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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
To Hold Up the Sky
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 8 reviews on
From New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past.
In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives or unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.
Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers.
Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection.
Stories included:
"Contraction"
"Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming"
"The Village Teacher"
"Fire in the Earth"
"Time Migration"
"Ode to joy"
"Cloud of Poems
"Mirror"
"Sea of Dreams"
"Cloud of Poems"
"The Thinker"
Book Details
- Publisher: Tordotcom
- Publish Date: Sep 14th, 2021
- Pages: 336
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.20in - 5.30in - 1.00in - 0.60lb
- EAN: 9781250306067
- Categories: • Science Fiction - Hard Science Fiction• Science Fiction - Collections & Anthologies• Science Fiction - Military
About the Author
More books by Cixin Liu
What people are saying
Chuck Baggett likes space exploration, AI, peace & freedom. Joined Oct. 8, 2008. Enjoys followers, retweets, & replies. Individual rights are human rights.
@pickover Very science-fiction-y. I think I stopped near the end because it was too bleak. Just listened to short stories by Cixin Liu in "To Hold Up The Sky". Listened to Ball Lightning. Watched the movie about moving Earth, The Wandering Earth. Listened to The Cretacious Past. All great.
I was supposed to tell @talcotts about Liu Cixin and the short story collection “To Hold up the Sky” because one has Dino content but I forgot. Luckily @letterboxed is watching the Chinese adaptation of The Three Body Problem and it poked my brain.
Publisher of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller and Suspense, and Other Speculative Fiction
A Very Happy #BookBirthday to #Mordew by @alexpheby and #ToHoldUptheSky in paperback by @liu_cixin! Snag your copies anywhere books are sold today 📚 Mordew: https://t.co/n3yxefM293 To Hold Up the Sky: https://t.co/ouJloAMGI2 https://t.co/u7TuotMFm8
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"An innovative and compassionate look at how knowledge shapes and changes humanity. Liu grounds his tales in contemporary Chinese life and society, using he sci-fi genre to tackle questions about humanity's place in the universe . . . a must have for readers of hard science fiction."--Publishers Weekly, on To Hold Up the Sky
"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."--Booklist, starred review, on To Hold Up the Sky
"These stories excel at linking hard science fiction with global humanism and quiet moments of emotion. Liu's writing maintains a calm, matter-of-fact demeanor, even as it conveys inventive cruelty and beautiful imagery . . . [This collection] will appeal to readers of literary fiction and classic science fiction alike."--Shelf Awareness on To Hold Up the Sky
"It is magic, this collection of short stories Liu wrote and published ten, 20, 30 years ago. It is a time machine; a split-vision tunnel that lets you go back in time while staring forward, to see what 2003's or 1985's version of 2010 or 2020 or 3000 looked like from China... To Hold Up The Sky gives us a window that looks out over a different sci-fi landscape than we've seen in decades.--NPR
"This audacious and ultimately optimistic early work will give Liu's English-reading fans a glimpse at his evolution as a writer and give any speculative fiction reader food for deep thought."--Shelf Awareness on Supernova Era
Praise for the Three-Body trilogy
"Wildly imaginative."--President Barack Obama
"The War of the Worlds for the twenty-first century . . . Packed with a sense of wonder."--The Wall Street Journal
"A breakthrough book . . . A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology."--George R. R. Martin
"Tackles politics, philosophy, and virtual reality in a story that moves at a thriller's pace."--The Washington Post
"Evokes the thrill of exploration and the beauty of scale."--The New Yorker
"Stunning, elegant . . . A science fiction epic of the most profound kind."--NPR
What people are saying
Chuck Baggett likes space exploration, AI, peace & freedom. Joined Oct. 8, 2008. Enjoys followers, retweets, & replies. Individual rights are human rights.
@pickover Very science-fiction-y. I think I stopped near the end because it was too bleak. Just listened to short stories by Cixin Liu in "To Hold Up The Sky". Listened to Ball Lightning. Watched the movie about moving Earth, The Wandering Earth. Listened to The Cretacious Past. All great.