SINGAPORE – Chinese author Liu Cixin is a fan of American writer George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire fantasy series, books that were adapted into the Emmy-winning Game Of Thrones television series (2011 to 2019).

While he yearns to see Martin place the long-delayed sixth book, The Winds Of Winter, in the hands of publishers, Liu, 60, also sympathises with his 75-year-old peer’s plight – Liu himself has been through a long fallow period.

“The Winds Of Winter has been delayed for 10 years. As a writer who also writes fantasy literature, I completely understand this, because I have not been able to publish a new work for more than 10 years,” Liu tells The Straits Times in an e-mail interview.

Netflix has adapted segments of his science-fiction trilogy into a live-action series which premieres on March 21. The novels, properly known as the Remembrance Of Earth’s Past series, were first published in Chinese between 2006 and 2010.

The Three-Body Problem, first published in 2006 in serialised form, covers the time period from the 1960s to the present day.

In a secret base in China, a researcher looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence discovers a signal from space. Some years pass and scientists across the planet begin to get experimental data showing that their field of study is based on falsehoods, causing many to kill themselves in despair.

The book’s English translation by Ken Liu was published in 2014 and became the first Asian novel to win one of science-fiction’s highest prizes, the Hugo Award for Best Novel. It received praise from notable persons, including former United States president Barack Obama.

Other than Of Ants And Dinosaurs (2010), a work that imagines a war between the two species of the title, Liu has not produced a new novel since.

“Martin has at least published other works during that time, and I had done almost nothing,” he says.

Having enjoyed Game Of Thrones is one reason he supports the Netflix adaptation, which is created and executive-produced by, among others, Thrones creator-executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Liu and English translator Ken Liu hold the title of consulting producer. Netflix’s vice-president of original series Peter Friedlander said in a press statement that having both men on board will “ensure that the spirit of the books remains intact”.

The Game Of Thrones show matched or even surpassed Martin’s books in excitement level, says Liu Cixin.

“The settings and the creation of the historical atmosphere are excellent. The story is full of tension and the many characters leave a deep impression. Successfully adapted characters and scenes, such as the famous Red Wedding, run through the show,” says Liu.

Liu visited Martin at his home in New Mexico in the US, where they enjoyed a chat that included topics such as the creative obstacles faced by writers, as well as the joy that comes with overcoming them.

“Martin is a responsible writer. I hope A Song Of Ice And Fire can finally be completed,” he says.

Responsible creators of fiction write only when the work “moves and excites” them, Liu adds.

“If you cannot do this and have no feeling for your work, then readers will be even less likely to resonate with it.”

The problem with being ruled by creative inspiration is that it is a fickle master, he says.

“The reason inspiration is precious is that it cannot be obtained through hard work. We don’t know when it will appear, or even whether it will last forever,” he adds.

Liu was born to mine-worker parents and lived through the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s when a youth-driven reform movement shook China. He began writing while still working as a computer engineer in a power plant.

The agonies of the Cultural Revolution, as well as the tribulations of life in rural China and its mining camps, have been recorded in his stories.

Despite his background in information technology, his books rarely touch on computers and stick to the more esoteric fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and quantum mechanics.

Being too close to a field creates a mental block that prevents one from taking liberties with it, he says.

“When I conceive a computer-themed science-fiction novel, it is easy for me to spot flaws in logic,” he says.

“But artificial intelligence is a very interesting field. Compared with physics and cosmology, this field has a closer relationship with people and I hope to write about it in the future.”

The duality of human nature, with its competing forces of kindness and selfishness, rationality and irrationality, is a common thread in his stories, he says.

“Science fiction is actually a thought experiment that places real humans in a surreal environment. These situations – such as doomsday scenarios – dramatically amplify the two sides of human nature.”

• 3 Body Problem premieres on Netflix on March 21.