Ricepaper, the Asian Canadian literary magazine, published its special Speculative Fiction issue (fantasy, science fiction, and horror) this month. JF Garrard and I were the guest editors. Contributors include Aurora Award-winning editor/author Eric Choi and Writers of the Future award winner Tony Pi.
The fiction line-up is: "Tushuguan" by Eric Choi: trouble in post-apocalyptic Vancouver "Woman in the Shadows" by John Matsui: a ghost seeks revenge after a night of sex "A Spirited Education" by Tony Pi: a Soong Dynasty exorcism "Designing Fate" by JF Garrard: when designer children go bad... "Golden Fish, Golden Slippers" by Melissa Yuan-Innes: a Chinese fairy tale "Sharp Teeth" by Melissa Yuan-Innes: someone has sharp teeth...
Also in this issue: an interview with comic book publisher James Bade "Finding My Way Back Home" by Lou Villahermosa: an article about the haunted trees and other evil spirits of the Philippines.
It's in bookstores across Canada, but if you can't find it, you can order it online for only $5:
Left to right: Derwin Mak, Tony Pi, and Eric Choi with the Aurora Award trophies for The Dragon and the Stars.
The Dragon and the
Stars won the Aurora Award for Best Related Work in English. The Aurora
Awards, Canada's
national science fiction awards for science fiction, were handed out at
SFContario 2, which served as this year's Canadian National Science Fiction
Convention, on November 20, 2011. The short-list of nominees and the winners
were decided by voting of Canadian science fiction readers.
This is the probably the first time that a Chinese-theme
anthology of science fiction and fantasy has won a national science fiction
award outside China.
Hopefully, the success of The Dragon and
the Stars will encourage the publishing of more science fiction and fantasy
inspired by the various cultures and traditions of the world.
The editors Derwin Mak and Eric Choi thanked Dr. Wu Yan of Beijing Normal University,
Canadian author Julie Czerneda, John Helfers of Tekno Books, Sheila Gilbert of
DAW Books, and the authors of the anthology. Tony Pi, who wrote the story
"The Character of the Hound", represented the authors at the
ceremony.
Thanks to all the persons who voted in the Aurora Awards.
May science fiction and fantasy flourish in Canada
and the Chinese communities around the world for ten thousand years!
Left to right: Eric Choi, Derwin Mak, and Tony Pi.
Derwin Mak with author J.M. Frey, a presenter at the Aurora
Awards. Publishers' Weekly listed
J.M.'s novel Triptych as one of the
five best science fiction or fantasy novels of 2011.
The Dragon and the Stars is on the ballot for the 2011 Aurora Awards in the category of Best Related Work. Many thanks to our talented authors for their wonderful stories (see the list below). Thanks to all who nominated our anthology for Canada's national science fiction and fantasy award. The Dragon and the Stars is the first collection of science fiction and fantasy stories written by ethnic Chinese living outside of China. It features new fiction from Chinese writers in Canada, the United States, the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong.
If you don't have The Dragon and the Stars, what are you waiting for? Get it now at Amazon.ca and Amazon.com
If you like the stories of The Dragon and the Stars, promote our unique fusion of Canadian and international science fiction and fantasy by voting in the Aurora Awards, which are organized by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
You can vote if you're Canadian or living in Canada.
Voting by both online form and mail-in ballot begins in early June and ends on October 15, 2011.
To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to vote, visit:
"Looking to read something a little different in SF and fantasy? The Dragon and the Stars features eighteen (in Chinese lore, a lucky number) new tales written by English-speaking writers of Chinese ancestry...I would be hard-pressed to select the best story from this collection."
"Given the broad mandate of The Dragon and the Stars and the variety of the stories, it is a solid collection that should appeal to a wide range of readers."
Many thanks to these talented authors for their wonderful stories in The Dragon and the Stars:
Introduction by Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling novelist.
"The Character of the Hound" by Tony Pi (Canada) During the war between the Southern Song and the Jin Dynasties, a soldier allows a spirit to possess his body so he can solve a murder.
"The Fortunes of Mrs. Yu" by Charles Tan (Philippines) A Filipino Chinese woman is horrified that each of her fortune cookies has a blank strip of paper inside it.
"Goin Down to Anglotown" by William F. Wu (United States) In an alternate America that is dominated by Asians, three young Asian men go out for a night of intrigue in exotic "Anglotown".
"The Polar Bear Carries the Mail" by Derwin Mak (Canada) Chinese investors and a Chinese Canadian pilot try to start a space tourism business in northern Canada. Unfortunately, they have bad feng shui at their spaceport.
"Lips of Ash" by Emery Huang (United States) During the time of a historical dynasty, a cosmetics artist uses dark magic to help the ambitious mistress of a nobleman.
"The Man on the Moon" by Crystal Gail Shangkuan Koo (Hong Kong) Yue Lao (月老), the Man on the Moon, hosts a beauty pageant to find a bride.
"Across the Sea" by Emily Mah (United States) A Tlingowa Native American woman's aunt tells a legend about mysterious visitors who came to America hundreds of years ago.
"Mortal Clay, Stone Heart" by Eugie Foster (United States) During the reign of the First Emperor, a clay sculptor finds love and tragedy with a soldier.
"Dancers with Red Shoes" by Melissa Yuan-Innes (Canada) In Montréal, magical red shoes dance by themselves.
"Intelligent Truth" by Shelly Li (United States) A young Chinese American woman discovers truths about herself and her mother’s intelligent robotic servant.
"Bargains" by Gabriela Lee (Singapore) A young woman meets a strange shopkeeper in Chinatown. The shopkeeper sells success as a writer – but with a terrible price.
"Threes" by E.L. Chen (Canada) A Canadian man thinks his dead wife has become a Chinese dragon in Lake Ontario.
"The Son of Heaven" by Eric Choi (Canada) The Chinese rocket scientist Tsien Hsue-shen (钱学森) is persecuted during the Red Scare in America in the 1950s.
"Shadow City" by Susan Ee (United States) In a fantasy universe, a gatekeeper must stop people from leaving an evil place called Shadow City.
"The Water Weapon" by Brenda W. Clough (United States) The British police are suspicious of a talking Chinese dragon and a Chinese princess who appear at the Great Exposition of 1851 in London.
"The Right to Eat Decent Food" by Urania Fung (United States) Two American English teachers in China will do anything to get decent food during the SARS epidemic.
"Papa and Mama" by Wen Y Phua (Singapore) A Chinese daughter struggles to remain dutiful to her late parents, who are inconveniently reincarnated as a fish and a bird.
"Běidŏu" by Ken Liu (United States) In the Ming war against Japan, an ingenious Chinese army officer invents new weapons to defeat the Japanese.
Calling all Canadians, at home and abroad, and landed immigrants in Canada: our national science fiction awards, the Prix Aurora Awards, are now open for nominations. This year, I have three short stories, one novel, and one anthology eligible to be nominated in the following categories:
Eligible for Best Short Fiction:
"Cloned to Kill", Infinite Space, Infinite God II, Twilight Times Books
"The Polar Bear Carries the Mail", The Dragon and the Stars, DAW Books
"Family Tradition", Night to Dawn, issue 17, April 2010
Eligible for Best Novel:
The Shrine of the Siren Stone, Orchard House Press.
Eligible for Best Related Work:
The Dragon and the Stars by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi, Editors, DAW Books
To learn more about the Prix Aurora Awards and to nominate stories and editors, visit:
To nominate stories, go to the above website and register for a free membership in the in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Receive your Society number by email, then go back to the Aurora Awards website and submit your nominations. You can submit nominations online (due April 30, 2011) or with the mail-in paper ballot (due April 22, 2011).
You can view my short stories and excerpts from The Shrine of the Siren Stone for free during the nomination period at:
Congratulations to my Dragon and the Stars co-editor Eric Choi. His story "Dedication" has been translated and published in Japanese in the anthology The Astronaut From Wyoming and Other Stories edited by Toru Nakamaru, from Hayakawa Publishing, Japan's largest publisher of science fiction.
"Dedication" is the story that won the first Isaac Asimov Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Science Fiction, awarded by Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and Dell Magazines, in 1994. It's about a team of astronauts who struggle to survive on Mars after their rover is damaged by a meteorite shower.
To my Japanese friends: "Dedication" is eligible to be nominated for a Seiun Award in the Best Foreign Language Short Story category.
Photo: The Dragon and the Stars, World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto. The Dragon and the Stars, edited by me and Eric Choi, is in bookstores now! It's in major bookstores like Chapters, Indigo, and Borders. Look for it in the section for science fiction and fantasy anthologies.
From the back cover of The Dragon and the Stars: This unique anthology of science fiction and fantasy tales includes stories by authors of Chinese ancestry, who make their homes in places as varied as the United States, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. The talented authors included here have drawn upon China's rich and venerable heritage as well as the traditions and cultures of their current homelands to create imaginative and fascinating stories. From the tale of a murder that can only be solved by spirit possession to a fortune cookie that offers an uncertain future...from a man who believes his wife has become a Chinese dragon to an inventive army officer in the Ming conflict with Japan...from a young woman's fateful encounter with a Chinatown shopkeeper to a Chinese rocket scientist caught in the perils of 1950s America -- here are eighteen science fiction and fantasy visions that showcase the diversity of the Chinese experience around the world.
Introduction by New York Times bestseller author Tess Gerritsen. Stories by Tony Pi, Charles Tan, William F. Wu, Derwin Mak, Emery Huang, Crystal Gail Shangkuan Koo, Emily Mah, Eugie Foster, Melissa Yuan-Innes, Shelly Li, Gabriela Lee, E.L. Chen, Eric Choi, Susan Ee, Brenda W. Clough, Urania Fung, Wen Y Phua, Ken Liu.
Two Chinese Canadian Writers and Overseas Compatriots Together in Chinese Science Fiction Book
By Wendy Yang
Published in Ming Pao Daily News, Toronto edition, February 8, 2010, p. A2
Overseas Chinese writers are numerous, but those writing science fiction are few. Two Chinese Canadian science fiction writers, with overseas Chinese writers in different countries, have created a book of 18 science fiction and fantasy short stories, to be released on May 11. This will be North America's first all-overseas-Chinese anthology of science fiction and fantasy.
The anthology, called The Dragon and the Stars, will be published by well-known American science fiction publisher DAW Books. It contains 18 short stories from Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Singapore. The 18 Chinese authors wrote their stories in English over six months. Five of the authors are from Canada, and they are strong in Canadian sci-fi circles.
Tony Pi was born in Taipei, immigrated to Canada when he was 8 years old, and grew up in Toronto. He earned his Ph.D. in linguistics at Montreal's McGillUniversity and has worked at several universities in Canada. At present, he is administering the graduate program in Cinema Studies at University of Toronto.
For the new book, he wrote the fantasy story "The Character of the Hound". The story centers on a war between the Southern Song and Jin. The ghost of a soldier adopts the word "Dog" as a tattoo on his body and acquires super powers to solve a murder in the army.
Tony Pi likes science fiction, in particular, Japanese manga (comics). "I like to use imagination to explore the present and the past and things that do not exist in the world. I like to create." In 2006, he wrote his first story, "The Stone Cipher", which won second place in the first quarter of the Writers of the Future contest, an international competition that finds cutting-edge science fiction writers. So far he has published 20 short stories, each of about 4,000 words.
Derwin Mak is another Chinese science fiction writer. He was born in Peterborough, Ontario. His father is from Hong Kong, and his mother is Malaysian Chinese. He is a chartered accountant, a member of Royal Canadian Military Institute, and a lecturer at the Institute.
He wrote "The Polar Bear Carries the Mail", about a Chinese company that joins with Inuit in northern Canada to build a spaceport but are opposed by environmentalists. The main character is a Chinese astronaut, and the story involves feng shui problems.
Derwin Mak began writing science fiction in 2001. His 2005 story "Transubstantiation" won the Prix Aurora Award, Canada's national science fiction award, equivalent to the United States' Hugo Award.
He said the new book is significant in correcting the past image of Chinese people and their culture in science fiction, which has been often negative. "The stories in The Dragon and the Stars all have Chinese themes, and many have ethnic Chinese main characters. Chinese culture is 5,000 years old, there are four great inventions of China, and Chinese history is full of scientific and technological development. This is a rich basis for science fiction and should be reflected in current stories."
There are another three Chinese Canadian science fiction writers: Eric Choi, Melissa J. Yuan-Innes, and Elaine Chen. Eric Choi's first story, "Dedication", was published in 1994, making him the first Chinese Canadian science fiction writer.
Derwin Mak says that overseas Chinese are now writing science fiction because North American tastes are changing. First, North Americans are more accepting of Asian culture, such as Japanese manga (comics) and Chinese martial arts movies. Secondly, North American society has become more diverse and inclusive of ethnic minorities in popular culture and creative fields, resulting in the emergence of Canadian Chinese science fiction writers.
Addendum to the English translation:
Eric Choi is co-editor of The Dragon and the Stars. His story "Dedication" won the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (now called the Dell Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing).
The original Chinese text refers to The Dragon and the Stars as a science fiction anthology, but it also contains fantasy stories.
Ming Pao Daily News, a major Chinese newspaper, published this article about The Dragon and the Stars in its Toronto edition, February 8, 2010. The reporter Wendy Yang interviewed me and Tony Pi.
作 品集名為《The Dragon and the Stars)》(龍與群星)﹐5月1日將由美國著名科幻出版商DAW Books出版。它收錄的18個短篇科幻小說﹐是由加拿大、美國、香港、菲律賓、新加坡等國家的18位華裔作家﹐在過去半年內用英文創作。其中加拿大有5 位﹐他們是加拿大科幻圈中頗具實力的華裔作家。
他此次為新書創作的奇幻作品為《The Character of the Hound》(犬的特點)。故事以南宋和金國之間的戰爭為背景﹐講述一個鬼魂通過士兵身上的「犬」字圖騰進入其身體﹐使士兵具有超能力﹐解決發生在軍隊內的謀殺案。
畢 家怡從小就喜歡科幻作品﹐尤其喜歡看日本漫畫﹐「我很喜歡用想象來探索現在和過去都不存在的世界﹐我喜歡進行創造。」2006年他創作了第一篇科幻小說 《The Stone Cipher》(寶石密碼)﹐為他贏得了當年第一季度未來作家競賽二等獎﹐這是一項旨在發現新銳科幻作家的國際性賽事。至今他已出版了20篇、每篇大約 4000字的短篇科幻小說。
Eric Choi is my co-editor of The Dragon and the Stars. Eric Choi's short story "Another's Treasure" is indeed that rare treasure: a humorous science fiction short story published in a time when most science fiction writers are trying to exceed each other with serious, pessimistic themes. My warped sense of humour liked it, which is why I'm nominating it for Canada's national science fiction award, the Prix Aurora Award, in the category of Best Short-Form Work in English.
