Liu Cixin
| Liu Cixin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1963 Henan, China |
| Occupation | Science fiction writer |
| Period | 1999-present |
Liu Cixin (simplified Chinese: 刘慈欣; traditional Chinese: 劉慈欣; born 1963) is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People's Republic of China.[1] Liu is an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award for science-fiction writing and an awardee of the Nebula Award (Chinese: 星云奖; pinyin: xingyun jiang),[2] Prior to his success as a writer, he worked as an engineer in a power plant in Yangquan, Shanxi.
Liu Cixin created new themes in Chinese science fiction writing,[3] and his writing is mainly focused on China's role in a future world.[4]
Writings
- The Era of Supernova (超新星纪元, 1999)
- The Rural Teacher (乡村教师, 2001)
- Ball Lightning (球状闪电, 2004)
- The Three Body Trilogy
- Three Body (三体, 2007)
- Dark Forest (黑暗森林, 2008)
- Dead End (死神永生, 2010)
Three Body Trilogy
In his Three Body trilogy, Liu features Chinese people's and the human race's centuries-long contacts and wars with an alien civilization. In this series Liu imagines galaxy-wide civilizations that operate on a Law of the Jungle Principle; distance between individual civilizations prevents them from trusting each other, leading to the assumption that any outsider is a threat. All civilizations hide their locations and attack any that expose their position.
In the first book, a Chinese scientist suffering from depression sends a message to a planet in a triple star system during the Cultural Revolution. Thirty years later another scientist discovers a civilization on the planet that suffers negative effects from the three suns. The civilization has also dispatched a fleet of ships to conquer the Earth, due for arrival within four centuries.
Tor Books announced it will publish an English translation by Ken Liu of the first book in the trilogy as The Three-Body Problem.[5]
Awards
- Chinese Galaxy Award for science-fiction writing.
- World Chinese Science Fiction Association's Nebula Award for best writer.[6]
References
- ↑ What lies beyond By Chitralekha Basu and Guo Shuhan, China Daily
- ↑ Awards for Chinese-language science fictions announced
- ↑ Liu Cixin and Neo-classical Science Fiction by YAN Wu, XIAO Qing-fang, Journal of Hunan University of Science and Engineering，2006-02
- ↑ Science Fiction in China by Wu Yan with Janice Bogstad & Wang Pengfei
- ↑ http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/07/tor-books-three-body-trilogy
- ↑ http://www.gov.cn/english/2010-08/09/content_1674007.htm
External links
- Liu Cixin's blog
- Entry in Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Liu Cixin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Ball Lightning Extract: Free English translation of the first three chapters Ball Lightning
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