The East Asia Special Issue
Welcome
to the East Asia Special issue of the Future
Science Fiction digest. In this oversized issue we’ve collected stories
from the established masters as well as some exciting up-and-comers in China,
Japan, and South Korea.
From
machine societies to ocean depths, from interstellar migrations to genetically
engineered mermaids, these tales envision very different, often dark, but
always fascinating futures....
I. Origins
Fashion
moves in a spiral, as demonstrated by the resurgence of the Restoratronist School
of art. The school’s principles are a response to the Barbaric Era: art is
about destroying it, mourning it, recreating it, interpreting it. And thus the
art of the Restoratrons mostly concerns humans....
Anatoly
had delivered the mermaid the previous night, but Celtigar only discovered its
existence after he got out of bed and went into the living room, where it had
been dropped off. Anatoly must have used the one-time passcode he’d given
him—the alarm hadn’t gone off....
Thrust
kicked, and Otryadyn Batu stole a glance at his companion. Even fearsome, confident
Temujin had to be feeling the stress. But he couldn’t read the other man’s expression
through the visor.
Batu
turned back to the viewport but all he saw was a circle of light-blue Mongolian
sky....
1. Clairvoyant
Mark was a very special person—when
he told me that he was going to take me to see a clairvoyant, I wasn’t too surprised.
“But you are a scientist!” I
couldn’t help pointing out.
“That doesn’t mean I worship
science.”...
A
whale must have died, I thought, as the snowfall thickened.
When
a whale dies it snows heavier down here. In this dark, cold, silent village of
ours, the death of a whale descends as an ode to life. With my gills stretched
wide and a rich, green glow shining from the lure sticking out of my forehead,
I drifted through the blizzard quivering with delight....
1
Wednesday.
00:02.
Xia
Mang’s biological clock woke him from a deep sleep.
His
daughter Weiwei was one month old today, and today would be her dormancy test.
Starting tomorrow, she would be a Wednesday citizen of Shenli City, like Xia
Mang and his wife Xiao An. ...
In the center of the zero-gravity lab, in which I was alone, a wind with the salty smell of the
air eighty meters above the East China Sea was blowing at 50 kph.
Floating with my
body parallel to the floor while I was controlling the wind, I placed a hand on
the titanium cage surrounding the round, two-meter observation stage in the
middle of the room, and pulled myself toward the blue glow inside....
The East Asia Special Issue
Table of contents
Welcome
to the East Asia Special issue of the Future
Science Fiction digest. In this oversized issue we’ve collected stories
from the established masters as well as some exciting up-and-comers in China,
Japan, and South Korea.
From
machine societies to ocean depths, from interstellar migrations to genetically
engineered mermaids, these tales envision very different, often dark, but
always fascinating futures....
I. Origins
Fashion
moves in a spiral, as demonstrated by the resurgence of the Restoratronist School
of art. The school’s principles are a response to the Barbaric Era: art is
about destroying it, mourning it, recreating it, interpreting it. And thus the
art of the Restoratrons mostly concerns humans....
Anatoly
had delivered the mermaid the previous night, but Celtigar only discovered its
existence after he got out of bed and went into the living room, where it had
been dropped off. Anatoly must have used the one-time passcode he’d given
him—the alarm hadn’t gone off....
Thrust
kicked, and Otryadyn Batu stole a glance at his companion. Even fearsome, confident
Temujin had to be feeling the stress. But he couldn’t read the other man’s expression
through the visor.
Batu
turned back to the viewport but all he saw was a circle of light-blue Mongolian
sky....
1. Clairvoyant
Mark was a very special person—when
he told me that he was going to take me to see a clairvoyant, I wasn’t too surprised.
“But you are a scientist!” I
couldn’t help pointing out.
“That doesn’t mean I worship
science.”...
A
whale must have died, I thought, as the snowfall thickened.
When
a whale dies it snows heavier down here. In this dark, cold, silent village of
ours, the death of a whale descends as an ode to life. With my gills stretched
wide and a rich, green glow shining from the lure sticking out of my forehead,
I drifted through the blizzard quivering with delight....
1
Wednesday.
00:02.
Xia
Mang’s biological clock woke him from a deep sleep.
His
daughter Weiwei was one month old today, and today would be her dormancy test.
Starting tomorrow, she would be a Wednesday citizen of Shenli City, like Xia
Mang and his wife Xiao An. ...
In the center of the zero-gravity lab, in which I was alone, a wind with the salty smell of the
air eighty meters above the East China Sea was blowing at 50 kph.
Floating with my
body parallel to the floor while I was controlling the wind, I placed a hand on
the titanium cage surrounding the round, two-meter observation stage in the
middle of the room, and pulled myself toward the blue glow inside....
Purchase this issue
Discover the annual anthology series of humorous science fiction and fantasy!
