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To Hold Up the Sky  By  cover art

To Hold Up the Sky

By: Cixin Liu
Narrated by: Brian Nishii, Catherine Cho, Emily Woo Zeller, Feodor Chin, Greg Chun, Nancy Wu, Natalie Naudus, P. J. Ochlan, Robert Fass, Vikas Adam
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Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past.

In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.

Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers.

Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection.

Stories included are:

"Contraction"

"Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming"

"The Village Teacher"

"Fire in the Earth"

"Time Migration"

"Ode to Joy"

"Mirror"

"Sea of Dreams"

"Cloud of Poems"

"The Thinker"

This program is read by: Vikas Adam, Feodor Chin, Greg Chun, Robert Fass, Catherine Ho, Natalie Naudus, Brian Nishii, P. J. Ochlan, Emily Woo Zeller, and Nancy Wu

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2020 Cixin Liu (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about To Hold Up the Sky

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    4 out of 5 stars

Great collection read by multiple narrators.

Disregard any review complaint about the different narrators being hard to get used to. The audio is great for this book. I liked the creativity shown in each story. Chinese science fiction is so unique in its imagination and poetic prose.

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Fun to explore

a new short story author. Stories were interesting an I enjoyed listening to the many different performers.

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  • Overall
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Epic

To describe these stories as epic is inaccurate. Epic requires the use of an exponent, so let’s call these stories epic to the power of 23. And the language is beautiful.

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  • Overall
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Entertaining & thought-provoking

Well-told stories involving much real science, in addition to fantasy. Much food for thought, in each story.

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Extraordinary!

Possibly the best audio book I have ever heard. Several amazing stories with deep science and humanity bases. The variety of narrators was delightful, and the whole performance was perfect. Again, I can only say “Extraordinary “.

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incredible.

amazing short stories. the last one was the best. I highly recommend. it will change how you view literature and the universe.

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3 people found this helpful

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One of the best scifi short story collections ever

Stories (in translation) and narration were well matched. So imaginative and poetic, with a narrative scake from the galactic to the intimate. Highly recommended.

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2 people found this helpful

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Loved it!

Loved it, especially the first and the last of the short stories. One or two of the middle stories was perhaps not my taste but its okej.

I have also listened to three body problem series as well as ball lightning. hope to listen to more works from this author.

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Great and Entertaining Collection of short stories

Very enjoyable, especially the Mirror. Creative interpretation of the modern physics and cosmology concepts in these stories.

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Great read!

A good mix of stories some I was blown away by and some were just ok. But regardless of your preference this is a great collection and has the typical feel of the authors writing which I have come to love. Even his stories that aren’t my favorite are still fantastic to experience just sue to unique ideas, perspectives, and writing style.

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