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Fantasy from Asia and the Asian Diaspora
Fantasy from Asia and the Asian Diaspora is a Tordotcom Novella Sampler featuring stories by Zen Cho, Saad Z. Hossain, S. L. Huang, Nghi Vo, and JY Neon Yang…
Clerics and tigers. Nuns and bandits. Archers and hunters. Mages versus Machinists. A recently awoken djinn king and the soldier who must contain him. All these and more can be found in excerpts from five fantasy novellas rooted in Asia and the Asian Diaspora that will enchant minds and hearts alike.
Contents:
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water / Zen Cho
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday / Saad Z. Hossain
Burning Roses / S.L. Huang
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain / Nghi Vo
The Black Tides of Heaven / (JY) Neon Yang
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Clerics and tigers. Nuns and bandits. Archers and hunters. Mages versus Machinists. A recently awoken djinn king and the soldier who must contain him. All these and more can be found in excerpts from five fantasy novellas rooted in Asia and the Asian Diaspora that will enchant minds and hearts alike.
Contents:
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water / Zen Cho
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday / Saad Z. Hossain
Burning Roses / S.L. Huang
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain / Nghi Vo
The Black Tides of Heaven / (JY) Neon Yang
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
79 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 11, 2020
40 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Zen Cho
59 books2,690 followersI'm a Malaysian fantasy writer based in the UK. Find out more about my work here: http://zencho.org
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 30, 2020
I enjoyed this sampler very much. High class, enjoyable writing.
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - excerpt promised a humorous take on bandits and
a nun pledged to the Order of the Pure Moon who has joined them.
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday - an ancient god, the Lord of Tuesday, awakens after several thousand years to discover how much the planet has changed. Engaging and worthy of reading the rest.
Burning Roses - I had some trouble following the characters. I wondered if the excerpt left too much too much for me the reader to know what was happening, but, hey, there were giant firebirds.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - the excerpt began with a mammoth-riding scout taking a young cleric over the rugged mountains until they are trapping by tigers at the way station, tigers that laugh and presumably talk. Good stuff.
BEST OF THE FIVE - The Black Tides of Heaven - The head abbot of the monastery is called upon to meet with the High Protector who has just given birth to twins, despite having an excellent son who immediately preceded them. The twin newborns are pledged to the abbot in response to an earlier request. Terrific writing, I was hooked. There are gravity-defying vehicles and architecture created by something called slack craft. YES!
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - excerpt promised a humorous take on bandits and
a nun pledged to the Order of the Pure Moon who has joined them.
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday - an ancient god, the Lord of Tuesday, awakens after several thousand years to discover how much the planet has changed. Engaging and worthy of reading the rest.
Burning Roses - I had some trouble following the characters. I wondered if the excerpt left too much too much for me the reader to know what was happening, but, hey, there were giant firebirds.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - the excerpt began with a mammoth-riding scout taking a young cleric over the rugged mountains until they are trapping by tigers at the way station, tigers that laugh and presumably talk. Good stuff.
BEST OF THE FIVE - The Black Tides of Heaven - The head abbot of the monastery is called upon to meet with the High Protector who has just given birth to twins, despite having an excellent son who immediately preceded them. The twin newborns are pledged to the abbot in response to an earlier request. Terrific writing, I was hooked. There are gravity-defying vehicles and architecture created by something called slack craft. YES!
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April 1, 2023On hand, and a Kindle freebie, that I should get back to. Maybe? Note that these are just TEASERS!
I'm totally charmed that author J. Y. Yang (she specified the space between her initials) now writes as Neon Yang!
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Yang , that's her/they're current nom de plume, and perhaps now her legal name? They need a photo! OK: https://neonyang.com/
I actually started reading her/their "When the Tiger Comes Down the Mountain" AWB and it's pretty good. I just got distracted. A common hazard (for me) with ebooks -- if it ain't physically in front of me, or on the bedside table, I forget I even have the thing. Hazard of 'Somesheimers" I guess. I'd put in a 'date started" if I could remember how to find it on Kindle! Bah. What a nuisance.
Note that these are actually sample-chapters only!
I'm totally charmed that author J. Y. Yang (she specified the space between her initials) now writes as Neon Yang!
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Yang , that's her/they're current nom de plume, and perhaps now her legal name? They need a photo! OK: https://neonyang.com/
I actually started reading her/their "When the Tiger Comes Down the Mountain" AWB and it's pretty good. I just got distracted. A common hazard (for me) with ebooks -- if it ain't physically in front of me, or on the bedside table, I forget I even have the thing. Hazard of 'Somesheimers" I guess. I'd put in a 'date started" if I could remember how to find it on Kindle! Bah. What a nuisance.
Note that these are actually sample-chapters only!
October 23, 2020
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water- This was delightful! I need to track down the full novella nown
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday- Well, the djinn is somewhat unpleasant, but the technology sounds really neat.
Burning Roses- There's a lot to unpack here, but it's not quite as engaging
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain- I like the bits of history and the mammoth rider corps.
I've already read the Black Tide of Heaven.
Overall very interesting tastes of these stories. The range is very impressive
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday- Well, the djinn is somewhat unpleasant, but the technology sounds really neat.
Burning Roses- There's a lot to unpack here, but it's not quite as engaging
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain- I like the bits of history and the mammoth rider corps.
I've already read the Black Tide of Heaven.
Overall very interesting tastes of these stories. The range is very impressive
January 16, 2021
These are first chapters of several excellent fantasies with Asian protagonists. By now, I should know better than to obtain books like this. I have to read the descriptions more carefully. Each story left me unsatisfied and yearning for more. All the story samples were excellent in every aspect.
June 29, 2022
Very solid beginnings for all the featured stories, with engaging and distinct characters and colourful descriptions that pull you right into the various worlds and leave you wanting more. Burning Roses was my favorite, but all of them are worth the read for sure.
September 11, 2020
Every one of these wound up on my to-read.
March 21, 2021
These are not short stories, they are beginnings of several stories. They seem good, but
April 13, 2021
A small collection of teaser samples from larger works.
March 31, 2022
It's just portions of each book.
The individual stories looked great, though.
The individual stories looked great, though.
August 23, 2025
a great sampling of stories
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews