When you read a book and find yourself in a realm where imagination runs rampant and life as we know it can no longer be taken for granted, you’ve entered the realm of fantasy. No other genre seems as limitless as that of fantasy. But if you peruse the bookshelves of bookstores and libraries, you will find a preponderance of fantasy novels influenced by European legends, myths and settings. And while the stories, characters and world building are vast, they mostly mirror a western world. So isn’t it intriguing to take a look at fantasy books based somewhere completely different?

Fantasy in Asia is as natural as mermaids swimming and fairies flying. That is to say, the mythology of Asia lends itself organically to the world of fantasy. Long before Tolkien invented a hobbit, a monkey king jumped its way through the pages of one of the four classic novels of China, Journey to the West, while Scheherazade wove her thousand and one tales to her Persian king in the Arabian Nights. Classic Asian tales have spawned a vast array of stories, books and movies that weave in fantastic elements that are quintessentially eastern. To hear of Aladdin and his magic lamp, is to be swept away into a world of djinns and sorcerers that somehow has been garbled up and translated to a western audience as a frenetic blue genie voiced by Robin Williams in a Disney movie, or immortalized by Barbara Eden in the classic TV hit I Dream of Jeanie. Meanwhile the Monkey King is a superstar in China who has never successfully made the transition outside of Asia.

Unlike fairies, elves, hobbits, gnomes, ogres and other magical creatures, Asian mythical beings are not well known outside of Asia. The only ones that have made the journey west are ones that have a western counterpart, like dragons and demons. But next to nothing is known about such oddities like the Kumiho (a nine tailed fox and shape shifting creature of Korea),[1] the Japanese Kappa water demons (small monkey-like creatures with a water filled depression on the top of its head), or the Chinese Quilin (a dragon, ox and deer hybrid said to be a good omen and the bringer of prosperity). Where the western world indulges children’s beliefs in fairies, Japanese parents remind their mischievous children of the kappas lurking in the rivers and lakes waiting for their favorite meal – kid cuisine. British children may learn to step cautiously around a fairy ring, while a Japanese child is taught that a hungry Kappa is a courteous fellow that will return any bow it receives, and the best way to evade a Kappa is to bow deeply, forcing it to return the bow and spill out the water giving strength in its depressed head. And so it is that the children of Asia have grown up with an entirely different mythology and knowledge of mythical creatures unlike those of Europe and America.

Writers interested in writing about Asian culture have heard time and time again that publishers won’t be interested in obscure Asian history. That children and teens outside of Asia cannot relate to such an exotic world. I have always wondered about the shortsightedness of this statement for it would seem to me that a reader does not have to find a connection to a fairy, mermaid, vampire or zombie to enjoy a tale about them. All they need is a good story told by a good writer. A recent book by L.G. Bass, The Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh: The Sign of Qin, tries to bring the mystique of the Monkey King to a broader audience. Filled with monsters, dragons, gods and demons drawn from Chinese mythology, Outlaws takes its readers from the Emperor’s palace to the desolate Gobi desert following on the colorful heels of the tricky Monkey King in all of his devious splendor. Published in 2004, it was to be the first of a planned trilogy, but no trace of a sequel can be found. Perhaps it is the bane of the Monkey King’s existence that it is only ever meant to be popular in the east.

The differences between East and West are too vast to cover fully in this post, but one major difference I’d like to touch upon is in the portrayal of dragons. In many western tales, dragons are portrayed as evil or simply dangerous creatures that eat humans and destroy everything in their path. Even Harry Potter continued the ideology of the dragon as a dangerous and wild creature to be feared. And while there are exceptions, like Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series and Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, for the most part western depictions of dragons remain rooted in the dark mythology of dangerous, people eating, gold hoarding, fire-breathing monsters.

Contrarily, in Asian lore, dragons are mythical, benevolent and wise creatures that bring good fortune. The Chinese have long called themselves descendants of the dragon. In fact, dragons are universal to almost all Asian cultures and are synonymous with royalty. The five clawed golden dragon is said to be the symbol of the Emperor of China and it was considered illegal for anyone but the Emperor to wear the dragon insignia. In Korea and Japan, dragons are believed to have rainmaking powers and the ability to control the weather. Far from fearing them, dragons were and still are celebrated and loved.

This fascination with Asian dragons has spawned a new wave of fantasy novels such as the Dragonkeeper trilogy by Carole Wilkinson, where a young illiterate Chinese orphan girl saves the life of the last imperial dragon and becomes the dragonkeeper. Alison Goodman unleashes a new dragon mythology in Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, where only boys can vie for the opportunity to become an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons. Not only is Goodman’s MC a girl posing as a boy to become an apprentice, but she is a cripple. What these novels do effectively, is to bring the mystique of Asian dragon lore and an exotic setting, to a western world. They also contain strong female leads.

Speaking of strong females, it is interesting to note that the role of women in most Asian themed novels is realistically set in an unequal world where a female MC almost always takes on the role of the underdog. Since this topic would take on an entire post of its own, I won’t delve into the historical significance of and the continuing appalling inequality of women in all Asian countries, but it is worth noting that a novel, whether it be fantasy or not, based on Asian culture must portray the inequity inherent in the culture.[2]

These themes are well portrayed in EI member Cindy Pon’s debut Silver Phoenix, Beyond the Kingdom of Xia. She provides us with a strong, clever and determined girl who, faced with a distasteful marriage to a blackmailing fiend, runs away from home to find her father who has recently disappeared. Along the way she must fight the evil machinations of powerful men as well as kill monsters, avoid demons and interfering gods while keeping tabs on the handsome Chen Yong. Yet through it all, Cindy is able to retain the realistic tone and setting of an ancient Asian kingdom. Similarly, in Shannon Hale’s novel, Book of a Thousand Days, Hale takes us to medieval Mongolia, where a young princess refuses to marry her father’s suitor (a vicious evil man) and is summarily locked up in a tower for seven years with only one maid for company. There we meet the heroine, not the princess, but the young maid who proves to be a remarkable MC whose journey into her own self worth, in a sexist and elitist society, is brilliantly portrayed. These are bright, strong female characters in books I would be happy to recommend to anybody.

But what about the boys of Asian fantasy? There is no need to fear for Jeff Stone’s Five Ancestors series provides us with kung fu fantasy that boys and girls alike have been gobbling up since the first book, Tiger, was published in 2005. There are six books in the series. The first five Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Crane, and Eagle are the stories of five orphans, being raised as foster brothers and Buddhist monks in 17th-century China, although Crane’s protagonist is a girl who has hidden her sex from her foster brothers. The last of the series, Mouse, is the conclusion to the series. And then, of course, there is the immensely popular Otori series of samurai warrior fantasy by Lian Hearn based in a mythical feudal Japan. But a novel with a boy MC doesn’t always have to have martial arts in it to be appealing. An entirely different series by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the Brotherhood of the Conch. The first book in the series, The Conch Bearer, takes us to the slums of Calcutta where a boy, in desperate need of something different and wonderful, must undertake a dangerous journey to a magical land of a mysterious brotherhood. Along the way, Divakaruni gives us a riveting view of the culture, sights and tastes of India.

There are more Asian Fantasy novels out there, but time is short and I will leave you with the following link for more Asian themed novels, some of which are fantasy.

http://wonderlandofbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/middle-grade-historical-fiction-set-in.html

As I wrap up my overly long post, I will leave you with the following questions to consider:

What is the reason for commercialization or westernization of classic Asian themes? Is it a belief that only a pasteurized version of these famous Asian classics can crossover? Is it the belief that they are too exotic, too weird, too different for the taste of a broader audience? What appeals to you about the Asian fantasy novels you might have read? What are some stereotypical portrayals of Asia that you would like to see debunked or are simply tired of? What would you as a lover of fantasy novels say to a publisher unsure of the appeal of Asian themed fiction? If you have never read an Asian fantasy themed novel, why haven’t you? And will you now?

We hope all Inkies and Watchers will keep in mind that when discussing the potentially volatile aspects of this topic it is in all our interests to maintain tact and to remember that electronic communication sometimes does not convey the subtlety of speech. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.

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