Reviews and Comments

A fascinating and lovely book looking the beauty that can be found in chemistry. While most 'stock photos' of chemistry often focus on people in lab clothes staring at test tubes, this book shows what most chemists see: the beauty in the chemical reactions itself. But it doesn't stop at that. While it features lots of wonderful shots of chemical reactions (and is a major reason for producing the book), the text in the book fills in the general details of what is happening in the chemical reactions to produce such beautiful effects.

What follows is a chapter by chapter look at the kinds of chemical reactions featured in the book.

1 EFFERVESCENT: THE BEAUTY OF BUBBLES: a look at bubbles generated by various chemical reactions, from the bubbles generated by household items to those by yeast (creating Champaign), followed by a look at how bubbles appear in liquids, start to grow and then burst on liquid surfaces.

2 ORDERLY: THE CHARM OF CRYSTALS: the chapter looks at crystals. Their beauty was appreciated since ancient times and still. Today, crystals are used to generate purer versions of a particular chemical. Substances are also solidified into the form of crystals so that their structure can be studied.

3 INSOLUBLE: THE POWER OF PRECIPITATION: a chapter that looks at the puzzle of how soluble substances can be made to become solid and precipitate when mixed. It then considers why water is such a good solvent for so many substances. It then looks at the Hydrogen bond, a chemical bond that is neither too strong nor too weak, allowing water to be a liquid at room temperatures.

4 EXUBERANT: THE DELIGHT OF DENDRITIC GROWTH: related to precipitation, this chapter looks at how snowflakes and other substances form patterns as they grow from chemical solutions. While much of the chemistry behind dendritic growth has been figured out, mysteries remain, like why snowflakes can look so symmetrical.

5 INCENDIARY: THE FASCINATION OF FLAMES: this chapter looks at how a flame burns and looks at the chemical processes that occur as combustion takes place and leaves behind other substances that are only now being discovered, like carbon spheres and nanotubes.

6 GALVANIZING: THE ENCHANTMENT OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY: a look at the chemistry involved in plating materials with the help of electricity. Starting with what happens when metals are oxidized and reduced, which leads to the concept of batteries. Batteries are then used as a source of energy to break apart (electrolysis) and combine (electroplating) materials. A brief section on what makes metals different from other materials is also given.

7 CHROMATIC: THE CURIOSITY OF COLOR CHANGES IN PLANTS: this chapter looks at the chemicals that gives flowers and leaves their particular colours, and also briefly looks at efforts to grow plants with new colours, like blue roses.

8 CALESCENT: THE HELPFULNESS OF HEAT: a look at how chemical reactions look like under different kinds of light (mainly infrared light), showing that even when nothing visible seems to be happening, a chemical reaction is taking place due to a change in temperature. An explanation is also briefly provided for how some chemical reactions can remove heat (become colder) which is due to an increase in the entropy is the system, more than enough to compensate for the decrease in heat.

9 ORGANIC: THE CONTORTIONS OF CHEMICAL GARDENS: the beauty of chemical gardens (organic looking growths produced by chemical reactions with various metals) is looked at in the chapter, showing some incredible and beautiful forms that can be produced. Their resemblance to trees and bushes of real gardens is more than skin deep, for some chemical processes taking place resemble those that take place in organic cells.

10 CREATIVE: THE PROFUSION OF PATTERNS: a look at the fascinating patterns that can be produced by what are known as reaction-diffusion systems. Based on the work of chemists as well as Alan Turing's theory on activation and inhibition, it would show how patterns similar to those found on animals could be created by the actions of chemicals.

An excellent read that immerses the reader in a steampunk and magical alternative world set in the early 20th century, where djinns and other magical creatures exist in Egypt and the rest of the world. This was made possible when a mysterious mystic named al-Jahiz broke the barrier between our world and the magical one. This allowed Egypt to resist European colonization (with the help of djinn) and to become a world power.

Into this world steps Fatma el-Sha’arawi, who works at the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. She helped save Egypt (and the world) from being taken over by ancient beings from another world in a previous tale ("A Dead Djinn in Cairo"). In this story, she starts with an investigation into the mysterious deaths of a secret brotherhood group that would lead her to confront a person with immense magical powers who claim to be al-Jahiz, who has returned to lead a revolution against the elite.

With a supporting cast of fascinating characters like her new partner, her secret lover, a man channelling (or becoming?) an ancient Egyptian god, djinns, 'angels' and others personnel from the Ministry, she would confront the person, leading to a climactic battle that would determine the fate of the world. And only she may be able to wield the ultimate item of magical power that can stop that person, and others, from carrying out a plan to dominate the world.

The author hints of magical beings inhabiting other parts of the world, which opens up the possibility of a series of future stories involving Fatma and other characters in other adventures around the world. If true, this is one reader eager to join in their adventures.

An average issue with some interesting stories by Stephanie Kraner, Rich Larson, Corey Flintoff, James Enge and Robert Grossbach.

• "A Father's Hand" by Stephanie Kraner: an emotional story about a boy who forms an emotional relationship with a robot who guides him through life in a world where a war between human and robots has apparently occurred. But when the robot 'father' starts to break down, it is the boy who must now lead and find a way to fix his father or come to terms with him no longer being around.

• "Dontay's Bones" by Danian Darrell Jerry: a story about life in Memphis that depends on too much knowledge about American culture of the place for me to get into the story

• "Goodwill Objects" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: a man gets a gift from him former girlfriend, which strangely comes to life, and grants the ability to make wishes, and somehow beings them back together

• "The World, A Carcass" by Rich Larson: the daughter of a dead king is forced out of ruling by her uncle, who plans to marry her off. But she has other plans to regain the throne, with help from her bodyguard, who disobeyed her father's orders.

• "Severed Fruit" by Pan Morigan: an elderly person soon to die is called back to deal with apparitions that may have come from her past.

• "Molly Whuppy" by Corey Flintoff: a retelling of an English/Scottish fairy tale of a resourceful young girl with extraordinary hair who, with the help of a magpie, defeats a giant, marries off her two elder sisters, and gains a throne.

• "Babylon System" by Maurice Broaddus: a prisoner in a system run by automations and strict rules, strives to free and make the other prisoners free.

• "Drunkard's Walk" by James Enge: a man enters a village only to discover there is no way out. It would require the use of advanced multidimensional mathematics, and the help of an observant boy, to figure out what and put it to and end.

• "The Plus One" by James Enge: an officer on Mars handles the case of a dead body. While the cause is death is straightforward, the events leading up to it are not, causing the officer to question how much life on Mars is worth when everything vital, like air, water and living space, comes at a price.

• "Refugees" by Robert Grossbach: a courtroom drama around the defendant who allows his alien friend and his rather large group to become refugees from their own planet in his backyard (they are rather small aliens). But it all goes wrong when one aspect of their biology is not revealed to the defendant at the time, leading to the court case.

• "When the Water Stops" by Eugen Bacon: a short short about people struggling to survive when the world is short of water.

A good anthology of stories, some of which are old favourites, while others haven't been read before but turn out to be interesting stories of speculation. Those I have read before and still like include those by Isaac Asimov, Greg Bear and Ted Chiang, while others encountered in the collection that are fascinating are those by James H. Schmitz, Katherine MacLean, Bruce Sterling, Harry Harrison, Eliza Blair, Robert Sheckley and John Crowley.

• "Sole Solution" by Eric Frank Russell: a short short story about a person becoming aware in a dark place. The person starts a process to 'escape' from the dark place, in a rather obvious way.

• "Lot" by Ward Moore: as civilization breaks down due to the start of a conflict, a man moves his family to the countryside to begin a new life. But the journey is full of family conflict that leads the man to make a decision about his family members at the end.

• "Skirmish" by Clifford D. Simak: a disquieting story about a newspaper reporter who goes to his office early one day to discover all is not right with the machines he sees. He eventually deduces he was chosen for a reason and humanity's fate may lie in the choices he may make.

• "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" by James Tiptree, Jr.: a reporter attempts to interview a human who had travelled to the stars, only to learn that to the aliens, humans are primitive.

• "Poor Little Warrior!" by Brian W. Aldiss: a monologue on the poor life of a time travelling timid man from the future who goes back in time to shoot a dinosaur, only to be disappointed by the act.

• "Grandpa" by James H. Schmitz: on an alien world, a trip on an organic raft world turn dangerous, unless one person can figure out how the raft really works based on his observation of other organisms on the alien planet.

• "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov: on a world surrounded by six suns and forever in sunlight, sunsets has left only one sun in the sky. But now the light from the remaining sun is being blocked and for the first time in thousands of years, man must face the darkness and the horrors it may hold.

• "The Snowball Effect" by Katherine MacLean: an entertaining story about a sociology department head being asked to justify its existence to the Dean. When it does, through a social experiment on exponential growth, the results are inevitably world changing.

• "Swarm" by Bruce Sterling: a human researcher enters the home of an alien swarm with a social structure similar to social inserts like ants. The purpose of the research is to enslave the swarm to do the bidding of humans. But the swarm has other ideas.

• "Blood Music" by Greg Bear: a researcher developing miniature sensors that can enter the body goes too far and develops biological computers. Then, he injects them into himself, and starts a process that would lead to a higher intelligence on Earth.

• "Answer" by Fredric Brown: a short short about linking all the computers in the known universe to ask a question that should not be asked.

• "The Liberation of Earth" by William Tenn: a tale passed down from generation to generation about the time the Earth came to the attention of alien beings who fought battle after battle on it to liberate it from each other, and the end results of the multiple liberations.

• "An Alien Agony" by Harry Harrison: a priest arrives at a world where aliens want literal proof of the truth, and pays the price. And so do the aliens.

• "Track 12" by J. G. Ballard: two men, who are also rivals, spend some time listening to recordings of sounds produced by microscopic objects, vastly amplified. But the last recording would be specially produced by one of the man for the other.

• "Sexual Dimorphism" by Kim Stanley Robinson: on another world, the relationship between two people turn sour, leading to a genetic difference between man and women bring interpreted in an unusual fashion.

• "The Tunnel Under the World" by Frederik Pohl: a man wakes up and goes about his day: again and again. When he wakes up to that fact one day, it leads him and a companion he meets to dig for the truth which would turn out to be stranger than they imagine, but hinted at throughout the story.

• "Friends in Need" by Eliza Blair: a young girl is excited as she is going to choose her pet. But in this future where pets are sentient, the choice of which pet to decide on may have more repercussions.

• "The Store of the Worlds" by Robert Sheckley: a man goes to a shack whose occupant says he can send a person to another world for some time. Is it for real, or is it a hoax? The man has to think about it as he goes on with his life.

• "Jokester" by Isaac Asimov: a man who likes to tell jokes wonders about where jokes come from. The answer given by a large computer named Multivac may not please him or mankind.

• "The Short-Short Story of Mankind" by John Steinbeck: a parody take is the rise of civilization from the cave man days.

• "Night Watch" by James Inglis: the story of an autonomous spaceship on a voyage through the universe on a mission of discovery and, ultimately, survival.

• "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang: a language specialist is working on understanding the language of aliens visiting the earth, while at the same time telling the story of the life of her daughter. It is only towards the end of the story that a change in how to perceive events and actions caused by understanding the aliens' language makes the connection between the two parts of the story explicit.

• "Protected Species" by H. B. Fyfe: an inspector on a newly colonized planet visits some ruins believed to have being built by ancestors of the natives on the planet. But the truth will turn out to be the opposite is what was expected.

• "The Rescuer" by Arthur Porges: two scientist blow up important equipment to stop it being used in a possibly world changing experiment, as they admit in the subsequent trial.

• "I Made You" by Walter M. Miller, Jr.: a military robot on the moon is tasked to keep watch over an important area and destroy intruders. But it is still satisfied to do is job even when failures render it unable to tell friend from foe.

• "The Country of the Kind" by Damon Knight: if you live in a world where everybody is kind, a man of violence might be considered its king. Or maybe not

• "The Cage" by A. Bertram Chandler: when human survivors from a spaceship that crashed on an uncharted planet get picked up and put in a cage by aliens, it would take skill and some luck to conduct to convince their captors that they are intelligent beings too.

• "Fulfilment" by A. E. van Vogt: in the future, a solitary machine contemplates its fate when it is contacted by another machine from the past. In following the other machine back in time, it makes plans to conquer the past while discovering its own future, which it has forgotten about.

• "Common Time" by James Blish: a traveller on a faster than light ship suddenly discovers himself unable to move. It is only by thinking about the situation that he discovers the truth, which involves the flow of time; and maybe the flow of love?

• "Alien Embassy" by Garry Kilworth: a woman goes for a holiday on an island given to visiting aliens. But it all seems to go wrong, then she develops a relationship and an appetite for the alien she meets there: or does it?

• "Great Work of Time" by John Crowley: a long tale about a man who works out how to travel through time, only for his invention to be taken over by a society that intends to keep the British Empire alive and the world at relative peace: but only if one event at the start of it all were to take place.

A fun story, where Murderbot gets to play a detective to solve a murder mystery on Preservation Station. The investigation would involve determining if the murder was part of an attempt on its client's life by the company, GrayCris, that Murderbot and its client royally screwed in the previous Murderbot stories.

Also involved in the investigation would be Station Security, who are reluctant to work with a rogue SecUnit (aka Murderbot) who they think would murder them all in an instant (and they wouldn't be wrong). To allay their fears, Murderbot had earlier promise not to hack their security system, which limits what kinds of data Murderbot can access, which makes it very unhappy (it needs all the info to make sure the case wasn't part of a GrayCris plot).

Eventually, Murderbot works it all out and determines not just why the murder occurred, but also the method and who did it. And now it and Station Security have a better working relationship.

Written from Murderbot's point of view, the story features a lot of internal monologues and Murderbot's opinions about humans on the station (mostly sarcastic and funny), which adds a lot of laughs to the situation. Of course, there are moments of sheer violence, but Murderbot keeps the enemy body count low compared to previous stories.

A pretty fascinating anthology of stories by writers of China that shows the wide range of fiction that is coming out from them. With stories ranging from the fantastic and absurd to those where technology is front and centre, it would be hard for a reader to enjoy all the stories. But readers should find a few that catch their fancy. For me, the alternate history tale by Baoshu was a highlight of the anthology.

• “Goodnight, Melancholy” by Xia Jia: the story is concerned with people interacting with apparently intelligent AI machines for therapy. Told as two connected tales, one is a modern day interaction with a toy, while the other imagines a conversation between Alan Turing and a conversation bot that Turing might have created.

• “Moonlight” by Liu Cixin: a tragic comedy tale about a man responsible for energy policy who apparently gets calls and messages from his future self, telling him about future energy and climate crisis and what he could do to prevent them. But as each future self offers a plan, and he decides to implement it, another future self calls to tell of the crisis his new plan creates. So what is he to do, or not do?

• “Broken Stars” by Tang Fei: a tale that starts off with a girl apparently having dreams about her dead mother who reads her fortunes in the stars, turns more eerie and horrifying when she figures out the truth and turns the tables on those who have bullied her about her mother.

• “Submarines” by Han Song: a slightly surreal tale about a fleet of submarines in a river inhabited by worker who commute to the land to work. We are shown their strange water based life and how it all comes to an end one day.

• “Salinger and the Koreans” by Han Song: a tale involving David Salinger and his book, "The Catcher in the Rye". In an altered alternate universe, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) somehow conquers the world. They consider Salinger and his book to be the inspiration that would lead them to liberate mankind. Only, Salinger would rather be a hermit and not have anything to do with the North Koreans.

• “Under a Dangling Sky” by Cheng Jingbo: in a strange seaside town apparently covered by a crystalline cover, dolphins can talk and sing. One particular dolphin wants to do more, and her actions would reveal what the world would look like on the other side of the cover.

• “What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear” by Baoshu: a fantastical tale about the life of a man and a woman who meet in childhood and grow up together. But in this alternate history story, events in this world happen in reverse order to our own. Starting from the early 21st century and moving backwards toward World War II (the first Great War in this story), we are told of the events from the viewpoint of the man as he and the girl make their way through them while growing up together and separately, until they are finally united at the end.

• “The New Year Train” by Hao Jingfang: a short short story about a train which vanishes from our universe, only to re-appear as expected. But to the passengers, more time has passed; yet, they still enjoyed the trip.

• “The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales” by Fei Dao: a fairy tale about a King who likes to tell tall tales. But one day, he decides that he doesn't want to be remembered as a teller of tall tales and the only way to avoid that is by finding somebody else who can tell even more tall tells (nobody remembers number two in any category, he thinks). So, he sets a robot to tell more tall tales than him. The robot takes a long journey (apparently throughout the universe) to gather tales, so he can turn them into as tall tales. The robot's journey would, in the end, comes back full circle to a (tall?) tale told by the king.

• “The Snow of Jinyang” by Zhang Ran: the story of a city that is being besieged by an army in ancient China. But as the story progresses, strange modern day terms (like Ray-Ban, internet, and so on) get introduced, and it gradually becomes obvious that a modern day person has appeared during this time and place. But his plans, which at first appear to be to prevent the city from being conquered, get revealed and history may get to reassert itself.

• “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge" by Anna Wu: probably inspired by the same restaurant featured in Douglas Adams' book in "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, it tells a story within a story of one of the patrons of the restaurant who makes a deal with a mysterious agency to steal the abilities of writers from other parallel universes so that he can become a great writer, only to lose the one thing that make his writing important.

• “The First Emperor’s Games” by Ma Boyong: a rather silly story of an emperor who has finally united all of China and now wants to relax by playing computer games. In this world that mixes up Chinese history and culture with computers, various groups vie to get the emperor to endorse their games like "Civilization", "The Sims", etc. that reflect their view of life. But in the end, it would be a sweet-talking westerner who would win the day with a game that may never exist. Possibly only gamers or those who know some history of computer games may get the most enjoyment from this story.

• “Reflection” by Gu Shi: a man goes to meet an unusual woman who appears to be able to predict the future, but is strangely ignorant of the past. As he continues to meet her at various time and develop a relationship with her, the story becomes even stranger until the ending reveals how she and the man are related to each other and are reflections of each other.

• “The Brain Box” by Regina Kanyu Wang: a man access the last memories of the woman she loves, who has died from a plane crash. But what he learns about her last thoughts may not be to his liking.

• “Coming of the Light” by Chen Qiufan: a tale of a man working at a marketing company that is desperate to find a way to market an application by their biggest client. The man's solution would involve a blessing by a Buddhist monk, but the results would backfire spectacularly. In the second part of the story, the man has retreated to a monastery to find peace, but the effects of his marketing effort would return to haunt him and reveal to him his role in the universe.

• “A History of Future Illnesses” by Chen Qiufan: a series of short tales telling the various unusual diseases that await us as technology takes over our lives

A better than average anthology of SFF by writers from China. The editor and translator, Ken Liu, is careful to say that the anthology is not meant to represent the best SFF from China, but to showcase some stories and give readers a taste of the kind of SFF being written in China. The anthology ends with some essays by the writers on some aspects of Chinese SF.

• “The Year of the Rat” by Chen Qiufan: without jobs, university graduates have to go for the only work available: the Rodent-Control Force, troops tasked with the job of killing genetically engineered rats meant for the market in the West that had escaped. As they try to meet their quota of rats (to be reassigned to other jobs), it is gradually revealed that the rats are not all they seem to be, and neither are the people catching them.

• “The Fish of Lijian” by Chen Qiufan: an up-and-coming employee is suddenly told to take time off from work for rehabilitation. Now in Lijiang, he meets a nurse who leads his rehabilitation, and it is gradually revealed why rehabilitation is necessary due to the way work has now messed up workers' sense of time due to workloads.

• “The Flower of Shazui” by Chen Qiufan: a person hiding in Shenzen meets an attractive prostitute who asks him to help repair some organic film applied to her body. As he gets to know her more after the meeting, we learn the reason why he is hiding in Shenzen and also what troubles the prostitute, and he decides to help her. But the results would turn out not to be as expected.

• “A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia: on a street filled with ghosts inhabiting various animated bodies (as a tourist attraction), a boy grows up under the care of a ghost lady. The street has fallen on hard times with few, if any tourist, walking it. And one day, a calamity hits the street and the boy's attempts to save it might not be successful.

• “Tongtong’s Summer” by Xia Jia: a robot, which turns out to be remotely controlled, comes into the household to take care of the grandfather, who is grumpy that he now cannot walk and socialize. But an attempt to get a more competitive Chinese Chess player for the grandfather would set off a revolution in remote robotic care.

• “Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse” by Xia jia: a mechanical dragon-horse (body of a horse, head of a dragon) comes to life in a future where humans have gone. As it explores its new world, it meets a bat who becomes its friend and leads it on to a new life. The author's note at the end gives links to the real life dragon-horse gifted from France to China, on which the story is based.

• “The City of Silence” by Ma Boyong: in a future where only authorized web links can be accessed and only certain 'safe' words may be used in conversations that are constantly listened to by the authorities, a man decides to sign up to use a BBS (bulletin board system). But a secret message encoded into the permission forms returned to him would lead him to join a secret society that would block the listening authorities for a brief time while they indulged their secret desires for conversation and companionship. But it would all come to an end and the man must decide on whether to take the next step in a world that is now becoming silent; for while everybody is listening, nobody would dare to say a word.

• “Invisible Planets” by Hao Jingfang: a series of brief stories about fantastical worlds as told by one person to another, leading to a brief meeting of minds.

• “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang: in a future where Beijing as been physically divided to two halves (for the elite and the rest), with one half 'folded' into the earth and dormant while the other is active, a man is asked to pass on a message from one side to the other, from a man to a woman. The journey would reveal the story of how Beijing came to be the way it is.

• “Call Girl” by Tang Fei: a story that initially starts out giving the impression of a school girl who may have trysts with strangers turns into an altogether fantastical tale when the "Call Girl" turns out to have the ability to call strange things into existence to fulfil the expectations of her clients.

• “Grave of the Fireflies” by Cheng Jingbo: a story of a journey into the far future to a castle that may hold the future (or past) of a girl and a universe where the stars are going out.

• “The Circle” by Liu Cixin: a conquering king believes that the secret of eternal life may lie in the digits that make up Pi, and commands his adviser to calculate it for him. The answer to generating the digits would be a computing machine made up of his soldiers acting as the logic gates of a huge computing machine. But in the end, the king's hubris would lead to his downfall.

• “Taking Care of God” by Liu Cixin: an ancient civilization who claims to have created all life on earth suddenly appears, and ask humanity to take care of the last remaining members of the civilization, whose ships are now failing. As first, it goes well, but those taking care of ailing and forgetful elders may know, conflicts between generations will occur, and it all breaks down. But not before the gods pass on a message to mankind about their possible future