"Science Fiction World·translated Edition" Issue 4, 2023

Highlights in this issue: David Hull's album Short Story: "It's Not Too Late in Ten Years" Text/[American] Translated by David Hull/Xing Yiqi Because of a woman, the sous chef was killed and quartered by the head chef. He refused to die and turned into a ghost to accompany the woman he loved, but no one could see him. Finally one day, a psychic man in the kitchen saw him. So one person and one ghost worked together to avenge the old revenge for many years. It's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, right? Short story: "The Universal Good" Text/[American] Translated by David Hull/Liang Meisi This article is a new work in Hull's "Magic Sheriff" series. Charles Duke was kidnapped by a wizard and taken to a magical world, and he struggled to find a way to return to his original hometown. It happened that he heard that someone had a tool that could send him back, but that person asked him to take a trip to hell to help him with something. But Duke worked hard to accomplish something, and when he came back, he found that he had been tricked again... Short Story: "The Marten and the Witch Doctor" Text/[American] Translated by David Hull/Xiao Bai Dissatisfied with his father, the little boy ran away from home to visit his elf relatives living in the woods, only to find that they encountered an ogre. Let's see how the little boy desperately tries to find a way to save everyone's lives before his father, who is looking for him everywhere, arrives. Featured novel: "Jennifer Mortuary" Text/[English] Charles Stross Translation/Cai Depei The second installment of the "Laundry" series returns with a full-bodied Cthulhu flavor! This time, the protagonist Howard encountered two problems: the laundry room sent him on a business trip, but the car arranged for him was a BMW SMART that was not cool at all; and this time his partner turned out to be a devil. As if the organization didn't think it was bad enough, they threw him around without explaining the mission information to him. As a result, he encountered zombies transformed by Microsoft PPT, the resurrection of the dead, and other terrible situations. Howard, who was tired of running for his life, finally figured out the situation, but found that the person he had to deal with next seemed to be the Deep Diver... Short novella: "Game of Gods" Text/[English] Translated by K. J. Parker/There is Snow in Beijing The story brought by old acquaintance Parker in this issue is classic yet innovative. In order to save his life, the sailing merchant formed an alliance with the three gods. The god told him that there are two ways to gain freedom: death and ruthlessness. God chose the latter, leaving mortals to choose the former. Freedom and life cannot have both? Negotiations kicked off. Short Story: "Harvest of Bones" Text/[Greece] Eugenia Triantafilou Translated/June Jasmine The village was devastated by war, and the men who devoted themselves to the battlefield were gone forever. Just as the enemy was approaching and there was no way out, the unarmed woman ignited the fire of the ancestors' anger. Short Story: "Bright Morning" Text/[American] Translated by Jeffrey Ford/Xu Yan There is a story in Kafka's collection of fables called "Bright Morning". Some people have never forgotten it, while more people have never heard of its existence. Some people tried their best to find this work and wrote a story of the same name to pay tribute to the original work. But after reading this work, some people, like the protagonist in the story, walked into the bright morning and quietly disappeared.