"Literature is a passport to a larger life, a passport to freedom." - Susan Sontag
The sand and dust of the north are carried by the wind and sneak into the originally moist basin. Yang Feng got up and looked out the window at the dusty spring day, her office was on the fourth floor, a height just enough for her to look down at the green canopy of the garden. Birds that fly by from time to time take her eyes and thoughts into the distance.
遠方，對楊楓來說，一直是個充滿誘惑力的詞彙。在過去二十多年的時間里，從故鄉新疆的星空到四川盆地的潤澤，從億萬字元的“內陸深處”到無數光年之外的“科幻星雲”，她一直嚮往著遠方，也持續創造著屬於一代人的“精神遠方”。
For a long time, Yang Feng has played multiple roles – literary editor, publisher, entrepreneur, and initiator of the Nebula Award and the Cold Lake Award. But these superficial labels all point to a unified core - the "guide" of domestic science fiction literature. In the past ten years, the Baguangfen Culture founded by her has continued to use science fiction literature as an incision to carve out a "multiverse" spanning publishing, film and television, animation, and cultural tourism, and has become a unique existence in the industry.
Whether it is staying up late at the desk to review upcoming science fiction works, or running around in San Jose in the United States, Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Qinghai Lenghu and other "science fiction towns", or discussing science fiction + film and television, science fiction + cultural tourism with different investors, Yang Feng follows the main line of science fiction literature and continues to expand the frontier for the domestic science fiction industry. In her words, "We are the ones who spread the flame of science fiction and hope to lead the rise of more science fiction forces." At the same time, we also hope to use science fiction literature to record more 'historical whispers'. ”
2023年上映的電影《宇宙編輯部的故事》（Journey to the West）講述了一家誕生於上世紀八十年代的科幻雜誌——《宇宙探索》編輯部的主編唐志軍，在雜誌社日漸式微的當下，卻依然幾十年如一日地癡迷於尋找地外文明的故事。
This modern allegorical film is inspired by a well-known science fiction magazine called UFO Quest. In the seventies and eighties of the last century, when Yang Feng grew up, this magazine was popular all over the country, and in a sense, it opened the "door to imagination" of domestic readers at that time. "In our era, a hundred flowers were really blooming, and with the prosperity of poetry, prose, and novels, science fiction literature slowly moved from the niche to the public's field of vision."
Yang Feng, who grew up in the interior of Xinjiang, has a father who is the editor-in-chief of poetry magazines, and she herself is a complete fan of literature.
In 1991 years, Yang Feng, who graduated from university not long ago, entered the literary editing office of Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House. For her, literature is not only a shelter in the storm of life, but also a "passport" to the wider world.
In 2003, she joined Science Fiction World magazine and worked her way up to the rank of associate editor. During her career as a sci-fi editor, Yang Feng, who was in the traditional publishing industry, experienced violent turmoil in the industry, and she began to germinate the idea of building her own sci-fi platform, so as to support her to go further.
At the same time, a new trend is coming to her - "The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award in 2015, and Chinese science fiction writers represented by Da Liu (Liu Cixin) accelerated into the international vision; Investors in the film industry began to frantically hoard original sci-fi IP; Startups in the name of science fiction have sprung up.
In the face of drastic changes in the creative environment and market environment, Yang Feng decided to leave his comfort zone and go outside with a feeling of anxiety. So, in 2016 years, she founded Baguangfen in Chengdu, and she is both the founder and the No. 1 employee. The company's name has a very sci-fi meaning - it means the distance of sunlight to the earth, Yang Feng said, "That is also the distance that gives birth to life." ”
Slowly, Baguangfen gathered a group of senior professionals and young people who love science fiction, such as Xixia, who studied in the Department of Geophysics of Peking University in his early years and studied film in Canada, and Fan Yilun, the first Chinese student to study science fiction at the University of California, Riverside; There are also Yao Xue, who gave up his job in a foreign company in Shanghai, and Dai Haoran, who left the position of project director of Toutiao, both of whom have now grown into the backbone of their own affairs.
Under the leadership of Yang Feng, the team has successfully planned the "Light Separation Science Fiction Library" and "Chinese Science Fiction Masterpiece Selection", and at the same time produced the science fiction MOOK "Edge of the Galaxy" series, as well as the official novel series of the internationally famous science fiction IP "Doctor Who", extending the tentacles of Chinese science fiction to the mainstream market in the United Kingdom and the United States.
公司成立初期，在巨大的生存壓力之下，楊楓力排眾議開啟了一個後來足以寫進中國科幻發展史的專案——《追夢人——四川科幻口述史》。歷經半年訪談、拍攝與整理，這本60余萬字的著作收錄了楊瀟、譚楷、流沙河等科幻“領路人”篳路藍縷的故事。
"Looking back at the development of Chinese science fiction literature, there are many important people and events that need to be better recorded, so that we will have a 'starry sky' that we can look up to many years later. This is my biggest original intention for the "Dream Chaser" project. Yang Feng said. Later, using the project as the "blueprint", after seven years, Yang Feng completed the three-volume "Oral History of Chinese Science Fiction", which was shortlisted for the highest award in the science fiction industry - the Hugo Award.
"History should not have only one voice. I hope to use science fiction to record every unique 'historical whisper'. In the process of advancing the project, although I encountered a lot of resistance, I was lucky to have the support of so many seniors in the science fiction industry. Yang Feng said bluntly.
"I remember that after the interview, Mr. Liu Shahe, who had just recovered from a serious illness, happily inscribed the name of the company for us. Mr. Zhou Mengpu chatted for a whole day, and he still felt unsatisfied. At that time, Zhou Lao opened a small telephone book with a trembling hand, asked us to write down our names, and said with a smile, I want to write your names in the diary. Yang Feng recalled.
At the beginning of his business, Yang Feng injected "original genes" into the team - insisting on long-termism, vigorously excavating and supporting original science fiction literary works and science fiction writers. In her view, "without high-quality science fiction literary content, the science fiction industry is a source of water, and it is impossible to form a coherent industrial chain." Originality is the lifeblood of our industry. ”
At the beginning of 2019, after nearly two years of hard work, Baguangfen and the People's Literature Publishing House jointly published the book "Orphans of Mars" written by Dr. Liu Yang, a young science fiction writer and teacher of Southern University of Science and Technology. This is the first original work planned by Baguangfen.
After the publication of this book, it coincided with the popularity of "The Wandering Earth" released during the Spring Festival, and soon caused huge repercussions in the science fiction circle and the film and television industry. I have always believed that 'slow is fast', and behind the publication of this book is a microcosm of our team's insistence on quality thinking. Yang Feng shared.
To a certain extent, Baguangfen is unique, although rooted in Chengdu, but not limited by geographical limitations, early to open up a lot of international resources that are the envy of the industry. For example, the Chinese version of "The Edge of the Galaxy", co-edited by Yang Feng as the Chinese editor-in-chief and five-time Hugo Award-winning science fiction star Mike Resnick, has now become an important position for outstanding domestic science fiction writers to go global.
On the Chinese version of "The Edge of the Galaxy", each issue publishes 10-0 novels, half of which are foreign science fiction novels, and the other half are domestic science fiction masterpieces, "which not only takes into account the excellent works in the American version of "Galaxy Edge", but also gives our domestic original creators a new platform. ”
It is worth noting that since 5/0, the American version of "Edge of the Galaxy" has also opened a special column - "Yang Feng's Recommendation" to launch the English version of the Chinese science fiction novels selected by Yang Feng. This novel cooperation model is not only the first in China, but also rare in the world, opening up the two-way publishing and output of Chinese and foreign science fiction novels. "This project was indeed more difficult than we imagined, but through the cooperation of the team and the partner publishers, we were able to provide a stable creative platform for the majority of science fiction fans, and all the efforts were worth it."
For example, Hai Xuan, a young science fiction writer signed by Baguangfen, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Novella at the 9th World Science Fiction Convention in 0 years with "Time and Space Painter", and thus became the third Chinese science fiction writer to win the Hugo Award after Liu Cixin and Hao Jingfang. And "Time and Space Painter" was first published in the 0th volume of the "Edge of the Galaxy" series.
"We have always been very confident in our vision," Yang Feng said, "The copyright of all Haiyi's works is signed by Baguangfen Culture. At present, "Time and Space Painter" is working with domestic first-line companies to promote the film and television development process. ”
In recent years, in addition to discovering new works through platforms such as "Galaxy's Edge", and continuing to promote the cooperation between more international publishing institutions and Chinese science fiction, Yang Feng has also actively launched new faces of science fiction by relying on platforms such as the Nebula Award and the Cold Lake Award. Dong Renwei, one of the founders of the Chinese Science Fiction Nebula Award, once sighed, "Half of the award-winning works of the Nebula Award every year are launched by Baguangfen. ”
Since its establishment in 2016, Yang Feng has followed the main line of science fiction literature, with content publishing as the core, and opened up the territory of "science fiction +".
The town of Lenghu, in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, once rose because of oil, but fell silent because of oil depletion. The unique historical, cultural and geomorphological characteristics here have given science fiction people a broad imagination world.At the beginning of 2018, by chance, Baguangfen, Beijing Xingzhi Exploration Culture, and Qinghai Mars Town jointly launched the Cold Lake Science Fiction Literature Award, inviting science fiction writers to write history for this vast and lonely land.
"For science fiction writers, it feels like seeing a post-human era, as if you have really entered a world abandoned by human beings that often appears in science fiction novels." Yang Feng talked about his feelings when he first came to Lenghu, "The reason why Lenghu is suitable for science fiction creation is that it is 'not only history, but also the present, and even more so the future'. ”
2018年9月，首屆冷湖獎頒獎典禮在冷湖火星營地成功舉辦，集齊了劉慈欣、王晉康、何夕、寶樹、陳楸帆、江波等“科幻大咖”。The Cold Lake Award was an instant hit in China, and the number of submissions in the second call for essays in 2019 was nearly three times that of the first one. In addition to science fiction writers, film screenwriters, directors, producers, and producers of dramas and stage plays were also invited to participate.
For Yang Feng, promoting the establishment of the Cold Lake Award is undoubtedly an important cross-border attempt. "During that time, there were a lot of contact with our film and television production companies, and everyone was exploring where the blue ocean of 'science fiction +' was."
In 37, Cold Lake Pictures was officially established, specializing in film and television adaptations of Cold Lake Award-winning works. At the same time, a series of science fiction literary works are slowly "out of the circle", including the second prize of the 3rd Cold Lake Award for novellas, "Closed Loop", which was successfully adapted into a script by the team of famous mystery writer Zhou Haohui, and is also being adapted into a big movie "Cold Lake 0 Degrees".
"The roots of exploring 'science fiction +' must come from good science fiction literature. No matter how the medium changes - films, short plays, stage plays or theme parks,Its essential value has always been the in-depth excavation of literature and spirituality, the forward-looking expression of science fiction aesthetics, and the logical fulcrum of science.This is what distinguishes the science fiction industry from other fields, and it is also the foundation of its vitality. Yang Feng said frankly.
With a deep literary foundation and quality control, Baguang now holds a number of well-known sci-fi IPs - the copyright of the "Three-Body Problem" comic book has been completed and authorized to be published in many countries; Including "Stars", "Galaxy of the Seven Kingdoms", "Eternal Train" and many other signed works are also in full swing to promote the process of film and television.
Talking about the popular "science fiction + short drama" track, Yang Feng said, "At present, we are exploring high-quality science fiction short dramas with some technology and production companies in Chengdu and Hangzhou. Although our advantages are mainly in the traditional book content side, we still need to learn more and accumulate more in the field of short videos, especially the young team still needs more exercise, but I am very confident in the exploration of new fields in the future. ”
As the highland of Chinese science fiction literature, Chengdu, the original author of China's first science fiction movie "Death Light on Coral Island", Tong En, is a native of Chengdu; China's oldest science fiction magazine, Science Fiction World, was also born here; In addition to a number of famous science fiction writers such as Dong Renwei, Wu Xiankui, and He Xi, Chengdu has also attracted a new generation of science fiction writers, including Chi Hui, Chen Zijun, and Vientiane Fengnian, to settle here in recent years.
In Yang Feng's view, "Chengdu has unique industrial development advantages and rich industrial resources, but there is still a lack of strong product support. Recently, we have visited some cities intensively, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, etc., and we feel that these places have gathered more high-quality enterprises. We hope that Chengdu's policies and industrial funds can provide incubation support for local 'science fiction +' projects at a more front-end and earlier stage, and truly realize cross-border integration is the future of Chengdu science fiction." ”
National Business Daily