Thinkin bout how not a single American publisher was willing to give Iron Widow a chance and that's why I'm with a Canadian publisher but once the book deal was announced, public interest blew up and it ended up selling in 7 other territories at 4 auctions and a prempt 😶
Kind of hate how American publishing tastes gatekeep books for the rest of the world tbh. Like if my agent didn't happen to submit Iron Widow to my Canadian publisher, it would've languished in my computer. It would've never made it to those international pubs that fought for it.
Feeling very surreal because Iron Widow is a book that should not have made it into traditional publishing since American publishers didn't believe in it. But it squeezed through via Canada, and once the actual reader community saw it, they responded
ALL RIGHT WHO WANTS TO SEE ME SUFFER FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT & EDUCATION
BECAUSE HERE I GO WITH EVERYTHING CULTURALLY RIGHT AND WRONG WITH MULAN II (2004), THE THREAD:
Disclaimer: Culture is subjective so some of what feels "off" to me is gonna be personal opinion as a single Chinese person, but a lot will also be pointing out factual errors like them trying to write hero 英雄 but the 雄 is missing its whole right half???
ANYWAY the movie starts with George Takei praising Mushu for helping save China in Mulan 1998
just a fun fact but the scepter he's holding is called a ruyi, a Buddhist symbol of power that possibly originated as a backscratcher. you see it a lot in Chinese buddhist art.
what was the most disappointed you've ever been in a piece of media
i was ranting to a friend about what i wished the anime Darling in the Franxx had done differently, which spiraled into a whole other story infused with Chinese history and myth
it hits bookstores Sept 21.
alksdfjasf what i love though is how whenever someone's like "hey isn't this just like Darling in the Franxx?" upon reading my book summary, and then I'm like "yes, it was born out of my frustration with the show," they're always like "understandable, have a great day."
Though in the end, the only inspiration I took from the show is the concept of boys and girls being paired up in a questionable heteronormative piloting system to fight giant monsters. Everything else is completely different, looool