Writing Analysis
Gorgeous Short Stories By and About East Asian-American Women for APAHM Month
About our love, loyalty, isolation, and resilience
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APAHM) or AAPI Heritage Month, I’m sharing some of my favorite stories that showcase East Asian(-American) women in all our varied glory. #
Our identity shapes how we relate to our parents (Queen’s Luxury Spa), how we fall in love (Someday We’ll Embrace This Distance), how we fall out of love (Don’t Say We’ll Lose Touch), and how we hide ourselves (Safeword). Our identity binds us together, offering solidarity (The Lady of Butterflies) or causing rivalry (See It Slant).
Our demographic box is never the focal point of these stories — of any of our stories — but the stories wouldn’t exist without the rich, unique experiences of being a woman of East Asian descent.
1. Don’t Say We’ll Lose Touch — Emily Yang, The Adroit Journal
What if the pandemic never ended and ensuing travel restrictions separated two lovers for life? Set against a sweeping backdrop, this intensely personal narrative follows two girls, the relationship they build, and how the virus that eats away at muscles eats away at their relationship.
Read it here: Don’t Say We’ll Lose Touch — Emily Yang, The Adroit Journal
This was a gem I discovered when researching lit mags to submit to. I read it in one sitting. With gorgeous prose, Emily Yang renders all the breath-taking (sorry) excitement of first love in the foreground while using quick, effective brush strokes to build sociopolitical structure in the background. She also has a heart-rending section about losing your mother tongue, thereby connecting to your mother country and your past self.
2. See It Slant — C Pam Zhang, The Cut
What if the only other Asian girl in film class was brilliant, revered, and intimidating compared to angsty, low-brow me? Watch the main character orbit around, then towards, the object of her envy and desire, K.
Read it here: See It Slant — C Pam Zhang, The Cut
Slow, creepy, disturbing. The story immediately grabbed me with its sense of unease, and author C Pam Zhang drew out that tension till the story’s perfect (I can’t say why for fear of spoiling it) ending.
3. Safeword — RO Kwon, Playboy Fiction
What if, after 3 years together, I found out my wife has a very specific kink that’s not my thing, but she can’t be satisfied until I learn how to deliver?
That’s the conundrum that Ken faces when his wife, Jenny, says, “Sometimes I really need you to hurt me.” Follow Ken’s modern-day urban adventure as he traverses Manhattan looking for the right whips and dominatrices to help him reconnect with his wife.
Read it here: Safeword — RO Kwon, Playboy Fiction.
Comic, nerdy, and educational. I like how author RO Kwon examined her Asian woman character from the outside, from the perspective of someone who loves but can never truly understand her. Having read only RO Kwon’s considerably darker novel and non-fiction, it was fun to see her let loose (while maintaining her characteristically tight grip on prose).
4. Queen’s Luxury Spa — Ji Hyun Joo, New England Review
What if I spent my entire life contorting myself to fit my mom’s high standards only to find out she’s a goddamn hypocrite? What if I can’t confront her directly because our love language is speaking in codes?
In meticulous, archaeological detail, the recently divorced main character reports how she navigates the labyrinths of Mother’s mind, and the Korean spa Mother frequents. She has to — to understand her own mess of a life.
Read it here: Queen’s Luxury Spa — Ji Hyun Joo, New England Review.
This was one of the most accurate and relatable depictions I’ve seen of a mother-daughter relationship for Korean-American women (with the caveat that I am thinking of one particular type of such a relationship, which other Korean-American women may not relate to). I love how author Ji Hyun Joo followed through on the theme of coded language by using the ironic name of the run-down bathhouse as the totally uninformative — and therefore perfect — the title of her story.
5. Someday We’ll Embrace This Distance — Niyah Morris, Strange Horizons
What if someone you’ve never met walks into your life to tell you not only do you know her, but you’re also dating her — in the future? Jenny keeps up the boring routine of her life while waiting for her visitor from the future to pop back in every now and then. Jenny yearns to learn how they meet, what they’ll eat and what they’ll do when they’re finally together on the same timeline.
Read it here: Someday We’ll Embrace This Distance — Niyah Morris, Strange Horizons.
Lovely, whimsical, and strangely comforting. I felt like I had been seen somehow when I first read the story, and I revisit it often. Author Niyah Morris uses direct, almost terse language to evoke loneliness and the cautious optimism that ignites when we meet someone who can close — or better yet, embrace — the distance.
6. Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying — Alice Sola Kim, Tin House
What if you finally met your birth mother—because she starts possessing you and your other adopted friends? Mini, Caroline, and Ronnie get in over their heads when, out of teenage rebellion, they decide to do “some seriously dark fucking magic.” If their white parents won’t tell them about their Korean families, why not take matters into their own hands?
Read it here: Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying — Alice Sola Kim, Tin House
Dark, hilarious, and terrifying. Bonus points for describing the “vinegar-poop-death stench” of kimchi and general stinkiness of glorious Korean food. I’m not surprised the story started a bidding war, and I’m stoked to see how Fox 2000 brings it to life (ha). I usually roll my eyes at voice-over narration in (non-documentary) films and TV, but I hope the film production lets us hear Alice Sola Kim’s expert use of first person plural point of view. In seamless stream-of-consciousness, the girls tell their collective story in turns and all at once, emphasizing their bond.
7. The Lady of Butterflies — YM Pang, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
What if the emperor entrusts you, his chief warrior, with the lowly task of guarding his newest courtesan — only for you to fall for her haunting beauty? Lady Mikara holds Morieth at sword’s length, certain at first she must be a foreign spy, but gradually Mikara is drawn to the woman, her secrets, and the butterflies that seem to surround her.
Read it here: The Lady of Butterflies — YM Pang, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Lesbeans? Magic? Wuxia? Female warriors? I cannot explain to you how excited I am to see this wondrous work on the big screen one day. The visual and emotional landscape is rendered in vivid, breathtaking detail.
Want more?
I do. I’m lucky to have found representation in literary magazines of all genres and “quality,” which is why I keep reading more.
I’d like to write similar lists for women of South, Southeast, and Western Asian descent and men and non-binary individuals of all Asian descent. Though more can be done, I’m grateful to magazines and journals that have pushed to include more diverse stories and bring voices from the margins into the mainstream.
Further reading:
