Wolf at the Door by Joyce Chng (J. Damask), a Luna Station Quarterly author, has been put on the Nebula Awards suggested reading list. The novel is an Urban Fantasy set in Singapore, where the author lives and works. Congratulations, J. Damask!
Another Luna Station note: Issue 009 will be coming out on March 1st and will include my short story “The Wood Children.” I’ll link to it when the time comes.
By: Jennifer Wylie,
on 11/16/2011
Chinese Werewolves? Really?
A bit about myself before I start rambling away: I am from Singapore (born and grown-up), a medieval history major and a gardening fanatic. Likewise, I have two girls and I herd cats. I write SFF under my normal name and urban fantasy under a pseudonym. So, yes, I am a SFF writer from Singapore.
Why Chinese werewolves? Uhm, why not?
There are many urban fantasy series out there in the publishing world. Fantastic series, by the way – I love Charles de Lint’s complex worlds as well as grimmer ones like Jim Butcher’s and Simon Green’s. Yet, I found myself wanting more: a world I could resonate with and understand.
Cue 2009. I was pregnant with my second girl and brimming with ideas. I was already toying (and building a world!) with the concept of Chinese werewolves, set in Singapore. The main character would be a woman. She would be a mother with children. Her pack was central in her life. The wolves (Lang – Mandarin Chinese for ‘wolf’) followed the Chinese calendar, as much as their human counterparts. Twist: she was an ex-teenage vigilante. I have always wondered how Buffy would turn out, when she became an adult. What happens to heroines when they are past their ‘hero’ days?
So, come Nanowrimo 2009 – I was writing that novel.
I tried a few publishers before Wolf At The Door finally found a home at Lyrical Press. Then I started writing Obsidian Moon, Obsidian Eye – and suddenly, I have a series!
Southeast Asia is a perfect region for urban fantasy (and epic fantasy, by the way). Singapore is an island-state who prides herself as a cosmopolitan city with many races and cultures converging there for commerce and for personal reasons. Each race has its own unique mythology and legends – great source material for an urban fantasy different from the usual North American or British ones.
Take a walk on the wild side, Singapore-style. Mingle with the Myriad. Who knows, you might be walking beside a Lang.
Joyce Chng can be found at A Wolf’s Tale: http://awolfstale.wordpress.com where she blogs about things SFF, writing, YA and urban fantasy.
Her alter ego – J. Damask – has her author page at: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=authors&authors_id=165&zenid=andqadld2v33eskrbb45mgc9s3
Her SFF and YA stories are easily downloadable from Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jolantru
She tweets at @jolantru
