Q：

　　How and when did you become interested in writing speculative fiction?

　　您是从什么时候开始，又是怎样对写科幻小说感兴趣的呢？

　　A：

　　I’ve always liked writing, and speculative fiction just happened to be the genre I gravitated towards. I believe all fiction tries to make sense of our lives and the world we live in through a structure of metaphors. In speculative fiction, the metaphors are literal. Because they are so literal, they allow you to tell stories that traditional realist literature cannot. For example, in the movie Blade Runner, the story isn’t really about Androids or robots; it’s actually about the idea that in modern life, people are alienating themselves from others. Another example of a literal metaphor is a test where empathy is something you can measure, something you can physically quantify. Science fiction is good at using those kinds of literal metaphors to explore ideas of humanism, of how to be a human being. I’ve always been drawn to that, so it’s natural that I ended up writing science fiction and fantasy, and that I use metaphors literally in my own writing.

　　我一直都很喜欢写作，科幻小说刚好是一个吸引我的类型。我相信所有的小说都试图通过一种比喻的结构来理解我们的生活和我们所处的世界。在科幻小说中，比喻是文字性的，正是因为它们的文字性，所以它们能让你讲出传统现实主义文学讲不出来的故事。比如，在电影《银翼杀手》（Blade Runner）中，这个故事其实不是讲（人形）机器人的，它实际上讲的是在现代生活中，人们彼此相互疏远。文学比喻的另一个例子是测量同情心， 把同情心物理量化的实验。科学家们擅于运用这些文字比喻来探索人文思想，如何做一个人。我总是被这个所吸引，所以我自然就去写科幻小说，并且在我自己的写作中使用文学比喻。

　　Q：

　　Was The Perfect Match inspired by the general idea of technology rapidly changing the way humans live, or was there a specific idea that inspired the short story?

　　《完美匹配》（The Perfect Match）是受到了科技快速改变人类生活方式的启发，还是某一具体想法启发您写出了这个短篇小说？

　　A：

　　When I was writing The Perfect Match, I was thinking about the ways that our technology magnifies our human potential. Science fiction, in a lot of ways, is about technology and its influence on our human lives and our emotions. As I was writing The Perfect Match, I was really interested in the idea of consensus of knowledge. Take for example, the way Google works. The way that they define something is based on the number of links to it from a keyword. Each link, in a way, represents a vote. So, the more people “vote” for something, the more “true” it is. As such, Google is heavily based on consensus-building. The more people click on a link about a particular topic, the more likely it is that that link will be the top result of a Google search. I thought this was really interesting, and I wondered: What will this all mean when people start to take Google as the authority for knowledge? How do we form consensus of this knowledge? Does this mean that in the Google age, people aren’t thinking for themselves as much as they’re believing something merely because an algorithm is telling them it’s true? On top of all that, the algorithm is based on humans’ ability, so it’s subject to manipulation and power imbalances in society, subject to all the problems of knowledge and truth. This means that if enough people agree to something, it eventually becomes the “truth”, which will only become more problematic as Google becomes more powerful. I wanted to write a story that explores the apparent neutrality of algorithms and how an algorithm disguises a much deeper unequal distribution of power, so that’s how The Perfect Match was born.

　　我在写《完美匹配》的时候，我想的是科技放大人类潜能的方法。科幻小说在很多方面都是关于科技对人类生活和感情的影响。我在写《完美匹配》时，我对知识共识的想法很感兴趣。比如说谷歌的工作方式。他们定义某个东西的方式是基于关键词的链接数量。每一个链接，在某种意义上都代表一个投票。因此，人们给某件事投的票越多，它就越“正确”。因此，谷歌主要依靠建立共识。人们对某一主题的链接点击数越多，那个链接就越可能排在谷歌搜索结果的前面。我觉得这很有意思，我就想，要是人们开始把谷歌作为知识的权威，这将意味着什么呢？我们是如何形成这种知识的共识呢？是不是说在谷歌时代，因为一个算法告诉人们是真实的，人们就会相信某件事，而自己不去思考了呢？最重要的事，这个算法是以人类的能力为基础的，因此它在社会中受到操纵和权利不均的影响，还受知识与真理的各种问题的影响。这就是说如果众多人同意某件事，它最终就会成为真理，这只会让谷歌在变得更加强大的同时，也变得更有问题。我想写一个探讨算法明显的中立性的故事，以及算法对权力分配更加不公的影响，《完美匹配》就是这样诞生的。

　　Q：

　　Was The Paper Menagerie inspired by any personal experiences?

　　《手中纸，心中爱》（The Paper Menagerie）是受到个人经历的启发写出来的吗？

　　A：

　　I get asked that a lot. With fiction writers it’s almost always that case that what they write, in some way, represents their lives. The Paper Menagerie did represent some aspects of my life. For example, when I was a child, my grandmother taught me how to do origami. So a little bit of the story – the protagonist’s childhood memories – is based on that. But the larger story is not really based on my personal experiences. I was born in China so I don’t have the same kind of experience the protagonist did. But I can empathize a lot with the protagonist because I read a lot of personal narratives about people going through similar situations. One of the personal narratives I read that moved me a lot was about this woman who was a mail-order bride. She did something incredibly difficult because she wanted a better life for herself and her future children. Mail-order brides are often described in our culture with mockery and disdain, but I think these women are very brave. I wanted to write a story that told an aspect of their lives, that portrayed a mail-order bride as a hero, and that’s what The Paper Menagerie is about.

　　很多人都问我这个问题。小说作家几乎都是这样的情况，他们所写的故事在某些方面就代表了他们的生活。《手中纸，心中爱》确实代表了我生活的一些方面。比如，我小时候，我奶奶教我折纸。 因此故事的一小部分，主人公的童年记忆就是以此为基础写的。但是大的故事并不是我个人经历。我出生在中国，所以我没有主人公那样的经历。但是我对主人公的经历感同身受，因为我读过很多有类似情况的人的自传。其中一个邮购新娘的故事打动了我，为了自己和将来孩子能过上好日子，她做了一件难度超乎想象的事情。邮购新娘在我们的文化里总是被嘲讽和鄙视的，但是我认为这些女人非常勇敢。我想写一个讲述她们生活方面的故事，把邮购新娘描述成英雄，《手中纸，心中爱》就是这么回事。

　　Q：

　　Was The Literomancer inspired by personal or family history?

　　《测字》（The Literomancer）的灵感来自个人还是家族史呢？

　　A：

　　Not really, but I think history is incredibly important. In the US especially, there’s a tendency for people to think history doesn’t matter. People don’t like to acknowledge that the world is unequal. But history does matter; how, when, and to what family you’re born often heavily determines what your fate is. I’ve always been interested in history and I’ve always wanted to tell stories about how historical injustices and power imbalances in the past have ramifications in both the present and the future. As a science fiction writer, I am very interested in how the future can be derived from the present, but one can’t understand that unless one understands history, unless one understands how we got here. Nowadays, we’re still dealing with the ramifications of past mistakes, for example, slavery. Despite the fact that it’s been more than a century since slavery was abolished, we’re still dealing with the consequences of that terrible institution. People tend to say that the past doesn’t matter because we’re living in a different time now, but that’s not true at all, especially for people who come from disadvantage historical backgrounds. I think the people who say history doesn’t matter are often the people who are most privileged. The Literomancer is my attempt to talk about the influence and importance of history and how it can become the basis for the story of who we are. In many ways, the story of who we are determines how we live and what we do.

　　其实不是，但是我认为历史是非常重要的。特别是在美国，人们倾向于认为历史无关紧要。人们不喜欢承认世界是不平等的。但是历史确实很重要，你何时出生、怎样出生以及出生的家庭往往在很大程度决定了你的命运。我一直对历史感兴趣，我总是想讲一些故事，说明过去历史不公正和权力不平衡对现在和将来的影响。作为一名科幻作家，我对未来如何源于现在很感兴趣，但是一个人只有了解历史、了解我们怎样有了现在才会理解。如今，我们仍然在处理过去错误的后果，比如奴隶制。尽管奴隶制已经被废除了一个多世纪，我们还在处理这个可怕制度的后果。人们倾向于说，过去不重要，因为我们现在生活在不同的时期，但这根本不是事实，特别是对那些来自落后历史背景的人们。我认为那些说历史不重要的人往往都是最享有特权的人。我试图用《测字》来谈论历史的影响和重要性，以及它是如何成为我们是谁的故事基础。在很多方面，我们是谁决定了我们的生活方式和我们所做的事。

　　Q：

　　I notice that some of your stories are based on various historical events (Manchu Dynasty, British Industrialization, Communism, Guomindang, Unit 731, Rape of Nanking, etc.). When you were writing these stories, did you already have prior knowledge of these historical events or did you have to do additional research beforehand?

　　我注意到您的一些故事都是根据不同的历史事件（清王朝、英国工业革命、共产主义、国民党、731部队和南京大屠杀等）。在您写这些故事的时候，您是已经有了这些历史事件的知识，还是事先要做其他研究？

　　A：

　　It’s both. I’ve always been really interested in history, so I do already have a lot of historical knowledge. But for a lot of my stories, I still do extra research to make sure I’m getting the facts right. History is incredibly important and it needs to be respected, especially when you’re writing fiction or speculative fiction about it. It’s very, very important for writers to honor the victims of history and those who died and suffered in atrocities. So yes, I do a lot of research when I write about historical events because I think it’s absolutely vital to be historically accurate.

　　两者都有。我一直都对历史感兴趣，所以我已经有了很多历史知识。但是对于我的很多故事，我还要做额外的研究，以保证我得到的事实是正确的。历史是非常重要的，它需要人们的尊重，特别是在你写小说或科幻小说的时候。对于作家来说，纪念历史的受害者和遭受暴行的亡者是非常非常重要的。所以，是的，我在写有关历史事件的时候，做了很多研究，因为我认为历史的准确性是绝对重要的。

　　Q：

　　I think that in The Waves, you are trying to say that if humans can be immortal or forever young, time will no longer mean anything, and eventually life will no longer have much meaning either. How do you think that the idea of limited time influences how we humans perceive the world?

　　我认为在《浪淘沙》（The Waves）中，您是想说要是人类可以长生不老，时间不再有任何意义，最后生命也就没有什么意义了。您是怎么看有限的时间对我们人类如何看待世界的影响呢？

　　A：

　　That’s an interesting question. The idea of being limited beings is an important foundational concept in both Greek and Chinese philosophy. Zhuangzi, for example, talks a lot about the ways in which the finiteness of human life compared to the infinity of the universe and all time is a very important concept in Daoist philosophy. I actually don’t thinkThe Waves is quite as much about mortality and the meaning thereof, as you had suggested. For me, it doesn’t mean that to be human means to be mortal. I think it’s entirely possible that science someday will allow us to be immortal, or as close to immortality as possible. I think The Waves, in some way, is saying that what makes us human is not necessarily this mortal flesh and body. What makes us human is the stories we tell ourselves and each other about who we are. The Waves is a story about storytelling. It contains the idea that the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, where we come from, and where we want to be, define the human condition. We are a very story-based species; a lot of our thinking and perception is shaped by narrative rather than pure data. The Waves is a way to explore the idea that even if we become immortal, storytelling will still be very important. And that, for me, is key in the story itself as well as my philosophy as a human being. I believe that storytelling is what allows us to be human.

　　这是一个很有趣的问题。有限生命是希腊和中国哲学的重要基本理念。比如，庄子讲了很多有限的人类生命和无限的宇宙对比方式，而且它一直是道教哲学中非常重要的概念。我其实并不认为《浪淘沙》像你说的那样是关于死亡及其含义的。对我来说，人类不是注定要死亡，我认为完全有可能有一天科学可以让我们做到长生不老。我认为《浪淘沙》在某种程度上讲的是造就我们人类的不一定是肉体，造就人类是我们讲给自己和别人听的关于我们是谁的故事。《浪淘沙》是一个关于讲故事的事。它包含了我们讲给自己关于我们是谁、我们来自哪里、以及我们将要去向何方，定义人类状况的思想。我们是一个非常会讲故事的物种，我们的很多思想和看法是由叙述而非纯数据形成的。《浪淘沙》是探索这样一种观念，即使我们变得长生不老，讲故事仍然是非常重要的事。对我来说，这是故事本身的关键部分，也是我的人类哲学。我认为讲故事才让我们成为人类。

　　Q：

　　All your writing pieces are enriched with various themes and subjects ranging from Chinese history to science and technology and futuristic ideas. You are able to combine the past with the future and bring the reader to the present reality of the story you are telling with these human characters. What is your advice on how to gather and assimilate all of the knowledge and ideas together?

　　您的全部作品充满了从中国历史到科学技术，到未来主义思想各种主题。您能把过去和未来结合在一起，用这些人类角色让读者了解您故事的现实性。对如何采集并贯穿这些知识和想法，您能提出什么建议吗？

　　A：

　　Follow your passions. All my stories are about topics I’m passionate about. It’s never a chore for me if I’m reading up on biochemistry or nuclear biology; I’m really interested in those topics and I want to understand them better. The same thing applies if I’m reading up on history, mythology, or literary criticisms. In my experience, any topic, no matter how boring it may seem at first, is full of unexpected surprises and insights once you really understand it. The way to be a writer, according to my model, is to try to expose yourself to as many topics and subjects as possible, because you never know what kinds of connections you’ll be able to make. A lot of my stories come from reading books about completely different subjects, seeing connections between them, and making these metaphorical jumps between science and history, between biology and engineering, between literary criticism and computer science. Seeing how all these different fields of human knowledge – different pursuits of human understanding – are in fact connected in a fundamental way by metaphor, this is the way I assimilate all the information into one story. For example, I used to be a computer programmer and a lawyer, and it always amazed me to see and draw connections between these seemingly dispersed fields. In both law and programming, the goal is to create structures out of symbols by following certain rules to produce a certain result. I realize that creating programs and writing legal cases are similar to writing fiction because writing fiction involves playing with the rules of fiction interpretation and trying to construct a story that, when read by a reader, leads to a specific emotion. So there’s actually a lot of commonality between programming, fiction writing, and practicing law, which I never would have seen without doing it. Different fields of knowledge are connected more so than we think, more so than most of us like to acknowledge.

　　追随自己的激情。我的故事都是关于我热衷的话题。对我来说，阅读生物化学或核生物从不是一件苦差事。我对真正有兴趣的那些话题，我就是想更多地了解它们。读历史、神话或文学评论也是这样。根据我的经验，任何题目，不管它一开始看上去多么枯燥，等你一旦真的明白了，就会有一些意想不到的惊喜和见解在里面。按照我的模式，成为一个作家的方法就是要尽可能多地让自己接触各种主题，因为你不知道自己能把什么样的知识联系在一起。我的很多故事都来自阅读主题完全不同的书籍，看它们之间的联系，在科学和历史之间，生物和工程之间，文学批评和计算机科学之间进行跳跃。这些不同领域的人类知识，人类理解的不同追求，实际上都以隐喻的基本方式相连，我就是这样把所有信息都融入到一个故事中。比如，我以前是计算机编程员，我总是惊讶地看到并勾画出这些看似分散的领域之间的联系。在法律和程序设计中，它们的目标都是通过遵循某些规则从符号构建出结构来产生一定的结果。我意识到创建程序和撰写法律案例跟写小说是相似的，因为小说的写作涉及到小说解读规则的运用，并试图构建一个故事，使读者在阅读时带动特定的情感。因此，编程、小说写作和从事律师工作实际上有很多共同之处，你要不这么做的话，你就永远都不会看到。不同领域的知识比我们认为的和大多数人所承认的更加相通。

　　Q：

　　Have you gotten any surprising responses and/or comments from readers regarding your short stories or books?

　　您有没有从读者那里得到过关于你的短片小说或书籍的令人惊讶的反馈或评论呢？

　　A：

　　I’m always surprised actually, by reader feedback, because a lot of times, readers will find and interpret themes and ideas in my stories that I never even intended. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising, but does feel surprising when you experience it yourself. There’s a quote that goes “Before a reader can unpack a text, a reader must pack a text with his or her expectations and experiences.” And that’s very true. The ways people read my stories are often different from how I intended them to, but it makes sense, given the experiences and internal frameworks the readers are using. I’m fascinated by how readers interpret my work and how they get meaning out of it, even if it wasn’t how I intended them to.

　　实际上，读者的反馈总是让我很讶。因为很多时候，读者会发现并诠释故事的主题和思想，而我从来没有想到过。我想这不应该让人惊讶，但是当你亲身经历的时候，确实会感到惊讶。有一个说法是“读者在读故事之前，必须用自己的期待和体验来填充故事。”这句话非常正确。人们读我的故事的方式往往和我的意图不同，但是根据读者的经验和他们使用的框架来读是有道理的。我对读者如何解读我的作品，以及他们如何从中获得含义很感兴趣，即便这并不是我的意图。

　　Q：

　　Do you have any advice that is specifically geared toward aspiring young science fiction writers?

　　您对那些致力于科幻小说写作的青年作家有什么建议吗？

　　A：

　　We live in a time period where some of the most amazing and beautiful scientific discoveries are being made. If you’re interested in writing science fiction, try to read as many scientific papers as possible – not science journalism, but scientific papers. Journalism as a practice is geared toward holding onto the reader’s interest. This means that scientific journalism will often emphasize aspects of the study that they think would be most interesting to the general public, regardless of whether or not these aspects are actually the most important. By not exposing yourself to the direct primary scientific sources, you’re depriving yourself of a lot of useful information. I love reading science papers; they may seem intimidating at first, but a lot of scientists are excellent writers. By reading scientific papers, you’ll see how scientists think, how they conduct experiments, and how do they go about to find answers to people’s questions. Thus you’re going to get lot more ideas and your science fiction will be much better. Similarly, I would say that if you’re interested in being a writer at all, you always should try to prioritize primary sources over secondary sources. When writing historical fiction, it’s important to read primary sources – diaries, documents, and legal cases written at the time – rather than secondary sources written by people who are trying to interpret primary sources. Secondary sources are helpful because you get to see what experts in the field are thinking about, but primary sources are irreplaceable in terms of how much more inspiring, useful, and insightful they are.

　　我们生活在一个科技发现最为惊人的时代。如果你对科幻小说的写作感兴趣，那就尽量多读一些科学论文，不是科学新闻。新闻只是为了维持读者的兴趣。这就是说，科学杂志通常会强调他们认为对公众最有趣的研究方面，不管这些方面是否真的是最重要的。不让自己接触主要的科学来源，你就失去了很多有用的信息。我喜欢阅读科学论文，它们初看很吓人，但是很多科学家都是出色的作家。通过阅读科学论文，你会看到科学家们是如何思考，他们如何做实验，又是怎样找到答案，解答人们的疑问。这样你就会有更多的想法，你的科幻故事也就越精彩。同样，我想说，你要是有兴趣成为一名作家，你要始终把原始材料优先于二手材料来尝试。写历史小说时，读原始材料如日记、文件和当时的法律案件，而不是那些试图解释原始材料的人写的二手材料。二手材料也是有帮助的，因为你可以看到该领域的专家在想些什么，但是原始材料在启发性、有用性和洞察力方面是不可替代的。

　　-The End-