Listen free for 30 days
-
To Hold Up the Sky
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii, Catherine Cho, Emily Woo Zeller, Feodor Chin, Greg Chun, Nancy Wu, Natalie Naudus, P. J. Ochlan, Robert Fass, Vikas Adam
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
To Hold Up the Sky
Buy Now for $31.97
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
The Wandering Earth
- Written by: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Greg Chun
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
These 11 stories, including five Chinese Galaxy Award winners, are a blazingly original ode to planet Earth, its pasts, and its futures. Liu's fiction takes the listener to the edge of the universe and the end of time, to meet stranger fates than we could have ever imagined. With a melancholic and keen understanding of human nature, Liu's stories show humanity's attempts to reason, navigate, and above all, survive in a desolate cosmos.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
all great short stories minus one of them!
- By Brandon Smith on 2022-08-11
Written by: Cixin Liu
-
Supernova Era
- Written by: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 26
Eight light years away, a star has died, creating a supernova event that showers Earth in deadly levels of radiation. Within a year, everyone over the age of 13 will die. And so the countdown begins. Parents apprentice their children and try to pass on the knowledge needed to keep the world running. But when the world is theirs, the last generation may not want to continue the legacy left to them. And in shaping the future however they want, will the children usher in an era of bright beginnings or final mistakes?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great start, average finish
- By Niki Techen on 2020-01-21
Written by: Cixin Liu, and others
-
Ball Lightning
- Written by: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of a new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good story, but...
- By Niki Techen on 2019-04-08
Written by: Cixin Liu, and others
-
The Cretaceous Past
- Written by: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 8
When a Tyrannosaurus rex suffers pain from meat trapped between its enormous teeth, a nearby colony of ants risks entering the great creature's maw to make their own repast from the remains of the dinosaur's most recent meal. From this humble beginning, over the course of millennia, a symbiotic civilization achieves amazing advances, facing dangers and exploiting opportunities at every turn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Short and sweet alternate past (probably alternate!)
- By O. Kosmatos on 2022-11-04
Written by: Cixin Liu
-
Shards of Earth
- The Final Architecture, Book 1
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans such as Idris - who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared, and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing but not for the uninitiated
- By Jonathan Alexiou on 2022-01-27
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- Written by: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Delightful collection of thought-provoking stories
- By Hmmmm on 2020-02-03
Written by: Ted Chiang
-
The Wandering Earth
- Written by: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Greg Chun
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
These 11 stories, including five Chinese Galaxy Award winners, are a blazingly original ode to planet Earth, its pasts, and its futures. Liu's fiction takes the listener to the edge of the universe and the end of time, to meet stranger fates than we could have ever imagined. With a melancholic and keen understanding of human nature, Liu's stories show humanity's attempts to reason, navigate, and above all, survive in a desolate cosmos.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
all great short stories minus one of them!
- By Brandon Smith on 2022-08-11
Written by: Cixin Liu
-
Supernova Era
- Written by: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 26
Eight light years away, a star has died, creating a supernova event that showers Earth in deadly levels of radiation. Within a year, everyone over the age of 13 will die. And so the countdown begins. Parents apprentice their children and try to pass on the knowledge needed to keep the world running. But when the world is theirs, the last generation may not want to continue the legacy left to them. And in shaping the future however they want, will the children usher in an era of bright beginnings or final mistakes?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great start, average finish
- By Niki Techen on 2020-01-21
Written by: Cixin Liu, and others
-
Ball Lightning
- Written by: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of a new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good story, but...
- By Niki Techen on 2019-04-08
Written by: Cixin Liu, and others
-
The Cretaceous Past
- Written by: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 8
When a Tyrannosaurus rex suffers pain from meat trapped between its enormous teeth, a nearby colony of ants risks entering the great creature's maw to make their own repast from the remains of the dinosaur's most recent meal. From this humble beginning, over the course of millennia, a symbiotic civilization achieves amazing advances, facing dangers and exploiting opportunities at every turn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Short and sweet alternate past (probably alternate!)
- By O. Kosmatos on 2022-11-04
Written by: Cixin Liu
-
Shards of Earth
- The Final Architecture, Book 1
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans such as Idris - who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared, and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing but not for the uninitiated
- By Jonathan Alexiou on 2022-01-27
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- Written by: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Delightful collection of thought-provoking stories
- By Hmmmm on 2020-02-03
Written by: Ted Chiang
Publisher's Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past.
In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.
Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers.
Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection.
Stories included are:
"Contraction"
"Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming"
"The Village Teacher"
"Fire in the Earth"
"Time Migration"
"Ode to Joy"
"Mirror"
"Sea of Dreams"
"Cloud of Poems"
"The Thinker"
This program is read by: Vikas Adam, Feodor Chin, Greg Chun, Robert Fass, Catherine Ho, Natalie Naudus, Brian Nishii, P. J. Ochlan, Emily Woo Zeller, and Nancy Wu
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books
More from the same
What listeners say about To Hold Up the Sky
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Max Chen
- 2022-11-09
Disappointments Over Poor Translation
Superb compilation，in this review i want to talk about full spectrum barrage jamming
characters are stiff，interesting story set up，poor translation
I am a Chinese and I have read most of these novels in its original language close to 10 years ago
the translator that worked on full spectrum barrage jamming is making some obvious mistakes on terminologies like at the end of the book where the Americans are defending their line
the translated version stated that the Americans are using "Grenade Launchers" where it is just the literal translation of "榴弹炮" in Chinese，the correct translation would be "Artilleries" or "Cannons"
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew
- 2021-06-08
Excellent writing!
The performances of the narrators were a little uneven, but overall this was an excellent audiobook!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- restless consumer
- 2021-02-15
Superlatives all around!
Happy to have been introduced to this author through the $5 Audible deal. Would have still been thrilled if I had used a credit. I would love to read The Three Body Problem as well, but it isn’t available to download in Mexico (yet?).
My favorite story in this collection was the very last. A wonderful journey getting there too. Kudos to the author and the narrators! Thank you!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- tosbanzai
- 2021-03-11
Excellent
If you can get over Americans and NATO being the bad guys in a couple of the stories, there’s some excellent thought-provoking sci-fi here.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-03-06
incredible.
amazing short stories. the last one was the best. I highly recommend. it will change how you view literature and the universe.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Elissa
- 2021-04-23
I really wanted to love this book
I love Cixin Liu. I enjoyed everything I read from him. Not So much this one.
The good:
You can trust Cixin Liu to have original, complex ideas that make you think "this could totally be possible". The stories in this book carry the unique and interesting quality I love. All stories made me wish there would be a sequel, full length book.
The could-be-better:
While the short stories are interesting, they felt to me a bit "unfinished". Almost like they were under developed pitches/pilots for full length books. And the narration drove me crazy. Why have a different narrator for every short story? It takes me time to get used to a style and a voice. I would prefer to have just one.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- E. Bernal
- 2021-02-26
One of the best scifi short story collections ever
Stories (in translation) and narration were well matched. So imaginative and poetic, with a narrative scake from the galactic to the intimate. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amith V.
- 2021-02-14
Disappointing
I loved TBP trilogy but this was so inspiring.
Some of the narrator's were awful.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Rick
- 2022-12-17
Disappointing
I have listened to all of Liu books and this was his worst. Barely was able to finish it even with liberal use of fast forward. Stories ranged from boring to juvenile to fanciful and always with a anthro-centric of how special humans are because of their poetry and art. There was precious little science in this science fiction, It was self indulgent clap trap typical of what a lot of well known writers devolve into when they run out of new ideas.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carmen
- 2021-10-10
Worth the listen
I found the stories hit of miss. But many will bounce around in my head for a long time.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Linda
- 2023-02-16
Fun to explore
a new short story author. Stories were interesting an I enjoyed listening to the many different performers.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard Johnson
- 2022-12-01
Entertaining & thought-provoking
Well-told stories involving much real science, in addition to fantasy. Much food for thought, in each story.