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Interview with R.F. Kuang
An interview hosted by JC Kang Rebecca F. Kuang (writing as R. F. Kuang) immigrated to the US from Guangzhou, China in 2000. When she isn’t writing books she is a student of Chinese history focusing on military strategy, collective trauma, and war memorials. Her debut novel, The Poppy War, based on the Second Sino-Japanese War,…
Interview with Fonda Lee
An interview hosted by JC Kang Today we have a real treat for you! Fonda Lee, author of the Nebula nominated Jade City, is here to speak with us! If you’ve not read Jade City you are missing out. But fear not! On top of today’s interview, we have a review of the novel coming up tomorrow! But…
Asian Fantasy: SPFBO Edition
A roundtable interview hosted by JC Kang With Lunar New Year around the corner, I joined a group chat with SFPBO past and present finalists Rob J. Hayes (Never Die, 2019), Virginia McClain (Blade’s Edge, 2019), M. L. Wang (The Sword of Kaigen, 2019), and K. Bird Lincoln (Tiger Lily, 2017) to discuss English-original Asian…
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien
A review by JC Kang Mean Girls meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…on ice! (or I, Tonya meets Jin Yong) As an wuxia film aficionado, and the parent of two competitive ice skaters (word of caution to those of you with young kids: ice skating is expensive!), Henry Lien’s debut middle-grade (MG) fantasy, Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword,…
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
A review by JC Kang The Poppy War’s darkness meets The Last Airbender’s elemental magic. Being a second world conflict between China and Japan, M. L. Wang’s The Sword of Kaigen brought to my mind R. F. Kuang’s meteoric debut, The Poppy War. With all the hype surrounding it, The Poppy War was my most anticipated release of 2018, but one…
Nightblade by Ryan Kirk
A review by JC Kang As a fan of epic fantasy with diverse casts, I always saw Ryan Kirk’s Nightblade atop the Asian Myths and Legends charts on Amazon, reminding me I needed to finish it. Though it had been sitting on my Kindle for years, and I had tried several times to make it through the…
The Poppy War by RF Kuang
A review by JC Kang Today is May 4, coincidentally the 99th anniversary of the first popular protest in China’s history. Due to the somber tone of The Poppy War, I am eschewing my usual levity in this review. In my review of Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon, I proclaimed to be an avid student of Napoleonic…
Jade City by Fonda Lee
A review by JC Kang Aficionados of Hong Kong Cinema, hear me out: Imagine Chow Yun-Fat in one of his classic ‘90s Triad movies, but give him the superhuman martial skills from the Show Brothers’ Golden Age of Wuxia. Add in the complex plotting and backstabbing of Game of Thrones, and you have Fonda Lee’s Jade City….
Never Die by Rob J. Hayes
A review by JC Kang “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Walking Dead.” As an ethnic Chinese martial arts practitioner, I have a love-hate relation with Wuxia. My first introduction to the genre came not through literature, but through Shaw Brothers movies. One of my favorite ages of cinema is 1990s Hong Kong, where Jet Li rose…