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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to Totally Booked. I'm Zibby Owens. I've interviewed more than 2,000 authors on this show and learned endless amounts about storytelling, reinvention and life itself. Because when you talk about books, you're really talking about life. So get ready to hear from today's best authors, the best selling and the not yet discovered. Come find your next great read and the story behind it. Enjoy. Jean Kwok is back on the podcast to talk about Dominion, the Silk and Iron Trilogy, Book one. Gene Kwok is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of the Leftover Searching for Sylvie Lee, Girl in Translation, and Mambo in Chinatown. Her books have been chosen by Read With Jenna, Good Morning America, CBS New York Book of the Month, and many others. She has been selected for numerous honors including the American Library Services Association, Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award, and many others. She received her bachelor's degree from Harvard University and earned an MFA from Columbia. She reviews for the New York Times Book Review and has served as a judge for International Thriller Writers, Tucson Festival of Books and many others. She lives in the New York area. Welcome, Jean. Thank you for coming back on Totally Booked to talk about Dominion. Congratulations, Zibby.
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B
Thank you so much for having me. It's such a joy to talk with you.
- [01:29]
A
So, Jean, this book is a huge departure from the things you have written so far. You explain why in a little author's note at the beginning. But why don't you tell listeners a little bit about what Dominion is and how you decided to write a romantasy book after some of your other books.
- [01:50]
B
Yeah, I know it's like, it seems like a departure, but actually it isn't. But you are absolutely right. I'm known for writing literary fiction and kind of suspenseful literary family dramas. And Dominion is the first book of my Romantasy trilogy coming in July on July 14th. So people are like, oh my God, what are you doing? But Zibby, you know, this is really something where it's a matter of like, wherever you go, there you are. Because, you know, as you know, I got divorced. It was a surprise to me, although not to everybody in that situation. And when that happened, my life kind of exploded and I had to reevaluate my past, my future, what I was doing. And I turned to Romantasy for solace, as I always do because I've always read it for fun. And so it finally occurred to me, you know, maybe I should write something like that as well. And Sibi, I have to say, you were Such a friend and wonderful support to me in that difficult time. I mean, you are just so amazing for us authors in every way, like as a support, but also as a friend. And so, yeah, I kind of pulled my life back together. I thought I'd like to do something really, really fun and hopefully give hope and solace to, to other people. But you know, Dominion still is about a fish out of water. It follows all of the themes that I actually normally hit in my books.
- [03:25]
A
That is true. Talk a little bit about your upbringing and how books have saved you throughout your life and then I want to hear more about this book.
- [03:36]
B
Well, as you know, I was really, really poor. I'm a first generation immigrant and we lived in not good area in Brooklyn when we moved to New York when I was five years old. And we lived in an apartment that was actually so run down and overrun with roaches and rats that it didn't have a working heating system. So I lived in New York for a number of years without heat, which as we know is like bitterly cold. And the window panes on the inside of my apartment where there were window panes and hadn't been shattered by people throwing bricks to them, they were covered with a layer of ice on the inside. And my family started working in a clothing factory in Chinatown at the same time. And even though I was very young, I went along to help like many other immigrant children did. So it was a real surprise later on in my life when I actually wound up going to Harvard and becoming a New York Times bestselling author with the help of wonderful advocates like you. So I really couldn't have done it without all of the help that I've found in my life.
- [04:53]
A
And so how did the need to escape into magical different worlds, how did it help you then? And how did you use that information to write Dominion?
- [05:04]
B
That is such an astute question. And it's true. It's like my life was not easy when I was growing up. And you know, like, of course the poverty was difficult, but as we all know, like, trauma and difficulty isn't limited to how much money you have. You know, also being a girl in a very male dominated society, having a lot of expectations laid on me, like being able to cook that I was not able to fulfill. So there were a lot of things like that that I struggled with as I was growing up. And I was really, even though I did get good grades and did end up going to Harvard, I was like the black sheep of the family and I got yelled at a lot. They they loved me a lot, they did their best, but I was really, really in trouble. It wasn't like people were like, oh my gosh, you're so brilliant. Like, those were not words I ever heard growing up. So I the need to escape was a real one. And I started with my mom, who was lovely, and after working the whole day in the factory, she would read to me from these fables of Chinese mythology about goddesses and demons. And so that was kind of the beginning of my love for that type of fantasy. I read it all the time when I was growing up and through when I went to college, which is where I finally thought, okay, maybe I won't be sucked back into the factory. Maybe I can do what I really love to do, which is to become a writer. But I do believe that we want to enlighten and we want to entertain as authors. And the entertainment can form, you know, in different ways. It can be realistically based or it can be escapist. And I think this escape is something that we need and can thrive on and it can replenish us and then bring us to a place of new hope and energy.
- [07:03]
A
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- [08:45]
B
Well, you know, so just to start, Dominion is an Asian mythology inspired cross between Hunger Games and Fourth Wing. And it's about a really poor ribbon dancer named Ruby who is a refugee and she has escaped from one of the other dominions that was being overrun by demons. And she finds herself living in another dominion and she is thrown into this deadly tiger bonding trial by a fierce warrior. And of course, you know, she winds up surviving the trial and on his elite team to stop the demon invasion. And I know on the surface that might sound quite different from the other work I have done, but really, thematically, it's about not being understood. It's about being seen as powerless and less. It's about navigating a society as a woman and finding your own power and your own voice and hopefully finding your own, your own happy ending as well. So it's, you know, it's funny because it wasn't like I thought, okay, I'm going to write this fantasy story that's got all these themes that obsess me. But it was what I wrote, you know, it was what I was drawn to. It was automatically what I love. And, you know, people talk about an ID list, you know, a list of the obsessions that you have. And sometimes they're deeper than. Sometimes they're more shallow. You know, they can be things like Purple eyes. They can be things like, you know, an immigrant story. They can be thematic. And we all have these kind of things that we love on a visceral level and are drawn to. And if we look at my kind of less serious ID list, it's things like, I do love amnesia stories. I love stories where people, young women, like, have a hidden identity and they have a secret that might be hidden from themselves. And I like really powerful, strong women who are still feminine. They're not like incredible assassins that are incredibly strong, but are powerful and strong in their real way. And I like that surprise when we realize what they're actually capable of. And it's so often so much more than they thought they were capable of themselves.
- [11:08]
A
By the way, why was there a. Why was tiger spelled? The Y, the outside? Like, why. What was that about?
- [11:17]
B
Because, so, you know, in the book, there are these battle tigers and they're spelled with a Y instead of an I because they are much, much bigger than Normal tigers, they're the size of a horse. They are telepathic. So some are telepathic. They're varying degrees of telepathy, but they can bond mind to mind with their writers. I mean, they're still savage. And they're also like metallic colors, so they're not like normal tigery colors. And I just didn't want to get letters from readers. I'm sure you know what this is like, Siby, as an author yourself, where they're like, you know what? A real tiger would never do that. Like, the mating behavior of a tiger is like this and this. And a tiger is also not as big as a horse. And you also can't bond with them telepathically. So I thought, let's just make it very clear that this is a different species of tigers than the ones that we have seen. Although, as you can tell, I am obsessed with tigers.
- [12:17]
A
I see that.
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B
Yes. For listeners, cats of every type.
- [12:22]
A
I thought it might be a virtual background, but no, there is a giant stuffed animal tiger right behind Jean.
- [12:28]
B
Giant tiger. Yes. Yes. But, you know, the great thing about this romanticizing Zibby was that it was really a chance for me to have fun. And, you know, it was, like, such a hard time in my life. You were one of the people I saw and talked to about this out of your incredible generosity of heart. And, you know, it really was like, oh, my God, what have I been doing? It really. It kind of shook my sense of destiny. Do you know, I always kind of had this optimistic feeling that I was following the path I was. And then suddenly you're like, okay, I have no idea what I'm doing. No idea. Like, I don't know how life works. I clearly was also responsible for the failure of my marriage. Maybe not as responsible as other people, but I was responsible. And I take, you know, and I made this choice that was really good in some ways, but clearly did not work out the way I had hoped it would. And you wrestle as a woman, you wrestle with those questions. You know, what did I do? Am I going to do it? How do I move forward? What do I do with my children? You know, what is the right decision to make? How much do I choose for myself? How much do I choose for my family? So all of these things were going through my mind, and I really just had so much fun writing this romantic, spicy, exciting, magical book called Dominion.
- [13:56]
A
Amazing. Jean, thank you so much for talking about Dominion, for coming on the show again for a brief update on your life and work, and for trying something new. I mean, I think that's one of the most inspiring parts, is like, why not just do it? And now, you know, book one of three, right? You're just, like, going to crank these out and take over a new genre. It's really inspiring and quite amazing. So I am going to be rooting for you at every step, per usual.
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B
Zibby, you are just the absolute best, and I cannot thank you enough for all the many, many ways that you support all of while doing your own work as a creative.
- [14:39]
A
Thank you. All right, well, thank you, Jean. Thank you.
- [14:43]
B
So good to see you.
- [14:44]
A
So good to see you too.
- [14:45]
B
Take care. Okay.
- [14:46]
A
Okay, you too. Okay, bye. Bye.
- [14:49]
B
Bye. Bye.
- [14:50]
A
Thank you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibby, formerly Moms don't have time to read books. If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review. Follow me on Instagram Ibby Owens and Spread the word. Thanks so much. Oh, and buy the books.