The Girl Who Stole Life by Zhou Wen
It was immense pleasure working with Sheila Williams and to have my translation featured in Asimov’s Science Fiction, which takes its name from one of my favourite classic Anglophone sci-fi writers, and whose publications I have long admired. This is a story about languages, linguistic, neurolinguistics and translation, but also, about a young woman who wants to break the barriers that life put in front of her.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged Chinese, class, genre, languages, linguistics, literature, neurolinguistics, noveltte, Scifi, SFF, social concerns, society
Her Story: Second Skin
A novelette by Dan Shi, a new voice in female Chinese science fiction and one that is boldly outspoken about feminism and gender debates. I was asked to translate this piece by the editors, and after reading it, I felt it was important to do so, especially when the story was so well written. A bold exploration of technology, the female body and autonomy. You can read it here.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged autonomy, Chinese, female body, feminism, genre, literature, novelette, science fiction, Scifi, SFF
Heavy Industry: The Donkey Restaurant of Tiexi
Even though I consider myself culturally Cantonese, my maternal grandmother was from Jilin and I’ve grown up aware that this region of China, as remote in the northeast, as Guangdong is remote in the southeast, is part of my heritage. So I was delighted to translate this story, which I really like in itself. Part of the fantastic literary output that is the Dongbei renaissance, translating it has felt like working on a Jia Zhangke film told in science fiction writing.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged Chinese, dongbei, hadron collider, heavy industry, literature, northeast China, particle technology, science fiction, translation
New Year Movies 2025
As well as being the biggest traditional festive celebration, Spring Festival has become the biggest season in the Chinese movie calendar, with dozens of major productions clambering for positions in the Hesuidang 贺岁档 (New Year Movie Bill). Celebrating 120 years of cinema since Ren Jingfeng’s Battle of Mount Dingjun (1905), China is offering discounted tickets to general audiences over Spring Festival, and a special programme for the rest of the year of increased screenings across the country, extending the new year box office to include the Yuandan (Roman Calendar New Year’s Day) hits. All this was topped off by a grand ceremony at the Beijing Film Museum called “See you in the Movies in 2025”, where the highlights of the entire pool were shown, and the six winners of the Hesuidang announced.
Posted in Curated & Translated
Whale Ocean by Nanpai Sanshu (October 2024)
This is the first science fiction work by China’s master of Daomu (tomb opening) fiction, Nanpai Sanshu, which I translated a couple of years ago. I’m delighted to be able to find a fitting home for it with Samovar. It’s a piece of contemplative eco-scifi about space exploration, human evolution, ecology and neuro-divergence. If you like this author’s work, his horror adventure novella, Records of Xiangxi, is curated in my anthology, Sinophagia.
Posted in Curated & Translated
China Hugo Translations 2024
This year, (2024), I was proud to see how many Chinese authors were featured in the list of finalists at the Hugo Awards, and even prouder to note how many of them were writers I had selected for Sinopticon back in 2021.
Posted in Curated & Translated
Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror (September 2024)
An anthology of unsettling tales from contemporary China, translated into English for the very first time.
Posted in Books, Curated & Translated
Chinese Monsters IV: Mythological Creatures
Having explored in the first three articles of this mini-series, deadly demons, friendly fiends, gorgeous ghouls and saucy spooks in Chinese supernatural lore, I come to the mythical monsters.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged china, Chinese, creatures, culture, horror, monsters, mythical, myths, supernatural
Mini Curations of Books to Read on China
Fantastic to be invited by China Minutes to curate select lists of new books to read on China. I am pleased that they let me expand the list for 2023.
Posted in Curated & Translated