writing

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 or kindle editions. Or, you can get it as DRM-free ebooks from the publisher.

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:

1. “The Last Day” by Ellen Oh
2. “Freshee’s Frogurt” by Daniel H. Wilson
3. “Uncertainty Principle” by K. Tempest Bradford
4. “Pattern Recognition” by Ken Liu
5. “Gods of Dimming Light” by Greg van Eekhout
6. “Next Door” by Rahul Kanakia
7. “Good Girl” by Malinda Lo
8. “A Pocket Full of Dharma” by Paolo Bacigalupi
9. “Blue Skies” by Cindy Pon
10. “What Arms to Hold” by Rajan Khanna
11. “Solitude” by Ursula K. Le Guin

I can’t wait till the book is out!

I’ll be at Readercon on the 14th and the 15th. Here are my panel assignments:

• July 14, Saturday, 2:00 PM, RI The Future of Copyright. Ken Liu, B. Diane Martin, Eugene Mirabelli, Kenneth Schneyer (leader), Jacob Weisman. SFF authors have two reasons to care about the future of copyright: both as a novum for fiction, as in Spider Robinson’s Melancholy Elephants, Charles Sheffield’s “Out of Copyright,” and Randy Henderson’s “Surviving the eBookalypse,” and as a basis for long-term career strategy (see the blogs of Cory Doctorow and Kristine Kathryn Rusch). All we know for sure about copyright is that it’s going to change, but how? Will it become ever more stringent and draconian, with publishers charging separately each time a reader opens a book? Will it vanish altogether in favor of a fee-for-service or “revenue rights” model? Will authors have to start beating the bushes for rich patrons? Join in the wild speculations and crackpot theories.

• July 15, Sunday, 2:00 PM, RI Xena at Tau Ceti: An Overview. Athena Andreadis (leader), Ken Liu, Vandana Singh, Joan Slonczewski. Xena at Tau Ceti will be an anthology of evolved space opera (with optional mythic over/undertones) with female protagonists that moves past the traditional conflicts, attentive to the complexities and nuances of both the science and fiction component, directed at adult readers. Participants in this anthology who are attending Readercon will discuss the foundation concept and the works intended for the collection, and read brief excerpts.

If you’re going, please come by and say hi!

I’m a few days late on this — been a bit swamped at work.

Congratulations to Paul McCauley for winning the Sturgeon Award with his story, “The Choice.” And to Charlie Jane Anders as well, who came in second with “Six Months Three Days.” I’m humbled and honored to be among the nominees.

Chen Qiufan and I are finalists in the SF & F Translation Awards!

The work nominated is Chen Qiufan’s “The Fish of Lijiang” (《丽江的鱼儿们》 which I translated for Clarkesworld. It’s a lovely story and if you haven’t read it, it’s available here.

I’m so glad that the panel saw the beauty in Chen’s work. I’m very proud to have been involved in bringing his story to an English-speaking audience.