Ken Liu

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About Ken Liu
Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, as well as top genre honors in Japan, Spain, and France, among other places.
Ken’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers play the role of wizards. His debut collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. He also wrote the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker.
He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work. The most recent projects include “The Message,” under development by 21 Laps and FilmNation Entertainment; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, which Craig Silverstein will executive produce, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories by Ken.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Ken worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Ken frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, the mathematics of origami, and other subjects of his expertise.
Ken is also the translator for Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem, Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing,” Chen Qiufan’s Waste Tide, as well as the editor of Invisible Planets and Broken Stars, anthologies of contemporary Chinese science fiction.
He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
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Author Updates
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Blog postHello!
Thank you for being one of my readers. You make this lonely, sometimes frustrating, often confusing, always unpredictable business of sending brand new stories out into the world worthwhile.
Since today is pub day for the trade paper edition of The Veiled Throne, and the conclusion of the Dandelion Dynasty, Speaking Bones, will be out in just six weeks (release date: June 21, 2022), this is a good time for a giveaway of signed Advance Reader Copies.
All you have t1 week ago Read more -
Blog postBook Launch Hello! Today is the US release day for The Veiled Throne, the penultimate entry in the Dandelion Dynasty. The UK release happened last month. Here are the gorgeous covers.
US cover for The Veiled Throne UK cover for The Veiled Throne You can order the book from your favorite retailer right now. (Saga page. Head of Zeus page.)
There’s also the audio book, narrated once more by the amazing Michael Kramer.
Thank you so much for going with me on this journey throu5 months ago Read more -
Blog postAs I’ve mentioned before, I wrote The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones as a single book, but it was too large to publish in one volume. So that’s why the conclusion of the Dandelion Dynasty is coming out as two books spaced six months apart.
Today, I’m excited to share with you the US cover of Speaking Bones. (For the UK cover, which is part of a continuous painting for all four books, please see this earlier update.)
Speaking Bones is scheduled to come out in the US on June 21,6 months ago Read more -
Blog postHi everyone! I hope your November is going well.
I wanted to let you know about yet another update on the publication date of The Veiled Throne. (And this time, it’s not a delay. Woohoo!) Because of supply chain issues, my book will be getting a split release in the UK and the US, instead of a worldwide simultaneous English release. I’ve never had this happen to me before, so I don’t really know what to expect. Thank you for sticking with me through all these churns and turns.
6 months ago Read more -
Blog postHappy October!
A quick update on the publication dates for The Veiled Throne (Book 3 of the Dandelion Dynasty) and Speaking Bones (Book 4 — the last book — of the Dandelion Dynasty).
You’ve probably heard about the supply chain issues plaguing publishing. Well, I’ve been struck by them as well. As a result of all the problems getting new books printed, The Veiled Throne’s publication date has been pushed back to December 7, 2021. And since we don’t anticipate these issues going7 months ago Read more -
Blog postThe publication date for The Veiled Throne (third of four books in the Dandelion Dynasty) is less than two months away! To the updates then we go.
Reviews for The Veiled Throne Early trade reviews for the book are coming in. Kirkus and Publishers Weekly both gave it starred reviews.
From Kirkus:
But ultimately, it’s Liu’s poetic style that makes this book so memorable: “We are embedded in strands of love and hatred, a web that glows in the sunlight of history, bedecked in8 months ago Read more -
Blog postHi All!
I’ve been working on a few secret projects I’m very excited about. Hopefully more to announce as soon as I’m allowed to.
A quick note before getting to the meat of the updates: The Grace of Kings is a Kindle Monthly Deal for July (get it early and be ready for The Veiled Throne in November!). Though August 1 you can get it for $1.99.
Annotations on The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories You know how when you read a book on the Kindle you can highlight passages (and10 months ago Read more -
Blog postHi All,
Hope you’re having a good June. I’ve been plugging away on some secret projects, and so I’ve not been saying much publicly. But I have two updates this time, both about the Dandelion Dynasty.
The Veiled Throne Giveaway Goodreads is doing a giveaway of advance reader edition copies of The Veiled Throne, the third volume (of four) of The Dandelion Dynasty, to be published this fall in November. You can enter between now and June 28. So excited to share this next chapter of11 months ago Read more -
Blog postHello, everyone, two quick updates.
First, I have a new story out. “Jaunt” is part of Make Shift: Dispatches from the Post-Pandemic Future, edited by Gideon Lichfield for MIT Press. Authors in the collection include Cory Doctorow, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Hannu Rajaniemi, and others.
The print version isn’t going to come out until May, but you can grab the electronic version right now.
This past year has been extremely difficult for me. It’s impossible to imagine the future1 year ago Read more -
Blog postHello, everyone. I have a new story for you, updates about a new movie based on my work, plus info on several other projects. Let’s get to it.
New Novella: The Armies of Those I Love I write very few novellas, maybe one every five years. The Man Who Ended History, All the Flavors, The Regular, that’s it.
Now there’s a new one. Even among my novellas, it’s special.
You can get it starting today from Audible: http://adbl.co/Armies.
Fourteen-year-old Franny Fenway liv1 year ago Read more -
Blog postHello, everyone,
Taking a break from working on copyedits for Speaking Bones to send out this update. (Btw, my copyeditor is a genius, I tell you. It’s so great to feel the book getting better with every keystroke.)
My big update this time is that The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is out in paperback! You can use this link from the publisher to get it from your favorite retailer.
The hardcover came out just before lockdown last year. The occasion of the paperback’s issua1 year ago Read more -
Blog postHello! This will be very, very brief.
“The Cleaners” As part of the Faraway Collection of modern fairytales from Amazon Original Stories, “The Cleaners” is out today.
If you’re a member of Amazon Prime or a subscriber to Kindle Unlimited, this story (and the other stories in the collection) is available to you for free. There is also an audio version narrated by the wonderful Kate Rudd. Non-members can get the story for $1.99, with the audio narration added for free.
I lov1 year ago Read more -
Blog postFinally, the holidays are coming up, bringing with it a sense of … well, endings and beginnings. The year 2020 has been … something.
Time to reflect on the year that just passed and look forward to the next.
“In the Beginning Is a Story” In my work as a futurist, I talk about what it means to imagine the future at industry conferences, think tanks, governments, universities, etc. As a result of conversing with people from around the world in that capacity, I’ve been struggling wi1 year ago Read more -
Blog postHappy November, everyone.
I’m getting this month’s note out early because … well, we all know why. My fellow Americans, go vote if you haven’t done so already.
Lots to share. So let’s get to it.
Cover Reveal for The Veiled Throne and Time Magazine Mention We have a lovely cover for the third book in the Dandelion Dynasty series, courtesy of Sam Weber (artist) and Michael McCartney (art design).
Isn’t this gorgeous? I love how the design reflects the series so perfec2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHappy October, everyone.
I have some great news to share, and this month presents multiple opportunities to see me in conversation with awesome authors. Let’s get to it.
FilmNation Developing “The Hidden Girl” As reported by Variety:
[FilmNation Entertainment] has acquired Ken Liu’s sci-fi short story “The Hidden Girl,” with the intention of adapting it into a series. Liu is attached to executive produce the project, which sources say is already in discussions with po2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHappy September!
Big update and a couple of really interesting links for you in this one.
The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones Those of you who have been following me for a while may remember when I turned in the manuscript for the conclusion of the Dandelion Dynasty a year ago. Things have been quiet since then but I’ve been working nonstop on them in the interim. Finally, I have news to report: the end of the saga is now in copyediting and will be coming out in 2021!
Wh2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHi Everyone,
I hope this August is treating you as well as can be expected given the strange times we’re living through. I have lots of news to share.
Pantheon Cast The AMC show based on the “Uploaded Intelligence” stories in The Hidden Girl and Other Stories has announced the full cast!
From Deadline’s report:
Pantheon, AMC’s first hourlong animated primetime drama series has announced its full cast. Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-O), Katie Chang&2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHappy summer! I hope all of you are doing as well as possible (given everything). I spent all of June working on a new novella (set in an entirely new world not connected with any of my past stories). It’s been good to work on it because since the beginning of March, I went through a period of about 3 months where I couldn’t write anything new. Just getting through the day took all my mental energy. Hopefully this story heralds a new era as I adjust to the realities of this unprecedented time2 years ago Read more
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Blog post“The Paper Menagerie” recently won the short story tournament in the Tournament of Books Goodreads group. The group is hosting a one-hour Zoom meeting with me so that members can ask me questions about the story. They’ve generously offered to open it up to other readers who aren’t in the Goodreads group.
Time: June 14, 2020 (Sunday), 1:00 PM Central Time (US/Canada)
If you’d like to attend, please register.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postOne of the stories that have meant the most to me in The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is “Reborn,” which was originally published by Tor.com and still available on the web. David Hartwell had commissioned it from me, using a painting by Richard Anderson as the prompt (see the illustration at Tor.com).
It’s a story about many things: what it means to be a person; to have moral agency and responsibility; to strive for justice; to do the right thing when everyone around you has forgotten2 years ago Read more
Titles By Ken Liu
Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR.
Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.
Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.
Bestselling author Ken Liu selects his multiple award-winning stories for a groundbreaking collection—including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume.
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features many of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards).
Insightful and stunning stories that plumb the struggle against history and betrayal of relationships in pivotal moments, this collection showcases one of our greatest and original voices.
Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable?
In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power?
Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age.
Ken Liu returns to the series that draws from a tradition of the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance on the Three Kingdoms and builds a new tale unsurpassed in its scope and ambition.
The concluding book of The Dandelion Dynasty begins immediately after the events of The Veiled Throne, in the middle of two wars on two lands among three people separated by an ocean yet held together by the invisible strands of love.
Harried by Lyucu pursuers, Princess Théra and Pékyu Takval try to reestablish an ancestral dream even as their hearts grow in doubt. The people of Dara continue to struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their futures. Even the gods cannot see through the Wall of Storms, for only mortal hearts can decide mortal fates.
Award-winning author Ken Liu fulfills the covenants first laid out a decade ago in a series delving deep into the connection between national myths and national constitutions in this ambitious, “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR).
In the much-anticipated sequel to the “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR) Grace of Kings, Emperor Kuni Garu is faced with the invasion of an invincible army in his kingdom and must quickly find a way to defeat the intruders.
Kuni Garu, now known as Emperor Ragin, runs the archipelago kingdom of Dara, but struggles to maintain progress while serving the demands of the people and his vision. Then an unexpected invading force from the Lyucu empire in the far distant west comes to the shores of Dara—and chaos results.
But Emperor Kuni cannot go and lead his kingdom against the threat himself with his recently healed empire fraying at the seams, so he sends the only people he trusts to be Dara’s savvy and cunning hopes against the invincible invaders: his children, now grown and ready to make their mark on history.
“Captivating.” —BuzzFeed
“Extraordinary.” —The Washington Post
“Brilliant.” —The Chicago Tribune
With the release of The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu’s short fiction has resonated with a generation of readers.
From stories about time-traveling assassins, to Black Mirror-esque tales of cryptocurrency and internet trolling, to heartbreaking narratives of parent-child relationships, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a far-reaching work that explores topical themes from the present and a visionary look at humanity’s future.
This collection includes a selection of Liu’s speculative fiction stories over the past five years—seventeen of his best—plus a new novelette. In addition, it also features an excerpt from The Veiled Throne, the third book in Liu’s epic fantasy series The Dandelion Dynasty.
Invisible Planets, edited by multi award-winning writer Ken Liu--translator of the bestselling and Hugo Award-winning novel The Three Body Problem by acclaimed Chinese author Cixin Liu--is his second thought-provoking anthology of Chinese short speculative fiction. Invisible Planets is a groundbreaking anthology of Chinese short speculative fiction.
The thirteen stories in this collection, including two by Cixin Liu and the Hugo and Sturgeon award-nominated “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, add up to a strong and diverse representation of Chinese SF. Some have won awards, some have garnered serioius critical acclaim, some have been selected for Year’s Best anthologies, and some are simply Ken Liu’s personal favorites.
To round out the collection, there are several essays from Chinese scholars and authors, plus an illuminating introduction by Ken Liu. Anyone with an interest in international science fiction will find Invisible Planets an indispensable addition to their collection.
For more Chinese SF in translation, check out Broken Stars.
Stories:
“The Year of the Rat” by Chen Qiufan
“The Fist of Lijian” by Chen Qiufan
“The Flower of Shazui” by Chen Qiufan
“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia
“Tongtong’s Summer” by Xia Jia
“Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse” by Xia jia
“The City of Silence” by Ma Boyong
“Invisible Planets” by Hao Jingfang
“Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang
“Call Girl” by Tang Fei
“Grave of the Fireflies” by Cheng Jingbo
“The Circle” by Liu Cixin
“Taking Care of God” by Liu Cixin
Essays:
“The Worst of All Possible Universes and the Best of All Possible Earths: Three-Body and Chinese Science Fiction” by Liu Cixin and Ken Liu
“The Torn Generation” Chinese Science Fiction in a Culture in Transition” by Chen Qiufan and Ken Liu
“What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?” by Xia Jia and Ken Liu
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST ANTHOLOGY
Sixteen short stories from China's groundbreaking science fiction writers, edited and translated by award-winning author Ken Liu.
In Hugo award-winner Liu Cixin's ‘Moonlight,’ a man is contacted by three future versions of himself, each trying to save their world from destruction. Hao Jingfang’s ‘The New Year Train’ sees 1,500 passengers go missing on a train that vanishes into space. In the title story by Tang Fei, a young girl is shown how the stars can reveal the future.
In addition, three essays explore the history and rise of Chinese science fiction publishing, contemporary Chinese fandom, and how the growing interest in Chinese SF has impacted writers who had long laboured in obscurity.
By turns dazzling, melancholy and thought-provoking, Broken Stars celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of SFF voices emerging from China.
Stories include:
“Goodnight, Melancholy” by Xia Jia
“The Snow of Jinyang” by Zhang Ran
“Broken Stars” by Tang Fei
“Submarines” by Han Song
“Salinger and the Koreans” by Han Song
“Under a Dangling Sky” by Cheng Jingbo
“What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear” by Baoshu
“The New Year Train” by Hao Jingfang
“The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales” by Fei Dao
“Moonlight” by Liu Cixin
“The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge" by Anna Wu
“The First Emperor’s Games” by Ma Boyong
“Reflection” by Gu Shi
“The Brain Box” by Regina Kanyu Wang
“Coming of the Light” by Chen Qiufan
“A History of Future Illnesses” by Chen Qiufan
Essays:
“A Brief Introduction to Chinese Science Fiction and Fandom,” by Regina Kanyu Wang,
“A New Continent for China Scholars: Chinese Science Fiction Studies” by Mingwei Song
“Science Fiction: Embarrassing No More” by Fei Dao
For more Chinese SF in translation, check out Invisible Planets.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
This is a must-read collection for all fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. A celebration of legacy and endurance.
• Bizarre remains of a lost civilisation emerge from the ice.
• The ghosts of a drowned town wait to be awakened.
• A witch with a dragon problem.
• What Elvis will do to protect his fellow artists from annihilation.
• An ancient spaceship carries the last, fragmented memories of Earth.
• Broken souls of the dead are passed on to the new-born.
• …These and many more tales showcase the hopes, remnants, and fears of humanity.
Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Aiki Flinthart reached out for works from as many of her favourite authors as would answer the call. And many did.
Between these pages you’ll find stories by some of the world’s best science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers. Find new favourite authors and re-join old friends.
Their fabulous works are threads woven with a sure hand into a tapestry of the weird, the worrying, and the wonderful that make up mankind.
Grab a copy of Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins today. You’ll also help fund a mentorship for emerging authors.
Reviews:
"Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins is the articulation of the generous contributions of our contemporary masters, in support of the Flinthart Residency and the next wave of emerging writers. True to their mission, these stories push back against boundaries as they take us light years away, plunge toward the sea floor, and turn time and space elastic. Let yourself be drawn in by these celebrated voices. Listen closely for what resonates within."
L.E. Daniels, author of Serpent’s Wake: A Tale for the Bitten and Winning Short Story Competitions: Essential Tools for the Serious Writer
"Rich, varied, and bittersweet, this anthology is a fitting and triumphant salute to Aiki Flinthart’s dauntless spirit and irrepressible moxie" - Geneve Flynn, co-editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women
Full Author list: Neil Gaiman, Ken Liu, Juliet Marillier, Angela Slatter, Jan-Andrew (JA) Henderson, Garth Nix, Pamela Jeffs, Marianne de Pierres, Jasper Fforde, Mary Robinette Kowal, James (SA) Corey, Lee Murray, Sebastien de Castell, Ian Irvine, Robert Silverberg, Mark Lawrence, Kate Forsyth, Kylie Chan, Cat Sparks, David Farland, Jack Dann, Dirk Flinthart, Aiki Flinthart
Touch the past or wash it away? Two sisters have a choice in this unforgettable short story of everyday magic and the power of memory by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Ken Liu.
Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.
The Cleaners is part of Faraway, a collection of retold fairy tales that take the happily-ever-after in daring new directions. Whether read or listened to in one sitting, prepare to be charmed, moved, enlightened, and frightened all over again.
Lightspeed: Year One collects all of the fiction published during Lightspeed’s first journey around the sun: Nebula Award finalists like Vylar Kaftan’s “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno,” Hugo Award nominees like Carrie Vaughn’s “Amaryllis,” and great classic reprints by Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R.R. Martin, and more.
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