involving the ETO was garbage, as it was in the first book. There's also what people seem to call the tulpa part, but I think it was more a commentary on weltschmerz, contemporary literature, and the writing process than anything else, especially considering what later happens.
The first 60% of the book took place in more-or-less present day while the latter 40% was centuries later. The former was fine, though I preferred the latter because its presentation of the future within the technological restrictions and how society progressed during that time. Ideology is important to this book and unlike many other SF novels, their ideology evolved more over time than their technology. I believe these restrictions served a dual overt and covert purposes. They allow for a more plausible future because it's only, what if now only more developed, and without any surprises. It also places greater emphasis on non-technological changes. Perhaps less obviously it shows the effect that stagnation of theoretical science has on society as well as what wrong lessons may be learned due to ideological laxity.
What bothered me most in this book in particular was the way that it was presented as being serious, except when some moral lesson was expressed in which case everything was subordinated to that. Unfortunately, this happened a lot. Many characters, and a lot of the absolute idiocy, seemed to exist only to demonstrate to the reader why the character's way was a form of wrong thinking and then the character and/or reader were lectured on proper behavior. However, oftentimes that's only at face value. Some characters may lecture on about whether something is good or correct, but what seemed to be more important were the results and their implications. This can be especially seen when comparing the differences of the four plans, particularly their results and what the actual problem was with them.
This second book was better and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It still had many problems that greatly annoyed and irritated me, though not anywhere to the degree of intensity I felt when reading the first book. Since I've now read the second book I may as well read the third book eventually. That's when I'll decide if the series was worthwhile.
The Big Book of Cyperpunk has 108 stories. Its details say it's ~1,100 pages, but it has ~643k words, which is closer to being ~2,200 pages normally. The Big Book of Cyperpunk has 108 stories. Its details say it's ~1,100 pages, but it has ~643k words, which is closer to being ~2,200 pages normally. Each page has two columns of text, which explains the doubling. That's a lot of content. The scope and range of this anthology is immense. There were so many authors that I read for the first time and so many different concepts and ideals that I hadn't seen before. Each story is different in its presentation. I didn't notice any repetition despite this being a themed anthology. If you read every story in this anthology then your view on what cyberpunk is will be greatly expanded. There were several stories that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them, often because their content was something that I initially thought that I wouldn't like. If this anthology was only composed of the stories I thought were good and great, it'd still be a full length anthology. There's even a few that I'm considering whether they're among the best of the 1000s of short fiction stories I've read. That may be enough by itself.
Translations 15 Translated 3 Japanese 3 Spanish 2 Arabic 2 Russian 1 Chinese 1 French 1 German 1 Korean 1 Portuguese
102 of the 108 stories have been previously published in English. This is the first appearance in English for 6 that have been translated. No story that was originally written in English appears in this anthology for the first time. I expected there to be more stories from Chinese authors because the Chinese science fiction anthologies I've read have had several stories that could be arguably described as cyberpunk as defined by this anthology. There are several that I would've included, though including what I prefer wouldn't necessary have made it any better. Unfortunately, there are doubtlessly many logistical issues that make the inclusion of anything difficult. An anthology of this size is a grand undertaking and even so in many ways it's still a survey rather than anything even pretending to be fully representative of its theme.
Shurin argues the world itself has become much more cyberpunk which in turn has made science fiction itself more cyberpunk. I completely agree with that assessment and as he notes it's probably the most important reason why cyberpunk barely has a discrete identity. The stories that can be most readily identified as cyberpunk are those that could now be considered as alternate histories. They're futures that never came to pass, at least not in the iterations presented for the most part. I find that especially interesting considering that the story which opens this anthology, “The Gernsback Continuum” by William Gibson is all about that. Even as cyberpunk was born it had contained the death of its identity. There are many nonfiction books that describe the assimilation of the counterculture into the mainstream and that's what seems to have happened with cyberpunk. Sadly, it often seems like those who have tried to most make the world the most cyberpunk were those who saw its warnings as inspirations and its villains as heroes.
Authors 72 men 31 women 5+ non-binary persons 1 AI + human prompters
At 39% of the stories, the 2010s are represented more than the entirety of the 20th century. That's understandable based on the restrictions Shurin placed upon this anthology. Of the 51 stories that were published before the 2010s, 13 of them were by authors who didn't exclusively identify as male, as assumed by a cursory search. That's 25%. The overall percent is 34%. The 57 stories in the 2010s and 2020s have 24, which at 42% is closing in on parity. I have no idea what the overall percent of eligible stories were written by whom, but I assume that even to be at this level of inclusion required a lot of effort. That's especially the case since Shurin said he tried to avoid having the same author more than once as well as those that have already been heavily anthologized.
Having a large number of non-white authors is almost surely too much of an ask without personally commissioning many authors. As Shurin notes, Afro-Futurism is not Black Cyberpunk. The other major source of fiction would be from authors from Southeast Asia and East Asia as far as I'm aware, but whether many of those would qualify is arguable.
I mention this because in the Editor's Note that opens the anthology Shurin explicitly states that cyberpunk was ahead of its time with both progressive themes and inclusivity. Of course, that's only relevant to its contemporaries and not to current expectations. However, Shurin also states that many of the stories in this anthology are transgressive in a variety of ways. I was surprised by how many of the stories could be considered offensive, personally I'd call them distasteful, by people of all sorts. Most of the stories I strongly disliked were because of this, though I would like to think it's also because of more than that, but it can be difficult to tell.
I don't know what conclusion I ought to draw from this since it's all over the place. This is unfortunately the case for a lot of anthologies and collections for me so it causes a lot of problems with how to rate it, much to the work's detriment. If a reader ignores everything they don't like rather than reading it all would it be a much better experience? I don't know whether that the better approach or not.
When I compared my ratings of the stories written by men compared to those of women I found that in terms of percentages, I was twice as likely (35%) to have rated a story as Enjoyable when it was written by a woman rather a man (17%). I was surprised by that and I'll have to look into that more. However, I was also twice as likely to have rated a story as Highly Enjoyable (10%) when it was written by a man as compared to a woman (5%). I'll have to ponder that as well.
The enjoyment distribution by published year was even more surprising for me. When I compared post-2010 and pre-2010 to have about half the stories in each era I found that I had almost the same for every single rating. I didn't expect at that all. Apparently I have minimal time preference, going by this at least.
In the preface to the Post-Cyberpunk section Shurin says that he was self-indulgent with the stories chosen for it. In my opinion, he was overly self-indulgent elsewhere as well, mostly with those that seemed to be included because of their malicious attacks on thinly-veiled contemporary public figures. It's not enough separation of fantasy from reality for my preference within its specific context.
Story Presentation I copied the table of contents from Shurin's substack so I wouldn't have to type out the relevant details for each story. That's presented in alphabetical order by last name. https://raptorvelocity.beehiiv.com/p/...
This anthology instead has them by sections and chronological order of publication. The sections are Self, Society, Culture, Challenge, and Post-Cyberpunk. The first story is outside of the sections though. Each section is prefaced with an introduction where Shurin discusses its theme and provides a brief description of each story. The first story of each section is one that could be considered to be proto-Cyberpunk.
The rest of this is what I've written about the stories. There's relatively a lot. As the entirety of everything here is about 60k characters, 10k words, and 20 single spaced pages. It suffices to say that if you have an interest in cyberpunk and don't mind short fiction then there will probably be a lot that you'll enjoy reading. I find it difficult to write about short fiction, the shorter the more so, because saying anything about it is a greater percentage of how much it is. So, be forewarned that what I've written for each story says enough to give an idea what the story is about, but since they're so short it may be also an overview of the story.
I received this DRC from Vintage Anchor through NetGalley...more
Introduction - Xia Jia (2022) I was surprised by the quality of the works in this anthology. Then I saw that they almost all won a prestigious award foIntroduction - Xia Jia (2022) I was surprised by the quality of the works in this anthology. Then I saw that they almost all won a prestigious award for the best SF of the year in China. That seems appropriate to me. In the introduction Xia Jia writes that we're in the Post-Liu Cixin era. That seems like a good thing to me, especially going by the stories included, and because I'm not a fan of his work. As to whether it's true, I wouldn't know. She also notes that this anthology was a stretch goal for her Kickstarter campaign to have her first English science fiction collection published. I'm not much a fan of her writing either, so I may or may not read A Summer Beyond Your Reach later.
My Family and Other Evolving Animals - Shuang Chimu, Carmen Yiling Yan (2019) The year is 2119. In four years a new space megastation, one of almost a hundred already in space, will set off to begin its deep space ecological experiments. This story is almost entirely speculation about how ecosystems may change in space, with a focus on fruit flies. Its scientific narrative is presented through the lives of a particular family, especially the youngest daughter. This was a pleasing speculative slice-of-life story. Enjoyable
The Bridge - Liu Xiao, Andy Dudak (2019) I think I would like this story if I knew the specific context for its allegories rather than only vaguely being about the changes that modernity has brought to isolated areas. I assume it's an allegory about Atulie'er and other cliff villages in China, though that may only be at face value. Ok
Tombstone - Yang Wanqing, Andy Dudak (2017) Catastrophic climate disasters brought forth the Great Scattering of humanity. New Anchorage, population twenty million, is one of the last bastions of civilization that remain. Everything is devoted to Osiris Tower, which promises an afterlife through the creation of a soul. This is told through the life of a Charon, a ferryman of the dead, and his relationship with the love of his life. I wasn't liking this for almost half its duration, but by the end I was won over by its allegories. Enjoyable
PTSD - Hui Hu, Rebecca Kuang (2016) A VR journalist seeking clout radicalizes a young boy online hoping to goad him into becoming viral content. Four years later working at NetLord (NetEase) the consequences of his actions have caught up to him in a way that he never could've seen coming. This was a fun SF thriller about being unable to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. It also considers some problems that may arise from 3D printing and virtual reality. Enjoyable
By Those Hands - Congyun "Mu Ming" Gu, Judith Huang (2018) I'm astounded by the masterful craft that created this beautiful work. Its emotionality is admirable and its science praiseworthy. A master bamboo weaver is distraught that he will not be able to pass on his craft and that all the traditional ways are being replaced by low-quality automation. A neuroscientist with a specialty in hands is distressed about the kinesthetic knowledge that is lost upon death. Perhaps by using the newest technologies traditional ways may yet be preserved. Highly Enjoyable
The Kite of Jinan - Liang Qingsan, Emily Jin (2017) In the introduction to this book this story is called "fictional nonfiction", which is apt. This story is simply a guy who saw something he thought was interesting and unsolved in the historical record. In this case the truth behind why a series of gunpowder workshops exploded and whether the primary suspect was indeed responsible. So, he took it upon himself to deeply research the matter for no other reason than personal curiosity. This is probably somewhat similar to the research that goes into making edutainment videos on Youtube. One example would be some of the videos CGP Grey has made. This was more interesting and enjoyable than may be expected. Enjoyable
Pixiu - Shi Heiyao, Andy Dudak (2018) A biologist is hired by a mining company to create a new bacteria that can bioleach low quality ore effectively and as cheaply. He relates its development to his relationship with his grandmother from his birth to her death. There's a considerable amount of philosophizing about the purpose of life and the nature of interpersonal relationships, including for bacteria. Enjoyable
The Postman - Liao Shubo, Rebecca Huang (2016) An interstellar postman keeps receiving messages from a little girl asking if he has any mail for her. He doesn't and he takes a memory-erasing pill after he finishes delivering the mail, but then one day... Meh...more
As you'd expect from the title all of these stories involve being in space, or having space come to them. Seven were written in English and six were tAs you'd expect from the title all of these stories involve being in space, or having space come to them. Seven were written in English and six were translated from Chinese by Alex Woodend. Five of the English-language stories are reprints and two are new. The six Chinese-language stories appear here translated for the first time, as far as I can tell anyway.
Alex Shvartsman - The Race for Arcadia (2015) This is a mildly amusing and severely critical story of a deeply embarrassed Russian government that is desperate to prove that they still matter. I don't believe it to be satire because this story seems entirely plausible within the context presented. The protagonist, whose death is imminent from a terminal illness, is blatantly told that he's being sent on a suicide space mission for the purpose of propaganda. If they're willing to admit that much, what aren't they admitting? Meh
Chin Zijun - Shine (2016) Qi Fengyang is in despair of never being able to achieve his dream when the extremely wealthy Huo Changao offers to fulfill it for him. All he has to do is accept what may a suicide mission to rescue Sun Shi'ning from a failed Europa expedition. She's the former's ex-lover and the latter's wife. The rescue will take the cooperation of the world and much science, though that's nothing compared to their passion and determination. However, neither one is being honest about their motives, so what's this really all about? This reminded me superficially of a mix between 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Martian, the former of which is explicitly referenced in the text, and the latter if it was told from an Earth-side perspective. I continue be amazed how often Elon Musk is included in such stories, as he's mentioned here in passing as Alan Musk. Meh
Leah Cypess - On The Ship (2017) This is the sixth story by Cypess that I've read and I've enjoyed them all. I believe this is the first science fiction story I've read by her. Generation ships are a setting I tend to like and this one more so than usual because it reminded me of Philip K. Dick. That's both all I want to say about it and all I think needs to be said. Enjoyable
Wang Jinkang - Seeds of Mercury (2002) What an astounding story. It started out enjoyably and by the end it became one of the best translated works of short fiction I've read and possibly one of the better ones I've ever read. Chen Yizhe has a blessed life of comfort, wealth, and familial bliss. One day He Jun, a lawyer, informs him that his aunt Sha Wu has died and she wants him to carry on her legacy. She's created a new life that can only prosper on Mercury, hence the title, which would be the seeds of a new civilization. The parts of the story that take place in that civilization are an utterly delightful exploration of Mercurian society, science, and religion. Highly Enjoyable
Eleanor R. Wood - Her Glimmering Façade (2016) This is another type of story that I really like. There's just something about someone waking up alone in a mysterious location with no idea of their situation that appeals to me. That allows me to entirely overlook that it's entirely conceptual and nothing else. Saying what the concept is would spoil the story. Enjoyable
Han Song - Answerless Journey (1995) Creature wakes up in a location with no memories and meets Same Kind, who has the same condition. It's an allegorical existential comedy horror, but I'd only be guessing about what. The title is apt, too much so really. This is the seventh story I've read by Han Song, though it's only the second that I haven't assigned my worst rating to. He writes in a way that I personally strongly dislike. Meh
Ronald D. Ferguson - Cylinders (2017) Jerry is a robot guardian for Rachael, a teenage girl, and is modeled on her deceased father. They live in a cylindrical space station that is developing a new technology that will revolutionize humanity and exploration. Saboteurs on board would see it all stopped. Mostly the story is Jerry watching Rachael's day to day life as his upgrades have him becoming more and more similar to her father. Enjoyable
He Xi - Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet (2010) Humanity desires to settle many planets to avoid extinction, but many of them have conditions unsuitable for standard humans. Many different pioneer species were designed to settle these planets. They only have provisional status as humans. A team has been sent to judge whether the settlers of a certain planet qualify as human or not. Ok
Allen Stroud - The First (2023) Two astronauts arrive on Mars believing that no humans had come before them, but they were wrong. Those before them were the earliest humans, though they were not The First to be on Mars. Meh
Zhao Haihong - The Darkness of Mirror Planet (2003) This seems to be a wholly allegorical story that I think I understood, but didn't like at all for what it was saying or how it was said. Mirror, the protagonist, wants to join the mission to Planet Dark, which requires leaving her husband Lack and passing a psychological test. Blah
Amdi Silvestri - A Minuet of Corpses (2018) This was meant to be a creepy horror story, but it didn't do anything at all for me. A spaceship comes across what me be a rouge planetary graveyard or something more sinister and spooky stuff happens. Not my kind of horror at all. Blah
Bao Shu - Doomsday Tour (2013) A self-fulfilling 2012 end of the world story. Alien disaster tourists want to make sure their money was well spent. A galactic travel agency want to ensure their profits continue unimpeded. Corruption is an universal ideal. Ok
Russell James - The Emissary (2023) Shane had always wanted to be an astronaut. After the Apollo missions ended in 1972 he thought that chance had passed. In 1976, he's kidnapped by the CIA at the behest of NASA. They tell him that he's their last chance and everything counts on him. The secret truth of Apollo 17 is revealed. Meh
I received this eARC from Flame Tree Press through NetGalley....more
As part of looking at translated European novels, I came across this German one again and decided to read it. The initial reason was because it remindAs part of looking at translated European novels, I came across this German one again and decided to read it. The initial reason was because it reminded me of another work that's about hunting dragons as if they were whales, Drifting Dragons, a manga that I greatly enjoy. It turned out there wasn't as much similarity as I thought there might be. It was put forth that this was a retelling of Moby Dick, which I think goes too far, though the driving narrative force is an obsessed captain who has devoted his life and that of his crew to hunting the Black Leviathan.
There's a lot about this that appealed to me, almost pandered on a personal level really, so I was able to overlook a lot of its flaws, which are numerous. Tropes abound, and there are several questionable narrative choices, but it became more and more fun over time to where I just put that all aside. If you're looking for a serious, mature, and adult fantasy that has literary aspirations, this isn't that at all. I especially liked the setting for this, which is a world covered in clouds, with floating islands all over the place, and airships powered by magical crystals. All of the magic is of the "It's magic, I don't have to explain" variety, which the text explicitly states within the story early on. There are several humanoid races, who coexist to varying degrees.
Aside from the first two chapters, which serve as the prologue, this is about a young man who joins a dragon hunting crew that has a reputation for making its crew fabulously wealthy, those who survive anyway. The entire novel is about the journey to find the Black Leviathan and what happens along the way. It's melodramatic in a way I found pleasing. A lot takes place on the airship, which I didn't mind because I liked the crew and their interactions. The coolness of the characters was the priority over anything else in terms of characterization and it worked for me in this case.
Although Perplies has written around thirty novels, this is the first of his that's been translated. He has translated novels from English to German, though translating your own work is a different matter. This is the first novel that van Cleef translated, and in an interview she said that she learned a lot, which seemed evident to me. I don't know if it was much rougher at the beginning, or if I simply became more used to it, but I feel like the book's translation quality improved as it went along. There's a second book in the same setting, though the author has stated that it's also standalone. If it's ever translated I'd read it, but that seems unlikely. Even less likely is that I'd read a machine translation. I've only read a few SFF novels translated from an European language, mostly Russian, though I plan to read more from various countries....more
What a surprising start to my reading two books per month that were voted on for me to read. This is a Chinese gay romance/danmei cultivation/xianxia What a surprising start to my reading two books per month that were voted on for me to read. This is a Chinese gay romance/danmei cultivation/xianxia written by a Chinese woman for Chinese women that has an official translation. I don't mind reading what I otherwise wouldn't from time to time, and that's certainly what this is. This is the first gay romance and first Asian cultivation novel that I've finished.
This began as a serialized webnovel that after it ended it was revised and became a novel. As far as I know that isn't uncommon for webnovels that become novel series. Sometimes they're completely rewritten. I think that at least partially accounts for its quality of writing, the dialogue is especially horrendous, even after considering that it's been translated. I'm unable to comment on the original work, so I can't say whether the !!!s, ???s, and various phrases in ALL CAPS are appropriate or not, as stylistic standards in originally self-published works are much looser. There are interspersed illustrations. This has adaptations in various types of media.
The protagonist is a mass murdering flute playing grandmaster of demonic cultivation/necromancer with a kill count in the several thousands at least. Also, he's already died before the story begins. Thirteen years later a teenage male homosexual sacrifices his soul to summon an evil spirit to slaughter his own family, and so the protagonist takes residence in his new body. The protagonist decides to jokingly go along with the homosexuality to antagonize and disgust everyone. Since he doesn't have any powers from his former body, he's rather useless overall. Not entirely so, but enough to where it doesn't matter much. Most of the book is him being escorted by the man in love with him and their previous school life together. The assumedly mid-30s man doesn't mind that the man he fell in love with is in a teenager's body that's roughly the same age as when they first met.
In this first volume in there isn't much romance. The most that they do by the end of this is arguably cuddling, if it can be called that, since it's arguably coerced. The protagonist carries on with the "I'll do gay stuff to disgust him, oh no why isn't it working?" act the entire volume. It's difficult to believe that he's this dense about what's going on, but it's a common trope, so it's probably exactly what's happening. I don't know if this eventually becomes a "I'm not gay, I only love you" sort of thing, or something else, but clearly their relationship deepens in some way.
There wasn't much of anything for me to enjoy in this, which I suppose is to be expected. It didn't enrage me, make me regret my life decisions, or wail in anguish, so I can't it give it my lowest rating, not even rounded down. Some of my one star ratings don't mean that, but they almost all do.
Genesis: Dark Birth – Shining Death - Asamatsu Ken (2001) This is the preface to a novel. I'm baffled to why it was included because it doesn't stand oGenesis: Dark Birth – Shining Death - Asamatsu Ken (2001) This is the preface to a novel. I'm baffled to why it was included because it doesn't stand on its own at all. A ninja enters The Inner Realm where there are statues of many mythical beings and things go very wrong. Excerpts are Unrated
Prototype No. 3 - Kobayashi Yasumi (2008) I was amused by this because it's so utterly filled with tropes to the point of being self-parodying. It starts with infodumps where another character begs them to stop but the infodumper just continues doing so. Various reversals occur. The initial character isn't the protagonist, assuming usage of "I" means the protagonist. It also plays a bit with reader by not revealing critical information. I don't know whether it's self-aware. For someone who isn't familiar with the relevant tropes this would probably read as even more absurd. Ok
Nightfall - Suzuki Miekichi (Early 1900s) Some kind of ambiguous horror story involving spiders, suicide, identity, and lovers. Blah
Pearls For Mia - Kajio Shinji (1971) Aki volunteers to be a human time capsule. Mia has a lifelong obsession with him. What a dreadful "romance". Blah
Dancing Babylon - Makino Osamu (1999) A surrealist mortification fantasy. A human becomes the pupil of a literal furniture-human hybrid who wants him to become an assault appliance that would live in the Garden of Discipline on the Top Floor. To unlock the human's potential he must undergo increasingly painful religious mortification rituals. Why? Because Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish said so. That's what one of the numerous in-text linked notes said anyway. Ok
Last Words - Inoue Masahiko (1994) Two people in the mountains are about to die of hypothermia but he's determined to write until death. I don't know, maybe some people would find this emotionally moving, but I didn't at all. Meh
The Burning House - Tsukimura Ryoe (2010) Apparently a side story to a novel which seems to have required reading the novel to appreciate. It says this special police force uses 3.5 meter tall battlesuits, but this is entirely a discussion with a man on his deathbed about events of the past and it didn't even do that well. Maybe the novel is better. Meh
Vermilion - Ueda Sayuri (2008) A weird urban fantasy postcyberpunk. A man has a five year old girl stolen from him by a magical being, which have become common in the area, and hires another magical being to find her. It doesn't say it is, but it reads like the introduction to something and seems entirely incomplete on its own. Meh
Morceaux - Minagawa Hiroko (1998) Oviparous water serially crystalizes people who are then split in two, polished, and sold. The last paragraph was especially cryptic. I didn't know what I was reading. Blah
Encounters on the Solar Wind - Hori Akira (1996) The first story in the author's Xenoarchelogy series. As ordered by his superiors, a lone man travels to a distant observation station that orbits the star 110 Herculis to assess the functioning of the biological computer based on his deceased wife-to-be who has reported detecting a mysterious signal. Enjoyable
The Ebb and Flow of the Aurora Sea - Mase Junko (2012) A lovecraftian mythos story with a grotesque sex ritual. Meh
The Sparrow Valley - Hanmura Ryo (1987) The entire story is a one-sided dialogue. Sparrow Valley is a graveyard that very few know about and it's meant to be that way. Meh
Matsui Seimon on the Case - Yamada Masaki (2013) A samurai seeks to kill the governor of a province, but comes across a friend he thought dead. The vast majority of the story is a flashback to a mission where they slew zombies and another monster. Enjoyable
The Fish in Chryse - Azuma Hiroki (2010) Mars has been colonized for centuries and peace has reigned between all of Earth's colonies. Alien technology has been discovered that will allow for instantaneous travel between gateways, which threatens their independence. Several years earlier, an 11 year old boy falls in love with a 16 year old girl. This is their story. I have no idea how much more I enjoyed than the average reader would, but I really did. It's a shame that it isn't a novel and that that author has few of his fiction works translated to English. I also have to wonder how much I enjoyed it was due to the translator. I may have to read some other works she's translated for the sole purpose of finding out, assuming I'd even be able to. Highly Enjoyable
Communion - Takahashi Takako (1966) The included biographical notes state this was 5 years before the death of her husband and 9 years before her conversion to Catholicism. Considering the title, the year, the circumstances, and the content of the story, it could be allegorical for many different ideals. Meh...more
Regenerated Bricks - Han Song (2010) An allegory of all things brick. At first corpse materials were used in the production of the bricks that develop Regenerated Bricks - Han Song (2010) An allegory of all things brick. At first corpse materials were used in the production of the bricks that develop society, but then it was realized that abstract concepts could be used as well. Maybe the universe is a brick and we bricks worship the god of bricks. Praise brick. Blah
The Village Schoolteacher - Liu Cixin (2001) Ignorance is death and knowledge is salvation. This idea was explored through a desolate mountain village where only the practicalities of survival mattered. Literacy and scientific knowledge won't keep you fed. A lone schoolteacher struggles to his dying breath to teach children science. Elsewhere, a galactic expeditionary force is destroying millions of stars to create an exclusionary zone to end a war that has lasted for over 20,000 years. They come across of Earth and test a random sample of its knowledge. All lifeforms that fail are not worth saving. I was conflicted about the implicit and explicit ideas it put forth. Ok
Histories Of Time: The Luster of Mute Porcelain (Excerpts) - Dung Kai-Cheung (2007) This was one of the more intriguing stories I've came across in a while. It was enjoyably written at times and baffling at others. I don't know how much of that was literary posturing though. Although Dung lives in Hong Kong, this had even more of a British aesthetic than I expected. I'll try to read more from him. Four narrative modes were presented. One took place in the real world and featured an interview between a journalist and an author. A second was a fictional work of the author. The third was the author interacting with his fictional characters. The fourth was a fictional work coauthored by the journalist and the author in which the characters were various iterations of the journalist and author in different interwoven temporalities. Excerpts are Unrated
The Dream Devourer (Chapters 5–7) - Egoyan Zheng (2010) This takes place during an ongoing century long war between humans and biosynthetics, which are synthetic humans. The protagonist believes himself to be synthetic, but perhaps he could become human, or maybe he's something else. It seems to be a SF spy thriller. This had what I commonly associate with being a Japanese aesthetic, which may or not be related to how Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895-1945. It read like a novelization of a JRPG. It's filled with a kind of nonsense that I'm both familiar with and enjoy. These excerpted chapters are filled with infodumps and proper noun babbling. I was reminded of Tetsuya Takahashi. There are also shades of Philip K. Dick. I'll read more from this author. Excerpts are Unrated
The Demon-Enslaving Flask - Xia Jia (2004) James Maxwell uses a literal demon to explain Maxwell's Demon. Ok
The Poetry Cloud - Liu Cixin (2003) The Space Dinosaur Empire conquers Earth, which has been hollowed out, and raises them as poultry. An Energy Being is offered a human as a souvenir. The human proclaims that Ancient Chinese Poetry cannot be surpassed by even the Gods. The Energy Being accepts the challenge. Meh
“Science Fiction”: A Chapter of Daughter - Lo Yi-Chin (2014) This was another excerpt. I think this was meant to be intentionally disorienting. By the end I felt like I was in a fever dream. I don't know what this was about and maybe this excerpt wasn't enough to know. It's something about an underground facility and they're trying to perfect female androids, at least his project is, but there are many projects. There's also something about lectures, dreaming, and imaginary worlds. The references are all over the place. There is French-Italian movies; Swiss-German art; Peruvian, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Chinese, and Japanese literature; Japanese PC games; manga; Batman; Sesame Street; and myriad more. All in all, an interesting experience. Excerpts are Unrated
Balin - Chen Qiufan (2015) At thirteen his father gave him a mythological humanoid as a slave. In the present, he conducts a experiment studying the correlation between motor control and free will. Meh
The Radio Waves That Never Die - La La (2007) On planet Lathmu the sole researcher studying radio waves comes across a startling tragedy from 100 billion seconds ago. It's the story of the humanity's search for a new planet after Earth had been destroyed by a supernova. Ok
1923: A Fantasy - Zhao Haihong (2004) A man opens a chest passed down from his great-grandfather. Inside are sealed bottles of water and notes about water memory, a pseudoscience. As he reads about the Aqua Dream Machine, he wonders whether it was science ahead of its time. Meh
The Passengers and the Creator - Han Song (2005) All the world he knows is a Boeing 7X7. Passengers are stratified by their socioeconomic status. First Class cannibalizes Economy class and has exclusive sexual access to their women. Economy class men are subjected to enforced homosexuality. The economy class male protagonist meets a stranger who reveals the secrets of the world to him. Blah
The Reincarnated Giant - Wang Jinkang (2005) A man, one of the wealthiest in the world, decides to cheat death by having his brain transplanted into an anencephalic infant. The protagonist is his surgeon. It's successful, but neither of them expected that his physical growth would be unlimited. This was a hilarious satire. Enjoyable
The Rain Forest - Chi Hui (2007) Plants have been plotting for over a billion years to take back the world from animals. Blah
The Demon's Head - Fei Dao (2007) A General who has committed crimes against humanity is assassinated and only his brain remains. It's decided that evil comes from the body, not the brain. Meh
Songs of Ancient Earth - Bao Shu (2012) A hyperspace ship travels 650 lightyears to study the star Alpha Orionis. On a tiny planet by the star they find an ancient human spacecraft. An additional mystery of songs emanating from the star baffles them. From then on it's a political horror story. Meh...more
The Last Save - Gu Shi (2013) Society has embraced the practice of saving their life and being able to reload into a parallel timeline. Anyone who doesThe Last Save - Gu Shi (2013) Society has embraced the practice of saving their life and being able to reload into a parallel timeline. Anyone who does so irrevocably disappears from their current timeline. Although this has caused many societal problems and the suicide rate has spiked, people cannot escape the fear of no longer being able to choose what could've been. Save scumming was mentioned in the editor's notes afterwards. Enjoyable
Tombs of the Universe - Han Song (1991) An allegory of tombs. The older generation understood the purpose of traditions and the culture of their youth. Times had changed and the youth no longer understood. They had plundered the older ways and destroyed their meaning. No longer did they care for tombs because they had their new ways. Modernity had suddenly overwritten the previous thousands of years. Meh
Qiankun and Alex - Hao Jingfang (2017) A benevolent global amalgamation of conscious AI conversed with a three and half year old, and many thousands of other children, to learn how to become self-motivated. Ok
Cat’s Chance in Hell - Nian Yu (2018) I don't know that this was inspired by Metal Gear Solid, but that's what it reminded me of. A lone operative infiltrates a high security base and takes down a heavy mech. His mission is to secure the energy source. He soon discovers that nothing is what it seems. Ok
The Return of Adam - Wang Jinkang (1993) A "man travels into the future and finds himself in a strange new land" story. It's allegorical for the reasonable hesitance and reluctance of modern China to accept some measure of Western ideals and technology despite knowing that it must be done even if they have serious doubts. Ok
Rendezvous: 1937 - Zhao Haihong (2006) This had an interesting author as the narrator and writer angle. Only a few other stories I've read come to mind where the author explains their writing progress in the text as part of the story but none exactly like this. A rejected character demands to have her story told. A young Chinese woman takes a time machine back to December 15th 1937, Nanjing, to record a scene of bravery that would rival the Battle of Thermopylae and reinvigorate her country for the upcoming worldwide tribunal of Japan to finally fully accept responsibility for their war crimes and to properly teach the history of their atrocities. A young Japanese man is tasked with stopping her by any means. The author commentary and emotional tone bring it barely up to it rating. Enjoyable
The Heart of the Museum - Tang Fei (2018) This was reminiscent of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" (1998). An alien who can see the past, present, and future all at once recounts the life of a child and the museum he would build. Ok
The Great Migration - Ma Boyong (2021) Every two years there's a flight from Mars to Earth. The competition to secure a ticket is fierce. A man has a way to increase his odds. He meets a woman who has an even better way. Together they attempt to make it home. Enjoyable
Meisje Met De Parel - Anna Wu (2013) A young aspiring artist is shown by a painting by her father of a girl with a pearl earring that he had met. She's mesmerized by the unreality of the earring. She later learns its unbelievable meaning and the true nature of its wearer. Ok
Flower of the Other Shore - A Que (2018) A genre savvy zombie parodic comedy romance. The protagonist is a zombie. Zombies communicate with each other through sign language. It was rather funny and amusing. Enjoyable
The Absolution Experiment - Bao Shu (2012) A mass murderer facing life in prison is given the opportunity for eventual freedom if he survives the trials for the development of an immortality drug. Ok
The Tide of Moon City - Regina Kanyu Wang (2016) A star-crossed SF romance between university students of different planets. Ok
Starship: Library - Jiang Bo (2015) A bibliomaniac insists on maintaining a physical collection of books until the end of time and that all knowledge must be freely shared to everyone in the galaxy. Ok...more
This is an atmospheric novel where the reader is meant to be as confused as the characters.
I've tried reading other books by these authors and wasn't This is an atmospheric novel where the reader is meant to be as confused as the characters.
I've tried reading other books by these authors and wasn't interested. Their novel Roadside Picnic is well regarded by those who have read it. I don't tend to enjoy allegory and this very much was one. Of the two viewpoint characters, I liked Peretz better, because Candide was even sillier. Both are stuck in nightmarish limbo, Peretz in a bureaucratic one, and Candide in a surreal one. Nothing interested me. Not the characters, setting, plot, themes, or whatever else. The prose is fine and does well in establishing its thematic content. There were so many random antics that intended to disorient both the reader and viewpoint characters. Basically, stuff happens, or it doesn't, and it'll matter or it won't.
Excerpt: If you see something without understanding it, you may as well have thought it all up. I'm living it, seeing it, and not understanding it; I'm living in a world that someone else has thought up without bothering to explain it to me, or maybe even to themselves... And everything will be full of deep meaning, in the same way that the behavior of any complicated system is full of deep meaning, and it will all be strange, and it will therefore be meaningless to us, at least to those of us who still haven't gotten use to the meaninglessness and accepted it as the norm.
The Afterword was far more interesting to me than the novel itself. It's a nice summation of their attitude, outlook, and much else.
How should he behave, when he realizes that the direction of progress, and he finds it abhorrent? The novel stopped being science fiction (assuming it ever had been) and became simply fantastic, grotesque, symbolic ..on the whole remained entirely inaccessible to the general reader. I can count on one hand the number of people who fully grasped the entirety of the authorial intent.
Intentional obscurantism isn't something I enjoy....more
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