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]
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]
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]
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]
The Nullvoid Chronicles trilogy
The four volumes were collected in an omnibus edition: The Tensorate Series, Tor.com, 2021, ISBN 9781250807540
| Title | Year | Length | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Interview" | 2012 | Short story | The Ayam Curtain, Math Paper Press |
| "The War Going on Beneath Us" | 2012 | Short story | The Ayam Curtain, Math Paper Press |
| "Where No Cars Go" | 2012 | Short story | Fish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction, Math Paper Press |
| "Captain Bells and the Sovereign State of Discordia" | 2012 | Short story | The Steampowered Globe, AS¡FF / Two Trees |
| "Old Domes" | 2013 | Short story | We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology, Futurefire.net Publishing |
| "Tiger Baby" | 2013 | Short story | From the Belly of the Cat, Math Paper Press |
| "Storytelling for the Night Clerk" | 2014 | Short story | Strange Horizons, 16 June 2014 |
| "Harvestfruit" | 2014 | Short story | Crossed Genres, July 2014 |
| "Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points" | 2014 | Short story | Clarkesworld, issue #96 |
| "Mother's Day" | 2014 | Short story | Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, issue #3 |
| "Cold Hands and the Smell of Salt" | 2015 | Short story | Daily Science Fiction, Jan 2015 |
| "A Sister's Weight in Stone" | 2015 | Short story | Apex Magazine, May 2015 |
| "Letter from an Artist to a Thousand Future Versions of Her Wife" | 2015 | Short story | Lightspeed Magazine, issue #61 |
| "RE (For CEO's Approval) Text for 10th Anniversary Exhibition for Operation Springclean" | 2015 | Short story | Bahamut, issue #1 |
| "A House of Anxious Spiders" | 2015 | Short story | The Dark, Aug 2015 |
| "Song of the Krakenmaid" | 2015 | Short story | Lackington's, Fall 2015 |
| "Temporary Saints" | 2015 | Short story | Fireside Magazine, issue #28 |
| "Secondhand Bodies" | 2016 | Short story | Lightspeed Magazine, issue #68 |
| "Her Majesty's Lamborghini and the Girl with the Fish Tank" | 2016 | Short story | Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, issue #6 |
| "The Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One" | 2016 | Short story | Uncanny Magazine, issue #10 |
| "Transfers to Connecting Flights" | 2016 | Short story | An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables, Stone Bird Press |
| "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" | 2016 | Short story | Lightspeed Magazine, issue #73 |
| "Dismantling London" | 2016 | Short story | Geeky Giving: A SFF Charity Anthology, CreateSpace |
| "The Beachings" | 2016 | Short story | The Sockdolager, Fall 2016 |
| "The Slow Ones" | 2017 | Short story | GlitterShip, Winter 2017 |
| "Auspicium Melioris Aevi" | 2017 | Short story | Uncanny Magazine, issue #15 |
| "Glass Lights" | 2017 | Short story | The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories, Solaris |
| "Waiting on a Bright Moon" | 2017 | Novelette | Tor.com |
| "A Game of Lost and Found" | 2018 | Short story | Lackington's, Spring 2018 (co-authored with Mike Allen, Vajra Chandrasekera, Amal El-Mohtar, Natalia Theodoridou) |
| "Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy" | 2019 | Novelette | Tor.com |
| "Bridge of Crows" | 2019 | unknown | The Mythic Dream, Saga Press |
| "The Search for [Flight X]" | 2020 | Short story | Avatars Inc., XPRIZE |
| "A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, Is Infinite Potential" | 2020 | Novelette | Clarkesworld, issue #164 |
| "The Exile" | 2020 | unknown | The Book of Dragons, Harper Voyager |
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