Ken Liu's Blog, page 17

Craig Mod on the Digital and the Physical

Craig Mod, who has written some very insightful things about the future of books, has put up a new essay on the importance of edges to our sense of the scale of the act of creation. Mod is one of …

Craig Mod on The Digital and the Physical

Craig Mod, who has written some very insightful things about the future of books, has put up a new essay on the importance of edges to our sense of the scale of the act of creation. Mod is one of …

Children

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Arkfall

"Arkfall," by Carolyn Ives Gilman, was a Nebula nominee for 2009. It's good, really good. One thing that annoys me is a belief by some that stories are only interesting if they have "active" heroes who change the world. Passive …

Some Concluding Thoughts on the Nebula Nominees

I've read all the short fiction Nebula nominees this year. The best part of the experience has been seeing how diverse the field is. These stories are widely divergent in style and voice, and they define "science fiction" and "fantasy" …

The Axiom of Choice

"The Axiom of Choice," by David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011). What a great way to end my Nebula reading. I have a weakness for second-person narratives. (And I love adventure games). This story begins as a literary …

The Man Who Bridged the Mist

"The Man Who Bridged the Mist," by Kij Johnson (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2011). Almost done with all of the short fiction Nebula nominees… Kij Johnson's stuff is usually awesome (who can forget "Spar"?), and I like this one as …

Two More Nebula Nominees

"What We Found," Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011): what if the notion of the observer changing the observed applied at the level of all of science? I have a soft spot for works that …

The Ice Owl

"The Ice Owl," by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011). A meditation on memory, genocide, and the luxury of the young to be judgmental and morally pure. I love the speculative center piece at …

With Unclean Hands

"With Unclean Hands," by Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011). It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Castro's work, and I've nominated his stories multiple times. Being an Analog story, this one is very different …