Answerless Journey

by Han Song, Alex Woodend (Translator)

Hugo Voter Packet version.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Hugo Awards

10 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Born 1965 in Chongqing, Han works as a journalist for the state news agency Xinhua. His first short story collection, Gravestone of the Universe 宇宙墓碑 was published in 1981 in the Taiwanese journal Huanxiang 幻象. It waited ten years for publication in the People's Republic of China because publishers found its tone too dark.

Han has received the Chinese Galaxy Award for fiction six times. The LA Times described him as China's premier science fiction writer

Reviews

[Ken Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another translated Chinese SF story. The idea of persons waking in a strange location with no memory of who or what they are, why they are there and how the they came to be in that state is one with a long tradition.
This short story is not the best of those. It does manage to give a sense of disorientation and frustration, leading to fear and suspicion as 'Creature' and 'Same Kind' debate whether there is a 'Third' who they cannot find. They never do get any answers.

[William Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for 2024 Hugos

This is a fairly simple story about people in a place with memory loss. It's a somewhat interesting concept, but it's been done a lot (most recently, and much better, in Project Hail Mary). I'm not sure if it was the translation or the original writing, but I trouble keeping my attention on it.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, the concept of astronauts in space with a lost memory has been done before - and better than in this story, IMHO. The psychological horror is interesting, but not enough to really sway me. So, a meh rating it is on this one.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't quite ever catch the point