Having just ripped through all of Iain M. Bank’s Culture books, and run out of stuff to read, I’ve been wnadering around one of the best genre blogs I’ve come across. zhwj is a blog devoted to Chinese Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with plenty of reviews, links and news on this world. Zhwj recently wrote an article for Danwei about sci-fi art in China.

In addition to the Chinese magazines that print science fiction and fantasy stories, there are quite a few Mainland periodicals devoted to fantasy artwork. These range from translations of popular Japanese animated series (Neon Genesis Evangelion is fairly popular, and the boy detective Conan has just had a simplified character version released) to the lush cover paintings that flow from the brushes of the leading European and American artists.

With many images along the lines of this archive of Boris Vallejo’s art at the Chinese Underground SF fansite, the art brings to mind the old science fiction saying: “The golden age of SF is 14.”

One of the leading graphic magazines is Fantasy: Illustrated Fantasy & Sci-Fi For Fans (originally named SF Fan, pictured above), which sells over 30,000 copies of each issue, according to Tianjin SF writer Zheng Jun.

Since 2003 each issue has come in two parts, a main section devoted primarily to European and American artwork, and a supplement that contains a short story, several non-fiction articles, comics, and tips for artists.

Stories from most other SF magazines are quickly scanned in and posted on various fan message boards, but perhaps because of the graphics-heavy content, Fantasy magazine releases the major artwork from the issues themselves online in jpg and pdf formats, after two months.

幻想杂志 Fantasy June 2004

幻想杂志 Fantasy April 2004