Author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie
Quick summary of Worldcon in order of importance: I won a Hugo, met many extremely cool people, and got to see many friends who I had only known through the Internet.
Congrats to all the nominees and winners! You’re all rock stars.
(I’ll put up a picture of the Hugo once FedEx delivers it. I sure hope it doesn’t get lost…)
Aliette de Bodard does this really cool thing where she posts story notes on her blog as new stories are published.
I’m going to steal the idea from her and do something similar from now on.
“Arc” is out in the current (Sep/Oct) issue of F&SF.
Spoilers below, you’re hereby warned
I’ll be at Worldcon in Chicago this year, from Friday (8/31) night to Monday (9/3) morning. This will be my first Worldcon, so I’m suitably excited.
My official schedule:
Sat 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Columbian KK#3
Kaffeeklatsch
Sat 7:30 PM-9:00 PM
Addams
New Writers Session 4
A panel for new and debut authors to discuss their work and careers. Michael R. Underwood, Stina Leicht, Ken Liu, D.H. Aire, Teresa Frohock
Sun 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Wrigley
The Legal System as Plot Device
Sometimes the legal system is integral to the plot, for instance Alfie Bester’s Demolished Man, Philip K. Dick’s story that gave rise to the movie Minority Report, etc. When the legal system (or a part of it) is essentially a “character” in the story, what are the challenges? How “credible” must it be? How do you create a plausible legal system? How much of the system do you need to create/expose? To the extent that it greatly differs from what the reader is accustomed to, do you have to provide a rationale for it, or can you just provide it as a “given”? This would seem to be a good panel for authors who have used the legal system as a plot device. (I’d be interested in moderating this one.) John Hertz, Cynthia Felice, Ken Liu, Sean Mead, Gregory Rihn
If you have any ideas for the panels I’m on and what I should be talking about, let me know.
Hope to see you all there!
I just found out that my translation of “The Fish of Lijiang,” by Chen Qiufan (Stanley Chan), has won the SF & F Translation Award. I’m so excited for Stanley. It’s great to see him getting recognition in the West, especially after I just sold the translation for another story by him to Interzone.
“This year’s winner in the short fiction category, Chen Qiufan’s “The Fish of Lijiang” (translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu) was described by our judges as “brilliant,” “original,” and “a lovely and devastating story, beautifully written and translated.” It presents an interesting take on mental illness and wellness, work, and future technologies. In the tradition of the best SF, it offers a convincing extrapolation of the economic and consequent social changes that China has undergone in the past 30 years.”
My story, “You’ll Always Have the Burden With You,” is out in IN SITU, an anthology of stories about alien archaeology edited by Carrie Cuinn, from Dagan Books.
“Burdens” is a story about a CPA who discovers a new meaning in tax law (yes, it’s also linked to archaeology). I’ve always wanted to write a story like this, and I’m very glad with how it turned out.
Thanks to Sarah Jackson, who put up with my crazy speculations about archaeology and who helped me make the story better.
You can buy it from Amazon in paper
Publisher’s descritpion:
IN SITU is a new anthology of science fiction stories featuring alien archeology, hidden mysteries, and things that are better off left buried.
A quiet man finds more than he bargained for when he sets out with his metal detector on a lonely hill … A soldier meets a new kind of enemy fighting an altogether different kind of war … On a distant swamp planet, a woman questions what kind of human she’s becoming … a pregnant archeologist finds a connection with a long-dead alien child … while deep space scavengers wonder what it ever meant to be human at all. These fifteen evocative science fiction stories will take you from dusty archaeologists digging up our alien past into a distant future where we’ve become the relics. Thought-provoking and entertaining, IN SITU explores science, theology, preservation, and the art of alien finance, in a whole new way.
Edited by Carrie Cuinn. Contains stories by Ken Liu, KV Taylor, Paul A. Dixon, Bear Weiter, Mae Empson, Jason Andrew, Greg Burch, Sarah Hendrix, R.S. Hunter, Rebecca Lloyd, Alex Shvartsman, Kelly C. Stiles, Graham Storrs, David J. West, and Dawn Vogel.
Diverse Energies, an anthology of diverse YA dystopian fiction edited by Tobias S. Buckell & Joe Monti, is coming out from Lee & Low Books.
I’m proud to have contributed a story, “Pattern Recognition.” To be listed along these authors is a great honor. The full TOC is below:
I can’t wait till the book is out!