His research leads him to Lin Yun, an army major who driven by the death of her mother on the battlefield when she was just a child also has a fascination with the phenomenon, but with the ambition to channel its energy to create a deadly weapon. Isolating himself from the world, he puts everything into his single-minded pursuit of his obsession. The story begins on Chen’s 14th birthday, when his parents are killed in front of him, turned to ash after being hit by ball lightning.Ĭhen makes it his life’s mission to uncover the mysteries of the natural phenomenon in college, trying to figure out the mathematical pattern behind its random occurrence and movements. This time, however, as well as his critically acclaimed trilogy, Liu is armed with another recently translated novel－a story about tragedy, obsession and cutting-edge weapons. According to local reports, he was received enthusiastically, as the second book of his Three Body trilogy, The Dark Forest, was still hot off the presses after its German-language release. There, following the book fair, Liu met with fans and gave talks and interviews at a university, in an old coal mine and several more venues across four German cities over the course of a week. Two months after the English version of Ball Lightning hit the international book market in August, sci-fi writer Liu Cixin headed for the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. 'China's answer to Arthur C.The English version of Liu Cixin’s Ball Lightning hits the global book market in August. 'A milestone in Chinese science-fiction' New York Times

He will be pitted against scientists, soldiers and governments with motives of their own: a physicist who has no place for moral judgement in his pursuit of knowledge a beautiful army major obsessed with new ways to wage war a desperate nation facing certain military defeat.Ĭonjuring awe-inspiring new worlds of cosmology and philosophy from meticulous scientific speculation, Ball Lightning has all the scope and imagination that so enthralled readers of Cixin Liu's award-winning Three-Body trilogy. His pursuit of ball lightning will take him far from home, across mountain peaks chasing storms and deep into highly classified subterranean laboratories as he slowly unveils a new frontier in particle physics.Ĭhen's obsession gives purpose to his lonely life, but it can't insulate him from the real world's interest in his discoveries.

Striving to make sense of this bizarre tragedy, he dedicates his life to a single goal: to unlock the secrets of this enigmatic natural phenomenon. On his fourteenth birthday, right before his eyes, Chen's parents are incinerated by a blast of ball lightning. 'Cixin Liu is the author of your next favourite sci-fi novel' WIRED

Ball lightning cixin liu