On the Paper Menagerie
Liu, Ken. The Paper Menagerie: and Other Stories. New York: Saga Press, 2016. pp. 464. eBook.
This is truly an immaculate collection of short stories. I’d read that anyone who likes Ted Chiang should read Ken Liu next, and I’m so glad I did. The best stories tend to be stacked toward the end, but don’t skip the earlier ones. My favorites were:
- “The Literomancer”
- “The Paper Menagerie”
- “Mono no Aware”
- “All the Flavors”
- “A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel”
There are great reflections here on identity, whether East Asian or North American, interwoven with the usual science fiction themes of ethics, technology, and social relations. I can’t wait to read his other books.