Reading Diary: Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

Here is a synopsis from the author's website:

It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.


Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption from her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.


Code name: Fortune.


But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.


To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.

I really enjoyed Gong's Romeo-and-Juliet-inspired duology of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends, so I was thrilled to see that she was writing more books in that world. Foul Lady Fortune and its forthcoming sequel, Last Violent Call, take a bit of inspiration from As You Like It, mixed in with a dash of Captain America/Winter Soldier vibes. I enjoyed the twists and turns of espionage, and I enjoyed the fantasy/sci-fi elements. I also love that pretty much every character in these books is some shade of queer. Rosalind reads as demisexual, Orion is bi or pan, and Celia is trans. Occasionally, the way this info about characters is revealed feels a bit anachronistic given the setting and world-building. Another picky issue I have is with the titles of the books -- three of the four have 'violent' in the titles, and I either want the word to only be in one title or in all four, but this is a SUPER petty gripe. Coming up with titles is HARD! And the word makes sense in the first duology since they are taken from a quote from Romeo and Juliet. 'Lady Fortune' is part of a quote from As You Like It, but I don't think 'violent call' is -- I'll let you know after I go and see the play at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival next week.

As I think back over the books, I think most of the complaints I have are style-based and stem from the fact that Gong is such a YOUNG writer -- she's only twenty-four! I found the books to be very entertaining, with gripping action and interesting world-building. I am invested in the characters' fates, so I'll leave my stylistic quibbling aside.

General Diary: Ooooooooooooof

Now that I actually have some space to read and think, I've been going through the responses to the End Racism at OTW campaign as well as the stuff that's come out recently about volunteers and the general clusterfuck that seems to be going on behind the scenes at OTW -- I don't even know what to link because there's a TON of stuff, both here and on Twitter and Tumblr, and wow, the issues are thorny! I mean, of course they are, but as with the rest of *gestures at everything* ... it feels like the more one tries to do the right thing, the more issues creep up, whack-a-mole style.

One of the casualties of both the overload of just STUFF I'm wading through online and the general what-the-fuckery of the last school year has been my desire to write and to engage in fannish life. It's not a particularly alarming realization. I've only been actively fannish for about nine years, which is definitely a good chunk of time, and it was during one of those geologic shifts that come in life, but it also wasn't part of those years where really fundamental parts of my self were first formed, so I'm not feeling the loss as keenly as I might. I still have lots of creative outlets, and I've noticed an uptick in my ability to read books, which took a massive hit ... well, nine years ago. It's still not up to pre-2014 levels, but it's getting there.

I think one of the things that is kind of killing the fandom feels right now is that, at least in the space I've curated for myself, there's a lot of demand to Do Something, and it crashes into the demands to Do Something in my work life and my home life and my other communities, and it kind of feels like I have to let some things go, and I think those things are writing (both original fiction and fics) and actively engaging in fannish life.

For now, I've got to focus on work (doing right by my students next year, learning new skills, and finding a better school for 2024-2025) and my imploding family (*fork in a blender noise*). And knitting.