13 MUST READ CHINESE DIASPORA AUTHORS
As you know, I am ALL about championing AAPI voices in writing and media, and because of my Chinese heritage, I pay particular attention to Chinese voices. As the storytelling landscape continues to evolve, new voices bring fresh perspectives and stories that only few had the privilege of sharing in the past. The Chinese diaspora reaches all corners of the world, bringing their roots, folklore, and unique contexts with them. Meet some of my favorite voices in Asian speculative fantasy, and find your new adventure in their amazing worlds.
Ai Jiang
Debuting with her dark fantasy novella, Linghun, Nebula finalist Ai Jiang is an up-and-coming novelist you can’t afford to miss. Her captivating style and relatable characters linger past the pages to haunt a corner of your mind. In her short fiction works, Jiang crafts each word with depth and layers, gifting us a universe that is far wider than the few pages it occupies.
For fans of dark fantasy and horror, Ai Jiang is an author who will deliver beyond your expectations. Seriously, this book left me haunted, and I think about it quite a bit, even months after I finished reading it.
Andrea Stewart
Andrea Stewart has taken the sci-fi and fantasy realms by storm with her debut series, The Drowning Empire. With rich worldbuilding and multiple points-of-view, Stewart’s epic fantasy boasts a rich magic system that combines fantasy with science. She balances five voices, weaving their individual stories together to create a larger, more complete image.
Add this author to your bookshelves if you enjoy intricate storytelling and blurring the lines between fantasy and sci-fi. Plus, if you are into cool animal companions, Drowning Empire has one of the best cute/badass companions I’ve read in a while.
Elizabeth Lim
Weaving Eastern folklore with Western fairytales, Elizabeth Lim stitches diverse tapestries against vibrant landscapes. An accomplished composer and author, Lim debuted in 2018 with her contribution to Disney’s Twisted Tales series. Her Blood of Stars duology takes inspiration from the tale of the cowherd and the weaver, a beloved Chinese myth that is considered one of the four great classic folktales.
For whimsical YA fantasy with compelling action, Elizabeth Lim would be a great author to add to your bookshelves.
Fonda Lee
Award-winning author Fonda Lee’s Jade City (Book One of her Green Bone Saga) has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. In other words, she’s kind of a big deal. Her vivid storytelling immerses the reader in a verdant world, taking them on an adventure with real, 3-dimensional flawed humans. Lee establishes a complex magic system and sociocultural structure, crafting brilliant details that make the world feel real and lived-in.
Lee is also a martial artist, earning a black belt in karate and kung fu. She will be teaming up with Shannon Lee, filmmaker and daughter of the late Bruce Lee, to create a series of young adult fantasy novels inspired by Bruce Lee’s writings.
Henry Lien
Deeply meditative and joyously lighthearted, Henry Lien’s diverse portfolio of children’s literature, speculative fiction, and character theme songs exposes him to a wide audience. Lien’s debut in 2018 with the popular Peasprout Chen series earned him recognition for detailed and intricate worldbuilding and fun, memorable characters.
Lien weaves his wisdom as a writer and his experience as a Taiwanese American to create compelling stories rich with symbolism and depth. We can see why he is a four-time Nebula finalist!
JC Kang
JC Kang has been writing Asian Fantasy for a while, and his Legends of Tivara series is not one to be missed. Dragons, assassins, martial arts–it has everything you need for a satisfying Asian Fantasy. It’s a big series with multiple entry points, so if you like complex world-building and shared universes, this is DEFINITELY your jam. JC is also an acupuncturist and trained in martial arts, and you can see his expertise in his writing.
He’s also a cool dude who sells swords. He’s an arms dealer. Yep. I bought a dagger from him and it’s just about one of the coolest things I own. Anecdote: I actually wanted to buy a sword, but then the look my wife gave me as I was trying to figure out how to put it in my suitcase to get back to the Cayman Islands kind of put a damper on that party hahaha.
Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle
Okay okay, so I’m sneaking in an extra author—but can you really blame me? With their recent debut on Tor, the authors of the Seattle Slayers series have arrived in the traditional publishing realm. Long-time friends and writing partners Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle team up again to bring us Ebony Gate, the first book in a new series set in the streets of San Francisco Chinatown. Ebony Gate was pitched as a female John Wick, and you really can’t go wrong with that.
With no shortage of action-packed fight scenes, wit, and thoughtful inspiration, fans of Asian urban fantasy should definitely add these two authors to their reading list!
Ken Liu
An astounding author, a talented translator, and a real nice guy to boot, Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty series sets the Three Kingdoms against a fantasy backdrop. With a depth of worldbuilding and a motley crew of characters, Liu’s prose draws you into the world and immerses you into the politics and relationships of its inhabitants. I was completely in awe of the first in that series, The Grace of Kings. And his book actually opened my eyes to the fact that the world out there might be changing enough to be interested in Asian stories. He is one of the big influences on my writing journey.
Liu’s short fiction is also not to be missed. “The Paper Menagerie,” which swept the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards in 2012, is a beautiful exploration of connection and relationship in a multicultural family. His translation skills have also shined in his work on Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem, a Hugo Award for best novel, which has also since been adapted into a Netflix production set to release in early 2024.
Shelley Parker-Chan
Shelley Parker-Chan reimagines the rebellion that would establish the Ming Dynasty under a queer lens in their debut novel, She Who Became the Sun. Parker-Chan cleverly explores gender and sexuality with compelling characters who struggle against the fates they’d been dealt. Fate and desire entwine to expose the darkness of the human heart in this riveting duology that is not for the faint of heart. And the prose–oh my gosh the prose–is absolutely divine.
Prior to their debut, the award-winning Asian Australian author served as a diplomat and a gender and LGBTQ+ rights activist in Southeast Asia.
Sue Lynn Tan
Malaysian-born Sue Lynn Tan debuted in 2022 with the Celestial Kingdom series, a story inspired by the legend of Chang’e in Chinese folklore. Tan’s lush descriptions of the celestial realm transports the reader into a fantastical environment of political intrigue and dazzling magic. Tan’s prose is gorgeous, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the traditional tropes of both romance and xianxia rolled into one.
Following the success of this duology, Tales of the Celestial Kingdom, a third book of short stories and a brand new epilogue, will release in early 2024.
Xiran Jay Zhao
A true “child of the internet,” Xiran Jay Zhao abandoned their biochem degree to write SFF books steeped in their love of anime and Chinese history. Zhao debuted in 2021 with Iron Widow, which reimagines China’s only female emperor, Wu Zetian, in a futuristic dystopia which sacrifices girls so that boys can make a name for themselves in the world’s struggle against mecha aliens. Their second book, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, is a middle grade fantasy that explores the connection and disconnection of an immigrant child and his roots.
Fun fact, they live in my hometown of Vancouver.
The highly anticipated sequel of Iron Widow is set to release in 2024 (maybe–there have been some really weird things going on with their publisher. I’m not going to go into it here, but it’s quite the saga if you look it up on Twitter/X).
Tao Wong
An author perhaps is most well known for his System Apocalypse LITRPG series and his xianxia series A Thousand Li, Wong continues to build on the worlds he creates. A Thousand Li taps into the spirit of xianxia and cultivation web novels and brings it into a more traditional novel format for readers. If you like stuff that is reminiscent of power progression fantasies and anime like Bleach, or Naruto, where our protagonists grow stronger and stronger and level up then this is for you (I mean let’s face it, seeing our heroes get strong and learn new techniques is such a dopamine hit, it’s not even funny).
JF Lee
What, who is this guy? Ok, so it's a bit obnoxious to put myself on this list, but hear me out. My stories are wuxia in the more traditional sense, but I tap into a lot more ‘modern’ sensibilities. What readers like about my Tales of the Swordsman series is the found family dad/daughter bond between Li Ming, the last swordsman of Blue Mountain, and Shu Yan, a runaway from the pleasure houses. Readers love the witty banter in my books, and the informative and hilarious footnotes.
Legendary swords? Corrupt magistrates? Secret sects? Lost martial techniques? Revenge for a fallen master? It hits all the right notes.
Most importantly (for me, anyway), it deals with consequences. The actions of our heroes, whether good or bad, have consequences. They deal with real problems and have real issues and trauma to work through. Often, in wuxia, our heroes can be one-dimensional, so I try to bring more realistic characters to the genre.
