M.H. Boroson’s Followers (288)

M.H. Boroson

Born

October 23, 1970

Website

http://thegirlwithghosteyes.blogspot.com/

Twitter

MHBoroson

Genre

Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Influences

Maxine Hong Kingston; Jim Butcher; Pu Songling; Iris Chang; Spirited A ...more

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When M.H. Boroson was nine years old, a Chinese American friend invited him to dinner with his family. Over a big, raucous meal, his friend's uncle told a story about a beautiful fox woman. She had a magic pearl and she stole men's energy.

Boroson wanted to learn more about this fox woman, so he went to the library. They had Greek, Norse, and Arthurian mythology. They had vampires, witches, werewolves, and fairies, but they didn't have anything like the story his friend's uncle told -- not even an encyclopedia entry.

This baffled him. A number of his friends were Asian American; why weren't their families' stories in the books? He asked his friend's uncle to tell him more stories. He started asking other kids if he could interview their famil When M.H. Boroson was nine years old, a Chinese American friend invited him to dinner with his family. Over a big, raucous meal, his friend's uncle told a story about a beautiful fox woman. She had a magic pearl and she stole men's energy.

Boroson wanted to learn more about this fox woman, so he went to the library. They had Greek, Norse, and Arthurian mythology. They had vampires, witches, werewolves, and fairies, but they didn't have anything like the story his friend's uncle told -- not even an encyclopedia entry.

This baffled him. A number of his friends were Asian American; why weren't their families' stories in the books? He asked his friend's uncle to tell him more stories. He started asking other kids if he could interview their families. If they said yes, he'd go to their houses, bringing a notebook.

In college, he studied Mandarin and Religion (with a focus on Chinese Buddhism). He lived near a video store that had a large selection of Hong Kong cinema; he rented Shaw Brothers movies, as well as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and John Woo films. He loved BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER too; it was fun genre fluff on the surface, but it also had deeper meanings.

One day he realized he could combine everything he loved: Chinese ghost lore, Buffy, kung fu movies, fantasy novels, history. He could write stories about Chinese magic and monsters, using these incredible cultural details as metaphors to dramatize the experiences of immigrants in America.

Stories told from inside the culture, centered on people whose lives had been treated as marginal. Stories inverting the margins, subverting stereotypes. Chinese American characters portrayed as three-dimensional, diverse human beings -- facing challenges, earning a living, supporting families, struggling to hold on to traditional values in a new country. Exciting, action-packed stories that base their fantasy imagery in Chinese folklore, but tackle issues of vital importance in today's world, like race, class, gender, culture, and power.

He started taking notes. He bought hand-written Daoist manuscripts. He interviewed Chinese and Chinese American people again. He took detailed notes from Chinese stories, like Pu Songling's Tales from the Liaozhai, and ancient texts like the Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) and Journey to the West. He watched movies like MR. VAMPIRE and A CHINESE GHOST STORY. He took sixty thousand pages of notes.

From Iris Chang, he learned to write about history from a place of compassion. Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins stories taught him how an investigation can paint a vivid picture of an ethnic enclave at a specific historical moment. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files showed him how to create big fun supernatural adventures. Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries gave him a way to write about a culture that isn't his own, trying to honor the people he's writing about.

THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES is his first novel. It received a Starred Review from Publishers Weekly, won first prize in the Colorado Gold and Crested Butte Writers writing contests, was nominated as one of the ten best books of the month at LibraryReads, and was listed as one of Bustle.com's best diverse fantasy novels. ...more

4 posts
M.H. Boroson's Blog

M.H. Boroson isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Altar at a Chinese temple in Weaverville, CA

"Father’s altar dominated the heart of the large chamber. Colorful silk lanterns hung above it, red, yellow, and blue-green, and the altar was surrounded by bright brocades, candles, idols, and incense—a clutter of magnificence."
-- from The Girl with Ghost Eyes, by M. H. Boroson.

Undated antique photo shows the interior of a Chinese temple in Weaverville, California. From my personal collection.

- Read more of this blog post »

7 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 04, 2016 16:38

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Combine Editions
M.H. Boroson’s books

Average rating: 3.92 · 5,257 ratings · 916 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Girl with Ghost Eyes 3.85 avg rating — 4,458 ratings — published 2015 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl with No Face (The Daoshi Chronicles, #2) 4.30 avg rating — 756 ratings — published 2019 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ride a Mule (The Daoshi Chronicles, #1.5) 4.58 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Series by M.H. Boroson

The Daoshi Chronicles (2 books)
by

M.H. Boroson

3.92 avg rating — 5,257 ratings

Quotes by M.H. Boroson (?)

“Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. At the edge of perception, weird things dance and howl.”
― M.H. Boroson, The Girl with Ghost Eyes

tags: dance, edge, ghost, howl, perception, simple, weird

26 likes

“Face. I should have known. For some men, face mattered more than friendship, more than money, more than love. More than an eye, and certainly more than a daughter. The”
― M.H. Boroson, The Girl with Ghost Eyes

5 likes

“I had decided to let them see me as powerful, a person of consequence, who must be taken seriously.”
― M.H. Boroson, The Girl with Ghost Eyes

4 likes

See all M.H. Boroson's quotes »

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M.H. Boroson’s Followers (288)

M.H. Boroson

4 postsM.H. Boroson's Blog

Altar at a Chinese temple in Weaverville, CA

Combine EditionsM.H. Boroson’s books

Series by M.H. Boroson

Topics Mentioning This Author

4 posts
M.H. Boroson's Blog

Combine Editions
M.H. Boroson’s books