The Wandering Earth

The collection is extraordinary and spans from grand feats of sci-fi imagination (the titular story) to humorous tales such as the one in which a writer called Cixin Liu becomes homeless after spending all his money and energy on a grand saga called The Three-Thousand-Body Problem. Some stories will remind you of some plot tricks you’ll also see in The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest: space wars carried out by throwing satellites against spaceships, stellar devourers, nanotechnologies, hibernation of characters either to wait for a cure to some illness or simply to use them as weapons in the future. You’ll find splendid pieces of prose, such as the attempt of an alien species to describe their first contact with matter at the liquid state, heart-wrenching plot twists, such as the one in “With Her Eyes”, and stories unexpectedly tying together. You’ll find individual heroism and abnegation, ingenuity, damnation and a profound, never-ending love for weaving the law of physics into splendid plots.
Highly recommended, though I think you appreciate it more if you’re already familiar with Cixin Liu’s monumental sci-fi saga.

Stories featured:

• “The Wandering Earth”, the titular story, in which the author explores the social impact of Earth facing a destruction-level threat and consequently turning into an engine-powered spaceship roaming the universe;
• “Mountain”, in which a sailor has vowed never to see the mountains again as a form of atonement for an accident, but he has to climb one final mountain upon the unexpected arrival of a spaceship that seems to be intent on destroying Earth;
• “Sun of China”, the splendid story of a man who goes from escaping a life of working barren earth to being a shoeshiner to the stars and beyond;
• “For the Benefit of Mankind”, another favourite of mine and one with a slightly different atmosphere: an unusual noir in which a contract killer is tasked, by a coalition of Earth’s most powerful and rich, to murder three homeless persons for a very particular reason;
• “Curse 5.0”, the one with failed sci-fi writer Cixin Liu, that actually features a trick he’ll use in his Three-Body Problem saga: a modern curse, an AI targeting specific people through its ability to access pretty much everything;
• “The Micro-Era”, a weird story in which Earth survives… in a weird way;
• “Devourer”, possibly the tale that comes closer to the atmosphere of The Dark Forest, and I mean it as a compliment;
• “Taking Care of God”, a strange and bittersweet tale of perspective and caring for your elders (or not);
• “With Her Eyes”, and much of what I can say here would be a spoiler;
• “Cannonball”, featuring hibernation and grand projects, with a wink to Jules Verne.

Note: there’s also a 2019 movie from The Wandering Earth, the shot in the header comes from that. I haven’t seen it.