Ken Liu

Ken Liu has quickly become one of the most original and thought-provoking story writers of his generation. Deftly riffing off the power of narrative, this collection is as heartbreaking as it is charming.In “Simulacrum”, the daughter of the revered inventor of augmented reality is irrevocably divided from her father by the technology that is meant to help her be closer to him. In the title story, “The Paper Menagerie”, a child loses touch with the magical paper menagerie built for him by his mother, a mail-order bride in suburban Connecticut, but then discovers as an adult that love knows no bounds. A young man struggling to preserve his culture in the face of utter annihilation finds peace in the transcendence of fleeting memory in “Mono No Aware”. As a couple explores one of the hidden atrocities of the Second World War, they try to speak for those who no longer can in “The Man Who Ended History”. And in “An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognitiony”, a mother and father who are separated by vast distances must invoke, for their children, a thousand ways love may take formThese fifteen evocative short stories and novellas tour the poignant history that always haunts immigrants, survivors of war and our consistent technological advances as they are explored through love, race, and politics. An award-winning author, Liu and his stories invoke the magical within the mundane in profound and moving ways.Contents: - Preface- The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species (2012)- State Change (2004) - The Perfect Match (2012) - Good Hunting (2012) - The Literomancer (2010)- Simulacrum (2011) - The Regular (2014)- The Paper Menagerie (2011) - An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition (2016)- The Waves (2012)- Mono no Aware (2012)- All the Flavors (2012)- A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel (2013)- The Litigation Master and the Monkey King (2013)- The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary (2011)Cover art by Quentin Trollip

Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.

Kuni Garu, now known as Emperor Ragin, runs the archipelago kingdom of Dara, but struggles to maintain progress while serving the demands of the people and his vision. Then an unexpected invading force from the Lyucu empire in the far distant west comes to the shores of Dara—and chaos results.But Emperor Kuni cannot go and lead his kingdom against the threat himself with his recently healed empire fraying at the seams, so he sends the only people he trusts to be Dara’s savvy and cunning hopes against the invincible invaders: his children, now grown and ready to make their mark on history.

original cover of ISBN 9781982134037From award-winning author Ken Liu comes his much anticipated second volume of short stories.Ken Liu is one of the most lauded short story writers of our time. This collection includes a selection of his science fiction and fantasy stories from the last five years — sixteen of his best — plus a new novelette.In addition to these seventeen selections, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories also features an excerpt from the forthcoming book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, "The Veiled Throne".Contents:- Ghost Days (2013)- Maxwell's Demon (2012)- The Reborn (2014)- Thoughts and Prayers (2019)- Byzantine Empathy (2018)- The Gods Will Not Be Chained (2014)- Staying Behind (2011)- Real Artists (2011)- The Gods Will Not Be Slain (2014)- Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer (2011)- The Gods Have Not Died in Vain (2015)- Memories of My Mother (2012)- Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit - Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts (2016)- Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard (2020)- A Chase Beyond the Storms: An excerpt from "The Veiled Throne", Book 3 of the Dandelion Dynasty- The Hidden Girl (2017)- Seven Birthdays (2016)- The Message (2012)- Cutting (2012)

Ken Liu's incredible story "Paper Menagerie" just became the first work of fiction to win all three of SF's major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award. And we're proud to be able to reprint the whole story, right here at io9. Here's your chance to find out what all the excitement is about, and discover one of science fiction's fastest rising stars.

Touch the past or wash it away? Two sisters have a choice in this unforgettable short story of everyday magic and the power of memory by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Ken Liu.Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.

With the invasion of Dara complete, and the Wall of Storms breached, the world has opened to new possibilities for the gods and peoples of both empires as the sweeping saga of the award-winning Dandelion Dynasty continues in this third book of the “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR).Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable?In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power?Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age.Ken Liu returns to the series that draws from a tradition of the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance on the Three Kingdoms and builds a new tale unsurpassed in its scope and ambition.

The conclusion to Ken Liu's chronicle of the Dandelion Dynasty. Ukyu-Gondé. Stalked by foes and dogged by betrayal, Princess Théra is pursued across a continent vaster than she could ever have imagined, to the hidden valleys of the World's Edge Mountains, into the barrows and subterranean halls of the City of Ghosts, across the ice floes of the far north. She breached the Wall of Storms intent on taking war to the Lyucu homelands, but how do you conquer the unconquerable? Dara. Empress Jia, Prince Phyro and Pékyu Tanvanaki find themselves bound to paths they never would have chosen. Amid atrocity and subterfuge, they will discover that the Courage of Brutes is no substitute for the Grace of Kings, and that little separates the Grace of Kings from the Madness of Tyrants. On both sides of the Wall of Storms, defeat's bitter tears mix with the fruits of knowledge new and ancient as two empires bound by blood and bone, by writ and iron, by time and custom, face a whirlwind that threatens to utterly consume them. The teeth, as they say, are on the board.

As a cargo ship rockets across the galaxy to Canto Bight, the deckhands on board trade stories about legendary Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. But are the stories of iconic and mysterious Luke Skywalker true, or merely tall tales passed from one corner of the galaxy to another? Is Skywalker really a famous Jedi hero, an elaborate charlatan, or even part droid? The deckhands will have to decide for themselves when they hear The Legends of Luke Skywalker. A collection of myths and tall-tales about the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker, written by Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy award-winning author Ken Liu.

A scientific invention makes it possible to virtually travel back in time and witness historical events. It is only possible to witness it once from the same perspective, because the process eats up the record. The inventor and her husband draw attention to the atrocities of Unit 731 during WWII. They hope that eyewitnesses will shut down denialists. But Chinese versus Japanese, and U.S. politics start their own games.

A woman who fears she's failing as a painter and as an artist seeks inspiration from one of her favorite poets—finding something even more wondrous, but also more impossible to capture on canvas...

For Franny, the end of everything is just the beginning of her adventure. The world as we know it is no more. Cities are mobile. Electricity is rare. Reading is a relic of the past. After an explosive encounter with a mysterious stranger, Franny, a 14-year-old orphan girl, embarks on an epic quest to find the mysterious pilots who steer the cities, hoping that if she finds them, she will get answers about her family's past—and the world's future. The Armies of Those I Love is a brilliant vision of the future from Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-winning author Ken Liu, author of such sci-fi classics as The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, and translator of the global best seller The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu.

Award­ winning author Ken Liu returns with his first sci-fi thriller in a brand-new series following former “orphan hacker” Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her cybersecurity and hacking skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, identity, and the power of shared dreams.Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at fourteen as the “orphan hacker,” is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a Boston suburb.But when a lawyer named Piers—whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals—barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can’t walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an onierofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee’s waking dream and providing an emotionally resonant and narrative experience. While attendees’ dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also providing a one-on-one dream experience for the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding his dreams in return for Elli.Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.

Ken Liu’s “Staying Behind” From the New Collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories Tordotcom

玫瑰的芬芳，苹果的酸甜，人类只有拥有肉体才感受得到。如果有一天，人类集体抛弃肉体，思维进化为虚拟环境中的数据流，那将是怎样的世界？在本书开篇的“未来三部曲”中，刘宇昆为我们讲述了三个从现在的世界过渡到未来虚拟世界的故事。这几个故事从普通家庭生活入手，渐渐显出世界的全貌，以小见大，引人思考。除此之外，本书收录的另外十篇小说，也都是刘宇昆出道以来的创作精华。这些作品既有硬朗的技术细节，又不乏多元的文化思考，代表着当下世界短篇科幻创作的最高水平。

Please enjoy “Reborn,” by Ken Liu, a novelette inspired by an illustration from Richard Anderson.“Reborn” is part of a three-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All three are based on a singular piece of art by Richard Anderson.

Mono no Aware, vincitore del premio Hugo 2013 come miglior racconto. Ken Liu è l’astro nascente della narrativa breve di fantascienza e incarna una nuova generazione di autori nati o cresciuti in Oriente ma residenti in paesi occidentali come gli Stati Uniti, il Canada e il Regno unito i quali stanno vincendo i premi più importanti del genere e conquistando il pubblico di tutto il mondo. Nell’antologia “Mono no Aware” si raccolgono per la prima volta in italiano quattro racconti che spaziano dal genere fantastico alle riflessioni più profonde sul rapporto tra l’uomo e la un padre che ricrea il simulacro elettronico di sua figlia con conseguenze nefaste; un figlio che si sacrifica per rendere onore al padre e salvare il futuro dell’umanità; e ancora una famiglia alle prese con il processo di mind-uploading che minaccia l’esistenza di una piccola comunità di persone e infine una madre che – prima di partire per una missione spaziale – vuole mostrare alla figlia cosa è rimasto della Terra di un tempo. Una sorta di fil rouge unisce questi splendidi il destino che decide delle vite umane, malgrado tutti gli sforzi che si possono fare per cambiarlo, il tempo che scorre inesorabile, il ricongiungimento e la separazione dagli esseri amati. Prese insieme queste storie rappresentano una visione del mondo interconnessa, in grado di modificare le nostre percezioni convenzionali e spingerci a riconsiderare sia le categorie tradizionali culturali che letterarie. Nato nel 1976 a Lanzhou, in Cina, Ken Liu è emigrato negli Stati Uniti con la famiglia quando aveva undici anni. È sia autore molto prolifico che ottimo traduttore, oltre che avvocato e programmatore. Vincitore dei premi Nebula (2 volte), Hugo e World Fantasy, è stato pubblicato su Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov, Analog, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons e molte altre riviste. Il suo romanzo d’esordio, The Grace of Kings, primo di una serie epica definibile silkpunk, è stato pubblicato dalla Saga Press – un’etichetta della Simon & Schuster dedicata al genere – nell’aprile del 2015. Saga Press pubblicherà anche un’antologia di suoi racconti, The Paper Menagerie and other stories, a novembre 2015. Ken Liu vive con la famiglia vicino a Boston, nel Massachusetts.

Presenting Ken Liu’s “The Plague” a new short story from Nature magazine’s Futures series about a meeting between a girl whose skin has been replaced with plague and a man from the Dome who doesn’t understand her.

DEMAIN…Dans son registre, celui de l’investigation, Ruth Law est la meilleure. D’abord parce qu’elle est une femme, et que dans ce genre de boulot, on se méfie peu des femmes. Parce qu’elle ne lâche rien, non plus, ne laisse aucune place au hasard. Enfin, parce qu’elle est augmentée. De manière extrême et totalement illégale. Et tant pis pour sa santé, dont elle se moque dans les grandes largeurs — condamnée qu’elle est à se faire manipuler par son Régulateur, ce truc en elle qui gère l’ensemble de ses émotions, filtre ce qu’elle éprouve, lui assure des idées claires en toute circonstance. Et surtout lui évite de trop penser. À son ancienne vie… Celle d’avant le drame…Et quand la mère d’une jeune femme massacrée, énuclée, la contacte afin de relancer une enquête au point mort, Ruth sent confusément que c’est peut-être là l’occasion de tout remettre à plat. Repartir à zéro. Mais il faudra pour cela payer le prix.Le prix de la vérité libérée de tout filtre, tout artifice. Tout regard…Couverture de Aurélien Police

อีก 7 เรื่องสั้นจากรวมเรื่องสั้น The Paper Menagerie ของ เคน หลิว (Ken Liu) นักเขียนเลือดมังกร กับลีลาการเล่าเรื่องแบบไซไฟแฟนตาซี ที่แม้ในเรื่องจะเต็มไปด้วยเทคโนโลยีที่ล้ำหน้า ทว่ายังคงมุ่งมั่นสำรวจความลึกซึ้งของจิตใจมนุษย์ ที่ต่างยื้อยุดกับกระแสธารแห่งความทรงจำอันไหลหลาก เหล่านี้ล้วน การันตีด้วยการคว้าสามรางวัลใหญ่อย่าง Hugo, Nebula และ World Fantasy Award มาได้ภายในในปีเดียวเป็นครั้งแรกในประวัติศาสตร์อนึ่ง ในระลอกกาลและเรื่องสั้นอื่นๆ เล่มนี้ เป็นเพียงส่วนหนึ่งจาก หนังสือรวมเรื่องสั้น The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (2016) โดย Ken Liu เท่านั้น โปรดติดตามเรื่องสั้นส่วนที่เหลือได้ในเล่ม สวนสัตว์กระดาษและเรื่องสั้นอื่นๆ[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... The Paper Menagerie]

Idaho City, en pleine fièvre de l’or.Les temps sont à la conquête. De l’Ouest, bien sûr. De la fortune, surtout… Prospecteurs, commerçants, banquiers, filles de petite vertu, bandits et assassins s’agrègent en une communauté humaine au goût de mauvais whisky et à l’odeur de poudre. Et puis il y a ce petit groupe de prospecteurs chinois. Qui vivent entre eux, s’entassent dans des baraquements minuscules, et font planer sur la ville les effluves de leur cuisine aux saveurs aussi épicées qu’inconnues. Lily, la fille de leur propriétaire, est fascinée par ces étrangers aux coutumes impénétrables. Et par l’un d’entre eux en particulier, un géant au visage rouge et à l’immense barbe, Lao Guan, qui lui apprend les mystères du wei qi et lui raconte des récits stupéfiants, les aventures de Guan Yu, le dieu de la guerre, de Lièvre roux, son cheval de bataille, et de Lune du dragon vert, sa fidèle épée. Guan Yu, qui fait face à l’injustice et à la trahison dans cette Chine impériale fabuleuse. À l’image de Lao Guan, dans cette Amérique en gestation…

We’re pleased to reprint Ken Liu’s short story “Seven Birthdays” from Bridging Infinity, the latest volume in the Hugo award-winning Infinity Project series, showcasing all-original hard science fiction stories from the leading voices in genre fiction.Sense of wonder is the lifeblood of science fiction. When we encounter something on a truly staggering scale—metal spheres wrapped around stars, planets rebuilt and repurposed, landscapes transformed, starships bigger than worlds—we react viscerally. Fear, reverence, admiration – how else are we to react to something so grand? Edited by Jonathan Strahan, Bridging Infinity puts humanity at the heart of these vast undertakings—as builder, as engineer, as adventurer—reimagining and rebuilding the world, the solar system, and even the entire universe.

Une jeune femme assassin capable de se déplacer dans des dimensions cachées. Une mère atteinte d'un mal incurable qui trouve cependant un moyen de garder un lien avec sa fille. Une balade dans les ruines englouties de Boston. Une romance entre une femme-renard et un chasseur d'esprits. Les dessous tragiques de l'histoire de la construction du tunnel sous-marin trans-Pacifique. Une exploration vertigineuse de l'avenir au cours de sept anniversaires répartis au fil du temps. Un printemps inespéré, à l'échelle de l'Univers... Puisant tour à tour dans les légendes séculaires, d'Asie ou d'ailleurs, de même que dans les théories scientifiques les plus modernes, voici vingt-cinq éclats d'imaginaire à la sensibilité unique signés Ken Liu.Né en 1976 à Lanzhou, en Chine, avant d'émigrer aux États-Unis à l'âge de onze ans, Ken Liu est titulaire d'un doctorat en droit (Harvard). On doit à ses activités de traducteur l'éclosion de la science-fiction chinoise aux yeux du monde. En tant qu'auteur, il dynamite la littérature de genres américaines — science-fiction comme fantasy – depuis une quinzaine d'années, collectionnant distinctions et prix littéraires, dont le Hugo, le Nebula et le World Fantasy pour la seule « La Ménagerie de papier », ce qui demeure unique à ce jour. Le recueil éponyme, paru aux éditions du Bélial’, est par ailleurs lauréat du Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, tandis que le court roman L'Homme qui mit fin à l'histoire a achevé de le révéler au grand public. Jardins de poussière est son deuxième recueil à voir le jour en français. Sans équivalent en langue anglaise, réunissant vingt-cinq récits pour l'essentiel inédits, il célèbre un talent majeur et singulier à son sommet — un phénomène.Contient :• Avant-propos, par Ken LIU• Le Jardin de poussière• La Fille cachée• Bonne Chasse• Rester• Ailleurs, très loin de là, de vastes troupeaux de rennes• Souvenirs de ma mère• Le Fardeau• Nul ne possède les cieux• Long-courrier• Nœuds• Sauver la face• Une brève histoire du Tunnel transpacifique• Jours fantômes• Ce qu’on attend d’un organisateur de mariage• Messages du Berceau : L’ermite – Quarante-huit heures dans la mer du Massachusetts• Empathie byzantine• Dolly, la poupée jolie• Animaux exotiques• Vrais Visages• Moments privilégiés• Rapport d’effet à cause• Imagier de cognition comparative pour lecteur avancé• La Dernière Semence• Sept Anniversaires• Printemps cosmique• Bibliographie des œuvres de Ken Liu, par Alain Sprauel

Available on the author's website.

As humanity moves to the stars, a young woman attempts to preserve the magical forest she fell in love with as a child.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

“Quando la fantascienza funziona, non ci fornisce una mappa del futuro, ma un vocabolario per riflettere sui nostri valori fondamentali in un mondo irriconoscibile.” Con queste parole, Ken Liu introduce la sua narrativa breve, fatta di racconti ambientati in un futuro in cui l’elemento umano resta fondamentale per capire come evolverà il rapporto tra la specie umana e la tecnologia. Ci rifiuteremo di caricare le nostre identità su corpi artificiali per sfuggire alla morte? Oppure guarderemo con nostalgia alla limitatezza dei nostri sensi biologici? E come useremo gli algoritmi che ci permettono di scoprire tanto di noi stessi e degli altri? Di fronte alle trasformazioni della società contemporanea, ci ritrarremo in un guscio di “umana sicurezza” o invece abbracceremo la condizione postumana con i dubbi e le incertezze che tale cambiamento comporta? L’antologia include i seguenti Ricordi di mia madre, Animali esotici, Simulacro, La combinazione perfetta, Restare indietro, Mono no aware, Le onde, Insieme altrove, vaste mandrie di renne. Nato nel 1976 a Lanzhou (Cina), Ken Liu è emigrato negli Stati Uniti con la famiglia quando aveva undici anni. Autore prolifico, è anche traduttore, avvocato e programmatore. Ha vinto il premio Nebula (2 volte), Hugo e World Fantasy ed è stato pubblicato su Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov, Analog, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons e altre riviste. Il suo romanzo d’esordio, “The Grace of Kings” – primo volume della serie epica silkpunk “The Dandelion Dynasty” – è stato pubblicato da Saga Press e si è aggiudicato il premio Locus. In seguito ha pubblicato il secondo volume, “The Wall of Storms”, e un’antologia di racconti, “The Paper Menagerie and other stories”. Ken Liu è anche un eccellente traduttore dal cinese all’inglese. Sua è la traduzione de “Il problema dei tre corpi” di Liu Cixin, primo romanzo cinese ad aver vinto il premio Hugo nel 2015, (Oscar Fantastica, Mondadori). Ha inoltre curato la prima antologia di fantascienza contemporanea cinese in inglese, “Invisible Planets”. Ken Liu vive con la sua famiglia nei pressi di Boston, Massachusetts.

Science and destiny collide against the will of the gods in this epic silkpunk fantasy series from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Ken Liu. Read the entire series, collected together for the first time, in this volume. In THE GRACE OF KINGS , two men, Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu, rebel together against tyranny – and then become rivals. THE WALL OF STORMS sees Kuni Garu, now known as Emperor Ragin, struggling to meet the demands of the archipelago kingdoms of Dara. In THE VEILED THRONE , the Lyucu leadership in Dara bristles with rivalries, as former Empress of Dara, Princess Théra, prepares to go to war with the Lyucu. The final novel, SPEAKING BONES , sees the people of Dara continue to struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their futures. 'Poetry on every page' HUGH HOWEY'Ken Liu is a genius' ELIZABETH BEAR'A triumph in storytelling' STARBURST MAGAZINE