| Title | : | Waiting on a Bright Moon |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 41 |
| Publication | : | First published July 12, 2017 |
| Awards | : | Locus Award Best Novelette (2018) |
Waiting on a Bright Moon Reviews
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On the stage the colony’s four starmages stand arrayed in a rectangle: Tiger, phoenix, dragon, horse. Each of them clutches in both hands a long metal rod, painted the red of justice. They drown out the thousand murmuring voices by pounding the rods onto the stage floor in an accelerating crescendo. Echoes drill into skulls. The house lights dim; the show is about to begin.
Two masked figures haul a third onto the center of the stage. Traitor is naked except for the ropes that bind her hands in front of her. Once she had a name, but now and forever she will only be known as Traitor. Nine iterations of her family will be thus disgraced, their names wiped from the register and those two characters written in their place. Her skin is blanched funerary white but her face is swollen with the red of beaten flesh. They force her to her knees. The sound of bone against wood lingers.
You look at her face. Its shape is young, its features arranged in despair. This girl could be Officer Ouyang. This girl could be you.
i tend to pass over the novellas when i'm choosing what to read for my weekly tor-short undertaking because i'm usually squeezing 'em in during the few golden hours i have before my saturday workday, and it's better for me if i can honor my self-imposed commitment and still have time for other obligations before trotting off into the world to earn my keep.
but my pickings were slim, so i took the plunge with this one, and risk was rewarded—i loved this story and i'm grateful to have spent time in its bubble. it's not even *that* long, as far as novellas go, and yet, content-wise, it feels like i read a whole damn book. it is packed with details, rich and gooey with characters, setting, and the "it's complicated" relationship between magic and ideologies that scaffolds this imaginary-but-relatable world.
i didn't even mind the romance.
the writing is absolutely lovely—the delicate intimacy of sexual awakening, the righteous heat of rebellion, the bittersweet nature of absence—it's highly visual and simultaneously dense and light and i do not know how they managed that feat, but hats off.
i didn't realize at the time that this was the same author who wrote
Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy; a tor shorty i read a few years back, but i'm hooked now, and hoping for more on the horizon.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2017/07/12/waitin...
come to my blog!! -
Read it here!
This is a novella I feel a bit mixed on.
It certainly wasn't bad - I adore the writing style, and the themes were quite intriguing. The issue is that I didn't get quite enough invested in the characters or in the romance. All of it was cute, all of it was intriguing, but none of it was compelling enough.
There’s a tone sapphic women and nb people use to write about love that isn't usually - sometimes it is, but not usually - there when men write about love. I can 90% of the time tell whether a novella is about a straight men in about 20 seconds, and I would not class that as a good thing. This author writes in the Tone Of The Gays™️ and I love it.
This was a short novella and I want to try more by this author later, especially after really liking their earlier Tiger story.
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Waiting on a Bright Moon was so damn amazing. I really didn't expect to like this novella so much I just couldn't get enough and wanted to keep reading. I wouldn't mind if the author released a book in the same world building or a future set with the same characters.
I had to re-read some sentences because there were some hanzi so it was a little confusing but at the same time lovely. This novella passed by quickly, the whole plot just kept getting better and the romance between Xin and Suqing was so tender and warm I just wanted more chapters about them. -
Probably more of a 4.5.
I’ve only read one novella by the author before but found it so beautiful, that I’m not surprised that this short story is also equally wonderful. In so few pages, the author is able to make us feel invested in the two characters and their budding romance, we start believing in their rebellion which wants to overthrow the extremely sadistic imperial authority, and we also understand the basics of the world and the magic system even though they are not always explained completely. It’s just masterful writing and I was totally captivated by it, and I can’t wait to read more of the author’s works. -
More of a 2.5 stars book.
The book is written in Second person POV and it is short story. Since it is a short story so there was no proper World building but I think the author has done a fine job in that regard. The book overall is a nice mixture of Science fiction and Fantasy but at the same time it was a little confusing and I wouldn't say that it is nicely written as I have to re-read many phrases to understand it. -
Read
here for free!
It's amazing how talented some people are, in that they are able to portray a strange, uncomfortable world full of things like "ansibles" and "starmages", and 3 paragraphs later you're like: "Ok. I get it, I'm invested, let's do this."
Yang's novella is set in a sci-fi universe and concerns the inhabitants of Eighth Colony. Tian is an ansible - a person with what I can only assume is a magical gift which allows her to create portals using a 2 way connection forged with singing voices. Suqing is a starmage - a powerful officer whose word is law. The two women begin a relationship amongst a rebellion that aims to overthrow the authoritarian government of the colonies.
The world Yang draws is violent and sadistic, featuring an execution that was utterly brutal. However, it's also tender, beautiful, and lyrically written. The relationships described are emotive and sympathetic, and the story itself might be full of hard edges, but it's ultimately warming. The incorporation of Chinese culture adds a really beautiful depth to the story, regardless of if you read Mandarin (I tried, but fell back on google translate!).
Go
here for one of the songs mentioned in the story, and listen to it as you read! -
“I joined the rebellion so my fate wouldn’t be decided by men like you.”
A very interesting and magical novella. The choice to put the main character's narration in the 2nd POV was definitely not something I encounter that often but it somehow worked well here. I'd love to read a longer story on this and to see the characters, which have a lot of potential, be more flashed out. That sapphic rep, though... a dream.
You can read it
here. -
love a scifi sapphic short story.
love the incorporation of Chinese lyrics and the names* -
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This week I went back to Tor.com to take a look at another short story by JY Yang. I read
another short story by Yang earlier this year and LOVED it, so was very interested to read something else by this author.
You can read the short story for free here…
So some of you may not know this, but I majored in Chinese language and literature in college and I’ve actually spent a lot of time in China. I no longer have a day job that requires me to use Mandarin, so I’m growing rustier by the day, but suffice it to say that I know a lot about the Chinese language and culture. Lo and behold, this story has a lot of Chinese songs and poems interspersed throughout, along with many details that draw upon Chinese culture, so this added a fun element to the piece for me. I will say, though, that some translations for the Chinese text could go a long way in bridging the cultural gap for an English-speaking audience. I can understand not including a translation for a language with many English cognates, such as Spanish or French, but Chinese is decidedly not that.
I ultimately had a difficult time connecting with this story. It’s another one of those short stories where there is a ton of worldbuilding, but in the “thrown in the deep end of the pool” style. In media res-style details are tough enough in longer works, let alone in short fiction. All the details, with very little seeded explanation, made the whole narrative feel ungrounded. I also think this would be a doubly challenging story for readers who do not have any sort of background in Chinese; there are no translations provided for the Chinese text, and many Chinese cultural and historical touchpoints are thrown in without explanation. For example:Only the starmages have the ability to defeat the Starmage General. But their suits have a limiter that stops them from performing the Seventy Two Transformations, and that is under the Starmage General’s control.
In the above quote, this was the first time I was hearing anything about the “Seventy Two Transformations.” In fact, this is the only time the transformations are mentioned in the entire story. However, a quick Google search revealed that the transformations are performed by a character in Journey to the West, a Chinese literary classic. I happen to think it’s cool that these referential details are included, but a little seeded explanation or context would be appreciated.
I also don’t understand why the author chose to put the whole piece in second POV. It’s a bold move that didn’t seem to add much to the story, and I’m curious to know the rationale behind the decision.
Whew, Short Tuesday has gone on a bit longer than I anticipated! To sum up, this was an interesting read, especially for someone with an interest in Chinese language and culture, but there were many aspects that took away from the story as a whole. -
Waiting on a Bright Moon is set in the outer space and it was woven with Chinese elements. Whilst the premise was really interesting, it didn't hold my attention all that much. I wanted to but I didn't feel connected to the characters or the romance or the rebellion. I liked the writing though, it was beautiful.
2 stars -
so short but so profound, i loved the writing immediately. the sapphic yearning!!!
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“Is she watching? What is she thinking? How could she just stand there? But then, are you not also sitting where you are, and watching?”
3 stars! This was ok. I loved the writing, but the story in itself was flat and a bit confusing. I think this could have been very interesting had it been a bit longer (maybe 100 or 150 pages) and expanded on a bit more, because most of the book did not make sense to me.
Overall, while it has its flaws, it was a bit entertaining. I might check out more by this author in the future.
Content/ Trigger Warnings- Gore, Torture, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Grief
Note- I have tried to include all the content warnings that I noticed, but there is no guarantee that I haven’t missed something.
“I joined the rebellion so my fate wouldn’t be decided by men like you.”
Review written on 6th August, 2022.
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DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.
How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/was average/Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/new favourite -
A short story with a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy. I thought the world-building was very imaginative and well executed for a novella this size. It was easy to picture it all in my head anyway (including that horrific execution scene!). The 2nd person narrative is not something I see a lot so that takes a page to get used to. I didn't know J. Y. Yang but I would certainly read more of them. These Tor short stories are a great way to broaden your horizon.
f/f
4 stars -
Read the story here:
https://www.tor.com/2017/07/12/waitin...
2.5 stars
Nice idea but not very clear at times. There were hints of things that weren't completely explained and others that were just thrown out like we are supposed to know what they mean/signify.
There was a brief scene of torture that may bother some, (not extremely graphic) but to me it felt... mechanical/wooden.
I was interested enough to keep going till the end but my eyes still glazed over at times.
The ending was okay, but abrupt.
IMHO, this would have been better served as a full length novel or even a novella.
*I did enjoy the Love story, very sweet*
Quotes:
"The body arrives during the second refrain. It slaps on the receiving dial with the wet sound of rendered flesh, and the processing officer, a young woman fresh from the originworld, screams.
It’s the scream that alerts you. You didn’t see the body come in, didn’t witness its ungainly, sprawling materialisation through the white of the portal. When you lift your voice in concert with your song-sister on the originworld, the act consumes you. 怒发冲冠、凭栏处。You are in rapture. You see nothing and hear nothing but the music your twinned voices produce. 抬望眼、仰天长啸、壮怀激烈。Your existence dissolves from the throat outwards while you deform the shape of the universe: 三十功名尘与土、八千里路云和月。You are no longer a person, but ansible, transmitting matter and energy across light-years through your song.
Like a clawed hand, the woman’s scream shreds into this ecstasy. It tears you out of verse and chorus. You look, and there lies the thing on the dais: naked, skin flayed, flesh laid open in petals. It came through the portal you and your song-sister created across the yawning gaps of space. A man, eyes open and filmy. There’s no blood.
You scream. That too is a kind of song, of fear expressed in unorchestrated keys. -
beautiful story. i can’t read mandarin but that didn’t take away any enjoyment of the story.
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rep: wlw mc’s, Asian inspired characters and setting
- These characters are in a dystopian world set in space but they get more girlfriends than me
- I hate sci fi because it’s confusing but this was really easy to follow (probably because it’s a novella)
- I liked the romance but it was difficult to connect to (not a fault of the writing because, again, it’s a novella and there isn’t much room for development)
- I LOVED the writing (people who say all f/f is badly written can catch these hands). It was interesting reading something from the second person perspective -
actually more accurate would be 3.5 stars but i enjoyed this and the writing is really beautiful. i'm amazed that evrn though it's so short, the worldbuilding, plot and characters are well written and developped. now i'm really curious about the author's longer works 👀
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Waiting on a Bright Moon is a short story written by author J.Y Yang, and they are known for their Tensorate series.
This isn't a bad story at all. It is about Xin, an ansible. In this story, an Ansible is a person who is using song and music magic can connect vast distances. It is a role forced upon some woman who a talent for music magic. There are some intrigue and romances. Honestly, though, the issue I had with the story is that in this short story format, the worldbuilding and story did not have a chance to develop a clear picture in my mind. I was often confused and detached from the story, and had to go back and read multiple passages so that I understood what was going on.
I do commend the author on their use of language, though. They have a way of describing moments in a lush prose-like style that I appreciate. The lyrical style of it flowed from line to line.
Even now, the role of an Ansible is vague to me. I think with an extended format into novelette size; this would be a much more intriguing story. As it is, it was only midgrade for me. -
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I was surprised when I opened this story to find it written in second person point of view. I wasn’t really expecting it, and, as far as I can remember, the last second person novel I read was one of those “choose-your-own-adventure” types where there are multiple endings and you have to choose based on your thoughts. Waiting on a Bright Moon is not one of those novels, but the second person writing didn’t take anything away from the story–in fact, it added so much feeling to it. I felt personally connected with the characters, and I honestly started to see myself in Xin’s character. I honestly had trouble keeping Xin’s gender straight because of the narrative, despite there being multiple points in the story where she is said to be female.
The world building was also mesmerizing. I was really curious about what being a Starmage meant, but by the end of the story I had fallen in love with the concept and Suqing’s abilities and character. Yang’s world building was flawlessly beautiful and entrancing, and I never wanted this short story to end. I want to know more. I want to know more about the rebellion, the other Colonies, the Authority, and what happens after.
I was also really interested in Xin’s ability as a ansible. Being an ansible seemed similar to being a Starmage, but it seemed like their power’s were more subtle, and less developed. My only wish is to know more about these abilities and what they mean and how they affect the personality of these characters. I just fell in love with their uniqueness and want to know more.
Although I couldn’t understand what it was saying, I loved Yang’s inclusion of the Chinese language. It appeared throughout the novella, adding a certain culture that I loved. Someone commented at the bottom of the story, saying that it’s beautiful as an English reader, but if you knew Chinese, then it would be so much more meaningful.
five stars - Overall?
I love short stories that rock my world, and this one is definitely one of those. I was not disappointed with how JY Yang’s writing is hyped, and, basically, this short story just made it harder for me to wait for their novellas.
Would I Recommend?
Yes? Why wouldn’t I? How is that even a question? Just, please, read it. It’s literally for free on Tor.com’s website, and, since I love this short story so much and since I’m a nice person,
here’s a link. -
Update 02/12/2021
Find my reviews on :
An Ode to Fiction
Buy the book :
Amazon |
Read for FREE here!When you lift your voice in concert with your song-sister on the originworld, the act consumes you.
Waiting on a Bright Moon is a short story about Tian an ansible of the Eight Colony that sing songs which functions as a connection to open portals between the colony and the origin world. One day a dead body passes through the portal which launched an investigation. Tian is then questioned by a starmage named Suqing a law enforcer in the colony. Together they form a relationship that blossomed through pain and trauma from the ripples of their past and current displays of the Empire's cruelty to stomp down the rebellion movement. Neon Yang's prose are as exquisite and beautifully rich with tenderness. The inclusion of Chinese lyrics into the story is a nice detail that I find charming. Though I wish I know what the lyrics meant while reading as I don't read Chinese but this didn't hinder me from enjoying the whole story. It is impressive that Neon Yang is able to pack a lot of emotion and connection within the pages. Written in first person from the perspective of Tian works well to wrap up the story and I liked that it leaves a question instead of an answer which fits the title well.
For those who are looking for a sapphic Sci-Fi with fantastical elements weaved in it, I highly recommend for you to read Waiting on a Bright Moon.What the future holds, you cannot say. But you have your song. It is all that you have, and you have to pray that it will be enough.
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read this, NOW. it's a fairly short novella, available on tor.com, so you really have no excuses. it's 200% better knowing the chinese literature references, but it's still AMAZING. Like, f/f chinese space rebels??? Amazingly lush writing? Ridiculously awesome worldbuilding?
If you loved Chirrut x Baze from Rogue One, go read this NOW. -
Beautiful, sad and hopeful. And also really gay.
I loved it. -
Meh. Nothing's really explained about the Authority and the Rebels. What are they fighting and why? The betrayal was too obvious. 2.5 stars.
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Nope it did not work for me... it was confusing as hell and I had to re-read a phrase more than once in order to understand it or at least I thought I did... oh well disppointed really
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3.5*
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Oh my that was really really good!
I went in knowing it was an f/f scifi short story, but not much else. This was an incredible read. I didn't expect the narration in 2nd person but it matched the wonderful writing style and the tone of the story very well.
I especially loved how effortless the introduction of the worldbuilding was. It ended up being a fully-fleshed world despite the story being so short. It was compelling and interesting and there was honestly so much story in these 50-something pages (onmy ereader haha).
I usually struggle with short stories because it's harder for me to connect with the characters in such a short read, but here I felt like it was wonderfully done, we got a lot of Tian's past which helped connect with her, and the main characters were just really well-developed.
I didn't expect that ending but I still loved it! -
Update: 4 ⭐️ because I’m still thinking about this world.
3.5, almost 4
Lovely story, beautifully done, it’s just ends too abruptly. I wanted something more from the ending and never got it. -
Waiting on a Bright Moon, by JY Yang – Science Fiction for a Diverse Readership, Discussion of a Short Story by Mel
Discussion originally written in German on September 17, 2017, for an academic writing course at Freie Universität Berlin, translated and adapted for an English audience by myself.
The discussion contains spoilers.
Waiting on a Bright Moon was written by JY Yang in 2017 and is freely accessible on Tor.com’s website. The author lives in Singapur and is known for several short stories in magazines like Lightspeed and Uncanny. Through the story’s main theme it is proposed to take your life into your own hands no matter the circumstances. Other topics like social injustice, rebellion, and same-sex love are touched, and the story features both Chinese attributes as well as elements of the science fiction genre. Moreover, it will become apparent that Waiting on a Bright Moon shows differing nuances in meaning depending on the reader’s cultural background.
The story’s protagonist, ansible* Xin, works for the empire of the originworld and was placed on the eight’s moon’s colony in order to exchange information and objects via a magical connection with other ansible. The cruel empire’s methods and social injustice lead to a rebellion. Xin gets tangled up in it because she falls for the starmage Ouyang Suqing who had to hide her lesbian nature her whole life and is now actively involved in bringing down the leadership. While the empire falls in the end, Xin and Ouyang are played by a traitor, thus being prevented to have the happy life they were hoping to live together.
In the first paragraphs, the reader already notices that JY Yang uses both English language as well as Chinese characters on a small scale. Since those are mainly used in two poems or songs which appear to be irrelevant to understand what is going on in Waiting on a Bright Moon, the story is also accessible for readers without a Chinese background. In addition, Waiting on a Bright Moon is saturated with Chinese culture: for instance, the cover mirrors the yin-yang symbol through the position of the women’s faces, there are Chinese names, zodiac and color symbolism, as well as political parallels to feudal China.
Looking at the characters’ names, it is not surprising to readers with a Chinese background that they befit their characters very well. For instance, the protagonist Xin’s former name was Tian (田, meaning field), but she was forced to use a new name instead and work for the government when it became known that she was in a lesbian relationship. Her new name is Xin (辛) which means sorrow and as an ansible, she is now a member of the lowest social class. She has no rights and lives a shameful life.
Her former lover’s name was Mingyue (明月), and it is here that there is some information that remains hidden to the Western audience because they don’t know that mingyue means bright moon in Chinese, which is, surprisingly, also right there in the story’s title. Waiting on a Bright Moon can thus be read with two different meanings: to be waiting while being on the moon (here the eight’s moon colony), or to be waiting for a bright moon.
There are hints in the Chinese characters of the songs as to the meaning of the case of waiting for a bright moon. The text is originally from two very famous ancient Chinese poems, therefore, on the one hand, being hard to understand even for Chinese readers, but, on the other hand, so famous that they are part of everyone’s school education.
In this story, mingyue stands for the fond memory of a good time past (here her former lover) as well as the hope and expectancy of another such experience (明月几时有？, meaning, When will there be another bright moon?). Regarding the theme of a bright moon, there is an interesting difference in paradigms within the readership of this story: In the West, we usually have a linear worldview, but it is a cyclic one in Asia, which means that one does not wait for the bright moon in Asia but for a bright moon because there is more than, metaphorically spoken, one bright moon; there are many recurring events that have the potency to make us happy.
As follows from this difference in perception, the ending of the story also has a different connotation. From a Western point of view, the story ends on an open yet hopeful note, but for the Asian reader, the ending describes the natural course of life. Concerning the characters’ thoughts and decisions, they receive another nuance as well because of the cyclic worldview: Because it is natural for the moon to rise and wane, Xin and Ouyang Suqing rise to the challenges that life throws at them and they won’t be hindered by difficult circumstances like their gap in social class or the prohibition of same-sex love.
Since there is not the one right interpretation of any given text, there is no question of which interpretation is the correct one. Different explanations are absolutely valid since paradigms and individual backgrounds always influence our understanding of everything that we read and our reactions to a text are subjective in any case. The questions that the author raises in their story are universal: Who is in charge of your life? When are you ready to act and what are you willing to sacrifice? Additionally, by using both the rather unusual second person perspective and present tense, JY Yang accomplishes a closeness between the story and the reader without coming off as preaching or stilted. Their prose and storytelling is subtle and leaves much room for the reader’s thoughts and emotions.
Although JY Yang uses a Chinese context for Waiting on a Bright Moon, even going so far as adding Chinese characters and symbolism that mostly evade the Western reader’s understanding, by writing within the science fiction genre, they accomplish to make the story universally applicable and therefore relatable to a large and diverse readership. Waiting on a Bright Moon is an entertaining story to read. It is set in a fascinating world and has so many layers of depth that it engages every reader, no matter their cultural background.
* Name for the group of women who are forced into the empire’s service and are of low social class because of their same-sex attraction. -
*2.75/5
Beautifully creepy atmosphere and good LGBT representation but I feel like these were the only good things this short story had going for it.
We are thrown into the middle of the action, and don't get me wrong, the tension feels real, especially during a certain scene, but everything before or after that feels a little underdeveloped.
We're dealing with an authoritarian regime and a plan to bomb, I suppose what you'd call their parliament (?) but we don't see enough of the regime or the build up to the bombing, so the stakes don't feel as high as they should.
And that goes to the aftermath of the bombing as well.
Oh, and also, the main characters have magic powers? Yeah, that felt a bit underdeveloped too.
If you made it this far, congratulations!
'Til next time, take care :) :) :) -
It's a short story, but so much happens! We're given a lot of informations on this fantasy world, but it's not confusing or overwhelming, it's progressive and efficient. The story is narrated at the second person, using "you", which I thought was orignal and really efficient for the story. There is not much I can tell without spoiling, but I do recommend this novella to you, it's really worth the read ^^ I now have to read more of this author for I'm intrigued by their writing and the world they managed to invent.
