A Thousand Blues · 7

Author's Note · 356
Review · 359
Acceptance Speech · 373

A name that will be remembered as another achievement of the 'Korea Science Literature Award'!
The warmest wave our SF has ever embraced, Cheon Seon-ran!

At the age of seventeen, Cheon Seon-ran, with a dream of becoming a novelist, enters the creative writing department of an arts high school without her parents' permission.
I would set foot anywhere, no matter how small, where I could write a novel.
Although I briefly gave up on writing novels, I could not shake off the desire to become a 'storyteller'.
He was always a 'writer'.
Even when I wasn't writing, I was always imagining things, weaving stories, and breathing life into characters.
Even before her debut, Cheon Seon-ran has been steadily building up her skills by uploading her works to various platforms, including BritG and the fantasy literature webzine Mirror.
The girl who dreamed of becoming a novelist, ten years later, wins the grand prize for her novel at the Korea Science Fiction Literature Award and becomes the most notable star in the Korean science fiction world.


Cheon Seon-ran, who made a name for herself among science fiction fans with her first full-length novel, "The Broken Bridge," in 2019, and solidified her position as a leading figure in Korean science fiction with her short story collection, "Love of a Certain Material," in July 2020.
The 2019 Korea Science Literature Award long novel grand prize winner, 『A Thousand Blues』, garnered fervent anticipation from many science fiction fans even before its publication, as if to prove this point.

『A Thousand Blues』 drew praise from Kim Bo-young, a judge for the Korea Science Literature Award, who said, “It is a fantastic and elegant novel filled with a thousand blues,” and “It is believable even if it were the work of a famous writer who is already active.”
This is in line with what author Kim Chang-gyu said in his comments for the Korea Science Literature Award.
I was happy to think that I would no longer have to hear talk about the “potential for good Korean SF.”
“To that extent, works that have sufficiently digested and shaped science fiction have been completed by taking various paths beyond possibility.” Cheon Seon-ran is no longer a possibility of science fiction.
He is a 'prepared writer' who has already reached us in a fully ripe state.

The Cheon Seon Orchid is not a comet-like light that suddenly came to us one day, but a drop of water that seeped in little by little with a consistency that even pierced through rocks.
Those water droplets now come together to form a huge wave.
A writer whose literary muscles have been honed through long periods of practice, and whose driving force is to continue writing without rest even at this very moment.
This sincerity alone makes Cheon Seon-ran's actions incredibly charming, but he also possesses a straight and broad gaze that always gazes further and wider than here.
The waves created by the small drops of water that have accumulated over the past ten years are just beginning to roll in.
Cheon Seon-ran, an 'already accomplished writer', will be remembered for another achievement in the Korean Science Literature Award.

In the fast-changing world,
With all my might, a straight and trustworthy gaze that doesn't miss a single blade of grass

If science fiction is a genre that anticipates change and development within advancing technology, then "A Thousand Blues" is a novel that stares squarely at the existences that are fading away within advancing technology.
Those who are ignored and overlooked by advanced technology, those who are marginalized by the chaotic capitalist system, and those who have sunk beneath the surface, broken and wounded, are lightly salvaged by Cheon Seon-ran's net of sentences woven with affection and elegance.
His novels are made up of the process of adding vivid colors to those who have faded.

“If we pursue development that excludes plants, animals, nature, and humans who do not belong to the majority, humanity will quickly perish.
Therefore, we must relearn by reading 『A Thousand Blues』.
The true meaning of happiness and comfort, mourning and recovery, normalcy and flaws, mistakes and opportunities, and freedom.
We can go 'slowly, slowly'.
No, it has to be that way.
I came across a warm and brilliant novel that shows us how to move forward together without excluding anything.
“I am so grateful and overwhelmed.” - Choi Jin-young (novelist)

As novelist Jinyoung Choi said in his recommendation, reading A Thousand Blues allows us to reaffirm the timeless values ​​of happiness, comfort, mourning, recovery, and freedom.
Today, a racehorse on the verge of euthanasia; Collie, a humanoid jockey with a broken lower body who is about to be scrapped; Eun-hye, a girl living with a disability; Yeon-jae, who wanders in front of a distant future; Bo-kyung, who loses her companion and repeats endless mourning in a time that has stopped; 『A Thousand Waves』 embraces the stories of these wounded and weak people like warm waves that exclude no one.
So that no one in any corner of the world will cry alone like a water drop.
Even in a world that changes every time you close your eyes and open them, 『A Thousand Blues』 willingly walks in step with the things that do not change, the slowest and weakest things in this world.

『A Thousand Blues』 begins with a single line written by author Cheon Seon-ran in a notepad on her cell phone.
"We all need to practice running slowly." Even amidst the scenery passing by at a fast pace, Cheon Seon-ran's gaze is upright as she "turns her head with all her might to look at the blurry blades of grass," and the author's attitude of practicing slow steps so as not to step on even a single ant is trustworthy.
Therefore, while reading 『A Thousand Blues』 in line with Cheon Seon-ran's gaze and footsteps, we can enjoy 'the dense joy that can only be glimpsed beyond the tenacious solidarity of small, broken and injured beings.'


Animals, robots and humans,
A beautiful and splendid year of recovery for those who transcend species

★“I’m breathing, too, just for the moment I’m running.”
The story of Collie, a humanoid rider facing retirement.

In 2035, jockeys in horse racing are replaced by humanoids.
Racehorses carrying humanoids lighter than humans and free from death must run much faster than before.
Today, a racehorse who was forced to run as fast as possible, has worn away his cartilage and can no longer run, and Collie, a humanoid jockey who has been working with Today as his partner. One day, Collie chooses to fall off his horse during a late summer race.
To protect Today before he completely loses his legs.

★“Living is always about encountering such opportunities.”
-The story of Yeonjae, the girl who created miracles.

Yeonjae, a girl with a genius talent in the field of robotics, has put her dream of becoming a 'soft robotics researcher' on hold due to her family's financial situation and is wandering around.
One day, Yeonjae discovers a humanoid called 'Colly', broken and discarded, in a corner of a horse racing park she happened to visit.
Yeonjae feels a strong attraction to Collie, who, unlike other humanoid riders, fell off his horse while 'looking up at the sky' during a race.
Thus begins the meeting between Yeonjae and Collie, who will create a miracle.

★“Let us, who are three-dimensional, not be hurt by one-dimensional words.”
-The story of Eunhye, a girl who wants true freedom.

For Yeonjae's older sister, Eunhye, who uses a wheelchair, the outside world is a 'dangerous adventure.'
Eunhye feels sympathy for the racehorse 'Today' who lost his leg and goes to see him every day, but Eunhye's journey, which requires her to go out in a wheelchair, is by no means easy.
The "freedom" that Eunhye needs is not a biocompatible prosthetic limb or an electric wheelchair, but "a gentle ramp to get onto the sidewalk, a lift to get into a store, a leisurely pedestrian signal at a crosswalk, and the safety of being able to ride a bus or subway without anyone's help."
“Let’s not let the words of the one-dimensional world hurt us in the three-dimensional world.” With the courage given by her friend Juwon, the three-dimensional Eunhye finally challenges the ‘normality’ defined by the one-dimensional world.

★“Only happy moments can overcome longing.”
-The story of Bokyeong, who constantly mourns someone in a time that has stopped.

To Bo-kyung, who lost her firefighter husband in an accident and lives only looking after her two daughters, Eun-hye and Yeon-jae, Eun-hye is a 'sore finger' and Yeon-jae is a 'finger with damaged nerves'.
Because of the guilt of not being able to give Eunhye a prosthetic leg due to their poor living conditions and the guilt of not being able to see Yeonjae's talent because she was only concerned about Eunhye, Bokyung's hands always hesitate to reach her two daughters.
But perhaps more true than the arms that embrace each other is the hesitant trembling of two arms stretched out just before embracing each other.
Bo-kyung heals her wounded heart through communication with a humanoid collie who accidentally enters her home and gradually tries to get closer to her two daughters.