The second episode of Small Blue Planet is now available from the Locus Roundtable blog. in this one Karen Burnham and I make a virtual trip to China with the help of the multiple-award-winning Ken Liu and one of China’s hottest young SF writers, Chen Qiufan (a.k.a. Stanley Chan).

This one was a blast to record. While the Finnish episode was mostly about hanging out with dear friends, this one was more a discovery of many new things. Some of the language issues are fascinating. I’m in awe of Stan having written a story in Classical Chinese (which is roughly akin to someone like Tolkien having written a story in Anglo-Saxon). One of the best things about Finnish is that is has no gendered pronouns. Chinese has something just as spectacular. If you don’t know what it is, it will blow your mind when you get there.

Next month we’ll be off to Brazil in the company of Fabio Fernandes and Jacques Barcia. And I guess I’d better line up some future episodes. Hmm, who do I know in France…?