Image Credit: DAW Books
Afterword
By Derwin Mak and Eric Choi
In The Dragon and the Stars, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi, DAW Books, ISBN 978-0-7564-0618-9, 2010, pp.205-227
The Dragon and the Stars can trace its beginnings to 2007, when Derwin went to that year’s World Science Fiction Convention in Yokohama, Japan. Thanks to the proximity of the venue, many science fiction writers from China were able to attend the Yokohama Worldcon, and Derwin was thrilled to meet these peers from the country of his ancestors.
The SF authors from China were equally eager to meet a Canadian writer of Chinese ancestry. One of these authors was Wu Yan, who is also a professor of literature at Beijing Normal University. Dr. Wu asked Derwin to write an article about Chinese-Canadian science fiction writers for the Chinese magazine Science Fiction World. This article, which included profiles of Dragon writers Tony Pi, Melissa Yuan-Innes, and E.L. Chen (as well as honorable mention of two certain editors), was published in the May 2008 issue of Science Fiction World.
As for the concept of the anthology itself, that came about in the same manner as many other great ideas -- over a meal. Shortly after the article’s publication, Derwin met Eric for dinner at, appropriately enough, an (authentic) Chinese restaurant in Toronto. After Derwin gave Eric a copy of the magazine, we got to talking about the poor manner in which Chinese people and culture are often portrayed, both in speculative and mainstream fiction.
Regrettably, most depictions of Chinese characters and themes occupy a rather narrow range, usually as martial arts fighters or magical Buddhist monks in historical fantasies. It was the Chinese who invented rockets, gunpowder, paper, and the compass, yet we are rarely shown as engineers or scientists -- except when Fu Manchu or Ming the Merciless invents a new death ray. When Chinese people do appear, they are usually in minor roles; if they're not villains, the men are sidekicks of the main characters, and the women are girlfriends of white heroes.
This is hardly representative of a five thousand year old civilization.
Over the course of those five millennia, and especially within the last century, many Chinese have left the land of their ancestry and settled across the globe, creating a diaspora of remarkable diversity by adapting and merging the rich heritage of China with the new traditions of their adopted homes. As Chinese-Canadians, we are not the same as Chinese-Americans, Chinese-Singaporeans, Chinese-Filipinos, Hong Kong Chinese, or Mainland Chinese. We are all Chinese, yet we are all different.
And so we thought: what better way to show the diverse culture of this great diaspora than through original stories of science fiction and fantasy written by Overseas Chinese?
Many thanks are in order. The first much go to Dr. Wu Yan, whose interest in Chinese-Canadian speculative fiction writers kicked off the chain of events that led to this collection. We also wish to express our appreciation to Tess Gerritsen, who so generous took time out of her busy schedule to write the beautiful introduction that opened the book. But our deepest gratitude goes to our hao péngyou Julie Czerneda, who championed the idea of this anthology from the start and was a constant source of advice and inspiration as it came together.
Měi gè rén, fēicháng ganxiè.