The Author from Planet Nagy and her Cat

Author Wena Poon emailed me from Hong Kong, where she is doing her Asian tour for her short story collection Lions In Winter, with this news about her latest book :

Cryptic Tonic is the second novel comprising the Biophilia trilogy. The first book, Biophilia, was published in 2005 and also available on Amazon. The trilogy came about one hot summer day when I was lamenting that Hollywood hasn't yet come up with the summer blockbuster action adventure that I really wanted to see (you know, one with a decent plot and really cool characters and non-corny lines), so I decided to write it myself.

At that time, Bush had won for the second term and I really wanted to get off Planet Earth anyway. There appeared to be a dearth of good, new fantasy literature, which explained why adults were reduced to reading Harry Potter.

Figuring that an English major couldn't do any worse than a Hollywood hack, I decided to write a "Narnia for Adults" - a credible, kickass, action adventure story that stars thirtysomethings who normally work in an office and get sucked off to a Narnia-like space opera. Don't we all wish that would happen.

After writing two books, readers started saying it sounded like Miyazaki's anime stories, with animal sidekicks.

So there you have it, Narnia plus Anime, with a bit of Marvel Comics thrown in for good measure. "Biophilia: Guaranteed to be more entertaining than your inflight movie." Please post your reviews and feedback on Amazon, and enjoy.

Now then, if you were an author with a new novel coming out, would you let YOUR cat interview you for your blog?* Wena did, and here's what W found out.

For something a shade more serious, you can also listen to Wena speak on a radio show about Asian women writers needing to escape the Amy Tan stereotypes.

*(I certainly wouldn't ask mine : Chiki, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and Nisbo is a husband-stealing strumpet.)