
Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin wins Arthur C. Clarke award - glassworm
http://www.ecns.cn/m/news/culture/2018-11-09/detail-ifyzrwsr0792979.shtml
======
jcantero
The headline is wrong. "Dreams Before the Start of Time" by Anne Charnock is
the 2018 winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award:
[https://www.clarkeaward.com/2018-winner/](https://www.clarkeaward.com/2018-winner/)

They must be referring to the Sir Arthur Clarke Award [1] (for space
exploration), not the Arthur C. Clarke Award [2] (for Best Science fiction
novel).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Clarke_Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Clarke_Award)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award)

~~~
em-bee
there is a third award, because it's neither of those two: [https://www.bis-
space.com/2018/10/07/21144/the-2018-sir-arth...](https://www.bis-
space.com/2018/10/07/21144/the-2018-sir-arthur-clarke-awards-finalists-
announced)

it's this one:
[https://www.clarkefoundation.org/awards/](https://www.clarkefoundation.org/awards/)

greetings, eMBee.

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KineticLensman
As a long time science fiction reader I really enjoyed the book for the
uniquely Chinese perspective - worth reading for that alone. Personally I rate
the basic story premise as okay but not the most audacious SF I've ever read
and the approach used in the first book to extract the disk drives from a
hostile ship verged on idiotic. But, like I said, worth reading for the
insights into Chinese culture.

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chairmanwow
Well deserved! Congratulations! I rather disagree with the Dark Forrest Theory
as a premise, but I found the books thought-provoking, which is the most you
can ask of a sci-fi writer.

~~~
em-bee
anyone wondering about the dark forest theory without getting spoilers for the
book, it's essentially this:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_dangerous_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_dangerous_to_communicate)

greetings, eMBee.

~~~
bartman
This is totally OT, but your name rang a bell. Have you been active in the
PSYC/Pike communities many many years ago by any chance?

~~~
em-bee
i am still using pike :-) sent you an email...

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lokimedes
Well deserved. We live in times of epic space dramas, but Cixin has some of
Clarke’s imagination in his books. I also enjoy the cultural twist of reading
into Chinese “normality” through his books. It could be interesting to see a
book with less dark gloom alike to Clarke and Asimov’s earlier and more
optimistic works.

~~~
bartman
What other space dramas would you recommend?

~~~
moh_maya
Not the OP, but if you haven't,

Alastair Reynolds comes to mind.

And there's always Iain Banks and the Culture series (though very very very
different style and outlook!)

~~~
lokimedes
Exactly those. I prefer Reynolds over Banks, but both will knock your socks
off!

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vnorilo
I read Three Body recently after someone mentioned it here on hn. I enjoyed it
as a book, but also as something that combines storytelling traditions from my
native west and China!

~~~
em-bee
does it contain western storytelling traditions? or are some story elements
simply common to both western and chinese traditions? or are there even
chinese elements that have found their way into western traditions?

i am not familiar with historic chinese writing so i can't tell. but maybe you
can share some insights.

greetings, eMBee.

~~~
vnorilo
I have no special expertise beyond having read 100k+ pages of Euro/American
scifi for fun :)

Liu Cixin himself cites western influences like Clarke. Some elements feel
exotic to me though, which I assume come from the cultural difference. I quite
enjoy that, much like I appreciated Wuxia movies as teenager: no deeper that
western action flix, but goofy instead of cool, and tropes unknown to me feel
less trope-y.

Anyway, I'm happy about the fact that these days it's easy to read and watch
stuff from around the globe.

~~~
em-bee
> Liu Cixin himself cites western influences like Clarke

i was not aware of that, that makes sense.

if you are interested to read more chinese science-fiction, check out
clarkesworld magazine. since a few years, every issue contains one chinese
story translated to english. there is quite a variety of stories there.

greetings, eMBee.

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brd529
Wonderful to see. Just finished the trilogy - extremely thought provoking and
I enjoyed all of them. So interesting to see a Chinese perspective - how
someone whose life experience was shaped by the cultural revolution would
think about humanity. A couple questions for discussion (doing my best to
phrase in a non-spoiling way):

Could anyone interpret the “land of no stories” fable before they cracked it?
Incredible talent to put a compelling story in a story and have the awesome
metaphors.

Did the sword holder make the right decision? What about the second time?

Would you choose black domain or the alternative?

Why did Wade make the decision he did?

~~~
em-bee
which books do each of these questions relate to?

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dingdingdang
Congratulations to Cixin, the Dark Forest trilogy is not my favourite work but
especially the first book reads very very well.

The last two books suffer from exposing the "Dark Forest" base premise/theory
which I find too simplistic* to carry the narrative realistically forward.
Almost wish more of the internal mechanics of the universe had been left
unexposed since it would have allowed the reader to extrapolate/fantasize
more.

