To Hold Up the Sky

May 1, 2020

New York Times best-selling, Hugo Award-winning Liu, one of China's preeminent sf writers, reenvisions the past even as he reconfigures the future in this collection of short fiction. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 10, 2020
These 11 stories, taken from the beginning of Liu’s career in the early 2000s when, per his introduction, “sci-fi was still a very marginal pursuit in China,” offer an innovative and compassionate look at how knowledge shapes and changes humanity. Liu (The Three Body Problem) grounds his tales in contemporary Chinese life and society, using the sci-fi genre to tackle questions about humanity’s place in the universe. “The Village Teacher” (trans. by Adam Lanphier) starts off the collection on a strong humanistic note, as one teacher’s dying lesson to his students saves the galaxy. Other standouts include “Ode to Joy” (trans. by Joel Martinsen), in which a space mirror uses the sun as an instrument to play a symphonic history of the universe; “Contraction” (trans. by John Chu), which brilliantly plays with form to create the effect of time flowing backward; and “The Thinker” (also translated by Chu), which convincingly links neuroscience and astrophysics. Though the science will be too technical for some casual readers, Liu’s gift for juxtaposing long passages of exposition with emotional moments and beautiful imagery makes this a must have for readers of hard science fiction.

Starred review from August 1, 2020
This collection presents readers with an assortment of short fiction by the most prominent voice in Chinese science fiction. Most of the stories collected reflect Liu's interest in large-scale, high-concept sf stories featuring ideas such as a digital duplicate of the universe that can eliminate crime, a vast mirror-like entity that plays a concert on the sun, or the complete reversal of space-time by the contraction of the universe. Two stories that stand out are "Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming," a near future story where a resurgent Communist Russia must use EMP technology to repel an American invasion, and "Cloud of Poems", where humanity has become the livestock population for a society of sentient dinosaurs but may be freed when a god-like alien becomes fascinated with classical Chinese poetry. With a writer as prolific and varied as Liu, it is hard to say whether or not this collection is completely representative; however it does provide a well-rounded view of Liu's work, showing him both in the mode familiar to readers of The Three-Body Problem trilogy as well as in other, perhaps more unexpected, styles. Highly recommended for fans of Liu's work or for those interested in Chinese sf in general.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)