The Wandering Earth (story)

Cixin Liu. "The Wandering Earth." Collected The Wandering Earth. Beijing Guomi Digital Technology, 2013. Translated from 流浪地球? [Chinese] (2008). Frequently reprinted, including New York City: TOR, 2021. See Internet Speculative Fiction Database, our major source here, for other reprints and reviews.[1] The Wandering Earth: Classic Science Fiction Collection. Kim Fout (Editor), Verbena C. W. (Editor), Holger Nahm (Translator). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013 (claimed as first edition).[2] Available as Kindle, paperback, and audiobook.

Source for, but with important differences from, the film THE WANDERING EARTH; see Mitchell van Vuren's "Wondering about the Futures of the Wandering Earth: A Comparative Analysis of Liu Cixin’s “The Wandering Earth” and Frant Gwo’s Film Adaptation."

Reviewed by "DS" Peters "5 years ago in SCIENCE FICTION / HUMANITY / FUTURE / BOOK REVIEW / LITERATURE, reposted on "Futurism" website, as of 28 October 2021, here. [3] Heading the review as posted: "Humanity's distrust of scientists is the powerful theme of Liu Cixin's 'The Wandering Earth," which is of interest but may be overstated.

"The Wandering Earth" begins at a time in the future when humanity has accepted the findings that our sun is in the final cataclysmic stages of transforming into a red giant. This transformation will include a helium-burst from the sun that will vaporize the Earth unless we either leave the planet, or move it. This is at first the only aspect where people disagree, however under the Unity Government it is decided that Earth Engines will be constructed in order to move the entire planet to the closest most viable star. The story, told from the viewpoint of an unnamed narrator, covers the period of time from when the Earth Engines are beginning to function to the passage of the Earth past the outer planets in our solar system.

Note in all versions (so far) the "Earth Engines," for the motif of huge machines, in this case serving humanity.

RDE, finishing, 27Oct21