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Concidentally
Apr. 19th, 2015 12:49 pmOn Wednesday, Marko Kloos withdrew his novel "Lines of Departure" from the Hugo ballot because it was on the Rabid Puppies slate. (Respect is due.) On Friday, the novel "The Three-Body Problem" by Chinese writer Cixin Liu was moved up into the resulting empty slot. And yesterday, Saturday, I picked up a copy of Fred Pohl's 1984 "Pohlstars" anthology at a book fair, in the Introduction of which he talks about his trip to China and how he "spent a lot of time" with Chinese SF writers.
This is not in itself SF, he assures us: "Science fiction is being read, written, and published in the Peoples' Republic of China." He compares the contemporary SF scene with American SF in the thirties, being produced by "young, energetic, idealistic, not very sophisticated" writers, and with a low "social standing" and "economic situation", ie it pays peanuts and is "disdained". "Of course," he remarks, "it would take a braver man than I to predict how widespread science fiction will become in China."
The English language translation of Cixin Liu's novel - the first of a trilogy, and about to be made into a movie - came out thirty years later. Blimey. I must try to find out more about how SF has progressed and is progressing in China. (I've been looking for Korean SF in translation for some time, without much luck, except for the movie "Natural City", which wasn't much chop. "Snowpiercer" is still in the rental queue.)
This is not in itself SF, he assures us: "Science fiction is being read, written, and published in the Peoples' Republic of China." He compares the contemporary SF scene with American SF in the thirties, being produced by "young, energetic, idealistic, not very sophisticated" writers, and with a low "social standing" and "economic situation", ie it pays peanuts and is "disdained". "Of course," he remarks, "it would take a braver man than I to predict how widespread science fiction will become in China."
The English language translation of Cixin Liu's novel - the first of a trilogy, and about to be made into a movie - came out thirty years later. Blimey. I must try to find out more about how SF has progressed and is progressing in China. (I've been looking for Korean SF in translation for some time, without much luck, except for the movie "Natural City", which wasn't much chop. "Snowpiercer" is still in the rental queue.)
