The award-winning "Three-Body Problem" is a Liu Cixin magnum opus. (Photo : Wikimedia)
The English translation of "The Three-Body Problem," a hit Chinese science-fiction novel written by Liu Cixin, recently earned an American Nebula nomination.
The hit Chinese literature was translated by the award-winning Chinese-American sci-fi novelist, Ken Liu. Ken has a Nebula tilt under his belt.
The sci-fi literature was among the six novels nominated by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Cixin-penned work reached yet another milestone by being one of the nominees among five other novels authored by English-speaking writers.
"The Three-Body Problem" is the first book of the trilogy "Three Body," which features an apocalyptic battle between humans and invading aliens. In this creative writing piece, the solar system is flattened into two dimensions.
For this work, Liu received a Galaxy Award, which is regarded in China as the highest honor a science fiction could get. Its Chinese fans laud the novel's exceptional artistry.
In its original version, the trilogy has already sold over a million copies, making the novel China's best-selling sci-fi work in decades.
Although Liu admitted that he has a slim chance of bringing home the award, the nomination itself is already huge news for the Chinese sci-fi community.
"The Three-Body Problem" landed the U.S. bookstores in November last year. To date, it has already sold around 20,000 copies.
Liu earlier shared that the term "three-body problem" is a physics jargon used to describe two objects in space rotating around each other, maintained by the objects' gravitational pull. Once a third object enters, the previously predictable behavior of the objects becomes more complicated.
