The Age have published an interview with Shelley Parker-Chan, the first Australian to be nominated for a Hugo award - two actually, Best Novel and Best New Writer. She Who Became the Sun is their first novel.

Most would regard this novel as fantasy - Hugos cover both science-fiction and fantasy - but this an Australian author and their interview touches on a broader entertainment issue.

Shelley explains their motivation:

I was looking for the kind of book that has really broad scope and sweeping queer catharsis; a story that had Asians in every role, [not one] where one Asian had the full burden of representation.

So that’s what got me thinking: ‘I’m going to write a Chinese drama in book form and everyone’s going to be gay, and they’re all going to be terrible’.

If that sounds odd to you, we might be able to put it into context.

There are a range problematic tropes associated with minorities in entertainment.

A small number of minority characters, always or nearly always possessing negative qualities across all entertainment media, definitely represents those minorities negatively.

That's not right.

On the other hand, not every member of a minority is a saint.

How does one distinguish between a non-hateful but "terrible" minority character and the trope kind?

We have seen modern titles and their authors criticised purely on the grounds that they include a villainous minority character.

Hence Shelley's solution.

She Who Became the Sun was a 2021 release and is available in bookstores now, eg. Pan MacMillan.

[ Main Image: Shelley Parker-Chan. Credit: Shelley Parker-Chan via Twitter. ]

References

The Hugo Awards (April 6, 2022). 2022 Hugo Awards.

Wikipedia. She Who Became the Sun. (viewed May 3, 2022)

Wong, Kat (May 2, 2022). ‘Everyone is going to be gay and terrible’: The first Australian novel nominated for a Hugo. The Age.