In the Watchful City

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Tor Publishing Group, Aug 31, 2021 - Fiction - 192 pages
3 Reviews
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"This masterful work positions Lu among the vanguard of contemporary futurism and speculative fiction."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

In the tradition of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, debut author S. Qiouyi Lu has written a multifaceted story of borders, power, diaspora, and transformation with In the Watchful City.

The city of Ora is watching.

Anima is an extrasensory human tasked with surveilling and protecting Ora’s citizens via a complex living network called the Gleaming. Although ær world is restricted to what æ can see and experience through the Gleaming, Anima takes pride and comfort in keeping Ora safe from harm.

When a mysterious outsider enters the city carrying a cabinet of curiosities from around with the world with a story attached to each item, Anima’s world expands beyond the borders of Ora to places—and possibilities—æ never before imagined to exist. But such knowledge leaves Anima with a question that throws into doubt ær entire purpose: What good is a city if it can’t protect its people?

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - AnnieMod - LibraryThing

It is hard to pull the story inside of a story format in a novella length text. It gets even harder when there are multiple embedded stories. And S. Qiouyi Lu pulls it off effortlessly. The city of ... Read full review

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - inquisitrix - LibraryThing

The city of Ora is a place of beauty grown from unbearable trauma. Its tangles of vines, structurally integral trees, and streets named for flowers and painted with their namesake floral motifs to ... Read full review

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In the Watchful City
S. Qiouyi Lu
No preview available - 2021

Common terms and phrases

ærself already Anima says Anselmo arms become blade blood body bones breath calls catches Chūnjú close comes continues Crown dark death doesn’t don’t door Ellen Ellen says Enigma expression eyes face falls father feel feet fingers fish flashes fugitive gaze give Gleaming golden ground hair hand Hàokōng head heart hold human It’s Juniper keeps Kiru Kiru’s leaves lets light live looks Majesty mermaid mind mother never night nods once pain person pulls qíjìtáng releases remains rest rises river runs sets shadow Shuāng simply Siya skin skycup Skylands smile snake Sombra speak stands Stella Stella says stem steps stop story Sumi suns sure tail takes tears tell things thinks thought thread touch trunk turns Vessel says voice watching

About the author (2021)

S. Qiouyi Lu writes and translates between two coasts of the Pacific. Ær work, including fiction, poetry, and essays, has appeared in several award-winning venues. In the Watchful City is ær first novella. You can find out more about S. at ær website or on Twitter.

Bibliographic information

QR code for In the Watchful City
TitleIn the Watchful City
AuthorS. Qiouyi Lu
PublisherTor Publishing Group, 2021
ISBN1250792991, 9781250792990
Length192 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure
Fiction / Science Fiction / Cyberpunk
  
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