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Who Am I?
Identity politics are all the rage, even within the world of books. This is odd since most of us are chameleons. We shape our identity to match our current circumstances as easily as we change clothes or the color of our hair. Child, spouse, parent. Angeleno, American, Dutch. An author identity is a choice, too,…
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Shanghai Noir
Today I lay my claim to Shanghai Noir. You could use the term for a film genre, a literary tradition or a thriller set in Old Shanghai. Sounds like my debut novel The Dancing Girl and the Turtle. My novel tells the story of Song Anyi. She’s a rebellious young woman. Soldiers rape and leave…
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A Reading List
Historical resources are critical when you set your novel as I have in a place and time not my own. The Dancing Girl and the Turtle is set in Shanghai 1937. Does that automatically qualify it as historical fiction? Hilary Mantel says historical fiction must do far more than dredge up the past: A relation of…