Wednesday, November 3, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Anthology Review: Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction (Edited and Translated by Xueting Christine Ni)

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on November 9, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.


Sinopticon is an anthology of translated Science Fiction written by a number of Chinese authors, ranging from those who have been active for decades to those who are of the newer generation.  The collection was curated by editor/translator Xueting Christine Ni, and features an equal mix* of female and male authors of the genre.  Of the authors included, Bao Shu and Hao Jingfang may be familiar to western genre fans (Jingfang won a Hugo in 2016 and her novel Vagabonds was nominated for a few awards), but most of the authors will be basically unknown to western audiences.  

*There are no Queer authors seemingly, and no queer characters/stories included, which - given the current situation in China - is hardly surprising, even if it is disappointing.  

And this collection does a lot of things really well, making it an excellent pickup if you want to try something different in terms of SciFi short fiction.  Each story included is accompanied by an editor's note afterwards explaining the story and author's context, which really helps the reader understand more about Chinese SciFi both in the past and present, which is a really nice touch.  And the stories range in topics from space operas to zombie stories, with some being really enjoyable, and others at least being fairly interesting even if they didn't quite work for me.  

More specifics after the jump:
Sinopticon features 13 stories, some of which are very short, and some are long enough to be novelettes (one story is even long enough to maybe run to novella length, if just barely).  Unlike other collections, which often just throw together a group of stories that share a similar background - like this one's background of being Chinese - Sinopticon makes clear in the editor's notes after each story why each story was picked for the collection, and what aspect of Chinese SciFi the editor was trying to display by its inclusion.  The editor notes are really nice and appreciated, and really help - especially by providing the context behind the stories and the authors - explain to readers the state of Chinese SciFi in both the past and the present.  

There a number of plot beats and ideas that do recur in this anthology.  Stories contrasting the events of the past with those of the distant future, and how those events are re-imagined by different peoples or beings (aliens, AIs) are multiple (Tombs of the Universe, Rendevous: 1937, The Heart of the Museum).  Stories dealing with the implications of improving technology on things like war, art, human culture, and more are also fairly common (The Last Save, The Absolution Experiment, Starship: Library, The Return of Adam).  AI itself is a fairly common idea explored here, whether that be from the concept of what it lacks compared to humanity (Qiankun and Alex, where Hao Jingfang shows an AI learning inspiration from a child) or can't help but look with longing at the ideas of humanity from the distant future (The Heart of the Museum, Meisje met de Parel).  And then you have one particularly striking story in Ma Boyong's The Great Migration that reimagines a real life event - the great migration of people from all over China for Spring Festival as a similar migration of people on Mars desperate to take advantage of an easier trip back to Earth.  

Note that it is not uncommon in a bunch of these stories for characters to openly talk about the positive qualities of Chinese people outright, in a form of racial or nationalistic pride that is probably more blunt than American readers may be used to from western literature (which is absolutely not to say that a similar concept doesn't exist in Western literature, it's just a little more subtle and so ingrained we're generally used to ignoring it), which can be offputting...but as I've encountered it in other translated fiction, I barely blinked at it here.  The portrayal of women, especially in the older stories, is also sometimes problematic (which sadly is also not something I'm surprised to see based on past experiences with translated Chinese SF).  

Naturally, as with any anthology, there are a few stories that I thought were standouts, even though there wasn't really any story here that I thought was bad.  A Que's Flower of the Other Shore is the longest story in the collection and is in fact a zombie story, of a zombie who begins to regain his humanity and falls in love with a human girl he thinks he loved pre-death is a ton of fun (and may change how you think about Brad Pitt).  Bao Shu's The Absolution Experiment is very much a fascinating look at immortality as a punishment in a way that I hadn't quite seen before. Jiang Bo's Starship Library is a really great tribute to libraries and the importance of learning as a way of forming one's self, as opposed to simply being imparted knowledge without effort, that was told in a really well done Sci-Fi way.  You even have an enjoyable romantic tragedy-esque story in Regina Kanyu Wang's The Tide of Moon City.*

*Oddly, the four stories I highlight are in fact the last four consecutive stories in the anthology, which is not to say the earlier stories are necessarily worse, but just that I felt the collection really did save its best for last*

In short, this is a really enjoyable and solid collection for a reader looking for an introduction to Chinese SciFi, and works just as well for veteran readers just looking for another collection of Chinese SF to devour.  Worth your time.  



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)