Neon Yang

Last updated

Neon Yang
Born1982or1983(age 42–43)
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalitySingapore
Education University of East Anglia (MFA)
Genre
Notable worksTensorate series
Website
neonyang.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Neon Yang, [1] formerly JY Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction. They are best known for the Tensorate series of novellas published by Tor.com, whose entries have been finalists for the Hugo Award, [2] Locus Award, [3] Nebula Award, [4] World Fantasy Award, [5] Lambda Literary Award, [6] British Fantasy Award, [7] and Kitschie Award. [8] The first novella in the series, The Black Tides of Heaven , was named one of the "100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time" by Time magazine. Their debut novel, The Genesis of Misery , the first book in The Nullvoid Chronicles, was published in 2022 by Tor Books. The novel was a finalist for the 2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel [9] and 2023 Compton Crook Award. [10]

Contents

Biography

Yang is non-binary and queer, and uses they pronouns. [11] They legally changed their name to "Neon" in 2020. [1] They have a master's degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia [12] and were a member of the 2013 class of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. [13]

Career

Yang has published short fiction since 2012 in publications such as Clarkesworld , Lightspeed , Uncanny Magazine , Apex Magazine and Strange Horizons . [14] Their novelette, "Waiting on a Bright Moon" was a top ten finalist for the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novelette. [3] Their novelette "Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy" was a finalist for the 2020 Ignyte Award. [15] Their novelette, "A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, Is Infinite Potential" was a top ten finalist for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Novelette. [16]

Their Tensorate series of novellas began in 2017 with the simultaneously released The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune , which were published by Tor.com to critical acclaim. In particular, The Black Tides of Heaven received nominations for numerous science fiction and fantasy literary awards. The Tensorate series continued with the novellas The Descent of Monsters in 2018 and The Ascent to Godhood in 2019. [17] [18]

Yang's debut novel, The Genesis of Misery, the first in The Nullvoid Chronicles trilogy, was announced by Tor Books in 2020. It was published in September 2022 and has been described as a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc as a mecha space opera. [19]

Themes

Yang's work revolves around "the human body as a vessel for storytelling", and is based on their background as a molecular biologist, journalist and science communicator. [20] They have described themself as "a deep pessimist about human nature," saying that "the best we can do is to recognize this and mitigate that assholic nature when we can. I think, ultimately, that’s what most of my stories end up being about." [12] They have referenced David Mitchell, Helen Oyeyemi, and William Gibson as influences on their writing. [12]

Yang has described their Tensorate novellas as "queer Asian science fantasy." [21] The series has been described as "silkpunk" by reviewers. [22]

Awards and nominations

Awards and honors
YearWorkAwardCategoryResultRef.
2017 The Black Tides of Heaven Kitschies Award Debut NovelShortlisted [8]
Nebula Award Novella Nominated [4]
Tiptree Award [a] —Honor List [b] [23]
The Red Threads of Fortune Tiptree Award [a] —Honor List [b] [23]
2018 The Black Tides of Heaven Hugo Award Novella Finalist [2]
Locus Award Novella Finalist [3]
World Fantasy Award Novella Nominated [5]
The Red Threads of Fortune Locus Award Novella Finalist [3]
"Waiting on a Bright Moon" Locus Award Novelette Finalist [3]
2019The Descent of Monsters Lambda Literary Award LGBTQ SF/F/Horror [c] Finalist [6]
Locus Award Novella Finalist [24]
2020The Ascent to Godhood British Fantasy Award NovellaShortlisted [7]
Locus Award Novella Finalist [25]
The Black Tides of Heaven Time Magazine 100 Best Fantasy Books of All TimeListed [26]
"Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy" Ignyte Award NoveletteFinalist [15]
2021"A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, is Infinite Potential" Locus Award Novelette Finalist [16]
2022 The Genesis of Misery Goodreads Choice Award Science FictionFinalist [27]
The Tensorate Series Lambda Literary Award Speculative Fiction Finalist [28]
2023 The Genesis of Misery Compton Crook Award —Finalist [10]
Locus Award First Novel Finalist [9]

Bibliography

Novels

The Nullvoid Chronicles trilogy

  1. The Genesis of Misery , Tor Books, 2022

Novellas

Tensorate series

  1. The Black Tides of Heaven , Tor.com, 2017, ISBN   978-0-7653-9541-2
  2. The Red Threads of Fortune , Tor.com, 2017, ISBN   978-0-7653-9540-5
  3. The Descent of Monsters, Tor.com, 2018, ISBN   978-1250165855
  4. The Ascent to Godhood, Tor.com, 2019, ISBN   9781250165886

The four volumes were collected in an omnibus edition: The Tensorate Series, Tor.com, 2021, ISBN   9781250807540

Standalone

Other short fiction

Collections

Stories

TitleYearLengthFirst published
"Interview"2012Short storyThe Ayam Curtain, Math Paper Press
"The War Going on Beneath Us"2012Short storyThe Ayam Curtain, Math Paper Press
"Where No Cars Go"2012Short storyFish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction, Math Paper Press
"Captain Bells and the Sovereign State of Discordia"2012Short storyThe Steampowered Globe, AS¡FF / Two Trees
"Old Domes"2013Short storyWe See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology, Futurefire.net Publishing
"Tiger Baby"2013Short storyFrom the Belly of the Cat, Math Paper Press
"Storytelling for the Night Clerk"2014Short story Strange Horizons , 16 June 2014
"Harvestfruit"2014Short storyCrossed Genres, July 2014
"Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points"2014Short story Clarkesworld , issue #96
"Mother's Day"2014Short storyLontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, issue #3
"Cold Hands and the Smell of Salt"2015Short story Daily Science Fiction , Jan 2015
"A Sister's Weight in Stone"2015Short story Apex Magazine , May 2015
"Letter from an Artist to a Thousand Future Versions of Her Wife"2015Short story Lightspeed Magazine , issue #61
"RE (For CEO's Approval) Text for 10th Anniversary Exhibition for Operation Springclean"2015Short storyBahamut, issue #1
"A House of Anxious Spiders"2015Short storyThe Dark, Aug 2015
"Song of the Krakenmaid"2015Short storyLackington's, Fall 2015
"Temporary Saints"2015Short storyFireside Magazine, issue #28
"Secondhand Bodies"2016Short story Lightspeed Magazine , issue #68
"Her Majesty's Lamborghini and the Girl with the Fish Tank"2016Short storyLontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, issue #6
"The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One"2016Short story Uncanny Magazine , issue #10
"Transfers to Connecting Flights"2016Short storyAn Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables, Stone Bird Press
"Four and Twenty Blackbirds"2016Short story Lightspeed Magazine , issue #73
"Dismantling London"2016Short storyGeeky Giving: A SFF Charity Anthology, CreateSpace
"The Beachings"2016Short storyThe Sockdolager, Fall 2016
"The Slow Ones"2017Short storyGlitterShip, Winter 2017
"Auspicium Melioris Aevi"2017Short story Uncanny Magazine , issue #15
"Glass Lights"2017Short storyThe Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories, Solaris
"Waiting on a Bright Moon"2017Novelette Tor.com
"A Game of Lost and Found"2018Short storyLackington's, Spring 2018 (co-authored with Mike Allen, Vajra Chandrasekera, Amal El-Mohtar, Natalia Theodoridou)
"Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy"2019Novelette Tor.com
"Bridge of Crows"2019unknownThe Mythic Dream, Saga Press
"The Search for [Flight X]"2020Short storyAvatars Inc., XPRIZE
"A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, Is Infinite Potential"2020Novelette Clarkesworld , issue #164
"The Exile"2020unknownThe Book of Dragons, Harper Voyager

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Now known as the Otherwise Award
  2. 1 2 Joint listing for The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune
  3. ↑ Now known as the Lambda Literary Award for Speculative Fiction

References

  1. 1 2 @itsneonyang (1 September 2020). "Signed the paperwork today which means I AM NOW! LEGALLY!! NEON!! Hence the new Twitter handle ☺️ Next up: making it OFFICIAL by changing state ID (💀) and all the banks, insurance, credit card etc (💀💀💀) Legal language is so fucking dramatic lmfao" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. 1 2 "2018 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners". Locus. 19 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "2018 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  4. 1 2 "2017 Nebula Awards Winners". Locus. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  5. 1 2 "2018 World Fantasy Awards Winners". Locus. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  6. 1 2 "31st Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists". Lambda Literary Awards. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  7. 1 2 Andrew Liptak (22 February 2021). "Here Are the Winners of the 2020 British Fantasy Awards". Tor.com. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  8. 1 2 "Announcing The Kitschies' 2017 Winners!". Tor.com. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. 1 2 "2023 Locus Awards Winners". Locus . 25 June 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  10. 1 2 "Jennings Wins 2023 Compton Crook Award". Locus. 10 April 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  11. ↑ "About the Writer". Neon Yang. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 Coleman, Christian A. (July 2018). "Interview: JY Yang". Lightspeed . Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  13. ↑ Tor.com (12 January 2022). "A Space Opera Twist on Joan of Arc: Revealing The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang". Tor.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  14. ↑ Neon Yang at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  15. 1 2 "2020 Ignyte Awards Winners". Locus . 18 October 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  16. 1 2 "2021 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Descent of Monsters". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  18. ↑ Chadwick, Kristi (15 June 2018). "The Descent of Monsters". Library Journal . Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  19. ↑ "Joan of Arc Meets Space Opera: Announcing a New SF Trilogy From Author Neon Yang". Tor.com . 28 September 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  20. ↑ "Innumerable Voices: The Short Fiction of JY Yang". Tor.com. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  21. ↑ Author's official website, visited 12/4/2021
  22. ↑ Sor Fern, Ong (26 September 2017). "J.Y. Yang's two novellas are like rojak, a surprisingly delicious blend of unexpected flavours". The Straits Times . Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  23. 1 2 "Bergin Wins 2017 Tiptree Award". Locus. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "2019 Locus Awards Finalists". Locus. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  25. ↑ "2020 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online . 27 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  26. ↑ Matthews, Cate (15 October 2020). "The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang". Time. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "Readers' Favorite Science Fiction 2022". Goodreads . Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  28. ↑ "2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary . 15 March 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2025.

Interviews

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