Singaporean writer of speculative fiction
Neon Yang, [ 1] formerly JY Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction best known for the Tensorate series of novellas published by Tor.com , which have been finalists for the Hugo Award , Locus Award , Nebula Award , World Fantasy Award , Lambda Literary Award , British Fantasy Award , and Kitschie Award .[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6] [ 7] [ 8] The first novella in the series, The Black Tides of Heaven , was named one of the "100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time" by Time magazine.[ 9] [ 10] Their debut novel, The Genesis of Misery , the first book in The Nullvoid Chronicles , was published in 2022 by Tor Books , received a starred review from Publishers Weekly , received a nomination for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction, and was a Finalist for the 2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel and 2023 Compton Crook Award .[ 11] [ 12] [ 13] [ 14] [ 15]
Biography
Yang is non-binary and queer , and uses they pronouns.[ 16] They legally changed their name to "Neon" in 2020.[ 1] They have a master's degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia [ 17] and were a member of the 2013 class of the Clarion West Writers Workshop .[ 18]
Career
Yang has published short fiction since 2012 in publications such as Clarkesworld , Lightspeed , Uncanny Magazine , Apex Magazine and Strange Horizons .[ 19] Their novelette, "Waiting on a Bright Moon" was a top ten finalist for the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novelette.[ 20] Their novelette, "Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy" was a finalist for the 2020 Ignyte Award .[ 21] Their novelette, "A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, Is Infinite Potential" was a top ten finalist for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Novelette.[ 22]
Their Tensorate series of novellas began in 2017 with the simultaneously released The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune , which were published by Tor.com to critical acclaim.[ 23] The Black Tides of Heaven received a starred review from Publishers Weekly , which called it "a captivating Buddhist-inspired steampunk setting" that "captures an epic sweep in compact, precise prose", and a positive review from Library Journal , which called it (and its sibling volume, The Red Threads of Fortune ) "an impressive, fresh debut steeped in Chinese culture".[ 24] [ 25] The Red Threads of Fortune was also reviewed by Publishers Weekly , which said "though not as gripping as [The Black Tides of Heaven ], the novella authentically depicts trauma and lays promising groundwork for future books in the series".[ 26] The Black Tides of Heaven was a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella , the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella , the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and the 2018 Kitschies Golden Tentacle, and was named one of the 100 best fantasy novels of all time by a Time magazine panel.[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] The Tensorate series continued with the novellas The Descent of Monsters in 2018 and The Ascent to Godhood in 2019.[ 27] [ 28] The Descent of Monsters was a finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ SF/F/Horror and the 2019 Locus Award for Best Novella .[ 6] [ 29] The Ascent to Godhood received a positive review from Publishers Weekly , which called it "a thrilling adventure [that] stands alone, as well as providing moving, complicated backstory for the earlier books", and was a Finalist for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Novella and the 2020 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella.[ 30] [ 31] [ 7]
Yang's debut novel, The Genesis of Misery , the first in The Nullvoid Chronicles trilogy, was announced by Tor Books in 2020, published in September 2022, and described as a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc as a mecha space opera .[ 32] [ 18] [ 12] The Genesis of Misery received a starred review from Publishers Weekly , which called it a "vibrant tour de force" and "a triumph", noting that it "presents a simultaneous embrace and inversion of Chosen One narratives" and its "themes of faith, suffering, queerness, and duty".[ 11]
Themes
Yang's work revolves around "the human body as a vessel for storytelling", and is based on their background as a molecular biologist, journalist and science communicator .[ 33] They have described themself as "a deep pessimist about human nature," saying that "the best we can do is to recognize this and mitigate that assholic nature when we can. I think, ultimately, that’s what most of my stories end up being about."[ 17] They have referenced David Mitchell , Helen Oyeyemi , and William Gibson as influences on their writing.[ 17]
Yang has described their Tensorate novellas as "queer Asian science fantasy."[ 34] The series has been described as "silkpunk " by reviewers.[ 23]
Awards and nominations
The Black Tides of Heaven - 2017 Otherwise Award Honor List, 2017 Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella , 2018 Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novella , 2018 Finalist for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella , 2018 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novella , 2018 Finalist for the Kitschie Award Golden Tentacle for Best Debut Novel[ 35] [ 36] [ 37] [ 2] [ 38] [ 4] [ 5] [ 20] [ 8]
The Red Threads of Fortune - 2017 Otherwise Award Honor List, 2018 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novella [ 35] [ 36] [ 37] [ 20]
"Waiting On a Bright Moon" - 2018 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novelette [ 20]
The Descent of Monsters - 2019 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novella , 2019 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ SF/F/Horror[ 29] [ 6]
"Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy" - 2020 Finalist for the Ignyte Awards for Best Novelette[ 39] [ 40]
The Ascent to Godhood - 2020 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novella , 2020 Finalist for the British Fantasy Awards for Best Novella[ 31] [ 7]
"A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, is Infinite Potential" - 2021 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novelette [ 41]
The Tensorate Series - 2022 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Speculative Fiction[ 42]
The Genesis of Misery - 2022 Nominee for the Goodreads Choice Awards , 2023 Finalist for the Compton Crook Award , 2023 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel [ 13] [ 15] [ 14]
Bibliography
Novels
The Nullvoid Chronicles trilogy
The Genesis of Misery , Tor Books , 2022
Novellas
Tensorate series
The Black Tides of Heaven , Tor.com , 2017, ISBN 978-0-7653-9541-2
The Red Threads of Fortune , Tor.com , 2017, ISBN 978-0-7653-9540-5
The Descent of Monsters , Tor.com , 2018, ISBN 978-1250165855
The Ascent to Godhood , Tor.com , 2019, ISBN 9781250165886
The four volumes were collected in an omnibus edition: The Tensorate Series , Tor.com , 2021, ISBN 9781250807540
Standalone
Other short fiction
Collections
Stories
Title
Year
Length
First published
"Interview"
2012
Short story
The Ayam Curtain , Math Paper Press
"The War Going on Beneath Us"
2012
Short story
The Ayam Curtain , Math Paper Press
"Where No Cars Go"
2012
Short story
Fish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction , Math Paper Press
"Captain Bells and the Sovereign State of Discordia"
2012
Short story
The Steampowered Globe , AS¡FF / Two Trees
"Old Domes"
2013
Short story
We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology , Futurefire.net Publishing
"Tiger Baby"
2013
Short story
From the Belly of the Cat , Math Paper Press
"Storytelling for the Night Clerk"
2014
Short story
Strange Horizons , 16 June 2014
"Harvestfruit"
2014
Short story
Crossed Genres , July 2014
"Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points"
2014
Short story
Clarkesworld , issue #96
"Mother's Day"
2014
Short story
Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction , issue #3
"Cold Hands and the Smell of Salt"
2015
Short story
Daily Science Fiction , Jan 2015
"A Sister's Weight in Stone"
2015
Short story
Apex Magazine , May 2015
"Letter from an Artist to a Thousand Future Versions of Her Wife"
2015
Short story
Lightspeed Magazine , issue #61
"RE (For CEO's Approval) Text for 10th Anniversary Exhibition for Operation Springclean"
2015
Short story
Bahamut , issue #1
"A House of Anxious Spiders"
2015
Short story
The Dark , Aug 2015
"Song of the Krakenmaid"
2015
Short story
Lackington's , Fall 2015
"Temporary Saints"
2015
Short story
Fireside Magazine , issue #28
"Secondhand Bodies"
2016
Short story
Lightspeed Magazine , issue #68
"Her Majesty's Lamborghini and the Girl with the Fish Tank"
2016
Short story
Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction , issue #6
"The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One"
2016
Short story
Uncanny Magazine , issue #10
"Transfers to Connecting Flights"
2016
Short story
An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables , Stone Bird Press
"Four and Twenty Blackbirds"
2016
Short story
Lightspeed Magazine , issue #73
"Dismantling London"
2016
Short story
Geeky Giving: A SFF Charity Anthology , CreateSpace
"The Beachings"
2016
Short story
The Sockdolager , Fall 2016
"The Slow Ones"
2017
Short story
GlitterShip , Winter 2017
"Auspicium Melioris Aevi"
2017
Short story
Uncanny Magazine , issue #15
"Glass Lights"
2017
Short story
The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories , Solaris
"Waiting on a Bright Moon"
2017
Novelette
Tor.com
"A Game of Lost and Found"
2018
Short story
Lackington's , Spring 2018 (co-authored with Mike Allen , Vajra Chandrasekera , Amal El-Mohtar , Natalia Theodoridou )
"Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy"
2019
Novelette
Tor.com
"Bridge of Crows"
2019
unknown
The Mythic Dream , Saga Press
"The Search for [Flight X]"
2020
Short story
Avatars Inc. , XPRIZE
"A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, Is Infinite Potential"
2020
Novelette
Clarkesworld , issue #164
"The Exile"
2020
unknown
The Book of Dragons , Harper Voyager
See also
References
^ a b @itsneonyang (1 September 2020). "Signed the paperwork today which means I AM NOW! LEGALLY!! NEON!! Hence the new Twitter handle ☺️ Next up: making it OFFICIAL by changing state ID (💀) and all the banks, insurance, credit card etc (💀💀💀) Legal language is so fucking dramatic lmfao" (Tweet ). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020 – via Twitter .
^ a b c "Announcing the 2017 Nebula Awards Nominees" . Tor.com . 20 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018 .
^ a b "2018/1943 Hugo Award Finalists Announced" . theHugoAwards.org . 31 March 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018 .
^ a b c "2018 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 19 August 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b c "2018 World Fantasy Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 4 November 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b c Edit Team (7 March 2019). "31st Annual Lammy Finalists" . Lambda Literary . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b c "2020 British Fantasy Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 22 February 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ a b c "Announcing The Kitschies' 2017 Shortlists" . Tor.com . 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018 .
^ a b Matthews, Cate (15 October 2020). "The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang" . Time . Retrieved 4 December 2021 .
^ a b Ho, Olivia (18 October 2020). "Singaporean author Neon Yang makes Time ' s list of The 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time" . The Straits Times . Retrieved 4 December 2021 .
^ a b "The Genesis of Misery" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b Bui, Ammi (12 August 2022). "The Genesis of Misery" . Library Journal . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b "Best Science Fiction" . Goodreads . Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ a b "2023 Locus Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 24 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ a b "Jennings Wins 2023 Compton Crook Award" . Locus Magazine . 10 April 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "About the Writer" . Neon Yang. Retrieved 9 January 2022 .
^ a b c Coleman, Christian A. (July 2018). "Interview: JY Yang" . Lightspeed . Retrieved 4 December 2021 .
^ a b Tor.com (12 January 2022). "A Space Opera Twist on Joan of Arc: Revealing The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang" . Tor.com . Retrieved 5 September 2022 .
^ Neon Yang at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
^ a b c d "2018 Locus Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 23 June 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ "Ignyte Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 18 October 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ "2021 Locus Awards Top Ten Finalists" . Locus Magazine . 1 May 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b "J.Y. Yang's two novellas are like rojak, a surprisingly delicious blend of unexpected flavours" . The Straits Times . 26 September 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018 .
^ "The Black Tides of Heaven" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ McArdle, Megan M. (15 September 2017). "The Black Tides of Heaven" . Library Journal . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ "The Red Threads of Fortune" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ "The Descent of Monsters" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ Chadwick, Kristi (15 June 2018). "The Descent of Monsters" . Library Journal . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b "2019 Locus Awards Finalists" . Locus Magazine . 7 May 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "The Ascent to Godhood" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022 .
^ a b "2020 Locus Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 27 June 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "Joan of Arc Meets Space Opera: Announcing a New SF Trilogy From Author Neon Yang" . Tor.com . 28 September 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2021 .
^ "Innumerable Voices: The Short Fiction of JY Yang" . Tor.com . 29 July 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2018 .
^ Author's official website , visited 12/4/2021
^ a b "2017 Otherwise Award" . otherwiseaward.org . December 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ a b "Bergin Wins 2017 Tiptree Award" . Locus Magazine . 14 March 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ a b "Announcing the Winner and Honorees of the 2017 James Tiptree Jr. Award" . Tor.com . 14 March 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "2018 Hugo Awards" . The Hugo Awards . 19 August 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "Ignyte Awards Winners" . Locus Magazine . 18 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ Lewis, L.D. (17 October 2020). "RESULTS: The 2020 Ignyte Awards" . FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction . Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ " "2021 Locus Award Winners" . Locus Magazine . 26 June 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
^ "2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced" . Lambda Literary . 15 March 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023 .
External links
Interviews
Author Spotlight: JY Yang , Xander Odell, Lightspeed Magazine , issue #68, 2016
Asian Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: A Round Table Discussion , Aliette de Bodard , Mithila Review , 2016
JY Yang: Energy Systems , Francesca Myman, Locus Magazine , 2018
Interview: JY Yang , Christian A. Coleman, Lightspeed Magazine , issue #98, 2018