| John Chu | |
| Occupation: | Author, engineer, translator |
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John Chu is a Taiwanese-American science fiction writer. His work has won a Nebula award, a Hugo award, an Ignyte award, and a Locus award.[1]
Chu was born in Taiwan. He moved to the US and began learning English at age six.[2] He read voraciously as a child and credits reading Year’s Best SF volumes as solidifying his love of short science fiction stories. The works of Ted Chiang made Chu realize it was possible to be a working author. [3]
Chu attended the 2006 Viable Paradise workshop. And in 2010 was a graduate of the Clarion science fiction & fantasy workshop.[4]
He has a PhD in computer engineering[5] and works as a microprocessor architect by day. He is gay,[6] a theme that he explores in his writing. Other common themes in Chu's work include family relationships, the limitations of the body, accepting yourself, and the power of food in human connections.[7] [8] Chu is a fan of the theatre.
Chu published his first story in 2011. As of 2024, he has published over two dozen stories.
In 2014, Chu’s third published story, "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere," at Tor.com went on to win the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
Chu’s story "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" won the 2022 Nebula award, the 2023 Ignyte award, and the 2023 Locus award for Best Novelette. The story was runner up for the 2023 Hugo award.
Chu’s stories have appeared on the Locus Recommended reading list four times.
In addition to his work as an author, Chu also reads for podcasts and translates novels and stories from Chinese into English. His interest in translation began after he acted as a beta reader for Ken Liu’s English translation of The Three Body Problem. Chu was offered his first translation job in 2013.[9]
Chu’s debut novel is forthcoming.
| width=25% | Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Awards/Honors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Wonderland Is a Parking Lot in Revere"[10] | 2024 | Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2024 | |||
| "Halfway Between Albany and West Point" | 2023 | The Sunday Morning Transport, October 1st, 2023 | |||
| "Equal Forces Opposed in Exquisite Tension" | 2023 | New Suns 2, Solaris, March 14th, 2023 | |||
| "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" | 2022 | Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2022 | Winner 2022 Nebula Award For Best Novelette[11] Winner 2023 Ignyte Award For Best Novelette[12] Winner 2023 Locus Award For Best Novelette[13] Finalist 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novelette[14] | ||
| "Dancing with Death" | 2020 | Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris March 17th, 2020 | |||
| "Close Enough for Jazz" | 2019 | The Mythic Dream, Saga Press September 3, 2019 | |||
| "Probabilitea" | 2019 | Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2019 | |||
| "Beyond the El" | 2019 | Tor.com, January 16, 2019 | 2019 Locus Recommended Reading: Short Stories[16] | ||
| "Quantifying Trust" | 2018 | Mothers of Invention, Twelve Planet Press, September 2018 | Reprinted in The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 4, edited by Neil Clarke, published by Night Shade Books. | ||
| "Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me" | 2017 | Uncanny Magazine, May, 2017 | Reprinted in Wilde Stores 2018: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction, edited by Steve Berman, published by Lethe Press | ||
| "The Sentry Branch Predictor Spec: A Fairy Tale" | 2016 | Clarkesworld, July 2016 | |||
| "How to Piss Off a Failed Super-Soldier" | 2016 | The Book Smugglers' Quarterly Almanac, Volume 1, June, 2016 | |||
| "Selected Afterimages of the Fading" | 2016 | Defying Doomsday, Twelve Planet Press, June 2016 | |||
| "The Law and the Profits" | 2016 | The Revelator, March, 2016 | |||
| "Finding Your Slot" | 2015 | Moozvine, November, 2015 | |||
| "Hold-Time Violations" | 2015 | Tor.com, October 7, 2015 | Reprinted in The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 1, edited by Neil Clarke, published by Night Shade Books | 2015 Locus Recommended Reading: Short Stories[17] | |
| "勢孤取和 (Influence Isolated, Make Peace)" | 2015 | Lightspeed, June, 2015 | |||
| "Restore the Heart into Love" | 2015 | Uncanny Magazine, May, 2015 | |||
| "Repairing the World" | 2014 | Apex Magazine, April, 2014 | |||
| "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade" | 2014 | Tor.com, July 30, 2014 | |||
| "Double Time" | 2014 | Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press | |||
| "Best of All Possible Worlds" | 2013 | Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2013 | |||
| "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" | 2013 | Tor.com, February 20, 2013) | Book: Berman, Steve . Wilde Stories 2014: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction . Lethe Press . 2014. | Winner 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story2013 Locus Recommended Reading: Short Stories[18] | |
| "Incomplete Proofs" | 2012 | Bloody Fabulous, Prime Books | |||
| "Thirty Seconds from Now" | 2011 | Boston Review, September/October |