A Thousand Eyes and One
I had a lot of fun chatting to the lovely Tanya and Nikki for their speculative fiction book club, Wine On an Empty Stomach about Sinophagia. We talked about resonating aspects of The Waking Dream, the the terrifying Death of Nala, and the unique female voice in Immortal Beauty, also discussing translation and the great genre fiction out there, ending with their fun signature finish.
Posted in Events and tagged books, genre, horror, literature, POC, podcast, SFF, women
The Girl Who Stole Life by Zhou Wen
It was immense pleasure working with Sheila Williams and to have my translation featured in Asimov’s Science Fiction, which takes its name from one of my favourite classic Anglophone sci-fi writers, and whose publications I have long admired. This is a story about languages, linguistic, neurolinguistics and translation, but also, about a young woman who wants to break the barriers that life put in front of her.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged Chinese, class, genre, languages, linguistics, literature, neurolinguistics, noveltte, Scifi, SFF, social concerns, society
Her Story: Second Skin
A novelette by Dan Shi, a new voice in female Chinese science fiction and one that is boldly outspoken about feminism and gender debates. I was asked to translate this piece by the editors, and after reading it, I felt it was important to do so, especially when the story was so well written. A bold exploration of technology, the female body and autonomy. You can read it here.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged autonomy, Chinese, female body, feminism, genre, literature, novelette, science fiction, Scifi, SFF
Chinese Horror Literature in Italy
I couldn’t find a better home for my Chinese horror collection than Italy, and I had the pleasure of being at the MUFANT in Turin, to talk about my experiences as an transcultural author, Chinese science fiction in Europe, Western Gothic and Chinese Gothic, and the unique features of the latter. It was a few weeks after Sinofagia, the Italian edition of my book was published in Italy, and the immense enthusiasm in the audience made everything that it took for the trip to happen worth it. I was also delighted to meet my publishers add editore, and sign some copies of my book in their bookshop.
Posted in Books, Events and tagged add editore, author, books, genre, gothic, horror, Italy, literature, MUFANT, museum, SFF, Sinofagia, translation, Turin
SRFC January 2025: Sinophagia
It was an immense pleasure to return to the SRFC, which hosted a session for Sinopticon previously, to talk about Sinophagia, where I spoke to the host Caro about the challenges of pulling the collection together and “what is horror?” in China and the Anglophone West, as well as what we find frightening, and what the themes in the book tell us about contemporary Chinese society. Equally an absolute pleasure to share the stage with fellow author T.L. Huchu.
Posted in Events and tagged anthology, book club, books, genre, horror, literature, SFF
On Horror and Identity
I love speaking at conventions. This whole career as a sinologist started with talks to anime crowds about the films, foods, myth and music of China. In the midst of the buzz around my upcoming collection, Sinophagia, I was excited to be included on the panel of “Horror and Identity” as part of this year’s Flight of Foundry, especially with such a diverse collection of fellow guests to talk about the genre, and how our lived experiences and outlooks informed it.
Posted in Events and tagged china, Chinese, fiction, genre, horror, identity, literature, SFF, translation