Scoop: Ken Liu reveals his new sci-fi thriller series
Coming October 14, 'All That We See or Seem' will be the first "Julia Z" novel about an AI whisperer caught in a high-tech conspiracy.
According to Cat Boyd, Saga Press will publish a new sci-fi thriller called All That We See or Seem on October 14, 2025, from Ken Liu.
“I've been doing a lot of experimenting with and thinking about AI, especially the future of human art in the age of AI,” Liu tells me. “A lot of these speculations play out in this book.”
All That We See or Seem — apparently titled after Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “A Dream Within a Dream” — follows “former orphan hacker Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her AI-whispering skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, selfhood, and the power of shared dreams.”
Best known for his Dandelion Dynasty fantasy series that began with The Grace of Kings — and for translating Cixin Liu’s science fiction into English, including The Three-Body Problem — Ken Liu says he’s always enjoyed reading thrillers, and figured it was time to try to write one. “Of course, this is still going to be a very Ken Liu sort of book, with all the characteristic digressions and technical deep dives my readers have come to expect from me,” he says. “I think everyone will enjoy getting to know Julia Z.”
Here’s the full description from Saga:
Julia Z is leading a life of digital obscurity in a quiet Boston suburb. But when a lawyer named Piers—whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals—barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can’t walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an oneirofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee’s memories and providing an emotionally resonant narrative experience. While these collective dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also dreaming one-on-one with the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding the return of his dreams in exchange for Elli. Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.
Liu lives near Boston himself, where he attended Harvard. “The story in All That We See or Seem depends on a lot of specifics in Boston and its suburbs: the geography, the infrastructure, the culture, the seasons, the history,” he says.
How many more Julia Z books will follow? Liu isn’t sure yet. “Unlike the Dandelion Dynasty, which told one story over four volumes, each book in the Julia Z series is its own independent adventure, and the books can be read in any order. Julia will have to let me know how long she wants to share her stories.”
Forthcoming in The Frontlist
Behind the book with Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Saga Press)
Behind the book with Vauhini Vara, author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age (Pantheon)
Behind the book with Lincoln Michel, author of Metallic Realms (Atria)
May book preview