[Book Sip] Reading Global SF Trends 'Eseuepeunal (SFnal) 2021'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a point of connection with the book. We introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the books. - Editor's note

The ‘SFnal’ series is the Korean edition of ‘The Year's Best Science Fiction,’ which was restarted in 2020. The collection is curated by Jonathan Strahan, a world-renowned editor who has been nominated over 15 times for the Hugo Awards, including the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Editor. It features a balanced selection of works by globally recognized authors and emerging new writers among the medium and short stories published throughout the year. Interestingly, among the 27 works included in this book, all the winners of the 2020 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards are featured, along with many finalists. In particular, for the Locus Award in the short story category, 6 out of the 10 finalists, including the ultimate winner, are included in this book. This anthology, where you can directly encounter the latest works of world-class SF authors as well as award-winning pieces from prestigious SF literary awards, is titled “SFnal (=Science Fictional, SF-like)” by Hubble.

Now, I have no image of Hailey left at all. I don’t even remember what she looked like. At last, I truly lost my child.

Is there any way for someone like me to be forgiven? - Ken Liu, "Memorial and Prayer"

Such policies are not only beneficial to humanity as much as cognitive enhancement therapies through genetic modification but are also far more effective in fulfilling our moral obligations.

- Ted Chiang, "Why the Wealthy’s Children Will Still Have an Advantage in 2059"

Nuri began to babble happily. It was a sound Aisha had never heard before. Aisha sobbed for a moment, thinking of Gianni, thinking of Ching, and thinking of the Earth’s situation, which might have become devastatingly changed.

- Greg Egan, "The Way Back Home"

Saki knew she was biased and that the reality she belonged to was damaged and imperfect. It would not be few who said she could not grasp everything, but still, Saki recorded all she could from both sides of the story.

This is a love story, the last story among a series of moments we encounter.

- Caroline M. Yoachim, "The Archaeology of Love"

SFnal 2021 Set | Edited by Ted Chiang and 20 others | Translated by Kim Sang-hoon and 3 others | Hubble | 968 pages | 34,000 KRW