#nick stember

[paradisesystems]

New on our blog! In 2016, Chinese cartoonist and essayist Thomas Bini collected 11 different lianhuanhua adaptations of Star Wars. Working with Bini, we have now translated the essay and the dozens of pages that he used to illustrate his analysis. Published in the early 1980s, these unauthorized pulp comic adaptations were completed by artists and writers who had not actually seen the films. Their work ranges from painstakingly faithful to delightfully interpretive. Bini’s detailed analysis also adds a great deal here. The essay is a fascinating look into the lianhuanhua publishing industry in its heyday. Special thanks to all the folks who helped on the editing and translation of this one, particularly Lucy Pappas, Joey Schwartzman, and Nick Stember. And a very special thank you to Thomas Bini for giving us permission to translate this wonderful essay.

Image description: The carousel starts with one of the lianhuanhua covers, with Luke Skywalker and an X-Wing looking much like the original film. In the following illustrations, the iconic Star Wars designs are reinterpreted by the illustrators, giving the Jedis ornate helmets or redesigning the droid that tortures Princess Leia.

[pathlightmag]

Xiao Su 晓苏 The Cold Translated by Nick Stember

[sinoweird]

The captain was the first to notice a new sound emerging from the cacophony of footsteps, that of thickly padded feet drumming against the sand. An animal smell, warm and rank, like urine, filled the air. Turning, he saw the glistening fur of the beast, silhouetted against an alien moon, following their little group silently. The squashed face of the beast was covered in matted fur, which moved slightly in the wind, and a single eye, slating fiercely and nearly closed, silently assessed each member of the group in turn. Having arrived once again, the beast was methodically planning its attack, an attack they were helpless to resist. They felt as if they were its subjects and the beast their lord, looking down upon them with disgust, finding themselves shamed by its disregard for them. Fuck, the captain thought bitterly as he clutched his useless laser gun. Sooner or later he’s gonna get us.

Finally they arrived at the tower, which was located in a narrow valley running up into the mountains. In the thick woods which filled the valley, a cluster of low huts were built around a public square. In the middle of the square there was a fountain with a pagan goddess sitting on a lotus blossom throne. A mysterious smile of deep compassion and endless sorrow cut across her broad, moon-like face. Some of the men jumped into the fountain, while others fell to the ground and wept like children. Others were frozen in place, neither crying nor laughing.

Not a single hut was lit from the inside, and no smoke issued forth from their chimneys. No one emerged to welcome them, for the entire village was silent, without a soul around. They soon realized that this place was abandoned, and their hopes were dashed like a great soap bubble that had floated up too high in the sky. Sobbing, they spent the night huddled together in a confused mass.

-Excerpt from “The Hunger Tower” 餓塔 by Pan Haitian 潘海天, translated by Nick Stember, published in Clarkesworld, Issue 106, July 2015.