Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

Since getting back from the club, Chen Mu had been very excited. He experienced so very many astonishing and ingenious ideas which expanded his outlook. Before then he hadn't had any exchanges with other card masters. He had always been shut up alone studying by himself, trying things by himself, and muddling along when he failed by himself. Even though he later had that mysterious card, there wasn't ever really any change with his situation.

It was his first taste of the joys of communicating with others.

That first time having come face to face with the ideas of so many card masters kept Chen Mu in a state of excitement. He spent a whole day in the great hall as though he were intoxicated, grasping other peoples' ideas and trying to answer other peoples' questions.

By the end he didn't remember clearly how many questions he had really tried to crack, but what discouraged him was that most of them ended in failure.

A New Discovery