The Reincarnated Giant

The Reincarnated Giant
Author: Mingwei Song
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0231542542

A new wave of Chinese science fiction is here. This golden age has not only resurrected the genre but also subverted its own conventions. Going beyond political utopianism and technological optimism, contemporary Chinese writers conjure glittering visions and subversive experiments—ranging from space opera to cyberpunk, utopianism to the posthuman, and parodies of China’s rise to deconstructions of the myth of national development. This anthology showcases the best of contemporary science fiction from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China. In fifteen short stories and novel excerpts, The Reincarnated Giant opens a doorway into imaginary realms alongside our own world and the history of the future. Authors such as Lo Yi-chin, Dung Kai-cheung, Han Song, Chen Qiufan, and the Hugo winner Liu Cixin—some alive during the Cultural Revolution, others born in the 1980s—blur the boundaries between realism and surrealism, between politics and technology. They tell tales of intergalactic war; decoding the last message sent from an extinct human race; the use of dreams as tools to differentiate cyborgs and humans; poets’ strange afterlife inside a supercomputer; cannibalism aboard an airplane; and unchecked development that leads to uncontrollable catastrophe. At a time when the Chinese government promotes the “Chinese dream,” the dark side of the new wave shows a nightmarish unconscious. The Reincarnated Giant is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of the genre.

Science Fiction in Translation

Science Fiction in Translation
Author: Ian Campbell
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2022-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3030842088

Science Fiction in Translation: Perspectives on the Global Theory and Practice of Translation focuses on the process of translation and its implications. The volume explores the translation of works of science fiction (SF) from one language to another and the translation of SF tropes, terms, and ideas of SF theory into cultures outside the West. Providing a comprehensive examination of the state of translation into English, the essays consider how representative the body of translated work of SF is from the source language/culture. It also considers the social, political, and economic choices in selecting a work to translate. The book illustrates the dramatic growth both in SF production outside the Anglosphere, the translation of works from other languages into English, and the practice of translating English-language SF into other languages. Altogether, the essays map the theory, practice, and business of SF translation around the world.

Fear of Seeing

Fear of Seeing
Author: Mingwei Song
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2023-10-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0231555539

Winner, 2023 SFRA Book Award, Science Fiction Research Association A new wave of cutting-edge, risk-taking science fiction has energized twenty-first-century Chinese literature. These works capture the anticipation and anxieties of China’s new era, speaking to a future filled with uncertainties. Deeply entangled with the politics and culture of a changing China, contemporary science fiction has also attracted a growing global readership. Fear of Seeing traces the new wave’s origin and development over the past three decades, exploring the core concerns and literary strategies that make it so distinctive and vital. Mingwei Song argues that recent Chinese science fiction is united by a capacity to illuminate what had been invisible—what society had chosen not to see; what conventional literature had failed to represent. Its poetics of the invisible opens up new literary possibilities and inspires new ways of telling stories about China and the world. Reading the works of major writers such as Liu Cixin and Han Song as well as lesser-known figures, Song explores how science fiction has spurred larger changes in contemporary literature and culture. He analyzes key topics: variations of utopia and dystopia, cyborgs and the posthuman, and nonbinary perspectives on gender and genre, among many more. A compelling and authoritative account of the politics and poetics of contemporary Chinese science fiction, Fear of Seeing is an important book for all readers interested in the genre’s significance for twenty-first-century literature.

WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 5

WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 5
Author: Brandon Varnell
Publisher: Kitsune Incorporated
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1951904869

THE HEAT IS ON. Eryk has won the Spiritualist Grand Tournament, helped Kari and Fay avoid marrying Grant Leucht, and destroyed the cage preventing Kari from journeying outside of Neveria. But his task isn’t over yet. Now he must convince Fay Valstine to join him, Kari, and Lin in a polygamous relationship. And as if that wasn’t hard enough… Grant Leucht has decided to get revenge for his humiliating defeat. The Leucht Family is plotting in the shadows of Nevaria. Meanwhile, Eryk’s dreams continue to plague him as he is shown the time when he and Kari attempted to reclaim the captured city of Vahn from a new threat and found themselves trapped within another realm.

WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 8

WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 8
Author: Brandon Varnell
Publisher: Kitsune Incorporated
Total Pages: 341
Release:
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1951904818

THE HEAT IS ON After returning alive from the Demon Beast Mountain Range, Eryk tries to resume his normal activities, but there are many issues that have cropped up now that he is back. Kari has been dreaming of their previous lives together ever since they shared a bed. Lin has gained a seal on her chest that resembles the one that would show up on Kari’s chest when they slept together in his previous life. Fay is struggling to find her place in his harem. The Leucht Family has disappeared with Dyr in their possession. And to top it off, Empress Hilda plans to announce Eryk’s engagement to Kari, Fay, and Lin. With so much going on, and with dreams of his past now plaguing both him and Kari, Eryk has the strangest feeling that the newest chapter in his life is going to be a rough one.

A World History of Chinese Literature

A World History of Chinese Literature
Author: Yingjin Zhang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 553
Release: 2023-07-25
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000895068

Providing a broad introduction to the area, A World History of Chinese Literature maps the field of Chinese literature across its various worlds, looking both within – at the world of Chinese literature, its history, linguistic, cultural, local, and regional specificities – and without – at the way Chinese literature has circulated throughout the world. The thematic focus allows for a broad number of key categories, such as authors, genres, genders, regions, as well as innovative explorations of new topics and issues such as inter-arts performativity and transmediation. The sections cover the circulation and reception of China in world literature, as well as the worlds of: Chinese literature across the globe Borders, oceans, and rainforests Comparative literary genres Translingual writers and scholars Gender configurations Translation and transmediation With a focus on the twentieth and twenty-first century, this collection intervenes in current debates on global Chinese literature, Sinophone and Sinoscript studies, and the production and reception of literary works by ethnic Chinese in non-Sinitic languages, as well as Anglophone literature inspired by Chinese literary tradition. It will be of interest to anyone working on or studying Chinese literature, language and culture, as well as world literatures in relation to China.

The Making of The Wandering Earth

The Making of The Wandering Earth
Author: Jiaren Wang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2022-03-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1000544052

This handbook takes us through the making of The Wandering Earth, one of the highest-grossing non-English films of all time. It is a rare, in-depth, behind-the-scenes study of the making of a masterpiece, taking the reader through the entire production process of a landmark Chinese science fiction film. The book brings to life how The Wandering Earth was created, from words to images, by a young and innovative professional team assembled by director Frant Gwo. It discusses specialized details of the filmmaking process and the collaborative work of the crew and the cast involved to present an intuitive feeling of the film’s production. A step-by-step guide on the making of a radical large-scale film, this handbook critically examines its various stages such as its development and production stages – the planning, preparing, recruiting, setting up departments and processes; writing the screenplay; creating a visual style and the production design; and the principal photography; its challenging post-production stages – the editing, visual effects production, color mixing; dubbing, sound editing; publicity, etc. Further, the chapters in volume also explore how Chinese science fiction films disrupt the Western narrative context and provide the larger discourse on Chinese science fiction. Richly illustrated with exclusive first-hand visuals from the making of the film, this handbook, part of the Studies in Global Genre Fiction series, will be an essential read for professionals, scholars, researchers, and students of film and media production, film studies, popular culture, cultural studies, Chinese studies, world literature, and science fiction. It will also be of interest to the general reader interested in filmmaking.

Unlocking the Future

Unlocking the Future
Author: Luo Xiaoming
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2023-04-28
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000876489

The book highlights the urban imagination in contemporary Chinese science fiction, in order to assess the capacity of Chinese society to conceive of the future. The author argues that ‘the future’ is a set of directional and normative ideas that forms the basis of the entire social mobilization mechanism in China, while the capacity to imagine the future is likely to be produced in response to the present challenges. By discussing the urban space, the reconstruction of time, the infrastructure, and concepts of the 'urban-rural' and civilization in contemporary Chinese science fiction, she demonstrates how contemporary Chinese sci-fi may offer potential solutions to ways of ‘unlocking’ the future. In addition, she also points out the limitations of Chinese society’s imaginative vision of the future. The book will be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students of modern Chinese literature, science fiction studies, urban studies, or cultural studies.

The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World: Volume 1

The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World: Volume 1
Author: Kiichi Kosuzu
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2024-08-16
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1718318502

Betrayed by his allies and on the verge of death, the strongest exorcist, Haruyoshi Kuga, desired only one thing—to be happy in his next life. Using the secret art of reincarnation, he was transported to another world. Reborn as Seika Lamprogue, third son of a distinguished family of magic scholars, he’s found to have no magical power whatsoever, which is an unacceptable shame in a family of mages. However, he soon comes to realize that his new world’s magic is nothing compared to the sorcery he mastered as an exorcist. With his control over divination, curses, and legions of youkai who serve him, his life in this new world should be a breeze! The only question is: how can he make use of those powers while laying low to avoid another untimely demise?