尼尔·克拉克

今年是我在《克拉克世界》杂志担任编辑的第十个年头。这实在有点令人吃惊，因为我之前从未想过要当一个编辑。我的大半辈子都在技术部门、学校和大学里度过。虽然在青少年时代，科幻作品对我产生了巨大的影响，但我能走上编辑这条路也颇具戏剧性。不过，走上这条路，我从不后悔，而且现如今，我竟也能与那些在我个人成长定型期被我视为人生偶像的作家和编辑们一起共事。看来，我之前做的所有事情都在引导我走向这一崭新的职业生涯，而我也因此收获了许多欢欣喜悦。

刚开始在《克拉克世界》杂志工作时，我就怀抱着填补出版界空白的理想。科幻作品于我而言一直是一种短暂的逃离。我热切渴望着与众不同的故事——那些能够激发我以新方式对事物进行思考和感知的故事，又或者是那些能引领我感受与自身经历迥然不同的故事。我们向世界各国的作者约稿，也收到了很多优秀的作品。但是，撇开最初的跨洋电话交流不谈，我渐渐发现尤其是非英语国家交来的稿子存在着理解上的鸿沟。我们知道，我们国家的作品被翻译成许多其他语言；我们也知道，像中国这样的地方往往拥有着非常庞大的科幻读者群，但我们并不了解如何才能真正地接触这些读者。和许多美国人一样，我只会说英语，而且现在越发认识到只掌握一种语言竟如此遮蔽了自己的眼界。

幸运的是，还有一些人士既是我在各语种小说方面的同好，同时也能帮助我克服困扰我的语言障碍。在他们之中，正是刘宇昆带我走入了中国科幻小说的胜境。作为一名杰出的独立作者，刘宇昆主动承担了翻译和引介中国作家作品的任务。我们最先出版的两部作品来自陈楸帆和夏笳，这两本书不仅令我也令我们的读者叹为观止。稍后，当我有机会出版自己主编的第一部选集时，我毫不犹豫地将这两部作品纳入其中。此时，我终于得以一窥这巨大的科幻文学财富，而这些宝贵的作品那时还未曾进入以英语为母语的读者世界，同时我对这些作品的沉迷也自此一发不可收拾。

我们最初的出版尝试获得了一些关注，于是有一天我收到了来自微像文化的一封电邮。在接下来的几个月里，我们商定出了一项足慰平生的合作协议，使《克拉克世界》得以更好地展示全球范围内最优秀的科幻小说。项目启动的第一年，在非常得力的中国团队的协助下，我精选出了即将翻译并刊登在我们杂志上的九篇作品。我们殷切期望在两个生机勃勃的科幻小说群体间搭建一座桥梁，而本书就是这个项目迈出的第一步。

希望你在阅读这些精彩故事的同时也能体会到我在阅读它们时体会到的无限乐趣。

This year，I’m celebrating my tenth year as editor of Clarkesworld Magazine.This is，in many ways surprising，as I never expected to be an editor.I’ve spent most of my life working in technology and schools and universities.Despite the influence of science fiction when I was a teenager，I took a very scenic route to get here.However，there are no regrets on that path and I now get to work with authors and editors that I considered heroes in my formative years.Everything I did led me to this new career and I have been blessed with many hours of enjoyment.

When I started Clarkesworld，I was looking to fill a gap in what was being published.Science fiction has always been an escape for me.I wanted different stories，things that would challenge me to think or feel about things in new ways or introduce me to experiences unlike my own.We invited authors from all over the world to submit stories and it worked out quite nicely.Yet，despite our initial international call，I began to notice certain gaps particularly in submissions from non-English-speaking countries.We knew our stories were being translated into other languages.We knew that there were some significantly large science fiction audiences in places like China，but we didn’t know how to reach them.Like many Americans，I only speak English and I realized just how much that was holding me back.

Fortunately，there are a few people out there that share my interest in international fiction who do not suffer from my linguistic limitations.Of them，Ken Liu is the one that deserves the most credit for introducing me to Chinese science fiction.An amazing author in his own right，Ken took it on himself to start translating and submitting the works of Chinese authors.The first two we published were by Chen Qiufan and Xia Jia，both of whom not only impressed me，but also our readers.Later，when the opportunity to include them in my first anthology presented itself，I jumped at it.At this point，I simply had a glimpse of the wealth of stories that had not made their way to an English-speaking audience and I was hooked.

Our initial efforts caught some attention and one day I had an email from Storycom in my inbox.Over the course of the next few months，we ironed out an agreement that would allow us to fulfill a dream of making Clarkesworld more representative of the best science fiction from around the world.In that first year，with assistance from an amazing team in China，I selected nine stories that would be translated and published in our pages.This book represents the first stage of what we hope will be a bridge between two vibrant science fiction communities.

May these stories provide you with as much enjoyment as they did for me.