Looking for Sci-Fi novels set in Asia.

[RandySF]

I'm looking around for some science fiction novels that are set in Asia. I read River of the Gods (set in India) and just purchased 1Q84 (Japan). Are there any others out there worth looking at? Thanks.

[Ian David]

1. IIRC, Johnny Mnemonic has some scenes in Japan. n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Gibson's Idoru is set in Japan

And there was a fantastic horror novel set in India by Dan Simmons, The Song of Kali. It would have made a great film. Chilling.

[mzteris]

2. Chung Kuo

Warning - some of the books are way better than the others. He loses his way sometimes. . .

edit to add author: David Wingrove


edit again - actually it's not really "set in Asia" - it's more like the whole word becomes "asia"

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. The Windup Girl, set in Thailand.

[Bosonic]

4. The Windup Girl is set in Thailand

Neuromancer has some Japanese settings (Chiba)

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. GMTA

[Fumesucker]

7. "The Years of Rice and Salt" Kim Stanley Robinson..

[baldguy]

8. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

River of Gods
Cyberabad Days
The Dervish House, all by Ian McDonald

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh

[razorman]

9. Brade Lunner. Sorry. Couldn't help it.

[baldguy]

10. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBiYAa5qdDE

[razorman]

11. Actually, I had forgotten that scene. Good catch.

[razorman]

12. Not actually a novel, but 'Firefly' showed heavy Chinese influence in our future,

space-faring society.

[razorman]

13. The Peshawar Lancers, by S.M. Stirling. Alternate history novel, where

because of natural disasters, India becomes the HQ of western civilization.

[pitohui]

14. Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

ack i may have just donated this to someone else in a housecleaning drive but you can send me a pm w. your address in it and if it's in the usa AND i can find the durn book i'll mail it to you

if i've already passed it on, forgive me, i've been on a major trying to donate/share/freecycle kick lately and i can't remember all i've donatd/swapped but you can prob. get the book cheaply enough online or at a used book site, it is not a rare volume to my knowledge


as someone else said pkd had some japanese themed books but he was a californian...man in the high castle (japan wins ww2) is the classic there

[pitohui]

15. oh and don't forget david mitchell's cloud atlas (korea)

it's set in a lot of places but the scenes in korea are very disturbing and they are what you can't shake years later...the disposable robots w. their pitiful dreams of retiring to a life in the sun, it could almost be the "story of us"

[Vehl]

16. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny has a South Asian theme

Even though its set in a new world colonized by humans. I read it a few years back and was pretty impressed by it.
The Central theme of the story revolves around a segment of the initial colonists who have ascended to "godhood" based on technological advancements.

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Light-Roger-Zelazny/dp/0060567236


On a related note, the ancient Indian epics, the Mahabharat and the the Ramayan also read like sci-fi sometimes. Especially the parts that talk about humans who fly to other planets in huge Ariel vehicles, the use of Weapons of mass destruction that sound eerily like nukes, heat seeking arrows and beam weapons. Oh, did I also mention that there are many different races, both terrestrial and extra terrestrial? :D. Imho the Mahabarat and the Ramayan are probably the first sci fi books of humanity.

For the starter i would recommend the abridged, but excellent English renderings of these two epics by William Buck.

http://www.amazon.com/Ramayana-William-Buck/dp/0520227034/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321501531&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-William-Buck/dp/0520227042/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321501531&sr=1-3