To Hold Up the Sky

by Cixin Liu

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past.

In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physicas to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.

Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers.

Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection.

Stories included are:
Contraction
Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming
The Village Teacher
Fire in the Earth
Time Migration
Ode to joy
Cloud of Poems
Mirror
Sea of Dreams
Cloud of Poems
The Thinker

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250306081
Publisher:	Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	76,705
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

CIXIN LIU is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People’s Republic of China. Liu is an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award (the Chinese Hugo) and a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. Prior to becoming a writer, he worked as an engineer in a power plant. His novels include The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End.

Editorial Reviews

08/10/2020

These 11 stories, taken from the beginning of Liu’s career in the early 2000s when, per his introduction, “sci-fi was still a very marginal pursuit in China,” offer an innovative and compassionate look at how knowledge shapes and changes humanity. Liu (The Three Body Problem) grounds his tales in contemporary Chinese life and society, using the sci-fi genre to tackle questions about humanity’s place in the universe. “The Village Teacher” (trans. by Adam Lanphier) starts off the collection on a strong humanistic note, as one teacher’s dying lesson to his students saves the galaxy. Other standouts include “Ode to Joy” (trans. by Joel Martinsen), in which a space mirror uses the sun as an instrument to play a symphonic history of the universe; “Contraction” (trans. by John Chu), which brilliantly plays with form to create the effect of time flowing backward; and “The Thinker” (also translated by Chu), which convincingly links neuroscience and astrophysics. Though the science will be too technical for some casual readers, Liu’s gift for juxtaposing long passages of exposition with emotional moments and beautiful imagery makes this a must have for readers of hard science fiction. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2020

New York Times best-selling, Hugo Award-winning Liu, one of China's preeminent sf writers, reenvisions the past even as he reconfigures the future in this collection of short fiction. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

An innovative and compassionate look at how knowledge shapes and changes humanity. Liu grounds his tales in contemporary Chinese life and society, using he sci-fi genre to tackle questions about humanity's place in the universe . . . a must have for readers of hard science fiction."—Publishers Weekly, on To Hold Up the Sky

“A well rounded view of Liu's work, showing him both in the mode familiar to readers of The Three-Body Problem trilogy as well as in other, perhaps more unexpected, styles. Highly recommended for fans of Liu's work or for those interested in Chinese sf in general.”—Booklist, starred review, on To Hold Up the Sky

“These stories excel at linking hard science fiction with global humanism and quiet moments of emotion. Liu's writing maintains a calm, matter-of-fact demeanor, even as it conveys inventive cruelty and beautiful imagery . . . [This collection] will appeal to readers of literary fiction and classic science fiction alike.”—Shelf Awareness on To Hold Up the Sky

“It is magic, this collection of short stories Liu wrote and published ten, 20, 30 years ago. It is a time machine; a split-vision tunnel that lets you go back in time while staring forward, to see what 2003's or 1985's version of 2010 or 2020 or 3000 looked like from China... To Hold Up The Sky gives us a window that looks out over a different sci-fi landscape than we've seen in decades.—NPR

“This audacious and ultimately optimistic early work will give Liu's English-reading fans a glimpse at his evolution as a writer and give any speculative fiction reader food for deep thought.”—Shelf Awareness on Supernova Era

Praise for the Three-Body trilogy

“Wildly imaginative.”—President Barack Obama

“The War of the Worlds for the twenty-first century . . . Packed with a sense of wonder.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A breakthrough book . . . A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology.”—George R. R. Martin

“Tackles politics, philosophy, and virtual reality in a story that moves at a thriller's pace.”—The Washington Post

“Evokes the thrill of exploration and the beauty of scale.”—The New Yorker

“Strunning, elegant . . . A science fiction epic of the most profound kind.”—NPR

From the Publisher

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