May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and with it, we welcome the opportunity to highlight recent novels and stories by authors of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian heritage.
If you want to keep it local, check out Mike Curato’s Gaysians, a graphic novel that follows the friendship and adventures of four queer Asian folks in early 2000s Seattle. Curato is best known for his YA book Flamer, and this adult debut has the same earnest soul-searching and well-drawn art. Join AJ, K, John, and Steven as they explore the dating scene, face racism and homophobia, and nurture one another through it all. A heartwarming and sometimes wrenching rendition of found family that celebrates both queer and Asian identities.
Shay Kauwe’s debut The Killing Spell is an urban fantasy focused on Hawaiian culture, a potent mix of murder mystery, enemies-to-lovers, and magical theory. Kealaokaleo “Kea” Petrova is the head of her Hawaiian clan, based near Los Angeles after flooding destroyed their ancestral home in Hawai’i and unleashed language-based magic. Kea trades black-market Hawaiian language spells, so when a Filipino activist is killed by a Hawaiian spell, she’s called in as an expert–and a suspect. Great for fans of the linguistic and colonial critique in R.F. Kuang’s Babel.
For a heist novel with a space opera twist, check out Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto. Edie spent eight years in prison for their last heist gone wrong, put behind bars by their partner Angel. Finally out on parole, Edie wants nothing to do with Angel, but when Angel shows up with a ride to their home planet and one last job, it’s hard to say no.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is a lyrical, darkly beautiful horror story, taking the haunted house trope to a small Japanese town. NYU student Lee flees to his father’s doorstep in Japan after waking up to evidence of a brutal crime he can’t remember committing, but the house is occupied by the ghost of samurai daughter, stuck in a time loop from the late 1800s. Weaving timelines, cultures, fates, and horrors, Baker creates a gruesome but thought-provoking story.
The dark side of the beauty industry is a hot topic in recent fiction, tackled well by Eshani Surya in Ravishing. Kashmira is tortured each time she looks in the mirror and sees features she shares with her abusive father. When she sees her friend Roshni at a party, she’s startled by Roshni’s lighter skin and higher cheekbones, which Roshni shares is from a beauty product called NuLook. Unbeknownst to Kashmira, her estranged brother works for the company making NuLook, and the story traces the consequences faced by both siblings in the quest for unattainable beauty standards.
For more books, check out the staff-created list Seattle Picks: Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Fiction.
~posted by Jane S.
