2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults — “The books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, horror, historical fiction and novels in verse.”

2012 Amelia Bloomer Project List — Recommended Feminist Literature for Birth through 18

A Top 10 Selection of the 2012 Rainbow List — Recommended GLBTQ Books for Children and Teens

Thanks so much to all the librarians who read Huntress and supported it for these lists. I’m very honored. And congratulations to all the other fabulous books on these lists!

UPDATED 1/31/12: I just found out that Huntress also made it onto the Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books for Teens. This is so thrilling! I love Chicago!

“Setting aside the tangled web of labels of low, dark, high, heroic, etc. fantasy (or speculative fiction) — do you consider yourself to write ‘lesbian’ books, or books that happen to be about lesbians?”

Source: www.strangesisters.com

I’ve been thinking about how to answer this question for some time now. It’s about categorization, and I think that writers are sometimes the worst people to ask about what kind of books they write, because they may be too close to the story to tell. Usually, I think that categorizing is best done by the book’s publisher, because it’s basically about marketing: Where does the book fit best in the bookstore, so that it can be found by people who would want to read it?

However, there are some problems with that theory, too. Because often books about minorities are categorized as minority books even when they might fit into a broader genre. That has the detrimental effect of limiting their audience and ghettoizing the writer. (For a great analysis of why this is a problem, read N.K. Jemisin’s post, “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.”)

I think that with the increase in online and e-book buying, categorizing books becomes both more important (for discoverability through search) and more flexible, because more than one category can be applied. Many books, after all, fit into multiple categories. I think that my books do.

Both Ash and Huntress are fantasy novels, but there are other categories they could fall into: young adult, most obviously; fairy tales (for Ash); high fantasy (for Huntress); speculative fiction. They also could be categorized as lesbian books, but that depends on what you mean by “lesbian books.”

Are they books about lesbian main characters? If so, we need to ask the question, “What do you mean by ‘lesbian’?” On the surface this might sound rather simplistic, but it’s a complicated and politically charged issue. In Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture, 1668-1801, Emma Donoghue argued: “Certainly, it was not until the late nineteenth century that the sexologists cemented a selection of such elements into the stereotype called ‘the lesbian’ (tall, flat-chested, intellectual, frustrated); however, a wide variety of lesbian types had been described in texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”

Donoghue’s point is that even if the contemporary words we use to describe lesbians were not common before the nineteenth century, that certainly doesn’t mean that women who who loved women (sexually) did not exist before then. Similarly, while I don’t believe that any of the characters in my first two novels would self-identify as lesbians, that doesn’t change the fact that they do, in fact, engage in same-sex relationships.

(Why wouldn’t they self-identify as lesbians? Because that concept does not exist in the world of Ash and Huntress. They’re fantasy novels set in an alternate world where there is no word to describe same-sex relationships, because they are not considered abnormal. Things that are normal become default and are not marked as other or called out as exceptional. Their love is not “gay love,”; it is love.)

So … while none of the characters in my first two novels would identify as lesbians, I wouldn’t object to categorizing them as lesbian books, given Donoghue’s point.¹

But the whole question was: “do you consider yourself to write ‘lesbian’ books, or books that happen to be about lesbians?” Putting aside the debate about what a “lesbian book” is,² my answer is no, I don’t consider myself to write “lesbian” books, but nor do I believe I write books that happen to be about lesbians.

The reason I don’t believe that I write “lesbian” books is because I don’t actually set out to write books about being lesbian. I guess even though there’s plenty of room for flexibility in discussing what a “lesbian book” is, personally I believe a “lesbian book” is about the lived experience of being a lesbian: coming out, dealing with the real world’s homophobia, telling insider lesbian jokes, going to lesbian bars, etc. I’ve definitely lived this kind of lesbian life before (especially when I worked at AfterEllen), and my books are so far from that experience. So far. That’s why personally, I can’t see them as lesbian books. I’ve read books that I consider to be lesbian books and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. But I haven’t written any.³

Secondly, the idea that a book could be about a person who happens to be a lesbian doesn’t work for me. I know that plenty of readers are seeking books featuring minority characters but aren’t about the experience of being a minority, and sometimes those books are identified with the “happens to be” tag. (E.g., “This is about an awesome demon/werewolf hunter who happens to be Asian!”) But I don’t believe that sexual orientation (or race) just “happens to be” to anyone. I think it’s very deeply ingrained in a person’s whole being, and it is in all of my characters. I have read books in which a character’s minority identity feels tacked on as a “happens to be,” and those books disappoint me. (No, I won’t name them.)

So, in conclusion … it’s complicated. I’m fine with others identifying my books as lesbian novels, even though I don’t personally believe I’ve written any lesbian novels. I know that the lesbian label does help my books find new readers (often, lesbian readers). I know that it also turns some people off (usually people who are uncomfortable with lesbians), but that’s inevitable. I hope that the benefits of the label outweigh costs.

1. There’s another way to think about “lesbian books.” There’s a whole category of publishing devoted to LGBT fiction. It has its own conferences, its own LGBT-focused publishers, its own awards and superstars. These books tend to be shelved in the LGBT sections of bookstores, and I think this category of publishing arose out of a time when mainstream publishers did not widely publish books about LGBT people. So there’s a real history of activism and community support in LGBT publishing. My novels are not published by these LGBT-focused publishers, and I haven’t been an active part of that community of writers, but I know that my books were able to be published partly because of the work that these publishers have done in the past.
2. Or, are “lesbian books” books written by lesbians? If so, my books do qualify, because I identify as a lesbian. But there are so many books about lesbian characters that aren’t written by lesbians, and vice-versa, that I don’t believe this is the right definition.
3. That doesn’t mean I won’t!

A year of virtuous healthful living?

The opposite?

Or perhaps you expect the apocalypse?

(I know, it’s the wrong apocalypse, but isn’t that hilarious?)

Depending on what you expect, you might resolve to do different things. I have never been terribly serious about making resolutions because I know that I am afflicted with an Extreme Case of Guilty Conscience, and if I resolve to do something and fail to follow through, I will probably implode with guilt. So, for the last couple of years I resolved to read a few books. Well, I’m not going to resolve that this year because, honestly, I’m still in the middle of reading Orlando (which I swear I intend to finish … sometime) and because the idea of it no longer strikes me as fun.

So, this year, I am resolving nothing. Not in a sneaky wu wei way, but I think it’s plenty enough for me to just keep on doing what I’ve been doing, perhaps with the added goal of doing a little less of it. As I mentioned back at Thanksgiving, 2011 was pretty busy for me, and I’d like to have more time to do nothing (perhaps, yes, in the wu wei way).

Also, I suspect that I will be busy enough in 2012 dealing with the fruits of all my 2011 labor. This year I have a number of books coming out! Here’s my publication schedule for 2012:

May 2012: The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes To Their Younger Selves, edited by Sarah Moon (I have a letter to my 16-year-old self in this anthology)

July 2012: The paperback edition of Huntress, with special bonus content!

Fall 2012: Foretold, edited by Carrie Ryan (I have a short story in this anthology about prophecies)

Fall 2012: Adaptation, my next novel!

I’m really excited about all of this, but of course I am most excited about bringing my next new novel into the world. And that’s where I slam right up against expectations.

You see, Adaptation is quite different from Ash and Huntress. In fact, I do not doubt that some readers will think they were written by totally different people. So, if someone has read Ash or Huntress and picks up Adaptation expecting something similar … they will be sorely disappointed.

I know that at times I’ve gotten attached to a writer’s or musician’s particular style, and when they come out with something different, at first I am usually disappointed because I wanted more of what they’d already given me. This is a totally normal reaction. But at the same time, I think it’s a bit much to expect (there’s that word again) a writer or musician (or anybody, really) to simply do the same thing over and over again.

Sure, there are writers who do that brilliantly, and I love them for it. In fact, these are often the authors whose books I reach for when I want something very consistent and comforting, like Elizabeth Peters or her alter ego Barbara Michaels. There’s nothing wrong with writing variations on a single theme.

It’s just that I’ve realized I am not that kind of writer. Huntress was already somewhat different from Ash, though it had a similar serious fantasy feel. But Adaptation is totally different. I think I’m going to spend a lot of time this year repeating that. “It’s different! It’s totally different!”

This doesn’t mean that I never want to write in the style of Ash again. In fact, the story being published in Foretold is very much in that style. That story, “One True Love,” is another fairy tale (sort of). It felt totally comfortable for me to write that story. I remember that when I was writing it, I felt like I actually knew what I was doing for once. That was a really nice feeling.

But I also like being challenged by doing new things. I think it’s fun to strike out into new storytelling territory and figure out how to develop a style to fit that space. It reminds me that writing is really about decisions: What word to use here, what phrase to use there. You choose different words for different styles. It’s both an intellectual and creative exercise for me, and it was thrilling to be able to use words in Adaptation that I could not use in Ash or Huntress because of the nature of their stories.

So, Adaptation: “It’s different!” It’s set in the near-future United States, for one thing, rather than a magical fantasy world. And while my influences and inspirations for Ash and Huntress ran along the lines of Robin McKinley and Kristin Cashore, my influences and inspirations for Adaptation came straight out of … television.

I know, you’re shocked (and maybe a little disappointed), right? Here are some of my inspirations for Adaptation:

The thing that I’ve noticed, though, about writers or artists who zoom from one style to another, is that beneath those stylistic differences, you can often still detect the core of the artist. The themes are sometimes very similar. For example, when Sarah Waters shifted from writing Victorian romps to writing World War II-era novels, some themes remained: confinement, for one thing. I’ve always thought that was fascinating about her books. And though Holly Black’s Modern Faery Tales are very different in style from her Curse Workers series, they all still seem to deal with moral ambiguity.

If there’s a theme in my books, I think it’s the transformative power of love. This sounds cheesy, but I totally see it running through everything I write. So, that’s still in Adaptation (and its sequel, which I’m currently writing). But, other than that? Yeah. Different.

So. Expectations. They can really choke the joy out of experiencing something new. And maybe I lied when I said I’m not making any resolutions this year. Maybe I am resolving to have fewer expectations. To open a book and not expect A, B, or C. To let the story speak for itself.

Happy new year!

• Amazon Kindle
• Barnes & Noble Nook
• Apple iBooks
• Google eBooks

Want a sample first? You can download samples from those retailers, you can read Chapter 1 here on my website, or you can read a different excerpt from the book here at the Lavender Review.

Happy holidays!

1. I don’t know how long!

“My name is [name redcated], and I have recently read your novel Ash for a Young Adult Literature course I am taking at [name redacted] University.  One of the requirements of this course is to write a research paper relating a topic of our choice to one of the novels we read in class.  As you may now have guessed, I chose to complete my research paper on Ash, and was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?  My thesis for the research paper is somehow going to relate why there was a need for homosexuality within the novel, and the differences between your retelling of Cinderella and the tales we have grown to know.  My first is, why did you choose the tale of Cinderella for your retelling?  You could have easily chosen another tale such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, therefore, what made Cinderella’s tale so special?  My next question is, why did you decide to spin the tale into a story involving homosexuality?  The well-known tale of Cinderella is one whose format and story line thrives from the need of a heterosexual relationship- a strong male character to “save the day.”  My final question revolves around Ash and the Huntress.  What made you choose the Huntress for Ash to fall in love with?  For most of the novel, the reader begins to believe that Ash is in some way in love with Sidhean, that the bond they were forming was a strong one.  Then suddenly a relationship sparks between the two women, why didn’t you follow the common tale format and allow Ash to fall in love with Sidhean?  I am aware that there are some short answers to some of these questions on your website, but I was wondering if you could elaborate more on them.  Tell me truly what your thoughts were, and give me any other information that might be helpful.”

Let me begin with the issue of students emailing authors for information to include in their research papers. Many authors get these emails all the time, but for whatever reason, I haven’t gotten too many until recently. My thoughts are this: If your teacher asks you to email an author to interview them for a research paper, I think your teacher should change their assignment. I know that many authors are extremely busy, and it may take months for us to respond to reader emails.

I try to respond to every reader email, but the more questions you ask, the longer it’s going to take me to respond. If your research paper is waiting on my responses in order to be completed, your paper is going to fail. I will most likely never be able to respond in time.

But more importantly, a research paper in which you analyze a novel does not need the author’s input, and this is what I’ll eventually tell you. A novel is a finished, completed thing. It exists on its own. I’m pretty sure that your teacher is interested in your perspective on the book, not the author’s. The author’s perspective is already there: It’s in every word printed on the page. You can debate the death of the author if you want, and sometimes, yes, an author’s intentions are interesting, but are they necessary for your paper? Probably not.

So, if you want to email me to ask me what I think about my own book, I suggest that instead you just do some research into what I’ve already said about my book. This is really easy, especially since I have a website where I have categories about my books, and also I have entire lists of press mentions in which I’ve been interviewed or guest posted about my intentions.

I’ve decided to answer your questions here on my website, this time, because I found them … surprising. You may not be aware of this, but they came off as sounding homophobic to me. I was, initially, offended. But I think that you probably didn’t realize they came off that way. So let me go through them one by one.

“My first is, why did you choose the tale of Cinderella for your retelling? You could have easily chosen another tale such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, therefore, what made Cinderella’s tale so special?”

I have answered this here in the Ash FAQ.

“My next question is, why did you decide to spin the tale into a story involving homosexuality?  The well-known tale of Cinderella is one whose format and story line thrives from the need of a heterosexual relationship- a strong male character to ‘save the day.’”

Ash is a retelling of “Cinderella.” The purpose of a retelling is to change the story, to reimagine it with a different angle. If I hadn’t changed the story in some way, it wouldn’t be a retelling. It would be the same.

Why did I change it into “a story involving homosexuality”? I can see why you’ve interpreted Ash that way, but I don’t see it like that. In Ash’s world, there is no homosexuality or heterosexuality; there is only love. The story is about her falling in love. It’s not about her being gay.

Traditionally, Cinderella marries a prince. But I wouldn’t say the story “thrives from a need of a heterosexual relationship.” The character of Cinderella is chained to the customs of her time and place. In nearly all traditional, Western versions of the tale, Cinderella’s only way to escape her life of drudgery and servitude is marrying a wealthy man. This isn’t about thriving — this is about survival. For all women in these traditional fairy tales, marriage is the only way to be successful. This is because these tales reflected societies in which this was the way of life: if a woman wanted to better herself, she had very few options. It’s not like she could go to college and get herself a great career. She could marry well, or she could become a nun. Both were legitimate choices. Cinderella had the opportunity to marry well, and she took it.

The fact that she had that opportunity with a man is, I believe, beside the point, because there was simply no other option. The point of my version of the tale is that she does have another option.

Now, regarding “a strong male character to ‘save the day’”: This is true in some fairy tales, such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “Snow White.” But in “Cinderella,” the prince doesn’t really save anybody’s day. He shows up with a shoe. He doesn’t slay any dragons, climb any towers, or even wake anybody up with a kiss. He finds a lost shoe. Honestly, this is why I think the prince in “Cinderella” is the most pathetic prince in all of the fairy tales.

Beyond this, I firmly and adamantly reject the notion that strong male characters are needed to save the day. In my world, in my life, the sisters can sure as hell do it for themselves.

“My final question revolves around Ash and the Huntress.  What made you choose the Huntress for Ash to fall in love with?  For most of the novel, the reader begins to believe that Ash is in some way in love with Sidhean, that the bond they were forming was a strong one.  Then suddenly a relationship sparks between the two women, why didn’t you follow the common tale format and allow Ash to fall in love with Sidhean?”

Many readers seem to believe that Sidhean plays the role of the prince in “Cinderella,” but this is incorrect. In Ash, there is a prince: Prince Aidan, who hosts the ball in which he chooses a wife. Prince Aidan is the prince.

Sidhean is the fairy godmother.

I thought this was pretty clear, but it seems that Sidhean’s seductiveness has seduced many a reader and caused them to believe that he is the prince. But no. He’s a fairy. He is the one who helps Ash go to the ball by giving her the magic dress and the magic coach. Thus, he plays the role of the fairy godmother. In the traditional tale, Cinderella definitely does not fall in love with the fairy godmother, so it is not accurate that this would be the “common tale format.”

I know that many readers really like Sidhean and wish that Ash would have ended up with him. I get this. I like Sidhean, too. He’s sexy. But you know what? He wants to kill Ash. Sometimes, yeah, Ash wants it, too. They have a twisted relationship, and I know that twisted relationships have their allure. I’m not judging her for wanting it sometimes — it’s very human. But think about it. Do you think Sidhean is the right choice for Ash?

As for why she falls in love with Kaisa, all I can say is this: From the very first draft, Ash only had eyes for her. It was always Kaisa. Even before I knew it was Kaisa, it was Kaisa. I’ve said before that in the first draft, I made Ash fall for the prince. It wasn’t until a friend of mine read it and told me that Ash seemed interested in the huntress that I figured it out.

The answer to “Why Kaisa?” then, is simple: Because Ash wanted her. And that is the story that I, at some unconscious level, wanted to tell.

There was no grand political intention behind this. There was no plan to subvert a much-beloved fairy tale (at least not at the beginning). There was only the fact that I created these characters, and the ones who had chemistry together were two female characters. Given that I’m queer, and that I was telling this story to myself at the time, it makes perfect sense.

Writing certainly involves making some intellectual choices. But I don’t know many writers who intellectualize every storytelling decision they make. In my experience, the things that appear most symbolic in my novels are the things that I wrote mostly by instinct. So if someone asks me why I wrote A instead of B, the answer is probably, “Because it felt right.”

This is another reason why it doesn’t matter what my intentions are. In a critical essay or paper, what matters is what you think. Not what I felt.

1. Defy the Dark

I’m very pleased to announce that I’m contributing a short story called “Ghost Town” to Defy the Dark, an anthology edited by the fabulous Saundra Mitchell. The collection will be published by HarperTeen in Summer 2013, and it contains a slew of wonderful stories that take place in the dark of night.

From a geeky writer perspective, “Ghost Town” allowed me to try out some techniques that I’ve never used before, such as first person present tense narration, and a particular storytelling format that I won’t reveal here because it’s a spoiler! Anyway, it’s also the first story I’ve written set in Colorado, where I grew up. The town in “Ghost Town” is fictional, but it’s definitely based in places I have known. Summer 2013 is a long way from now, but it’ll be here before you know it!

2. Sirens Conference

Coming a little bit sooner, in October 2012 I will be a guest of honor at the Sirens Conference, along with Kate Bernheimer (whose anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me just won a World Fantasy Award!) and an as-yet-unnamed third author.¹ Sirens is an awesome conference focusing on women in fantasy, and the 2012 theme is tales retold. If you’ve never been to Sirens but you love to read fantasy that focuses on female characters, this is really the place for you. And if you’re a fan of young adult fantasy, Sirens is even more perfect, because it always has a wonderful program full of discussions of YA.

In previous years, Sirens has taken place in Vail, Colorado, but in 2012 they’re moving to Portland, Oregon, which I think is great because (1) I’ve never been to Portland; and (2) it’s a bit more accessible than Vail, even though Vail is beautiful. Registration is open now and I encourage you to think about joining us!

3. Diversity Tour and World Fantasy

As I mentioned I just got back from San Diego, where we had the last Diversity Tour event at the Poway Library. It was such a fantastic turnout! Cindy and I are both super happy with how Diversity in YA worked out this year, and we’ve really loved getting to meet so many readers and writers who value diverse stories in YA. Here’s a photo of the authors who joined us at our last stop:

From left to right: Karen Healey, Cinda Williams Chima, me, Greg van Eekhout and Holly Black holding a coffee maker (it's symbolic), Cindy Pon

Cindy and I scheduled the last Diversity Tour stop in San Diego to coincide with the World Fantasy Convention, because we knew there would be some great authors in town for that event. This was my second WFC, and this time there was quite a contingent of YA authors, too. Here’s me on the panel I did on women in fantasy:

Left to right: Jane Kindred, Kate Elliott, me, Charlaine Harris, Nancy Kilpatrick

Edited 11/3/11 to add: Charles Tan made an audio recording of the panel, which you can listen to here:

And here’s me and Cindy at the author autographing session, where all the hundreds of authors who attend WFC get together to sign books:

4. My Q&A with Jacqueline Carey

Remember when I read Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey and gushed about it all over the internet? Well, Tor.com noticed, and they invited me to interview Jacqueline about the sequel, Saints Astray, which comes out this month. You can read the Q&A here.

5. A sneak peek at Adaptation

Last month at Litquake in San Francisco, I read an excerpt from my upcoming novel, Adaptation. For all of you who aren’t in San Francisco and couldn’t come to my event, I’ve discovered that somebody videotaped it and put my reading on YouTube! The video doesn’t include my introduction to the excerpt I read, though, so let me set it up for you.

In this scene, the 17-year-old main character, Reese, has recently met a girl named Amber. Amber invites Reese over to her house. She goes over. This is what happens. (Yes, Adaptation has a scifi premise, but it’s not necessary to know that to understand this scene.)

The book comes out in fall 2012.

1. I swear I have no idea who it is, but I desperately want to know!

I will be reading at Joe’s Barbershop in the Castro along with Michael Alenyikov, Nick Krieger, Michael McAllister, Monica Nolan, and Rob Rosen at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night, Oct. 11th. The best part? Joe’s Barbershop will be turned into a club and, from what I hear, there will be beverages. The fun kind.

So, in honor of my first ever reading at a gay barbershop-turned-night club, I will be reading a night club-appropriate scene from Adaptation. There may be kissing involved. And/or a particular club in San Francisco. I haven’t decided yet, but if you come, you can help me decide! Here are all the details.

The event is FREE. I will not have books to sell, but I will bring special Huntress bookplates if you’d like to get one signed, and of course, you’re welcome to bring your copies of my books for me to sign if you’d like. Please come!

This is also a good time to remind you that I will be presenting the fantasy award at the Teenquake Writing Awards Ceremony on Friday, Oct. 14th at 8 p.m. at Z Space in San Francisco. Here are all the details. I had the privilege of reading the finalists’ short stories last week, and they are really fantastic. At this event, which is also FREE, there will be books available for sale. I’m excited!

More later, once I’ve dug out from beneath the mound of things I didn’t do when I was revising …

Yesterday, Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth) announced the sale of an anthology she is editing, Foretold, which will be coming out in the fall of 2012. From Publishers Marketplace:

NYT bestselling author Carrie Ryan, ed.’s FORETOLD, an anthology about prophecies and predictions featuring stories by Laini Taylor, Jen Lancaster, Meg Cabot, Richelle Mead, and Michael Grant among many others, to Krista Marino at Delacorte, for publication in Fall 2012, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

The part that isn’t included? I have a story in it, too! I’m so excited to be in an anthology with such fabulous authors. You can see the whole lineup here on Carrie’s blog.

The story I wrote is a fairy tale … ish. At least in feel. It was inspired by “Snow White,” but quickly veered in a very different direction. The only thing that remains the same is, well, there’s a stepmother. Isn’t there always a stepmother in a fairy tale? I can’t wait to share this story with you next fall!

2. I interviewed Lois Duncan!

Earlier this week I got two new paperbacks in the mail: repackaged and updated versions of Daughters of Eve and Locked in Time by YA suspense master Lois Duncan. The reason? My publisher, Little, Brown, is giving them new looks, and earlier this year they asked me to interview Lois for the repackaging. Those interviews are included in the back of both books as special extras. Isn’t that cool?

I read every single Lois Duncan book I could get my hands on when I was a teen. You might be familiar with I Know What You Did Last Summer because they made a movie out of it, but my favorites were Stranger With My Face and Down a Dark Hall. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to Lois about her books — she’s a real inspiration to me.

And getting to read Daughters of Eve and Locked in Time was really fun. Both books are fantastic and spooky, but in very different ways. Daughters of Eve is about feminism gone, well, slightly awry. It’s fascinating! And Locked in Time is a moody Southern mystery with plenty of creepy atmosphere. You can get them in bookstores now.

3. Casting Kaede

Via Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor, I discovered some beautiful artwork by Dan Dos Santos, an artist who has done amazing covers for many fantasy and science fiction novels. This painting (which you can download as wallpaper) is titled “Farseed” and, in my mind, is just about a perfect rendition of Kaede from Huntress … five years after the end of the book:¹

"Farseed" by Dan Dos Santos (click to enlarge)

It’s not entirely accurate because she’s kind of depicted in a postapocalyptic wasteland, isn’t she? And she has face paint on and is kinda punk. However, isn’t she awesome? I love it!

I often get asked to do fantasy castings for my characters, but I usually resist because it’s so hard to find images of Asian women who aren’t glamorized or exoticized in some way. If only I could afford to commission some artwork by Dan Dos Santos! I bet he’d paint a wonderful Taisin too …

1. Yes, I know what she’s doing five years after the end of the book. Honestly, I think I could write an epic series of fantasy novels about Kaede, but then they wouldn’t be YA because she’s just going to keep getting older, and also, I have other books I have to write at this point in time. However: SIGH.

First, I am so glad that the Huntress cover has an Asian girl on it. I know that if the cover had depicted a white girl or even no girl at all, probably even more readers would never have guessed that the characters look Asian. Second, I never realized this line of the cover copy would be so important: “The exciting adventure prequel to … Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences, inspired by the I Ching …”

As much as I think a book should not be judged by its cover, the package that it’s presented in, including the jacket illustration and the cover copy, is part of the book reading experience. It helps to set the scene for the reader before they even begin with the first sentence.

I noticed this recently when I was flipping through White Cat by Holly Black the other night and realized, to my total surprise, that the character Lila has short blond hair. I don’t know why this didn’t register with me when I read White Cat, especially because I’m a fan of girls with short blond hair. But apparently I always assumed Lila looked like the girl depicted on the cover of Red Glove. I think that I read White Cat after I had already seen the cover for Red Glove, so that may be why that image is so firmly stuck in my head.

Anyway, this makes me doubly grateful that my publisher was so thoughtful about the package that Huntress comes in. If you bought the hardcover, you’ll know that there is a map of the Kingdom printed on the endpapers. While it was being designed, I communicated with my editor and the book designer about making sure that the illustrations on the map were not too typically European-inspired fantasy; I wanted to make sure that Asian elements were clearly depicted. The map illustrator, Dave Stevenson, added a phoenix and a Chinese unicorn to the map, as well as a Chinese-style boat and cottage.

The map of the Kingdom

Also, the book designer, Alison Impey, selected drop capital letters to begin each chapter that had a more Asian-like style than the drop caps used in Ash.

Interior design

And yet, you’ll notice that none of the elements of the Huntress package are over-the-top Asian in an exotic way. I very much wanted to avoid exoticism not only in the text but also in the design elements, and I’m so happy that the designers completely understood that when they were turning the book into a physical object.

However, the lack of exotic details in the text especially means that readers who aren’t familiar with Chinese or Japanese traditions like kyudo or Taoism may not understand that’s what I’m referencing. And honestly, that’s OK with me. Here’s why.

The Kingdom in Huntress is influenced by Chinese and Japanese culture, but it is not China or Japan. It is a fictional fantasy world that also must eventually become the fantasy world in Ash, because Huntress is set several centuries earlier. So it simply could not be the kind of “Asia” that exists in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.¹ Also, there were elements of the fantasy world in Huntress that were simply not Chinese: there is no homophobia, for one thing, and there isn’t nearly as much sexism as there was in imperial China.

The fantasy China of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

What I wanted to create was a world that was philosophically and spiritually rooted in Chinese tradition, but was not at all exotic. In Huntress, those traditions include Taoism, qigong, Chinese medicine, divination, and kyudo. They’re fairly directly represented in the book, but these are all beliefs or ritual practices, so it’s harder to tell they’re there if you’re not already familiar with them.

Most importantly, I wanted readers to find Kaede’s world normal, because it has to contrast significantly with the land of the Fairy Queen — and I wanted the fairy realm to seem totally foreign. That meant I had to remove the trappings of exoticism that are often associated with “Asian” elements.

What makes something exotic? It can certainly be philosophy or beliefs, but more often, I think exoticism resides in things you can actually see or hear. Clothing, food, music, architecture: these are the external markers of difference. So I decided to minimize, when possible, the descriptions of these things in Huntress, except when I was making a point. For example, when Taisin visits the royal palace, I describe some of the palace to show how luxurious it is compared to what she’s accustomed to. When Taisin and Kaede dine with the king, he has a very grand feast of delicacies that ordinary folks don’t get.

A Chinese banquet like the one that Taisin and Kaede attend with the King

Otherwise, the things that might seem “exotic” to an outsider are actually considered “normal” to an insider. Kaede is an insider in her world, so she’s not going to find most of it terribly exotic. The clothes she wears and the way the students at the Academy do their hair are pretty ordinary to her. The spiritual and philosophical beliefs that provide the backbone to the magic that Taisin practices aren’t going to seem unusual to Taisin.

Hopefully, they don’t seen too unusual to the reader, either. This can result in a few different reactions, of course. There are readers who won’t see the Chinese influence at all because it’s presented as entirely normal, and besides, they’re reading a fantasy novel where magic happens — maybe it’s all made up. And then there are readers who do see the Chinese influence and are excited by the fact that it’s presented as normal. I’ve definitely gotten emails from readers who say they’re Chinese and they really appreciated all the indicators of Chineseness in the story. There also may be readers who see the book package and realize that something about Huntress is based on Asian influences, and they might see some of those influences and miss others.

I think these are all perfectly valid ways of reading the book. My novel isn’t meant to be a history lesson or a course in Chinese sociology. It’s a novel, and it should be read as entertainment. I think the Chinese influences are clearly there for those who see them, and for those who don’t, it’s fine. It’s just like the gay thing, actually. The story is certainly about two girls falling in love, but I made efforts to present it in a way that didn’t turn it into an issue about sexual orientation.

I think it’s a fine line, honestly, writing a book about something that’s not mainstream (Asian-inspired fantasy or LGBT characters) but writing it in a mainstream style. This might be one of the most difficult aspects of writing non-European-based fantasy, because in the past, non-European-based fantasy worlds have been thoroughly and problematically exoticized. Readers are used to seeing Asian fantasy worlds filled with geishas and kung fu masters, which means presenting Asia as the norm can be a challenge.

Ultimately, I think my project with Huntress was a fairly Asian American one. I am Asian American, and I move through the world as an Asian American. Kaede’s world has elements of both Asia and America in it, and I like that. I’m intrigued by hybrid cultures and moments of cultural intersection — like when Kaede encounters the fairies for the first time. That’s why I almost got a Ph.D. in anthropology: because I am really interested in those spaces where differences intersect and change. That could, really, be an underlying theme to all my books, past, present, and future. And now I’ve gone totally off-track, so I’ll leave it at that!

1. Just want to note that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those kinds of fantastic “Asia.” They can be very entertaining and enjoyable to experience in film or books. But that’s not what my intention was with Huntress.

Thankfully I recently discovered Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor, a tumblr (what are they? blogs? sites?) that not only distracts me from my technology stress but also has made me seriously consider joining Tumblr. Back when I was first posting about Huntress, I remember I went online and looked for images of women I thought might resemble the main character in the book. However, whenever I searched for “huntress” I got images like this:

This is not what Kaede looks like.

Uh, no. A woman who was actually going to use a bow would not be prancing around in a leather bikini. (There are plenty of other opportunities to wear a leather bikini, I’m sure, but not while hunting.)

Anyway, Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor (I love the name!) is just that. And the ladies are awesome! Here is a very reasonable approximation of what Kaede might look like (the girl is even Asian!):

Artist: Mario Wibisono

It’s even more awesome because it is a Japanese bow and the girl is wearing a Japanese glove, which is exactly what Kaede puts on when she learns how to shoot. (OK, I don’t know what that hat with the feathers on it is about, and Kaede probably wouldn’t tie a bow around her waist, but still, it’s closer to her than other images I’ve seen.)

I also love this image from Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor:

Art from Magic: The Gathering by Michael Komarck

She looks quite serene. And serious. When you’re getting ready to kick some ass, these are good qualities to have.

Last but not least, finally I have an excuse to post this photo of Kristen Stewart from the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman:

I first saw this image back in July when Stewart was promoting the movie at Comic-Con, and I was floored back then because I had just written a short story, loosely based on “Snow White,” that involves a girl wearing armor. OK, the girl in my story isn’t a brunette, but still, I just love this image. (Yes, the story will be published! I can’t tell you where or when yet, but I will soon. I’m very excited about it!)

So, if my site is down and you’re wondering what I’m up to, I’ll be visiting Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor to keep myself sane while trying to deal with hackers. Grr!