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

The five small thunderballs were cheerfully circling around Chen Mu, whose face had a grimace more bitter than a bitter melon. Why wouldn't those five little thunderballs disappear after all? They should normally have disappeared as soon as he turned off the apparatus.

His elbow carelessly bumped the edge of the desk, and a cup that had been placed up high became unstable, and then came tumbling toward him.

As Chen Mu was about to grab it, there was suddenly a flash of light. Like fish smelling raw meat, the five small thunderballs came shooting toward the glass from all directions!

Pow! When was such an ordinary glass ever attacked like that, smashing into bits in an instant, shattering in all directions.

What the five little thunderballs had done so suddenly was far beyond anything Chen Mu could have anticipated, giving him no chance to react.

The Little Company of Five