The aliens are coming! So are the Chinese! Ken Liu on "The Three-Body Problem"

The aliens from the three-star system are on their way to attack Earth. It's not looking good.First contact novels — encounters between Earth people and extraterrestrials — are a staple in science fiction. But if you think that's a storyline that's been played out, hunt up a copy of "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. It's just been translated into English by Ken Liu, himself an award-winning writer."The Three-Body Problem" opens with a vivid depiction of the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution in 1960s China. Eventually, some very odd things begin to happen to some of the characters, and it turns into a science fiction novel. It's the first book of a trilogy, so I guess we'll have to wait for the next two books to see how humanity makes out. I really don't want to give away too much about the book, but it's vivid and interesting with strong characters. Although it's very much a Chinese novel (footnotes explain some of the cultural references), it also reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke in its vivid sense of wonder and its international flavor (Chinese security forces work side by side with American soldiers in the face of the alien menace.) One of the downsides of all of the endless "best of" lists that come out at the end of the year (such as mine) is that good books published late in the year tend to be overlooked. I've been a huge science fiction fan all of my life, and I want people to find out about this novel, which didn't come out until November. Note that in China, a person's surname is listed first. "Liu Cixin" is correct, but on the cover of the book, his publisher, Tor, chose to follow American fashion and list the author as Cixin Liu. It's a bit like the old Woody Allen story, in which the Russian Revolution gains steam when everyone suddenly realizes the "Czar" and the "Tsar" are the same person. I don't know Chinese, so I couldn't interview Liu Cixin. Instead I interviewed Ken Liu, who is also a poet, lawyer and computer programmer. Sandusky Register: When I was younger, English language SF was dominated by a "big three" of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein. Liu Cixin is described as a best-selling author in China. Does he dominate the Chinese SF scene? Ken Liu: It depends on what you mean by "dominate." Certainly Liu Cixin's "Three Body" series is the best-selling SF series, and few discussions of Chinese SF would be complete without some mention of his impact. However, the Chinese SF scene is vibrant and diverse, and Liu Cixin is by no means the only writer of note. Other prominent, established figures include Han Song and Wang Jinkang, and many younger writers like Chen Qiufan and Bao Shu have attracted fans with short fiction and are starting their novel careers. Sandusky Register: How did it come about that "The Three-Body Problem" became available in English? Ken Liu: China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation Ltd. ("CEPIEC") bought the English rights to the series and contracted with me as the translator for the first and third volumes. Joel Martinsen will be translating the second volume. (Due to the tight timeframe for bringing out the translations in rapid succession, they had to use multiple translators.) CEPIEC then found Tor Books as the American partner to publish the novels. I worked with Liz Gorinsky of Tor Books as my editor, and the collaboration has been a wonderful experience. Since the books were wildly popular in China and science fiction was seen as a genre least constrained by cultural differences, I'm glad that CEPIEC and Tor Books thought it made sense to try to bring this series to English readers. Sandusky Register: As the rest of us cannot go out and read Liu Cixin's other work until we learn Chinese, what are his other books like? Who do his influences seem to be? I thought of Arthur C. Clarke when I read "Three-Body." Ken Liu: You can read the sequels to "The Three-Body Problem" in 2015 and 2016, assuming the schedule holds. Some of Liu Cixin's short fiction have been translated into English, and they are available in a collection called "The Wandering Earth" (translated by Holger Nahm and others). I think they are wonderful stories and demonstrate the same grand imaginative scope and meticulous attention to scientific detail that characterize "The Three-Body Problem." Liu Cixin himself has cited Arthur C. Clarke as a literary influence, and you can read more about his thoughts on his own work here. Sandusky Register: Do Chinese SF fans have magazines and conventions? Do they read American SF in translation? Ken Liu: The most important magazine in China's short science fiction market is "Science Fiction World," which has a circulation figure of around 160,000, making it the world's largest speculative fiction magazine. "The Three-Body Problem" was originally published in serial form in this magazine, and it has also published the vast majority of China's short science fiction writers. Other magazines in China also publish science fiction, some of them are professional publications while others are run by fans. As for conventions, Chinese fans typically gather to meet writers at major events like the Xingyun (Nebula) Awards or Yinhe (Galaxy) Awards, which are major awards given for genre fiction. For more details on the Chinese SF market and fandom, interested readers should consult articles written by Regina Kanyu Wang, a Chinese SF writer and fan, for Amazing Stories and an article written by me for Clarkesworld: "China Dreams: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction." Sandusky Register: Are there any plans for Liu Cixin to promote his book in the United States? Ken Liu: I'm not aware of any plans to bring him to the U.S. for a book tour or similar activities right now. But in the future, as the second and third books in the series come out in English, new plans may be made. Liu Cixin will be interacting with English readers in io9's book club online on January 14th at 10 AM Eastern. (Read my other author interviews).