by Michael Glazner
Folkloric creatures don’t necessarily follow rules as though they came out of Dungeons & Dragons. Rather, the rules and constraints that Min has to confront are usually social and ethical more than rules of magic.
Yoon Ha Lee
Yoon Ha Lee is not only a master of short fiction but is also known for complex folkloric space opera that redefines the genre. He is the winner of the 2016 Locus Award and a nominee for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Arthur C. Clarke Award. The New York Times called Ninefox Gambit (Solaris, 2016) “A tight-woven, complicated but not convoluted, breathtakingly original space opera.” Following his Machineries of Empire trilogy, Yoon Ha Lee has released Dragon Pearl, a middle-grade space opera under Rick Riordan’s imprint (Disney Hyperion, 2019). Dragon Pearl tells Min’s story: a thirteen-year-old girl descended from fox spirits, who leaves her planet to find her brother.
INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT PRESS: What made entering into a partnership with Rick Riordan to publish Dragon Pearl attractive? Why was this the best way to tell Min’s story?
YOON HA LEE: Two reasons: When my daughter, who was then a tween, learned I had an opportunity to write for Rick Riordan’s imprint, I knew she would have killed me if I’d turned down the opportunity! She’s a big fan of Rick’s.
And the other reason is money. Middle-grade science fiction pays much better than adult science fiction, on average. My daughter is now fifteen and in ninth grade, which means we’re soon going to be facing her college bills.
As for Min’s story, that’s actually the other way around. I didn’t come up with Min and her world until I had to devise a proposal for Rick Riordan Presents. I was thrilled that Rick was promoting mythology-based fiction from many cultures, and I figured that no one else was going to be pitching Korean mythology space opera.
IFP: What makes a story qualify as space opera? What are five must-read/see space operas and why?
YHL: My criteria are very simple: big space explosions, bigger-than-life personalities, and lots of adventure, although there are lighter and darker varieties of space opera. My five would be:
- Star Wars—pretty much the one you have to know if you’re going to write in the genre.
- Margaret Weis’ Star of the Guardians series, which follows an exiled lady starfighter pilot, the king of a lost dynasty, an ambitious warlord, and more.
- If you like the grimdark edition, I’m fond of the over-the-top bloodfest that is Warhammer 40,000. I don’t play the miniatures game because it’s spendy and the thought of painting that many minis makes me want to hide, but it’s a lot of fun.
- Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, wherein a ship’s AI exiled from its own body seeks revenge for the death of its beloved captain, setting in train a series of events no one could have anticipated.
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These — an intensely political anime in which two starfaring powers and their respective military geniuses face off. If you like that, the novels by Yoshiki Tanaka on which it’s based are mostly available in English translation, and if you’re really hardcore, you can also look up the original anime (Die Neue These is a remake).
IFP: The Machineries of Empire trilogy hinges on mathematical rules and axioms. What rules and constraints will readers see Min struggle against in Dragon Pearl?
YHL: I played fast and loose with Korean folklore in Dragon Pearl, and in any case, folkloric creatures don’t necessarily follow rules as though they came out of Dungeons & Dragons. Rather, the rules and constraints that Min has to confront are usually social and ethical more than rules of magic. She has the power to shape-shift and can use it for the first time, but as she learns, just because you have power doesn’t mean you know the right time to apply it.
IFP: What universal archetypes will readers find in Dragon Pearl? Which archetypes showed up in Dragon Pearl that also made appearances in Machineries of Empire?
YHL: Both Min from Dragon Pearl and the undead general Jedao from Machineries are tricksters; appropriately, both are associated with foxes. Min’s friend Haneul is a loyal, studious friend who is always about following the rules—I’m pretty sure that personality type has existed since there were rules to follow. And her other friend Sujin is a troublemaker, although maybe not as much of one as Min herself. Beyond that, there’s the dragon pearl itself, one more magical artifact in a parade of artifacts out of folklore and imagination.
IFP: What ideas or themes do you return to in your writing, and what has that told you about yourself?
YHL: Warfare, imperialism, culture clashes, math. A pretty good reflection of my nonfiction interests. My mother finds my fascination with military history completely baffling, but she still enables me when I ask for research help!
IFP: What ideas do you hope readers of Dragon Pearl walk away with?
YHL: Mostly, I hope readers have a fun time with the book. If any of them are inspired to write their own stories, of whatever kind, that would be excellent!
Yoon Ha Lee is the author of the middle-grade space opera Dragon Pearl and the Machineries of Empire trilogy. His short fiction has appeared in Tor.com, Lightspeed Magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and other venues. He lives in Louisiana with his family and a very lazy cat—and has not yet been eaten by gators. Check out his website YoonHaLee.com to read his back catalog of short stories.