The Subtle Art of Folding Space

by John Chu

Overview

The Subtle Art of Folding Space, is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.

Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.

Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.

If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250425409
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/07/2026
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Chu is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer, translator, and podcast narrator by night. His fiction has appeared in Boston Review, Uncanny, Asimov's Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Tor.com among other venues. His translations have been published in Clarkesworld, The Big Book of SF and other venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte Awards, won the Best Short Story Hugo for "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere." and won the Best Novelette Nebula for "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You." The Subtle Art of Folding Space is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

A work of crystalline vision and meticulous humanity. John Chu folds universes into shape.”—Max Gladstone, NYT-Bestselling co-author of This is How You Lose the Time War

“Not enough SciFi contends with how hard people work to keep everything from falling out of the sky. Chu steps up to that challenge with a spirited exploration 'behind the scenes' of how fragile our world is (and the maintenance it requires). It bends physics and genres alike. It's a book we need right now.”—John Wiswell, Nebula Award winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In and Wearing the Lion

“A wildly imaginative ride following people who maintain the universe as they navigate conspiracies, change and profound grief. Effortless, brimming with ideas and with deep heart—not to mention mouth watering food.”—Aliette de Bodard, Nebula award-winning author of Navigational Entanglements

“A thorny, savory story about our deepest dependencies and the lies we tell to maintain them.”—Seth Dickinson, author of Exordia

“A hearty helping of dysfunctional family dynamics accompanied by a delicious side of multiverse. I'd like seconds, please.”—Cat Rambo, author of the Space Opera Disco series

From the Publisher