Since confirming the news of the latest short story with Jiang Yuan, Yang Chao has been full of expectations for many days in a row, and he seems to be more motivated when he comes to work.
After this state lasted for several days, Yang Chao gradually returned to normal.
Mainly after seeing Jiang Yuan’s recent developments through the Internet, I felt that no matter how fast it was, the manuscript would not be submitted in the near future, but there was a deadline for award submissions, and Yang Chao felt that he would receive the manuscript sooner or later within this period.
.
And just after Yang Chao had returned to his normal state of mind, on what seemed like an ordinary working day, Yang Chao once again received a message from Jiang Yuan.
"It has been sent to your mailbox."
On the other hand, after completing the correction work of the manuscript, Jiang Yuan also organized the manuscript as soon as possible and sent it to Yang Chao's email account.
A special notification bell rang. Yang Chao looked at Jiang Yuan's message that seemed to have no subject. His thoughts quickly changed and he knew that what Jiang Yuan mentioned was a short manuscript.
Before even having time to reply to Jiang Yuan's message, Yang Chao hurriedly sat down at his desk, turned on his computer and logged in to his email account at the speed of light.
It was also the first time I received the manuscript sent by Jiang Yuan.
The document did not indicate the title of the work, so Yang Chao could only click on the manuscript to view it.
When the manuscript is opened, the title of the work is already revealed in the first line of text.
""The Last Question"" Yang Chao read out the name of the story, and then chewed it twice, feeling that it was a bit unexpected.
Due to the preconceived impression created by "Fortress", Yang Chao subconsciously thought that it would be a work of similar style if it were a short story.
But now looking at the name of this work, Yang Chao suddenly felt that maybe winning the prize was really something. An inexplicable premonition drove Yang Chao to start reading.
The story is not long, only about 10,000 words. Yang Chao poured himself a cup of coffee and prepared to read it carefully.
Jiang Yuan looked at the email that had been received, and a little anticipation arose in his heart.
"The Last Question" is a short work that Jiang Yuan carefully selected among many works.
When it comes to classic science fiction short stories, one that cannot be avoided comes from the short stories written by the science fiction master Asimov in the last century.
It seems that it has transcended the limitations of time. After decades, it still gives readers a shocking impression after reading it.
With his fingers lightly tapping on the desk, Jiang Yuan himself looked through the work again.
[The last question was first asked half-jokingly on May 21, 2061 AD...]
Yang Chao carefully read the bold text on the computer screen and was brought into the setting at the beginning of the story.
Different from some popular novels, science fiction novels are more difficult to read in Yang Chao's opinion, especially some hard-core science fiction.
"The Final Question" throws out a supercomputer [Mao's model] and unfolds it with a drunken chat between two management employees of the computer.
When the two administrators were chatting, they naturally talked about the issue of whether energy is infinite, which also involves the concept of entropy.
The two had different arguments, and finally decided to throw the question to the supercomputer [Mao's model]. As a computer in 2061, it has a huge database to support the ability to answer questions.
The two administrators sorted out the problem and summarized it in human terms: after the sun dies of old age, is it possible for humans to restore the sun's youth without a net consumption of energy?
The principles involved are so complex that even supercomputers cannot give a definite answer.
The final reply was that there was insufficient information and the answer could not be answered.
When he sobered up the next day, the person who asked the question had forgotten the question, but the question still persisted.
So far, Yang Chao has finished reading the first paragraph of the short story, looked at the screen and blinked.
Even though he had no special knowledge of physics, Yang Chao understood at this moment that this was not a novel that did not involve scientific knowledge.
At the same time, the final question has been introduced at the beginning of the novel, making Yang Chao curious about how the story will develop in the future.
After ending this paragraph, Yang Chao continued reading.
The entire short story jumps many timelines and uses a long time span to unfold around this final question.
Although the number of words is not that many, it took Yang Chao a relatively long time to finish reading.
The descriptions of different timelines almost made Yang Chao obsessed with the black square characters, as if he had traveled through time and space, and as if he had materialized a science fiction movie in his mind. The pictures were particularly vivid.
His thoughts flowed along with the story. When Yang Chao looked up again, the sky outside the window had darkened, but in the city center, there were already bright lights outside the window.
Looking at this scene, Yang Chao looked at the shocking sentence at the end of the novel.
At this moment, Yang Chao seemed to have a trembling feeling that echoed the image of the work.
He stood up and looked out the window for a while, then turned on the light in the office. Yang Chao sat back down in his seat and then calmed down.
However, the excitement was still on the surface.
Even though he had blind faith in Jiang Yuan, Yang Chao at most just thought that Jiang Yuan should be able to participate in the competition for these awards.
But when reading "The Last Question", Yang Chao almost felt like he was reading a classic work that had won a prestigious award.
Of course, if Jiang Yuan knew what Yang Chao was thinking, he would praise it for his good vision. After all, it is indeed one of the famous masterpieces.
Yang Chao did not restrain his thoughts and immediately sent Jiang Yuan his feelings after reading the story.
A series of verbal messages were bombarded. After Jiang Yuan listened to one or two, he finally converted to text for viewing.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Looking at Yang Chao's reaction, Jiang Yuan nodded empathetically.
Because he was finishing the reprint of "The Last Question", Jiang Yuan was deeply touched by this story after reading it again.
Yang Chao's feelings can basically be regarded as Jiang Yuan's watching feelings, and naturally they resonate very much.
In the last comment about his comments, Yang Chao also directly replied that he was going to submit this article as soon as possible, and he also felt from the bottom of his heart that it would have a certain impact on the award.
After Jiang Yuan read the message from Yang Chao, he replied again, saying that he had also sent the English version of the manuscript to Yang Chao's mailbox.
Only after receiving Jiang Yuan's reply did Yang Chao think of the issue of translation.
However, seeing that Jiang Yuan was fully prepared, Yang Chao was also ready to push the essay call, and was even more attentive than Jiang Yuan.
After personally experiencing what kind of short story "The Last Question" is, Yang Chao's emotions have also ignited.
Originally, Jiang Yuan's Golden Dagger Award had already brought his reputation as chief editor to the top.
Unexpectedly, not much time had passed but a new moment of taking flight would immediately come.
In an awards competition where celebrities gather together, if Jiang Yuan wins the award, Yang Chao estimates that it will cause quite a stir around the world.
In other words, as long as there is news that Omega will also participate in this award competition, it will be eye-catching enough.
Mystery novelists and science fiction novelists are obviously very different in everyone's opinion.
Yang Chao was also thinking secretly, feeling that even this situation would be beneficial.
The good thing is that the article "The Last Question" is really excellent. As long as everyone reads it and spreads it, whether it wins this award or not, it should get a lot of recognition.
With this in mind, Yang Chao has already started planning.
After meeting Yang Chao to implement the essay solicitation activity for "The Last Question", Jiang Yuan felt relaxed.
The operation for the next period of time has nothing to do with him. According to Yang Chao's usual approach, the arrangements are quite appropriate every time.
While Yang Chao was busy helping Jiang Yuan submit the manuscript, Jiang Yuan was also continuing to prepare for the performance of Chapter 1.5.
The submission of "The Last Question" also went very smoothly. In the preliminary round, because I brought Omega's name to participate, it was very easy to pass.
Jiang Yuan and Yang Chao finally selected the award to participate in the selection. Although the gold content was not low, the selection process of the award seemed a bit casual.
Of course, the casualness does not refer to the selection criteria, but to the entire selection process. It is not as tightly concealed as other awards. Instead, there is a tendency to proactively reveal information.
By this time of year, everyone basically already knows the list of authors participating in the selection.
For many science fiction writers, it can be called an open battle.
When the selection lineup for the new year was revealed, some readers who paid close attention immediately browsed the list of authors.
There are not many newcomers who have passed the preliminary selection, and most of them are writers whose names readers will be familiar with.
Of course, many readers are also familiar with the name Omega.
So when everyone saw this name for the first time, they subconsciously chose to ignore it.
But after ignoring it, I felt that something was not right. Finally, when I came back to it and focused my attention on the name Omega again, I couldn't help but uttered a word with different pronunciation but the same meaning -
- "Fuck".
The name Omega appeared among the names of many science fiction novelists. After discovering this blind spot, many people immediately thought about the possibility of having the same name.
After it was discovered that the name was not the same, it became one of the hotly debated topics on the day the lineup was revealed.
Everyone is very curious as to why Omega appears in this award selection lineup, and many people have left messages on Jiang Yuan’s account to ask.
Jiang Yuan also chose one of the questions to reply, confirming the message of the submission.
After Jiang Yuan's certification, it was also confirmed that there was no possibility of having the same name.
As soon as this news came out, it was quite explosive on the Internet.
On the one hand, after winning the Golden Dagger Award and launching the subsequent series of "Sherlock Holmes", the name Omega can basically be regarded as a god in the world of mystery novels.
As soon as there is news about a new mystery work, novel fans will probably respond with overwhelming response.
But now, the news of the new work has indeed come out. Fans came to hear the news one after another. When they found out that it was a science fiction work, they couldn't help but be confused.
I can’t figure it out, fans can’t figure it out, and sci-fi fans who follow the award selection can’t figure it out either.
Before the work comes out, there won’t be any criticism or questioning, after all, this is just the preliminary selection for the award.
So except for a small burst when the news first came out, there were no more noises.
Not to mention, Jiang Yuan did have a film like "Fortress" to lay the groundwork.
Even many other well-known writers have the experience of going sideways and trying different styles of works. What's more, this is just a short story, so no one takes it too seriously.
Even the writers who also entered the preliminary round with Jiang Yuan did not take Omega seriously, and subconsciously regarded Jiang Yuan as someone who was just playing for votes.
But other people don't care, and the judging of the awards is different.
After seeing the news, I became somewhat curious about the short story "The Last Question".
After all, after reading so many novels, they are basically in a more serious science fiction style.
So whether Jiang Yuan is just playing for fun or seriously submitting articles, he is ready to take a look at it for a change.
Obviously, there are not a few judges with this idea. After the article "The Final Question" entered the preliminary round, it began to spread among the judges within a short time.
At first, everyone agreed that it was a fun work, but it left a very deep impression on the judging panel, and several people couldn't help but praise it.
Before the primary election was over, comments like this were also circulated.
But after all, the results of the next round have not been made public yet, so after the news came out, not many people chose to believe it.
Most of them still maintain a skeptical attitude, but it does make fans have more expectations for this work.
What really made everyone start to pay attention to Omega's participation in the award selection called the Galaxy Science Fiction Short Story Award was the announcement of the second round of shortlisted candidates after the primary selection.
After entering the main selection, the number of works has been greatly reduced, and basically all of them can be regarded as excellent works.
Omega's name once again appeared in the main lineup, and everyone realized that this was no joke. There were more voices of discussion again, and even the opponents who participated in the selection were a little curious.
I want to find out what kind of work it is.
As for Jiang Yuan himself, his attention at this time is on the chapter tour exhibition that was launched on the first day.
