#Asian author

[inkcurlsandknives]

COVER REVEAL #BOOKLOOK for Amber Chen's YA silkpunk fantasy debut Of Jade And Dragons releasing June 18 2024 by Penguin Teen! This may be my favorite look yet inspired by the gorgeous artwork by Instagrams @afterblossom_art and cover design by Lily Kim Qian and Ellice Lee

I cannot wait to get my hands on this Iron Widow x Six Of Cranes epicness

[elliepassmore]

Tideborn review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: underwater myths, political intrigue, urban fantasy, multiple POVs

Fathomfolk review

Big thanks to Orbit, Netgalley, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Spoilers for Fathomfolk!

The ending of Fathomfolk left the characters in what was essentially a new world. Only...it is a world built on a wish and not the time and energy it usually takes to produce meaningful change. It was really interesting to see how Tiankawi and its citizens dealt with this new world and how that played into (or around) the politicking we saw in book 1.

Once again the fate of the city is at stake. On the one side Kai's mother, the Yonakuni ruler. She lost her son, the golden child, and was already dissatisfied with Yonakuni-Tiankawi relations. She comes to the surface for his funeral, but she and the rest of the Yonakuni representatives have more than just that up their sleeves. From another side, there's a new group of dissidents in Tiankawi. The Drawbacks are done for, their leader dead, the rest of them arrested, scattered, or also dead as a result of the tsunami. However, not all humans are thrilled or indifferent about getting gills, and they become quite vocal, and at times even violent. Then on the other side there's the sand god whose mate was murdered at the end of Fathomfolk and who is traveling to Tiankawi for yet-to-be-determined reasons. Needless to say there are a lot of moving pieces at play and any one thing could tip the balance.

In Fathomfolk, I couldn't help but feel annoyed at times at how Nami was behaving. I know she's a teenager, but she just acted so recklessly and without any forethought, believing herself to know best. My dislike of her was tempered by the fact that she was smart some of the time, but also by the fact that it was obvious she was being very carefully and very skillfully manipulated into doing things. As I hoped, the ending events of FF woke her up to what was happening and even by the opening of Tideborn (not long after the end of book 1) she's already gotten better at recognizing her faults and thinking more about the whole picture before acting. I ended up liking Nami a lot more in this one as she starts to grow as a character and really come into herself. She still has growing to do, and at times swings too far into doubting herself, but overall I enjoyed her character a lot in this book.

Poor Mira is going through so much. Still reeling from Kai's loss, she's been thrust into the position of Minister of Fathomfolk. She has the opportunity to finally change things for the better the way she's always wanted, but at the same time she's haunted by the events of FF and dealing with both the new civil unrest and with the Yonakuni representatives jockeying for change of their own making. As shown in book 1, Mira isn't always the best at politicking, that was Kai's strength, but since she's now in his position, she has to make do if she wants to get anything done. A lot of Mira's journey is about overcoming the obstacles and unrest in Tiankawi, but it's also about grieving and processing her loss. She definitely fumbles at times, doing things I don't see her FF self doing, but times have changed and she's changed along with them.

Much like with Nami, I wasn't a huge fan of Cordelia in Fathomfolk, but I came to really enjoy her POV in this book. While I didn't like her, there were definitely times where I found her sympathetic, so the groundwork was there for me to start liking her character. She's a shrewd business woman, both cunning and cutthroat, and she's willing to be ruthless to get what she wants. At the same time, she clearly cares deeply for her family and would do anything in order to keep them safe and secure. Her human self is 'dead' in Tideborn, and so she can really only watch her family from afar. Her son, Gede, is old enough to know the truth about her, and I enjoyed reading the interactions between the two of them. Her daughter, Qiuyue, however, believes her father's lies hook-line-and-sinker, and so we see a good amount of tension there are Cordelia's true self and business side battle with the side of her that just wants her family to be protected. Cordelia is definitely still an anti-hero (anti-villain?) and I loved seeing her various sides in this book.

We get to see more of Gede in this book as he steps into his father's role as Minister of Defense. He's young but means well and is well-balanced to see things from human and Fathomfolk points of view. That being said, he's dealing with a tough situation and has little support from the various factions. He and Mira are allies, though the latter is sometimes a little too harsh on him. I do wish we got to see more of Gede, I found his character to be really interesting and I'd love to get to know him better and see more of his development.

Eun is another side character that gets more of a spotlight in this book. She's an archivist and goes along with Nami to try and find the other sand god, the one who is grieving their mate. Eun knows about all sorts of things as a result of her work and it was nice to have a character who could reasonably provide additional information and context for various things in the world. She also served as a good ally to Nami, who, while experiencing positive growth, is still surrounded by some hot-head, so Eun provided some much needed calmness and rationality. Like Gede, I wish we got to see more of Eun and had more time to know her.

Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it was the perfect sequel to Fathomfolk. The characters are dealing with the aftermath of the first book in various ways, and we really see some character growth as well some new sides to the MCs.

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature. She was praised for her ‘intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life’

“Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves the single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, slaughtered - is this the essential of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?” ~Han Kang

(Book: Human Acts)

Human Acts is a powerful novel that delves into the physical and psychological trauma experienced by survivors, as well as the ways in which memory can both heal and haunt.

Set against the backdrop of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in South Korea, the story follows the lives of individuals who were affected by the brutal suppression of the pro-democracy protests.

The novel also examines the power of language and storytelling to preserve history and give voice to the silenced.

[isobelleposts]

Recalling My Childhood Through Patricia Evangelista’s “Some People Need Killing”

By Cassandra Isobelle [June 5, 2024]

[Cover of “Some People Need Killing” by Patricia Evangelista

I was only 9-years-old when Rodrigo Duterte was declared winner of the presidential election back in 2016. I was privileged enough to not witness the War on Drugs up-close and not have to worry about whether my father would be alive the next day or not.

But even so, my recollection of his Presidency was never good. During car rides with my family, I would hear my grandparents swear at the former President and talk about the latest news—the words “bastos” and “manyak” thrown about and engraved in my impression of him. All I knew was that my family did not like him. I saw how opinions would tear friendships and relatives apart, and it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I began formulating my own thoughts and understanding what had led up to such ruthless comments on the internet.

[Sonya Gregorio, fifty-two, and Frank Anthony, twenty-five, moments before being shot by police officer Jonel Nuezca - December 20, 2020]

It was around the time this video went viral that I was awakened to what was happening in our country. I was told not to watch it because of its violence, and so I never did until recently when it was mentioned in this book. It made me realize how easy it is to scroll past an article or video on Facebook and continue your life wholly unaffected and unknowing of the story behind them, simply because it was not your life taken.

For the majority, life during Duterte’s term was normal. For reporters and journalists, on the other hand, it was a different case.

”I was furious instead at everyone who announced their indignation after ignoring a four-year parade of coffins.

Page 293 of “Some People Need Killing”

The numbers presented on the news of the Extrajudicial Killings were large, but not enough for the people to take action. It wasn’t enough that these cases were published through news articles day after day by people that stayed up just to tell the victims’ stories. It wasn’t enough until there were videos.

[Former President Rodrigo Duterte in Malabon, Metro Manila - April 27, 2016]

At some point in reading this book I started noticing how repetitive it can be. Case after case of killings; the same excuses, the same uniforms, the same stories but different characters. — This book is a reflection of Duterte’s leadership; an unending cycle.

”Kill, for example. It’s a word my president uses often. He said it at least 1,254 times in the first six months of his presidency, in a variety of contexts against his enemies.”

Page 6 of “Some People Need Killing”

Kill the drug addicts. Kill the activists. Kill the journalists. Kill them, period.

Patricia Evangelista’s efforts are present in the way this book captured so many details—the people she had to talk to, the stories she had to hear, and the bodies she had to witness just to complete this book. “Some People Need Killing” is a memoir, not just of the author's life but of the country’s.

[previouslyafangirl]

" 'Do you know how much I love you, Miki?' Dai whispered softly. 'Even I don't know. My love for you is endless. Deep and endless, like the sea.' "

- Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

[desdasiwrites]

[ihearttseliot]

GOOD BOOKS: The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan

[that-butch-archivist]

"Dyke March 1994" by Morgan Gwenwald

source: The Wild Good: Lesbian Photographs & Writings on Love, edited by Beatrix Gates

[littlereadsandteas]

^ Reina & Mimi

^ Aoi & Kuro & Cookie

^ Kuro & Shino

Storygraph Fable

[reinaxregina]

I am not what happened to me. I am what happens next.

— Reina Regina

[candyrushsweetest]

Welcome to the Mind F*** Story Update

I’m gonna try to work more on my story for Wattpad and Ao3 (“Welcome to the Mind F***”), because I’m honestly bored and don’t know what to do.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated y’all on the situation, but, yes, I’m working on the next chapter to the best of my ability :/

Just saying that mental health was dwindling for a while, but I’m really getting to working on some things! I’ll have more writing updates soon, I just got out of a bad spell.

I have school coming up and I’ll also have to focus on that! I’m not immune to life, unfortunately lol

[inkcurlsandknives]

Querying Stats for Saints!

This post originally went out via my author newsletter, but I realized that if I’m finally going to start using tumblr as an author platform that means I HAVE A BLOG AGAIN!! 

I  recently announced that Saints of Storm and Sorrow, my Filipino Epic Fantasy sold in a two book deal to Titan UK and will be coming out June of 2024. (if you’re interested in Submission Stats definitely go sign up for my newsletter as those stats will go out exclusively in this month’s newsletter. I also send out whatever Filipino recipe I’m tinkering with at the moment, this month is a mouthwatering Kang kong/water spinach adobo stirfry)

Saints was pitched as a Filipino EMPIRE OF SAND X POPPY WAR Lunurin, a mestiza stormcaller, hides in a convent—from the Inquisition branding her a witch, and the Goddess of Storms, who sings of drowning colonizers. When she’s discovered, a marriage-of-convenience might save her from the Church, but not her Goddess. A typhoon is brewing in Lunurin’s bones. Freeing it will destroy the violent colonizers, but also the family she found in the convent and her new marriage.  

QUERY STAT TIME!

I’d like to start by saying I did query 3 books in addition to Saints, And They Called Her Stormbringer (2018- Epic Fantasy), One Half a Dead Witch (2019-Contemporary Fantasy), and Mushroom ABCs (2022- Picture Book) and I’m glad to have signed with an agent who’s so supportive of my backlist. If I’m completely honest I sent my first query for And They Called Her Stormbringer, my freshman year of college in 2012 and received such a brutal (though personalized) rejection that I stopped querying for 6 years and creative writing for almost 2. I will admit now that the feedback was accurate, but as a young writer I had no idea what to do with it or how to revise as I had no writing partners or critique groups at the time.

Fast forward almost a decade. Saints of Storm and Sorrow was fast drafted all 131k words in 31 days for Nanowrimo 2020. I worked to revise it with help from beta readers and CPs from February through August of 2021, I’m a fast drafter and a slow reviser. I went through several rounds of revision. I started querying Saints in the fall of 2021. In Oct 2021 I learned I’d gotten into Pitchwars with my amazing mentor Michella Domenici <3 and I quickly pulled all my active queries and fulls promising to resend the manuscript after the revisions I’d complete during the Pitchwars Mentorship. I then spent the winter of 2021 in an absolute whirlwind of revisions that culminated in the PitchWars Showcase in February 2022. I got 15 requests!! I was thrilled and sure that my querying journey would soon be over!! Saints and I then entered the LONG WAIT. I went into and came out of several writing burn out funks. At no point in the last five years I’ve never written so little as I did in 2022, I found it very hard to write the wait for the first time in my querying journey. Every few months I’d drag myself out of my agonies of waiting and hurl out another thirty or forty queries. Over TEN months post PitchWars I sent a total of 164 queries for Saints of Storm and Sorrow, I received 50 full requests, 4 partial requests, and finally 3 offers. For those who like maths that’s a 33% request rate. In my low moments it started to feel like I’d written a great query but a terrible book! I was told the pacing was too slow and too fast, that the world building was too hard to grasp and not detailed enough! I completed a panic revision in September 2022 trying to address these issues. I nudged everyone who still had my full or partials with the revision, and low and behold two months later, Saints got its first offer on the week of Thanksgiving. I was ecstatic. I asked for three weeks to consider (on account of thanksgiving) and quickly sent out nudges for every open full (18!) AND every query remaining open (65!). OVER 80 emails/Query Tracker messages WOW. 10 more requests for fulls and extensions to read came in. I waited, my inbox rattling with news for almost three weeks. I don’t ever want to send that many emails again! My agent Ramona Pina with Bookends actually ended up requesting my full on my original decision date! But I’d been asked for an extension by a few other agents and let her know she had 3 more days if she wanted to read. Ramona read Saints in two days and the day before my extended decision date sent me her offer of rep. We hopped on a call and I quickly realized there was no way I could decide in 24 hours between such excellent agent choices. I reached out to the other offering agents requesting the weekend to consider and contacted several of Ramona’s clients to get their perspective. After a weekend of decision agony I made the best decision for me and Saints of Storm and Sorrow.

I can’t emphasis enough how much of this process depended on LUCK and GRIT. The Luck of finding a fellow Filipina mentor in Pitchwars who totally understood my vision for the book. The luck of getting Saints into the right hands at the right time. The GRIT to keep sending my query package out even though at points I was convinced far too many people had rejected it to ever find my yes. My book had to get in front of SO many eyes before I found the right ones, but if you’re in the trenches now remember it only takes one yes. Querying is a numbers game and a luck game more than one of skill. You may read about those unicorn authors who send out 15 queries on their first book and get 7 offers, remember they are the outliers. Their books had the exceptional luck of speaking to the market at the right time. Many many wonderful books, telling excellent stories, having great literary merit will struggle in the trenches for reasons that have nothing to do with the book, but everything to do with timing, a contracting market, layoffs of editors and closing of imprints for particular genres.

It can be so hard to remember that rejections can come on your manuscript that have nothing to do with the quality of your work, but I think it’s one of the essential skills that this long journey to become published forced me to learn.

[ecargmura]

A Venom Dark And Sweet - Book Review

I’ve always been a bit skeptical about a series’ plot that suddenly focuses on revolution. I think how rushed Mockingjay was sort of ruined my experience of “revolution” stories. When I read that this story was going to focus on revolution, I was honestly dreading. I liked the first book, but I didn’t want to dislike the second book. It was a bit nerve wracking when I first started, but as I kept reading, my expectations diminished and I thoroughly enjoyed this book for what it was!

Lin does a fantastic job at plot build up. Ning goes on a journey to find a way to stop the evil ruler’s reign. The journey is slow-paced, but each event that happens throughout the journey is essential. Not only that, the story also revolves around Li Kang, the evil ruler’s son who Ning had a few romantic moments with. Some of the plot progression happened in his point of view, so it wasn’t a waste to have two perspectives. However, like I mentioned in my Carve The Mark review, I don’t like it when a story has one perspective written in first person and another perspective written in third person. It’s just a personal pet peeve of mine. I just think that it kind of makes the reading experience bizarre.

Like with the first book, Lin does well with incorporating descriptive, detailed scenes about the scenery. Since this book focuses more on the world outside rather than in a secluded location like the capital, it allowed her to show off her writing capabilities to the highest. The entirety of Chapter 44 was descriptive galore and I fell in love with that chapter. A true chef’s kiss.

With the characters, the major ones are from the previous book. With the new characters, Lin does well with incorporating their significance to the overall plot whether it be because of a character or because of a plot point. Ning’s sister Shu plays a bit of a major role, but her involvement diminishes towards the end of the story, which is a bit unfortunate to me. I liked Shu a lot. I also really liked Lady An and Wenyi’s mother. The scenes with Wenyi’s mother and Wenyi’s family were very detailed and I really liked them. Lady An was another character I enjoyed reading about. She’s full of mystery and what I liked most about her was that what she is remained a mystery until the end. It’s never stated if she’s a Goddess or a spiritual being. I kind of like that, though. What she is isn’t integral to the story, but her role is.

Given that the main premise of this story is magic, the main antagonist being a force of evil makes sense in a way. It accentuates the fantasy vibes. The villain takes the form of a snake and I do think it’s a bit one-note because it’s a force of evil. However, I wasn’t expecting too much of the villain. The snake did its job well as the villain and that’s all I can say, really. However, it makes me wonder if the snake was a manifestation of evil hearts. I know it was an actual being, but it doesn’t hurt to theorize, right?

Overall, both books are great. I think it’s perfect for those who want to read YA but want something new. This author is also Asian, so I think that it’s perfect for those seeking out Asian authors. For me, I like Asian authors and I want to seek out more books written by them. I’m glad that I took the initiative and bought the first book. Like with the first book, this book s a 4/5. 

[rainbowbrarian]

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee

I got this book as a ARC from Netgalley and I was super excited to read it because it looked adorable. Dylan works with his aunt at her Chinese takeout restaurant named Wok Warriors in Brooklyn. When his mother passed last year Dylan’s aunt took him in. Before his mom died, she and Dylan talked about entering a local mooncake making contest together. Wok Warriors is struggling financially and…

[isobelleposts]

A Reminder That We Are Human: ‘Human Acts’ by Han Kang Review

by Isobelle Cruz [May 21, 2023]

I’ve been hesitant to open up my laptop lately, afraid that I had lost it in me to write a really good article, not in terms of how many likes I receive, but on how much I enjoy the process of making it. My recent works, I admit, have felt passionless and forced for the sake of keeping my blog alive. But this is different. I devoured “Human Acts” by Han Kang over the course of one weekend—my eyes rarely drifting from its pages.

I’d never encountered an interest in the author’s works before, but once I stepped foot in the bookstore, I was suddenly drawn to its cover; simple and clean, silencing the world that surrounded me into muffled echoes.

“Gwangju Uprising” scene in Saedeuldo Sesangeul Teuneunguna at the Yeongwoo Theatre, 1988 [Image Source: Yeongwoo Mudae]

Her lips move, but no sound comes out. Yet Eun-sook knows exactly what she is saying. She recognizes the lines from the manuscript, where Mr. Seo had written them in with a pen. The manuscripts she’s typed up herself, and proofread three times. 

Page 101 of Human Acts

The book features the perspectives of seven characters, one of them being an editor in 1985. Eun-sook’s chapter shows her struggle against censorship and how the company overcomes this, still able to deliver the crossed-out lines of the censors through chilling imagery. Han Kang’s writing is delivered almost in the same feels as the play tackled in her book; quiet, slow, but enough to tell the story.

Gym turned mortuary in May 1980. [Image Source: Robin Moyer, Korea JoongAng Daily]

Another perspective that drew my attention closer than the others was of The Boy’s Friend, Jeong-dae. The words of the dead were briefly featured in the book; faceless spirits hovering over their bodies and watching as others live on, unable to do anything but watch.

If I could escape the sight of our bodies, that festering flesh now fused into a single mass, like rotting carcass of some many-legged monster. If I could sleep, truly sleep, not this flickering haze of wakefulness. If I could plunge headlong down to the floor of my pitch-dark consciousness.

Page 56 of “Human Acts”

It was depressing, and made me conscious of the body I still have control over—a blessing that I often take for granted.

Students on the streets of Gwangju, 1980 [Image Source: Lee Chang-seong, May 18 Memorial Foundation]

Is it possible to bear witness to the fact that of a foot-long wooden ruler being repeatedly thrust into my vagina, all the way to the back wall of my uterus? To a rifle butt bludgeoning my cervix? To the fact that, when the bleeding wouldn’t stop and I had gone into shock, they had to take me to the hospital for a blood transfusion?

Page 164 of Human Acts

Human Acts is flinchingly explicit and gory. It tells the stories of victims from different angles, some of which I would forget to consider if I had not opened this book.

It disturbs me to display these photos on here, but I believe that if words are not enough to deliver chills to the blinded eyes of people, photographs will.

The kids in the photo aren’t lying side by side because their corpses were lined up like that after they were killed. It’s because they were walking in a line.

Page 133 of Human Acts

Whether you read this in the rain, or at the beach where life is supposed to be happy, a strike of pain will stay in the back of your chest, the images of agony haunting you even in bed. 

Human Acts truly opened my mind much more than the other books I’ve read that spit out facts and statistics, so much so, that I am driven away from what matters most—feeling and sympathizing with the victims. Most books I’ve encountered focus solely on hating the dictator that I finish them feeling sort of empty, that I am the same person as I was when I started the book. But that is not the case with Han Kang’s third novel. It reminded me that I am human, and how much my life should be valued.

[incandescent-ruins]

Asian, Adjacent: Utopian Longing and Model Minority Mediation in Disco Elysium by Takeo Rivera