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

<p>His whole body went suddenly cold, as his stomach convulsed. The vomiting had stopped, but Chen Mu's entire body was aching and limp, without any strength. The side effects of breath control were far more than he had anticipated. That report only included the method to control breathing, with no more detail than that. But he had discovered as soon as he started the training that the report was too simple.</p>

<p>It hadn't brought up side effects, or how to keep the perceptions at a steady frequency, and it hadn't brought up anything about the duration of the state of breath control and related matters, nor anything about the overall situation of the state of breath control.</p>

Turning a Weapon Against Oneself