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Like the list, big fan of Borges, Egan and Chiang, but very surprised to see no Lem. He has to be on a list like that. A Perfect Vacuum is brilliant and the Cyberiad is a great candidate as well.

Another thing I'm surprised to not see on the list is Chinese short-story sci-fi, there's been a lot of great stuff coming out of the country in recent years much of it translated by Ken Liu.

Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang is great and free to read[1], there's The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin whose Three Body books got a lot of attention, and there's another collection called Invisible Planets, which has a few good stories by Chen Qiufan. He's also written a very good novel called Waste Tide.

[1]https://uncannymagazine.com/article/folding-beijing-2/



I found the first of the Three Body Problem series to be very dry and about twice as long as it should have been.

Are the other stories translated by Liu any better do you think? I want to give Chinese sci-fi an honest try but my attempt with Three Body Problem wasn't great.


I am with you on the first of the Three Body Problem. The second is _much_ better and the third is still better than the first, imvho.


The trilogy overall is worth wading through, if only for the ridiculo-scienceFiction on offer - but if you enjoy good characterisation and dialogue, I'm afraid it doesn't improve on the first.


seconding riffraff, the second book is a much easier and more entertaining read, I'd definitely give it a shot.


that's good to know. i have been struggling with the first one.

one thing i am wondering is if having different translators for the books is noticeable in any way


> Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang is great

The affect may be touching but the social and economic system it describes makes no sense on any level. If you’re going to make something so blithering your ridiculous at least make it magical realism so it’s obvious nothing is supposed to make sense, just happen.


Can you explain what the second sentence is supposed to say? I can't really understand it.


I think the writer's intent would be served if you deleted "blithering your" from the sentence.


for several years now, clarkesworldmagazine[2] features one chinese story each month.

[2]http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/


Yes, and the related Clarkesworld podcast is absolutely wonderful. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/podcasting/




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