The English version of Liu Cixin's science fiction Three Body trilogy is expected to hit shelves in the United States in October. [Photo/China Daily]

The English version of a best-seller by China's most popular science fiction writer is expected to hit shelves in the United States in October, China Educational Publications Import and Export Corp Ltd announced last week.

In Liu Cixin's Three Body trilogy, the entire solar system is flattened into a two-dimensional image in an apocalyptic battle between earthlings and aliens.

The masterpiece by Liu, an engineer by trade, has been hailed for its extraordinary artistic vision. Three specially selected translators, Ken Liu, Joel Martinsen and Eric Abrahamsen, have been working on the English version of the trilogy.

Ken Liu, himself a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, undertook the first part, The Three-Body Problem. Some episodes in the book take place during China's "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Though the historical setting is unusual for science fiction, it serves to foreshadow later developments in the novel.

Both Ken Liu and Martinsen, who translated Dark Forest, have finished translation. Abrahamsen's translation of Dead End has yet to be completed.

According to CEPIT, the English version of Dark Forest is expected to hit the Western market in May 2015, while the translation of Dead End will be released in January 2016. The trilogy will be available both in paper and electronic forms.

It took CEPIT and its US partner, Tor Books, 17 months to complete procedures to sign a contract allowing for global publication of the novel in English.

The first book in the trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, was originally serialized by Science Fiction World magazine from May to December 2006.

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