Marshal Zeringue asked me to write a little about what I’m reading now. Not the happiest stuff, but I think misery loves company…
Category Archives: Writers and Writing
Lines Review from Pages of Julia
I’ve been a fan of Julia Kastner’s writing, which I first read through her reviews in Shelf Awareness. On a lark I sent her an ARC, and to her great kindness, she read it and liked it enough to review it. It’s such a lovely piece of writing — I think her review may actually be better than my book! Yeah, it’s that good. Please read it! And yeah, read my book, too, if you want. 😉
Posting this from rainy and beautiful downtown Portland — and getting ready for the reading tomorrow:
Saturday, November 2, 2024 7PM PT
Portland Book Festival, Cover to Cover Event
Rose City Book Pub
1329 Northeast Fremont Street, Portland, OR 97212
with Anthony DiPietro, Douglas Cole, and Anna B. Moore
I’ll also be at Unsolicited Press’s Exhibiter Table #69 at Portland Art Museum between 10-11am.
Now, on with the review!
This book came to me in an unusual way, and I just happened (entirely by accident, as far as I’m aware with my conscious brain!) to pick it up a few days before its publication date, and finished reading it on the very eve. So, happy birthday to this book just published on Tuesday (October 29, 2024). And a brilliant book it is: deeply beautiful, full of tragedy and pain but also awe and even bliss and the exaltation of quiet, daily acts of love and creation.
Largehearted Boy: Sung J. Woo’s playlist for his novel “Lines”
I created by first playlist for LHB back in 2009 — and fifteen years later, here’s the one for Lines. ❤️
Pub Day for Lines
Today is the official pub date for Lines, and I figure the best way to celebrate it is by celebrating with five other books. Please check out my Shepherd picks for The best novels featuring what-if “Sliding Doors” narratives!
Why am I passionate about this?
Ever since watching Sliding Doors back in the late 90s, I’ve been fascinated by forking narratives. I don’t know if I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love that “what-if” spark–what if I chose this job over that one? Who would I have met? Who would I have married? Who would I be? That last question, I believe, is the kicker–we all only get to live this one life, so our choices are our choices. Only in the realm of fiction can we really be in someone else’s head, and writing my fifth novel, Lines, and its twinned/entwined plots was doubling the fun.
“Page 69 Test” and “My Book, The Movie”
Sometimes I think I write new books just to do this test and fantasize about the adaptation. Please read on!
https://page69test.blogspot.com/2024/10/lines.html
https://mybookthemovie.blogspot.com/2024/10/sung-j-woos-lines.html
Starred Review from Booklist for Lines
Much gratitude to the fine folks at Booklist for giving a starred review for Lines! ❤️❤️❤️
A Second Act for Skin Deep and Deep Roots: Datura Books
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives.” That may well be true, but you know what? There most certainly is a second act for an American book, or in my case, two books.
Skin Deep and Deep Roots, my series of mystery novels, was published through Polis Books. Skin Deep came out in 2020, during the pandemic — which made promotions difficult. Deep Roots was supposed to be published two years later, but it took another year, and by then, Polis was a shell of itself. This spring, its doors were officially shuttered, and I thought that was the unfortunate end-of-life for Siobhan O’Brien, my intrepid private eye.
Except that wasn’t the case at all. Jason Pinter, Polis’s publisher, was able to find a new home for my novels, and goodness, what a beautiful home it is. To really drive the point, the books themselves got a makeover. The new editions can even be preordered from Datura Books, an imprint of Angry Robot, a UK-based publisher who distributes through Penguin Random House. Voila!
The books won’t come out until June 2025, but they can already be pre-ordered:
Skin Deep | Deep Roots
Of course, they will be available via the usual outlets such as Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble as we near the pub date.
You can read the official news in Publishers Weekly — there’s even a quote from me at the end of the article. Happiness and authorship are rare combos for me, but there are very bright days like this one that makes the struggle worthwhile.
Fifth Novel: Lines
October 29, 2024. Book #5. Lines.
Publication is still many months away, but you can read it early via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program:
https://www.librarything.com/ner/publisher/1944/Unsolicited-Press
This book incorporates paintings by Dina Brodsky! Read all about it.
Everything Asian in NHPR Reads: May 2024
As the piece below informs, May is indeed Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month — and how lucky am I to have a friend who also happens to be an avid reader at NHPR, New Hampshire Public Radio? Very lucky indeed. Huge thanks to Jim for including my first novel, Everything Asian, to this extremely storied list! To paraphrase Wayne and Garth, I am not worthy!
Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo
My friend Sung emigrated from South Korea to New Jersey as a young man. So has the protagonist of this novel. The funny moments and the sad ones will be familiar to anyone who’s no more than a remove or two away from the immigrant experience – which is most of us. And anybody who’s ever cringed at their parents’ behavior will see their teen years brought to life in this slyly serious picaresque.
– Jim Schachter
For the rest of the recommendations by NHPR, please click through and read on.
Roundup of 2023’s Best Books by Korean Americans
Turns out there were a whole bunch of novels and short story collections by Korean American authors last year, quite likely the most ever — and I was one of them! Super cool news — read all about it.