Ayngharan’s rage consumed him. I learned of his death from my adopted mother. No details, just that he was gone. I found out from other sources. Publicly there was no mention of a protest. Publicly there was no mention of a lone protestor who set himself aflame. And what did the bystanders see, I wondered? Did they see no one? The burning man, the protestors, all of them written out of the bystander’s vision by a piece of computer software. An unseen protest, marked only by the shape the crowd of angry youths had carved out on the street, marked only by the scorch mark left on the asphalt.
And so I arrived at this: my first act of rebellion. The small revolt I finally permitted myself to do, in remembrance of all the unseen, of all the things hidden from public eyes. I stand now on the tour-boat looking out at the ruins on a stretch of beach in Trincomalee, the gopuram of the old Koneswaram temple still half reaching out of the water. Some miles north, there exists an unseen, unmarked stretch of sunken beach in which my parents lie buried. I find the entry on the earthquake in the public database, and I edit it. I write in there the story you are reading now. My story. Perhaps in an hour, or even a few minutes, someone will edit it back. Someone will reduce my story to an invisible footnote to a single line. But for this moment, I am here. My story is here, unfiltered and visible. My real name is Kartik, and I do exist.
AFTERWORD
Derwin Mak
In the seven years since Eric Choi and I edited The Dragon and the Stars, a Chinese-themed science fiction and fantasy anthology, Asian science fiction and fantasy have grown greatly. Here is a brief, but by no means comprehensive, overview of Asian SF&F since 2010.
Mainland China has become the powerhouse of Asian science fiction. Chinese science fiction, growing with the country’s space program, is not just as an obscure genre for a few fans. It now has the wide appeal to the general public that science fiction enjoys in the West. Liu Cixin’s novel Three-Body Problem became a bestseller in China, comparable to the Harry Potter novels in popularity. Even the Vice-President of China, Li Yuanchao, revealed that he is a science fiction fan and asked science fiction writers to popularize scientific knowledge and contribute to their country’s drive to become a technological power.
Despite a drop in circulation in recent years, Science Fiction World (科幻世界) remains the science fiction magazine with the highest circulation in the world, at 130,000 copies per issue. Two Chinese stories have won a major international award, the Hugo: Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem (Best Novel, 2015) and Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing” (Best Novelette, 2016).
Clarkesworld Magazine has been publishing translations of Chinese science fiction stories, so now they are accessible to English readers. Look for stories by Xia Jia (“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight”), Chen Qiufan (“The Fish of Lijiang”), Cheng Jingbo (“Grave of the Fireflies”), Tang Fei (“Pepe”), and many others. Also look for Invisible Planets, an anthology of contemporary Chinese science fiction, translated by Ken Liu, published in 2016.
Japan has started exporting English translations of its novels via the Haikasoru imprint of manga publisher Viz. These include Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (retitled to Edge of Tomorrow to match the Americanized movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise), and Rocket Girls by Housuke Nojiri.
The Philippines has a tradition of science fiction and fantasy that continues to this day. Charles A. Tan edited Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology in 2012. Look for stories by Dean Francis Alfar, Kristine Ong Muslim, and Yvette Tan.
Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng edited The Sea Is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia in 2015. Not only has this anthology merged the steampunk genre with Southeast Asian cultures, but it will bring them to a new audience; foreign translation rights have been sold in the Czech Republic.
Singaporean writer Jason Erik Lundberg founded Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction in 2012. Lontar has published stories by a variety of writers in its goal to spread awareness of Southeast Asian science fiction and fantasy and the diversity of Southeast Asian cultures.
Salik Shah, Ajapa Sharma, and Isha Karki edit Mathila Review, a magazine of speculative art and culture. Their magazine is by no means limited to authors and stories of South Asian origin and publishes science fiction and fantasy from around the world. Mathila Review had an “Asian SF Special Issue” (issues 5 and 6).
Indrapramit Das (a.k.a. Indra Das) divides his time between India and Canada. He began publishing short stories in 2010, and his first novel, The Devourers, appeared in 2015.
Significant developments occurred in Arab science fiction and fantasy. In 2012, Emirati author Noura al Noman published Ajwan, the first young adult science fiction novel in Arabic. Ibraheem Abbas and Yasser Bahjat’s science fantasy novel, HWJN (Hawjan), became a bestseller in Saudi Arabia in 2013, a rare feat for SF&F there. However, the anti-witchcraft unit of the Saudi religious police investigated the novel for promoting witchcraft (but fortunately cleared it), and Kuwait and Qatar banned it. Nonetheless, despite state censors and religious conservatives, Arab science fiction has emerged.
Israeli author Lavie Tidhar’s Osama won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2012.
Seven years ago, science fiction and fantasy writers were rare in overseas or diaspora Asian communities. Now their numbers and popularity grow each year. Chinese Americans have been particularly prolific. Ken Liu published most of his stories after 2010. In 2012, his short story “The Paper Menagerie” became the first story of any length to win all three of the genre’s major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy. Two Chinese Americans have won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: E. Lily Yu (2012) and Wesley Chu (2015).
In Canada, Renée Bennett, Calvin Jim, and Ace Jordyn published Shanghai Steam, an anthology of hybrid steampunk and wuxia (Chinese martial arts) stories in 2012. At the 2015 Aurora Awards, Eric Choi won the Best Short Fiction—English Award for “Crimson Sky” and Tony Pi won the Best Poem/Song—English Award for “A Hex With Bees”.
The Vancouver-based Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW), which usually promotes literary writing, published a special Speculative Fiction Issue (edited by Derwin Mak and JF Garrard) in 2014 and had a science fiction and fantasy theme for the first time at its annual LiterASIAN festival in 2015.
Zen Cho has risen in the fantasy genre in recent years. She’s a Chinese Malaysian author in London, and her debut novel, Sorcerer to the Crown, was published in 2015. She also edited Cyberpunk: Malaysia, an anthology of Malaysian science fiction stories, in 2015. She won the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer in 2016 and the Crawford Award in 2015.
Aliette de Bodard is a multi-award winning author of French/Vietnamese descent living in France. She has won three British Science Fiction Award, two Nebula Awards, and a Locus Award for her novel and short fiction. Her novel, The House of Binding Thorns, a follow-up to her 2015 BSFA novel The House of Shattered Wings, is out in April 2017.
Korean American science fiction writers have appeared in the past few years. Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture, published by the University of Hawaii, had a science fiction issue featuring five Korean stories translated into English and stories by American writers Ed Bok Lee and Minsoo Kang in 2013. Ellen Oh’s Prophecy series of young adult fantasy novels began in 2013. Minsoo Kang translated the classic Korean fantasy novel The Story of Hong Gildong into English in 2016.
Two Filipina American writers had good years in 2015 and 2016. Michi Trota became the first Filipinx (her preferred gender-neutral term) to win the Hugo Award for her work as Managing Editor of Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Best Semiprozine, 2016). Alyssa Wong became the first Filipino person to win the Nebula Award (2015) and the World Fantasy Award (2016) for her short story “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers”.
There still aren’t many Arab American science fiction and fantasy writers, but watch for Saladin Ahmed. His fantasy novel Throne of
the Crescent Moon was a finalist for a Hugo Award in 2013 and a Nebula Award in 2012.
In Canada, Amal El-Mohtar has published a steady stream of short stories since 2010. Her story “The Green Book” was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story (2012). Her story “The Truth About Owls” won the Locus Award for Best Short Story in 2015.
The Indo-American writer S.B. Divya published her first short story in 2014, and her first novella, “Runtime,” appeared in 2016.
Mary Anne Mohanraj is an American writer and literature professor of Sri Lankan (Tamil) ancestry. She started writing, publishing, and editing in the 1990’s, when Asian American science fiction and fantasy writers were rare. She continues publishing short stories and novels today. In 2004, she founded the Speculative Literature Foundation, which she still directs. In 2013, she founded Jaggery, a Desi literary journal.
Rati Mehrotra also began publishing stories in 2014, thus joining Mahtab Narsimhan among the Indo-Canadians who write science fiction and fantasy. Rati’s two-novel series will be published by Harper Voyager in 2018.
In this era of migration and multiculturalism, sometimes we have to redefine traditional cultural identities. Amanda Sun has European ancestry, but she also has a Chinese family and has lived in Japan. Starting in 2013, she published her Japanese-themed young adult fantasy trilogy Paper Gods and the novel Heir to the Sky.
Then there’s Jason Erik Lundberg, an American who became a Singaporean writer and editor of the above-mentioned Lontar. He is a supporter or proponent of Southeast Asian science fiction and fantasy.
The above survey is by no means exhaustive, and there are other good writers whom I have not mentioned due to space restrictions, a limitation for which I apologize.
Dear readers, I hope that our anthology has shown you the diversity of Asian cultures and our writers’ broad range of ideas and themes. Asian science fiction has grown considerably in the past seven years. The stars, like the Moon and the Sun, rise in the East. We look forward to seeing more stories from where the stars rise.
—Derwin Mak, Toronto, Canada, 2017
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Lucas K. Law
Many thanks go to the following:
Derwin Mak, my co-editor, for his insights and guidance;
Eric Choi for his bundle of energy and enthusiasm in my anthology projects;
Kim Vincent and Kimberley Watson, two friends whose words remind me to strive for integrity and humility;
Samantha M. Beiko and Clare C. Marshall for their generous support whenever I need it;
Tim H. Feist, my partner, for his patience, understanding, and encouragement when I spent too many hours apart, working on this anthology;
Elsie Chapman, Aliette de Bodard, and the authors for giving their unwavering commitment to this anthology;
The staff and volunteers at Qualicum Beach Library and Vancouver Island Regional Library for giving me an opportunity to curate the Qualicum Beach Asian Collection;
Everyone who buys this book and support social causes (please continue to talk about issues on mental health and mental illness and stand up against discriminations and bullying).
Derwin Mak
I give many thanks to Lucas K. Law for inviting me to edit this anthology; to Eric Choi and JF Garrard, who co-edited previous anthologies with me and thus gave me experience in editing with others; and to Jim Wong-Chu and the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop for inviting me to LiterASIAN 2015 and encouraging me to promote and publish Asian Canadian science fiction.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Anne Carly Abad is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Between making custom jewelry and taking care of her hedgehog, Porky, she writes poetry, fiction, and political musings. Some of her published work can be found at Apex, Strange Horizons and the Philippines Graphic Magazine. Follow her blog at: www.the-sword-that-speaks.blogspot.com
Deepak Bharathan grew up on a staple diet of veggies, science fiction and fantasy. His father’s 3,000 book collection was the monolith that jump-started his reading. Growing up in India, he managed to write fiction for children’s magazines and for the national radio. His fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Allegory, Sci Phi Journal and Terraform. He has published non-fiction about technology in Consulting Magazine, CIO Update, Search CIO, PC Today, and CIO Decisions. His Philadelphia home is run by his one-year-old daughter. His wife and he are just along for the ride. It’s a pretty good one though.
Elsie Chapman is the author of YA novels Dualed (Random House, 2013), Divided (Random House, 2014), Along The Indigo (Abrams/Amulet, 2018), and co-editor of and contributor to Legendry (Harper Collins/Greenwillow, 2018), a YA anthology featuring Asian and South Asian mythology retellings. Born and raised in Canada and a graduate of University of British Columbia with a degree in English Literature, she currently lives in Tokyo with her family.
Joyce Chng writes mainly science fiction and YA. She likes steampunk and tales of transfiguration/transformation. Her fiction has appeared in The Apex Book of World SF II, We See A Different Frontier, Cranky Ladies of History, and Accessing The Future. Her YA includes a trilogy about a desert planet and a fantasy duology in Qing China. Joyce has also co-edited a Southeast Asian steampunk anthology titled The Sea is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia (Rosarium Publishing, 2015) with Jaymee Goh. Her Jan Xu Adventures series, an urban/contemporary fantasy set in Singapore, is written under the pseud. J. Damask which she will tell you it’s a play on her Chinese name. She tweets at @jolantru.
Miki Dare (Dare is pronounced DAH-RAY in Japanese) lives on the West Coast where she likes to express herself with whatever falls into her hands—from a pen to a paintbrush. Her science fiction and fantasy writing can be found in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Inscription Magazine, Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela, and Urban Fantasist. She is also currently working with mixed media to explore issues of identity, personal history and social realities. Her latest art series is titled Geisha Girl Stereotype Survivor. To see what Miki is up to, visit her website at mikidare.com.
S.B. Divya is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She enjoys subverting expectations and breaking stereotypes whenever she can. Her short stories have been published in various magazines, including Lightspeed and Daily Science Fiction, and her writing appears in the indie game Rogue Wizards. Her debut science-fiction novella Runtime was released by Tor.com Publications in May, 2016. You can find more online at www.eff-words.com or on Twitter @divyastweets.
Pamela Q. Fernandes is a doctor, medical writer, and author. She’s a big Hallyu fan and likes to practice the keyboard. Her love of Joseon dramas and science fiction led to the conception of Joseon Fringe. Several of her short stories and romance novellas have been published including her Seoul-based romantic suspense Seoul-Mates by Indireads Inc. She’s also the author of the Christian nonfiction series, Ten Reminders, and currently whips up podcasts for her listeners at The Christian Circle Podcast. She can be found on Twitter @PamelaQFerns and on Facebook or at her blog, An Apple’s Mindspew.
Shaoyan Hu is a speculative fiction writer/translator, born in Shanghai and currently living in Singapore. In 2016, he won a gold award for the best new writer and a silver award for the best novella of Chinese Nebula Award. He has translated a number of English novels into Chinese, including A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R.R. Martin), The Southern Reach Trilogy (Jeff VanderMeer), The City & The City (China Miéville), and The Scar (China Miéville). He is also a blog contributor for the official website of Amazing Stories Magazine.
Calvin D. Jim, born in French Canada to a Japanese mother and Chinese father, has spent his life going in several directions at once: writer, editor, IFWit, lawyer, gamer-geek, movie-lover, dad. He is a Prix Aurora Award nominated co-editor of Shanghai Steam, the Steampunk-Wuxia anthology. His stories have appeared in Rigor Amortis, Crossed Genre Quarterly and Enigma Front. He has also been a winner and a finalist for the In Places Between: Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Con
test. Calvin lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife, two kids, and an ever-expanding army of meeples.
Minsoo Kang is a fiction writer, historian, and translator who is currently an associate professor of European history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of the short story collection Of Tales and Enigmas (Prime Books) and the history book Sublime Dreams of Living Machines: The Automaton in the European Imagination (Harvard University Press). He is also the translator of the classic Korean novel The Story of Hong Gildong, a Penguin Classic. His short stories have appeared in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Azalea, Entropy, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and the anthology, Shanghai Steam.
Fonda Lee is the award-winning author of young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer (Flux, 2015) and Exo (Scholastic, 2017). Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, a black belt martial artist, and an action movie aficionado. She loves a good eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Calgary, Fonda now lives with her family in Portland, Oregon. You can find more information online at www.fondalee.com and on Twitter @fondajlee.
Gabriela Lee has been published for her poetry and fiction in the Philippines, Singapore, the United States, and Australia. Her first book of prose is titled Instructions on How to Disappear: Stories (Visprint Inc., 2016). Her previous works include Disturbing the Universe: Poems (NCCA Ubod New Writers Prize, 2006) and La-on and the Seven Headed Dragon (Adarna House, 2002). She has received a Master of Arts in Literary Studies from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and currently teaches literature and creative writing at the University of the Philippines. You can find her online at www.sundialgirl.com.
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