Ken Liu is one of the very best emerging authors in science fiction. I have reviewed a couple of other fine works of his (search for them yourself--see the tech note below). This year he is nominated for a Hugo for the short story Mono No Aware, just out in Lightspeed. A lot of really good SF is cultural exposition that is current but set in a plausible future. This story is a great example, and a very good quick read. The protagonist is Japanese, and is in fact the last Japanese person alive, so far as they know. The story is told in a very simple and moving way. It may in fact be slightly over the top as a cultural exemplar, but I really didn't mind. Take 20 minutes and read it. Strong 3 stars from me, and probably my favorite for the Hugo this year.
I am writing this on an iPad, and pretty much had a fail on the Blogspot site using the Safari browser. Could not create a post at all. That was cured by installing Chrome (who'd a thunk it?). Still pretty hard to select text in it, but I'm getting used to it. Am parsimonious with links, though.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
When the Moon Hits Your Eye, by John Scalzi
Scalzi is able to write humorous novels that get at deeper truths and really go places. "Red Shirts" and "The Kaiju Preservat...
-
The introduction to Slow Tuesday Night is by Gardner Dozios, the great editor, and he tells us that "only those stories that were the ...
-
There are some interesting theories out there on what Gene Wolfe's "The Ziggurat" short story means . Indeed, Wolfe is heavil...
-
Shadow Christ is an awfully tough story to explain. It's sort of about playing with time, and religion, and deeper cultural commentary...
No comments:
Post a Comment