Hey, I had always wanted to post this somewhere but was not sure where to. I studied Chinese in Beijing in 2005 and in order to learn more characters I would read books, particularly in my favorite genre--sci-fi. In any case, the most famous current sci-fi writer in China is Liu Cixin. He writes mostly collections of short stories but the ones I have read are pretty quality.In any case, he had one called "Age of Angels". In particular, the plot was about an African Nobel laureate geneticist who tried to solve hunger in Africa, and world hunger in general, by genetically engineering people who could metabolize cellulose from plant matter (no mammals can do this--cows use help from bacteria).So he announced this in front of the UN General Assembly, presenting his grandson as a first example, and there was a huge uproar where a fanatic killed his grandson. In any case, the US decides to "solve" the problem by carpet bombing his home country in West Africa.The last 1/3 of the story was how the US fleet got more than they bargained for when they were attacked by a troop of genetically modified African soldiers with wings (thus "Age of Angels") and get pretty much beaten down.I know it sounds hokey and whole Africa-is-starving is a broad stereotype but it was actually pretty well-written. I thought it was interesting someone who wasn't Black had a Black main character like that.
You need to be a member of Blacksciencefictionsociety to add comments!
Replies