Ken Liu, Writer

Author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie

fantasy

The Chronicles of European Heroes

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Oh my God. I am reading the coolest book ever.

Ma Boyong, one of my favorite Chinese authors, has written a wuxia novel featuring European elements: The Chronicles of European Heroes (《欧罗巴英雄记》). Yes, this is a wuxia novel in which heroes use the “Templar Crucifix Sword Fighting Technique” and Christian monks heal people by balancing aqueous and igneous humors, a novel with xiake and magic and wandering poets and quotes from books by ancient sages like Hippocrates.

I never would have thought such a thing possible. But here I am, reading it. I feel like a kid on Christmas with a smile on my face the whole time.

This is the most creative thing I’ve ever seen. I wish I had even a little bit of Ma’s brilliance.

Nebula

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So, I’ve won a Nebula.

Nebula Award

I couldn’t be at the ceremony tonight because baby Miranda needs her daddy. But Jamie Todd Rubin was gracious enough to accept for me and take that picture so I can be sure it’s not a dream. He also read my acceptance speech, which I’ve reproduced below:

When I was a kid, my grandmother taught me how to do zhezhi (origami). I remember being especially fascinated by the final stage of some of these paper constructions, which involved blowing them up like balloons, giving life to the paper animals.

I’ve always wanted to write a story based on that moment, which felt like magic.

I’ve also encountered few works of fiction that treat the life of the mail-order bride with real sympathy. Most seem to portray these women as either victims or conniving opportunists. Yet in my experience, many women who come to the West as mail-order brides are neither, but real people with complicated histories and yearnings and pains that are universal.

I’m glad that this story struck a chord with so many. Thank you, Gordon Van Gelder, for believing in this story. And thank you all very much, my fellow writers.

Tonight feels really special. I’m going to give my wife and daughters another kiss.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. I’m proud to be in such amazing company.

Stories to Read

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I used to do a lot of book reviews on my site, and then, after the Great Crash that wiped everything out, I just stopped.

I haven’t stopped reading, of course. So I’m going to try to bring a little bit of that back, over time.

I’ll start by recommending a few short stories I read recently that I liked:

  • “Keeping Tabs”, by Kenneth Schneyer, at Abyss & Apex. Intimate, moving, sympathetic, and psychologically complex, this is a wonderful sci-fi take on our celebrity culture — from the perspective of a fan.

  • “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, by E. Lily Yu, at Clarkesworld. This is a complex, beautiful fable with a sting as sharp as those of the titular insects. Ostensibly a fantasy about mapmaking wasps, I suspect that every reader will come out of it with a different idea of what it “meant.” The story was selected by Jonathan Strahan for his Best of the Year anthology, and it’s easy to see why.

A Favorable Review of the Paper Menagerie

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One of the nicest things in the life of a writer must be hearing from a reader who really got what you were trying to do.

I saw this review of “The Paper Menagerie” in the F&SF forums:

Liu manages to create emotions so subtly you almost miss how they’re creeping up on you. Thus, when the climax of the story comes, it delivers a surprisingly strong emotional punch.

Thank you, Geoff Hart. I’m lucky that GVG took a chance on this story and got it in front of some great readers.

Now I have to go and try harder.