Ken Liu's Invisible Planets is an exceptional anthology of contemporary Chinese science fiction that showcases the immense talent and creativity of Chinese authors. The stories in this collection are diverse and thought-provoking, exploring a wide range of themes and ideas that will challenge and inspire readers. Liu's skill as a translator is evident in the elegant and nuanced translations, which capture the voice and style of each author while remaining true to the original text. The stories are beautifully written, with a poetic quality that is both lyrical and evocative. The characters are complex and fully realized, each with their own unique voice and perspective that adds depth and richness to the narratives. The world-building is masterful, creating fully realized and immersive worlds that feel both alien and familiar at the same time. Overall, Invisible Planets is a must-read for fans of science fiction and anyone interested in exploring new and diverse voices in the genre. Liu's curation and translation of these stories is a remarkable achievement, and the result is a collection that is both beautiful and important. Highly recommended.

The stories in Invisible Planets are largely successful and often offer an interesting take on familiar ideas and motifs. This is partly because it’s impossible to divorce the authors’ stories from their unique histories as both writers and Chinese citizens; and it’s equally impossible to entirely eliminate our own biases while reading. However, as Liu writes, by attempting to set aside our expectations and preconceptions—or at the very least, picking them up from time to time and examining them closely—the experience of reading Invisible Planets can offer a rich glimpse of a worldview that is only slightly asymptotic to our own.

Stephanie Chan

This book is filled with amazing stories, very unique and enjoyable, with each very different from the others. I highly recommend them!

A truly wonderful collection of translated short stories. I really appreciate all the work that Ken Liu is doing in bringing us these wonderful stories by providing English translations.

'The Year of the Rat' - A really well constructed exploration of the idiocy of war and the arbitrary nature of global politics. 4 stars.
'The Fist of Lijiang' - A strange cyberpunk exploration of the work/life balance. 3 stars.
'The Flower of Shazui' - Quite intriguing with a mystery feel. 3 stars.
'A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight' - Very atmospheric. This was a mixture of a ghost story and Westworld with really lyrical prose. 4 stars.
'Tongtong's summer' - A really beautiful and poignant exploration of ageing and how society deals with looking after its elderly. 4 stars.
'Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse' - This was a very strange narrative but there was a lovely relationship between the Dragon-Horse and the bat. 3 stars.
'The City of Silence' - I loved this one. A very dystopian vision of web regulation. The relationships within the Talking Club were great. It was scarily plausible on many levels. 5 stars.
'Invisible Planets' - A very interesting and fun travelogue around the planets of the universe and their inhabitants with a gut punch ending. 4 stars.
'Folding Beijing' - Very trippy and weird! I loved the idea of different folded levels of the city but I did find it quite confusing. 3 stars.
'Call Girl' - Quite interesting themes, but the narrative felt muddled. 3 stars.
'Grave of the Fireflies' - This had a real fairy tale quality that I enjoyed. It was quite weird, but I liked it. 4 stars.
'The Circle' - This was an adaptation from one chapter of Three Body Problem, so the story was familiar to me, but I still really enjoyed it. 4 stars.
'Taking Care of God' - This was my favourite story. The explanations offered by the 'Gods' for evolution, space time relativity and the collapse of civilisation were great. 5 stars.
The essays were very interesting and were written in an accessible style. Overall, this was a very impressive collection.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the best anthology of short stories I've read, period. Regardless of the fact that each story was translated beautifully, the stories themselves speak volumes about the authors' writing abilities. I love a collection that sucks you in and doesn't let go until the last page.

Chinese sci-fi just doesn't get much exposure from Western publishers, and that's a shame. Thanks to the masterful translation by Ken Liu, we get to see the world unknown in all its colours. Highly recommended collection.

Introduction: Chinese Science Fiction in Translation

**** Chen Qiufan - The Year of the Rat
In an economically depressed near-future, college graduates are recruited to military platoons in order to fight genetically-modified rats. Intended as pets for export, the creatures are invasive - but show disturbing signs of intelligence. Although rat-catching is less than glamorous, the military trappings of the outfit go to the heads of some members of the platoon - and fellow humans may end up being the real danger. Nicely done. "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" goes MilSF?

**** Chen Qiufan - The Fish of Lijiang
Melancholy and dystopic. New labor laws require that an overworked and exhausted employee take a mandatory rehabilitation break in the famous, historic city of Lijiang. At first, a bit of R&R doesn't seem like a bad thing - especially when he meets an attractive, friendly woman in town. But Lijiang's been retooled into a paradise of artifice, and its saccharin flavor has a bitter undertone. There are unpleasant revelation about why so many workers are in need of rehab, and nothing is quite what it seems.

**** Chen Qiufan - The Flower of Shazui
Set in a near-future Shenzhen, the story follows a man who's tormented by the secrets of his past. He suspects that his 'clever' plan to get ahead may not have worked out, in more ways than one. Seeking to atone, he comes up with yet another well-intentioned but perhaps overly-complex scheme.
After reading these three stories by Chen Qiufan, I'm definitely interested in reading the author's novel, which Ken Liu is currently translating.

**** Xia Jia - A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight
Weird and elegiac. A child is cared for in an abandoned tourist attraction peopled by robotic 'ghosts,' containing the consciousnesses of people who had to sell themselves into this strange commercial servitude.

** Xia Jia - Tongtong’s Summer
Previously read in 'Upgraded.'
Then I gave it three stars and wrote:
"A young girl's grandfather comes home from the hospital, accompanied by a new & experimental home health care "robot." The device is not actually a true robot, but a remote-operated device that allows a distant care worker to be 'on-call' as needed. The device ends up revolutionizing society, but not exactly in the way that was expected. The main idea here is a sweet but idealistic call to respect the elderly and to develop technology that will make them more able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, the 'call to arms' overwhelms the actual story, and at times it crosses a line into feeling like a piece of government propaganda."
Upon re-reading I'm downgrading to two stars, not because of the 'propaganda' aspect but just because the sentimental story is a thin veneer over the "ideas about the future of elder care." It's not that the ideas are bad, it's just not very successful as a good work of fiction.

** Xia Jia - Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse
A decaying cybernetic beast walks slowly and aimlessly through a post-apocalyptic landscape devoid of humans. On its journey, it meets a talking bat that's fond of poetry. More of a mood piece than a story; it didn't really do it for me.

*** Ma Boyong - The City of Silence
An homage to 1984, which attempts to show how the technology that's been developed since Orwell's day might change (and exacerbate) the repressive techniques of an oppressive state.
"Technology is neutral. But the process of technology will cause a free world to become ever freer, and a totalitarian world to become ever more repressive."
It has some interesting thoughts on how individuals, while despising the system, can simultaneously be agents of that system. But overall, I'm not sure how much it really has to add to Orwell (who did it well.)
Still, this is a genre that I love.

*** Hao Jingfang - Invisible Planets
An homage to Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities." Much like the original, the text describes different cultures and interactions to illuminate the vagaries of human nature, each supposedly illustrative of a different planet. The anecdotes are intercut with dialogue between the storyteller and the listener, commenting on the nature and meaning of narrative. It's well-done: both imaginative and thoughtful - but it's not the first time I've seen it done.

***** Hao Jingfang - Folding Beijing
Previously read in Rich Horton's "Year's Best..."
Visually, the shifting skyscrapers of 'Folding Beijing' brought to mind the film 'Dark City,' but the mechanics of this scenario are all-too-human, and underlaid with a cynical observation that "they would do this if they could." Europe has taken one approach to the 'problem' of automation advances making menial jobs practically obsolescent. Here, Hao Jingfang theorizes what China might do. This future city, a technological marvel, has a strict caste system, which the reader sees through the eyes of one waste worker, who's willing to flout the law in order to try to earn some money to better his adopted daughter's future. As we gain insight into the perspectives of people in each of three very different Beijings, the parallels with our real-life society become clear. And oh, it's also a heart-wrenching tale, vividly illustrating how the scale of people's dreams can differ exponentially, and how the few at the top sit comfortably on a throne crafted from the misery of the many.
The one thing, though, that made me feel positive about this story is that I couldn't help seeing it as a sequel to Kelly Robson's "Two-Year Man" (http://kellyrobson.com/two-year-man/). I know, none of the details match, but it does have the lowly worker adopting a foundling, and well, the outcome here is undoubtedly better that it is bound to have been in Robson's story!
I also think that any fans of Paolo Bacigalupi's short fiction, especially, perhaps, "Yellow Card Man" will particularly enjoy Hao Jingfang's offering.

*** Tang Fei - Call Girl
Previously read in Rich Horton's "Year's Best..."
A schoolgirl moonlights as... is it as a prostitute? Or as something much rarer and more strange? I hope to be able to read more by this author.

**** Cheng Jingbo - Grave of the Fireflies
Beautiful writing! Far-future sci-fi meets fairytale, in this story of a refugee girl, who, along with her mother the Queen, and all of her people, flees a region of dying stars through an 'asteroid gate' known as the 'Door Into Summer.'
I would love to see more from this author.

*** Liu Cixin - The Circle
Previously read in "Carbide-Tipped Pens." Re-read, as this was my favorite part of 'Three-Body Problem."
"Credited as an 'adaptation' of an excerpt from Liu Cixin's recently-translated 'The Three-Body Problem.' I recently read the novel, so I was slightly taken aback when, after a different set-up, I suddenly found myself re-reading some very, very familiar passages.
The author is enamored of the idea of creating a non-electronic 'computer' using binary rules. After all, it's just math, and not technically dependent on technology. The iteration of the idea found here may actually be stronger than the one in the novel."

*** Liu Cixin - Taking Care of God
Original! Science fiction retreads a lot of ideas repeatedly, but this is a variation I haven't encountered before. Earth is re-visited by our creators - an alien race who seeded our planet with life. Now, their civilization is in decline; their long-lived individuals senescent. Their mighty deeds are in the past; most of their knowledge forgotten. And they expect humanity, their children, to take care of them in their old age.
The story is by turns, funny, poignant and prescriptive, as the analogy of duty to ones elders plays out. More than any other selection in this book, I found this one to be distinctly culturally Chinese.


Essays
The brief essays included at the end of the volume give three of the authors the opportunity to air their thoughts on Chinese Science Fiction, its characteristics, and its place in the world and world literature. Interesting perspectives.

The Worst of All Possible Universes and the Best of All Possible Earths: Three-Body and Chinese Science Fiction - Liu Cixin
The Torn Generation: Chinese Science Fiction in a Culture in Transition - Chen Qiufan
What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese? - Xia Jia

Many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are independent and unaffected by the source of the book.


QUOTES ALTHEA LIKED
“Technology is neutral. But the process of technology will cause a free world to become ever freer, and a totalitarian world to become ever more repressive.”
― Ma Boyong, Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation

A great collection of stories. I really enjoyed a majority of the stories-full of interesting and intriguing worlds-and those I didn't, I think it was just because they were not my type. That is the challenge of short story collections from different writers-not all the authors are your style- so I really enjoyed the fact that the majority were so great. I found it interesting to read this sci-fi, so often sci-fi is very much a reflection of our own culture so reading so many stories set in a different cultural foundation was fascinating.

I really, really enjoyed this collection. I initially was drawn to it because I realised I've never read any translated SFF, let alone any Asian writers. After finishing the collection, I can appreciate it for its own merit, as well as just a unique publication.

The stories tend towards the dystopian, with a focus on technology. All have a vision of the future that you can tell has come from a Chinese perspective - in fact, I was chilled by the foreword to one story about censorship, which said that it was published in Chinese with the names and place names specifically Americanised, so it could get around Chinese censorship laws.

The technology of the future in each story was near enough to our reality to feel like these worlds could take place only a few decades from now, which I found particularly effective.

This is an excellent collection, and I've added many of the writers to my wishlist for the future.

As an ancient passionate of science fiction, who has read all the English and American production on which she was able to get hers hands (and even on the all things considered poor Italian production), I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology of Chinese science fiction's short stories. Incredibly for an anthology, the stories are all of a high standard, in some cases very high. The genres range from a soft science fiction, bordering the fantasy genre, to a hard science fiction, technological, which never puts aside the psychological and sociological depeening. Difficult to assign the palm of the most beautiful novel, I will just mention Folding Beijing, true distillate of what should be science fiction today, and the story that gives the title to the collection, Invisible Planets, which is clearly modeled on Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, as if to show us that our literature has produced teachers who unfortunately our writers do not follow.
Thank Macmillan-Tor/Forge Tor Books and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating collection of stories that showcase a non-Western POV regarding science fiction. Liu's translations do the stories justice, and while not all of them were my cup-of-tea, they were nevertheless an interesting look into contemporary SFF from a different culture.

An interesting collection of science-fiction stories by Chinese authors—I didn't like all of them, but none was particularly bad either, and the themes and places they dealt with offered different perspectives on what I'm used to see throug a more "westernised" prism. I found both similarities and differences gathered here, making those stories familiar in parts, and a journey in unknown territories in others.

"The Year of the Rat": 3/5
Quite creepy in its theme (students without much of a job prospect are enlisted to fight mutant rats whose intelligence and abilities may be more than meet the eye), and in its conclusion, although I would've appreciated a bit more insight in the exact reasons why the whole situation turned like that.

"The Fish of Lijiang": 3/5
By the same author, and another take on a society where freedom is only an illusion, where everybody and everything is at their designed place.

"The Flower of Shazui:" 2/5
An ex-engineer who fled his designated area tries to help a prostitute whose desires aren't necessarily in check with her partner's. Still interesting, but less exciting?

"A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight": 4/5
The author later mentioned a few inspirations for this story, and I agree, for I could feel them (especially the Miyazaki-like tones of a district/street full of "ghosts", souls in robot bodies gradually getting discarded). I really liked the atmosphere in this one, and the sad ending was pretty fitting.

"Tongtong's Summer": 4/5
I read this one in another anthology already, but I liked it the second time round as well. Caretakers operate robots remotely in order to help elder people, and their increased role in society gives birth to other issues, but also to great hopes for a generation that, all in all, has still a lot to bring to the world. The characters were also attaching.

"Night Journey of the Dragon Horse": 2/5
A mechanical dragon and a bat go on a journey to bring back light to a dead world. Beautiful, but unfortunately a little boring.

"The City of Silence": 5/5
In a world become one State, what happens when so many words are forbidden that communicating becomes impossible?
Very chilling, because the way this State evolved is, in fact, extremely logical and cunning.

"Invisible Planets": 3/5
Glimpses into little worlds. I wouldn't mind seeing some of them explored more in depth... and at the same time, I feel they wouldn't have the same impact anymore if this was done? Very strange.

"Folding Beijing": 2/5
A city living in three different spaces, each alloted its own time of the day, and with inhabitants forbidden to cross from one space to the other. Which the main character wants to do, of course. Also interesting, however I felt the ending didn't have much of an impact on me. I kept expecting something more... dramatic?

"Call Girl": 3/5
The call girl's wares are fairly interesting here. I would've liked some more background about them, how she came to be able to provide such services.

"Grave of the Fireflies": 2/5
Loved the atmosphere, this rush through the stars to escape a dying universe, guided by the last queen of mankind... However the story itself felt too short and rushed.

"The Circle": 4/5
I could see where this one was going from the moment the gates were introduced, and I wasn't disappointed. I definitely liked how it was all brought.

"Taking care of God": 4/5
Depressing in a way, but dealing with a theme that I'd deem definitely different from my own 'western' vision, with taking care of one's parents and elders being part of culture in a way it isn't in my own corner of the world.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars

3.5 stars - <a href="http://magazine.metaphorosis.com/review/2016/Invisible-Planets-Ken-Liu">Metaphorosis Reviews</a><br /><br />A collection of science fiction by Chinese authors, translated by Ken Liu.<br /><br />Recent Chinese science fiction essentially came to my notice via Ken Liu's translations in <em>Clarkesworld</em>. I enjoyed what I found, and picked up this book with enthusiasm. That enthusiasm was largely, but not entirely, satisfied.

I don't speak any form of Chinese, and certainly don't read it, so I'm dependent on translation for my access to Chinese works. That's always frustrating; no matter how good the translator, there's a lot of nuance that's lost, and much is dependent on the translation approach. I've found Liu's translations to be literate and intelligent, but dry. That's largely true of his own English fiction as well, and it's true of the stories here - to an extent that 340 pages of it felt more flat than exciting.

The stories are virtually all well written, but Liu's introduction sets the somewhat clinical tone that much of the book follows. He argues that there is no such thing as 'Chinese science fiction'. The argument is fair enough, but is so academic that I wondered exactly what audience he had in mind, and he repeats the point several times. The discussion would have been better off in the essays at the end of the book, which are equally aggressive about not taking a firm point of view, and which engage a far different part of the mind than the one that reads SFF for fun.

So, a slow start, but the stories themselves are more enjoyable, and the thumbnail sketches of each author were helpful. The best of the book were:
<ul>
<li><strong>The Fish of Lijiang</strong>, by Chen Qiufan. In a controlled society, what choices do we really have? While the story could have used a stronger ending, it's still a good read.</li>
<li><img class="noborder" src="http://magazine.metaphorosis.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/09/Green1-20.png" alt="notable" width="20" height="20" /><strong>TongTong's Summer</strong>, by Xia Jia. A look at remotely guided elder assistance. This was one of the stories I'd read before, and it stuck with me. Unlike the preceding story in the anthology by Xia Jia, it's focused, well-rounded, and moving.</li>
<li><strong>The City of Silence</strong>, by Ma Boyong. A study in censorship. Very reminiscent of 1984 in both tone and concept, but still effective and interesting.</li>
<li><strong>Invisible Planets</strong>, by Hao Jingfang. A description of selected planets. Very reminiscent in tone and structure of Liu's own story, "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species", but with more of a resolution.</li>
<li><img class="noborder" src="http://magazine.metaphorosis.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/09/Green1-20.png" alt="notable" width="20" height="20" /><strong>The Circle</strong>, by Liu Cixin. An analog approach to computing and duty. I've read this twice before - as a standalone, and as part of Liu's book Three Body Problem. I like it a lot (and wish the novel itself had been better).</li>
<li><strong>Taking Care of God</strong>, by Liu Cixin. Earth's creators come back to visit. While the concept here is a very familiar one, the tone of Liu's story makes this work.</li>
</ul>
Other stories were also generally good, and only one, by Tang Fei, really didn't work for me. If you haven't encountered Chinese science fiction in translation, pick this up. As the translator and authors argue so hard, this may not be representative of Chinese work, but it's interesting nonetheless.
<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: #990000;">Received free copy of book in exchange for honest review.</span></strong>

As a culture with 5,000 years of history, China has some distinctive characteristics which are clearly evident in this collection of Chinese science fiction. I found this unique style of science fiction intriguing, with a more real-to-life feel... but clearly fantastical at the same time. Ken Liu has done an excellent job with the translation - bringing the stories of these Chinese authors to life. Hao Jingfeng's Lao Dao lives in a folding Beijing, where people who have privilege live in First Space spending the premium hours of sunlight awake and on top. Lao Dao, a sanitation worker from Third Space, risks his life to provide a proper education for his daughter, Tangtang. A unique twist on history, Liu Cixin blended binary code into the historical battles of China's Warring States. Another story is of a boy who lives on ghost street and wonders if he is really alive. This boy fights against the mechanical spiders and finds out in the end that he really was a real boy. Lastly, the story of Tongtong and Grandpa and a robot named Ah Fu drew me in. Ah Fu was a robot with a human interface created to serve as companions to the elderly, an interface which with Grandpa's involvement, opens the doors for the elderly to be useful in society once again. If you enjoy science fiction or intriguing short stories, I would suggest reading Invisible Planets by Ken Liu. With robots, ghosts, and living metal horses, you might just find something you enjoy.

Published by Tor Books on November 1, 2016

Invisible Planets is a collection of science fiction stories and essays by writers in China, translated into English by Ken Liu. The stories are, on the whole, quite imaginative. As a reader might expect, they reflect Chinese culture and concerns and are very different from American science fiction. The term “science fiction” is used broadly — some of the stories might be more accurately classified as fantasy — but I suspect most of the stories will appeal to science fiction fans.

The first three stories are by Chen Quifan:

“The Year of the Rat” - College students join a government program that is akin to military service. They fight genetically engineered Neorats in exchange for food, shelter, and a guaranteed job after discharge. The story touches on problems of unemployment, the government’s love of slogans, masses of people serving the narrow interests of the elite, the revision of history, and China’s role in providing cheap labor so that prosperous citizens of other countries can enjoy affordable consumer goods (or rat pets). The story also asks whether rats might be smarter than humans. This is an excellent story although not one of my favorites in the collection.

“The Fish of Lijiang” - Experimental programs expand the sense of time in the aging while compressing the sense of time in workers, encouraging them to do 24 hours of work in an 8 hour shift. In a related storyline, a worker who goes on a rehabilitation vacation learns to understand his dream, but it is less clear that he understands his life. I like some of the concepts in this story, but I was disappointed that they weren’t developed in more detail.

“The Flower of Shazui” - Using technical wizardry, a friend tries to make things better for people he cares about. The results are quite the opposite of his expectations. Perhaps the story is a lesson in reverse karma, or in fatalism.

By Xia Jia:

“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” - Ning, a young boy, is told that he’s the only living person on Ghost Street. As Ning ages, we learn why that is true, and we learn the truth about Ning. This is an odd but interesting twist on a traditional western ghost story, although (I assume intentionally) it leaves quite a lot unexplained.

“Tongtong’s Summer” - A robotic solution to eldercare leads to a touching ending. The technology described in the story will probably be available in the near future, and if it were actually used as the author describes, it would be revolutionary. I don’t expect that to happen (no profit in it), but it’s a nice thought.

“Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse” - An immense mechanical dragon-horse comes alive one night and goes for a stroll. The dragon-horse is philosophical, wondering whether its walk is real or only a dream. Joined on its journey by a bat that recites poetry, the dragon-horse discovers that humans have all departed. The dragon-horse and bat then tell each other science fiction stories. The story — odd but enjoyable and thought-provoking — might be seen as a celebration of poetry and mythology.

By Ma Boyong:

“The City of Silence” - This dystopian story of repression is the most overtly political entry in the volume. The struggle between those who object to the potential harm caused by web anonymity and those who value privacy animates the story. Of course, outlawing anonymity makes it possible for the government to punish its critics, which is always the ultimate goal of governments that object to privacy. In the story, web users are required to select government-approved words from the List of Healthy Words in emails and web postings. The same restrictions apply to speech, which the government monitors, while requiring citizens to speak in a halting cadence so that the monitoring machines will be sure to understand them. This is a cautionary vision of extreme censorship, illustrating the point that technology enables a free people to enjoy their freedom even as it enables a totalitarian government to suppress freedom. It’s one of my favorites in the volume.

By Hao Jingfang:

“Invisible Planets” - The narrator provides fanciful descriptions of the wonderful planets she has visited. My favorite of those imagines a planet on which different species rule during different seasons (one being suited to lush forests, the other to barren winter plains), each hibernating when the other is dominated, neither aware of the other. I’m sure there’s a metaphorical moral to the concept of similar people living in separate worlds on the same planet. In fact, all of the stories might be viewed as metaphors for our own planet.

“Folding Beijing” - Lao Dao needs money for his daughter’s kindergarten, so he agrees to smuggle a message from Third Space into First Space. He does that by staying awake (illegally) while the city transforms. People in Second and Third Space are required to sleep while First Space occupies the city and vice versa. The Spaces are divided by social class, a theme that surfaces in different ways throughout the story. The story struck me as the sort of thing that China Mieville might write — allegorical science fiction that serves as a commentary on the human condition. It’s one of my favorites in the volume.

By Tang Fei:

“Call Girl” - A young girl provides services to old men, but the services involve summoning stories in which the men live. This is an intriguing story that I didn’t fully grasp, but I nevertheless appreciated its imagery.

By Cheng Jimbo:

“Grave of the Fireflies” - Something about birds, planets, dying stars, magicians, and the Weightless City. Again, lots of interesting images, but I didn’t understand how they were meant to assemble into a coherent story.

By Liu Cixin:

“The Circle” - This story is an adaptation of a chapter from the novel The Three-Body Problem. In 227 B.C., a Chinese mathematician computes pi by using 3 million soldiers to perform binary calculations, turning them into a rudimentary and very large computer. The king commands that the calculation be performed, convinced that the secret of eternal life lies in pi to the 100,000th digit. The king turns out to be a fool, but he isn’t the only one. Great story, one of my favorites in the volume.

“Taking Care of God” - A family in this story lives with God, who coughs all the time and forgets to turn off the gas stove after he warms his milk. He is one of 2 million gods who are supported (not always happily) by 5 billion people. They came to Earth in spaceships, all claiming to be God and asking for a bit of food. I think the story is meant to illustrate the difference between traditional Chinese veneration of the elderly and modern China’s celebration of the economically productive. It also advances some interesting ideas about the intersection of evolution and stagnation. I particularly like the story’s message, which combines themes from 1950s American science fiction with a modern sensibility. This is my favorite story in the collection.

The book includes three essays on Chinese science fiction for the academically inclined.

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