I was walking through Kirkland Honda when I looked down at the table in the waiting room and spotted a picture of a very contemplative and lovely Ted Chiang on the cover of City Arts magazine. Yes, Ted is lovely – writers aren’t supposed to overuse adjectives, but Ted is a lovely geek. Inside the magazine, there is an interview with Ted, who has a new novella coming out from Subterranean Press. So I immediately went off and ordered it. Physically. For a chunk of money, to be mailed in special edition. It’s my present for the day.
Now, I write science fiction for a reason – I love it to the core. I love thinking about technology and people and the future. I have loved reading science fiction since I was a wee one (as I was reminded today by a friendly ghost from my past on Facebook). Ted’s writing has never failed to give me that sense of wonder I crave when I start a new story.
We live in a time full of brilliant sf that is often overlooked by people outside of the genre, although the wonderful reception that Paolo Bacigalupi’s”Windup Girl” has received tells me there is hope for our best to do well in the general reading populace. I hope a lot of people order this and love it – I’m sure it will be worth it.