Urania Fung's Blog

2011 Aurora Award Winner!

2011-11-21T08:11:00.001-08:00

The Dragon and the Stars has won the Aurora Award! I would really like to thank my editors, Eric Choi and Derwin Mak, for making the anthology possible and for promoting it so well!

Derwin Mak, Tony Pi, and Eric Choi at the Aurora Awards ceremony, Toronto, November 20, 2011. Our book won!

Mansfield Writes!

2011-11-10T15:39:00.001-08:00

I know it's after the fact, but speaking at Mansfield Writes! was fun, and I met some great people!

2011 Aurora Award Nominee

2011-07-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

The Dragon and the Stars is a nominee for the 2011 Aurora Award in the Best English Related Work category. Excerpts from the anthology are available here. To vote, please visit the Aurora Awards website. Thanks!

Excerpt from "The Right to Eat Decent Food"

2011-07-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

At the request of my editor Eric Choi, I'm posting an excerpt from my short story, "The Right to Eat Decent Food" from the anthology, The Dragon and the Stars. The two main characters, Mike and Steven, are roommates teaching English at a boarding school in China when the SARS epidemic hits. The school administrators quarantine everyone, which means Mike and Steven can't go out and are stuck eating nasty school food. In this excerpt, someone is about to take advantage of them in their distress. Enjoy!

Stomachs rumbling, we settled down in our two-bedroom apartment to discuss alternatives. Perhaps Mike could call up his girlfriend and have her throw food over the fence to us while we tossed her the money.

A loud knocking jolted us.

I answered the door to find a slender, teenage Chinese girl in a black student uniform, the name of the school in yellow block letters across her chest. She had a long, elegant nose, and her eyes were as bright and clear as an infant's.

I caught myself staring and turned to Mike. "Not my student."

Mike looked blank. "Not mine either."

The girl smiled. "My name is Rabbit. May I come in?"

Neither Mike nor I laughed. I already had students who had chosen Beaver, Tigger, and Harry Potter for their English names.

Mike nodded, so she stepped in, and I closed the door behind her.

She wouldn't sit, and her Chinese accent thickened when she spoke again. "Teachers, I heard you want, ah, decent food."

I don't know why I squirmed as though I had been caught with porn magazines. "It's no big deal."

"But, of course, you have, ah, the right to eat decent food," Rabbit said, her voice full of sympathy.

Mike's eyes widened. "You mean, you can do something about this?"

Rabbit's smile broadened. "Trust me?"

Mansfield High School

2011-05-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today, I had fun presenting my publications with authors Diane Kelly and Jason Henderson at Mansfield High School. Thank you, Diane, for setting this up!

The Dragon and the Stars is a bestseller!

2010-12-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

Wonderful news! The Dragon and the Stars was the fifth bestselling mass market paperback at Toronto's Bakka-Phoenix Books in 2010. Check it out!

Great review on SFRevu!

2010-08-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

Cathy Green reviewed The Dragon and the Stars and "particularly enjoyed" my story! Yay, thank you, Cathy!!!
http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=10584

Polaris 24 Book Launch

2010-07-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at Polaris 24! Here's a picture from the book launch for The Dragon and the Stars!

Left to right: Eric Choi, Derwin Mak, Tony Pi, me, and Elaine Chen

A Review of The Dragon and the Stars

2010-07-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to have been quoted so prominently in this review!

Polaris 24 Author Guest Invitation

2010-04-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

I have been invited as an Author Guest at Polaris 24 in Canada! I will have a 30-minute reading, a one-hour autograph
session, and at least three panels to sit on, not to mention attendance at the launch for
The Dragon And The Stars. It'll be quite a weekend!

Acceptance!

2009-09-03T15:59:00.001-07:00

My story, "The Right to Eat Decent Food," has been accepted for publication in the DAW anthology, The Dragon and the Stars! Yay! I set the story during the SARS quarantine in 2003. Follow this link to see pictures of my personal quarantine experience as well as some other experiences I had in China.

Random Pictures Taken in Beijing Province

2009-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have posted an album of random pictures taken while I was in China. I had a lot more, but I don't know what happened to the rest. Very upsetting! Anyway, some of these relate to the SARS quarantine on the campus where I taught English to ninth graders from 2002-2003. Why am I posting this? It has something to do with my next story, "The Right to Eat Decent Food"!

http://picasaweb.google.com/urania.fung/RandomBeijingPhotos

First Posting!

2009-08-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog! A friend told me about how she set up a blog to post pictures of things that inspired her writing. The idea sounded cool, so I'm trying out something similar. Whenever I manage to publish something, I will post related links and pictures. For now I have the cover of the DAW anthology Ages of Wonder and its related links to the right because my short story, "Mist Wraith," is the third story in the book! Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improving this blog.