Graphic Novel Review: The Circle by Cixin Liu

Adapted into graphic novel format by Xavier Besse, Cixin Liu’s The Circle is unusual among this series of adaptations and, from what I’ve read of his other short stories, in that it is set wholly back in history and does not give the impression of being a Science Fiction story.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: For the Benefit of Mankind

For The Benefit Of Mankind sees the arrival of an alien race in the skies of Earth, whose orbiting ships light up the dark world of professional assassin Smoothbore as he takes on an unusual contract amid an uncertain future.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: The Devourer by Cixin Liu

One of the recurring themes in Cixin Liu’s short stories is the arrival of an enormous alien artefact in the skies of Earth. Whether this is good or bad news depends on the story but, despite the same trope being used several times, I have always been surprised at what happens next in any given story.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: The Butterfly by Cixin Liu

It’s been a year since the first four Cixin Liu graphic novels were released, so the arrival of the next four is very welcome. Adapted and illustrated by Dan Panosian, The Butterfly is based on a story I don’t recall having read before.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel review: YuanYuan's Bubbles by Cixin Liu

Of the four graphic novels based on Cixin Liu’s stories that I’ve read so far, YuanYuan’s Bubbles is the first one where I haven’t previously read the original story, so this was a new journey of discovery for me.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: Cixin Liu's The Village Teacher

The cover image for this graphic novel adaptation of Cixin Liu’s story The Village Teacher seems very incongruous. The title brings to mind a quaint little village hall school scene, but the cover features an interstellar battle fleet destroying a planet.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth

As part of the new series of graphic novels adaptations of Cixin Liu’s work, one of his best-known short stories, ‘The Wandering Earth’, has been adapted by Christophe Bec into a fabulous and sumptuous looking work.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Graphic Novel Review: Cixin Liu's Sea of Dreams

Several of Cixin Liu’s novels and two short story collections have been translated into English and I’ve read all of them, as well as having the chance to meet him in person in London when he was over in the UK.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Polish Ants and Dinosaurs

 The Polish edition of Cixin Liu's Of Ants and Dinosaurs has just been released, and my review of the book from SF Crowsnest has been translated into Polish for the occasion.

Book Review: Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu’s second English-language shorty story collection, Hold Up The Sky, comes to us via a selection of various translators, presenting stories from almost two decades of the Chines SF master’s work.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Polish Review Quote

 My review of Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth has been quoted in Polish for the new Polish edition of the book. I've seen it quoted in several places in fact. 

Book Review: Of Ants and Dinosaurs by Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu is well known for his big concept novels, hard Science Fiction and far-future extrapolations: The Three Body Problem, Ball Lightning and The Supernova Era being the novels already translated into English. His latest work to be translated, Of Ants and Dinosaurs comes as somewhat of a surprise then.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: The Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu returns with another enthralling novel in The Supernova Era. Well, he only returns in English as the original Chinese version was published before his well-known Three Body trilogy made his big break into the English market.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: The Redemption of Time by Baoshu

The Three Body trilogy was an epic tale of alien invasion, stunning large-concept feats of engineering, long-scale social development and tragic tales of the individuals caught up in events beyond their control. It was a cult phenomenon in China when first published and, like many popular books, spawned its own fan fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Broken Stars edited by Ken Liu

Like much of the Science Fiction community, I’ve become very excited about Chinese Science Fiction of late. I read Ken Liu’s first collection of translated works, Invisible Planets, and the four Liu Cixin novels that have been translated so far, as well as meeting Liu Cixin for an interview. This new collection Broken Stars, which is both edited and translated by Ken Liu, is a hefty volume of almost 500 pages, including a fabulous selection of stories and some essays on Chinese Science Fiction. 

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu

Another of renowned Chinese author Cixin Liu’s novels has been translated for our enjoyment by Joel Martinsen in the form of Ball Lightning, a hard-SF, physics-based tale of obsession, complicated mathematics and the force of nature.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu

After reading Cixin Liu’s Three-Body trilogy last year and subsequently meeting him in person for an interview, I have been looking forward to reading his first translated short fiction collection, The Wandering Earth. Three of his short stories were published in English in the Ken Liu edited volume Invisible Planets, but only one of those appears among the ten stories in this volume, half of which have won the prestigious Galaxy Award in China.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Interview Reaction

My interview with Cixin Liu has been mentioned in more diverse places than probably anything I've done in the past.



I already posed that it was mentioned on File 770, then last week it was tweeted on the official Three Body Problem Twitter account.

Book Review: Invisible Planets by Ken Liu (Ed)

Not to be confused with Hannu Rajaniemi’s recent debut collection of the same name, this Invisible Planets is an anthology of contemporary Chinese SF in translation. Ken Liu is the editor and also the translator of all the stories, most of which have appeared in some of the top SF venues over the past few years. Coming hot on the heels of my reading Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Trilogy and then interviewing both Ken Liu and Liu Cixin, I was decidedly in the mood for some more Chinese Science Fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

An Excellent Interview

My interview with Cixin Liu was referenced on the venerable 'File 770' where it was called 'an excellent interview.