Our first guest post is by Kaleidoscope author, Ken Liu. We both love Ken’s work, and we’re very excited to have his story, “Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon” for Kaleidoscope. Here’s what he has to say about why he chose to write for us.
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When Alisa and Julia invited me to participate in this anthology, I jumped at the chance. I enjoy writing short YA fantasy, and there doesn’t seem to be enough markets for it.
For “Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon,” I chose to tell a story about Jing and Yuan, a pair of young women in love for the first time in their lives, who’re about to be parted by circumstances beyond their control. On Qixi, the Festival of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, the legendary lovers give the young women some help and advice.
A couple of things made me want to tell this story. First, I’ve always been bothered by the dismissive attitude those who are older sometimes show towards young love—as though the lack in experience means that the feelings and the passions are less worthy, less valuable, less authentic. But there’s a reason Romeo and Juliet remains a great story. Young people are often less in control of their lives, and they must balance romance with the other demands on their lives and make choices that are different from those available to them when they’re older. Experience, maturity, and the passage of years change the way those who are older conduct and think about romance, but they do not inherently make our first loves less real. We travel through time, and our older selves are different from our younger selves. But the yearning to connect, to cleave to another and become parts of a whole, remains constant.
Second, I wanted to tell a story using Chinese images and references and tropes that are not often represented in contemporary YA fantasy in English. The transformations that modern China is undergoing offer opportunities for fresh stories. But too often, in the West, these stories are told using an exoticizing and condescending gaze towards the Chinese. I wanted to do something different.
I’m proud to be a part of the Kaleidoscope Anthology, and look forward to the stories from my fellow contributors.
