Guest blog: Author Jill Braden on The Devil of Ponong

[catherineldf]

 

I've been reading and enjoying Jill Braden's work for many years under her various pseudonyms (she wrote a wonderful story for my anthology Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories too). When she asked me to blurb her latest novel, The Devil Incarnate, I was immediately intrigued. She deals with the themes of imperialism and resistance in a rich brew of magic and sexuality and I look forward to reading more of these books.

"The Devil of Ponong series"

Thank you, Catherine, for letting me chat about my SFF political thriller series, Devil of Ponong.

In the first book in the series, The Devil’s Concubine, the titular character QuiTai* is blackmailed into helping her enemy Kyam find a secret bioweapon plantation. (That sounds terribly high tech. It’s a low tech world on the verge of massive technological and political change.) Devil Incarnate is more political thriller than action adventure. QuiTai’s people are pushed to the brink of revolt. She has to stop them before blood runs in the street, but first she has to figure out who is behind it.

While I’m a big supporter of diversity in SFF, I didn’t set out to write a story set on a tropical island with non-white characters. All I planned to do was write the kind of book I like to read. Then I had a vision. No, not a vision. That sounds too woo-woo artsy writer-ish. How about I call it a quick little mental movie instead? What I saw was the scene where QuiTai and Kyam meet, and even though the Devil of Ponong series is set on a different planet, the people I saw in that vision were strikingly similar to a Pacific Islander (QuiTai) and a southeast Asian (Kyam).

My first reaction to that scene was “Who was that woman?” because QuiTai was so vibrant, compelling and mysterious that I knew I had to find out more about her. My second thought was, “Huh. I guess she’s similar to a Pacific Islander. ” The more I reflected on what I’d seen of her, the more convinced I was that keeping her ethnicity intact brought a wealth of history that would enrich the entire story. Keeping her true to the vision gave me a tropical island setting that was a character in its own right, and economic, racial, and political conflict that intertwined like a parasitic vine slowly strangling its host tree. That’s like asking for a slice of bread but getting a banquet instead. How could I not go with a gift like that?

I’m white, so when I began to write QuiTai, I kept in mind Orientalism-- the fetishizing of a stereotype of Asian women-- and the Dragon Lady stereotype. It turned out it wasn’t that hard to steer clear of those depictions. QuiTai is a person, not a type. But that’s also true of her enemies, the Thampurians, who colonized her island. Once a character gets to act independently of the mold they’re poured into, they take on a unique personality. That’s what I enjoy the most about writing in this world. It’s interesting to see how racism manifests itself in individual characters, how it manifests collectively, and how people negotiate the difference between those. It’s interesting to see how similar QuiTai is to her enemies and how different she is from her people, although she’d never admit to such a thing. And on a larger scale, I’m fascinated by dynamics of the lush, fertile, almost feminine land of Ponong dealing with the invasion of hyper-masculine sea dragons who forcibly subjugate it.

In real life, no one thinks of themselves as a villain. That’s how my characters act. From the viewpoint of the Thampurians, QuiTai is the villain. Ruthless and brilliant, she runs the Devil’s criminal network of smugglers, blackmailers, drug peddlers, and informers.

Her people split on how they feel about her. Some, who witnessed or took part in mob justice (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my indigenous people aren’t placid virgins waiting in a tower. They sometimes do terrible things. They can also be wonderful. In other words, they’re people. ) hate QuiTai because she encouraged them to act in a way that later shamed them. They generally don’t accept responsibility for their actions that day because it was so horrible. Instead, they blame her. This is how people are. It’s not how we want them to be, but it’s truth and showing that is more important to me than enforcing a simple vision of noble savages (an annoying racist meme in its own right) versus evil invaders. Those people who weren’t involved in the mob justice seem to feel QuiTai was a hero that day but are ambivalent or negative about her ties to the Devil. The rest of the population has no idea who she is and have no opinion one way or another. This isn’t hive mind. Everyone in this culture is an individual.

As far as QuiTai is concerned, the Thampurians who colonized her island, stole the land, and enforce injustice are the bad guys. She makes a slight exception for Kyam, but she’s more than willing to blame him personally for everything his government and people do, individually and collectively. The animosity is so intense that even when faced with a common enemy, she won’t willingly work with him.

Kyam thinks of himself as a hero. He’s from a privileged background and a culture that constantly reinforces his sense of superiority. QuiTai challenges every aspect of that. I’ll give this to him, no matter how uncomfortable it makes him, he’s willing to examine his privilege. That’s what makes him heroic, although I’ll never allow him to be the one to save Ponong, because I am so tired of the narrative that says the appointed savior for indigenous people is always the privileged guy who decides to play out his daddy issues by rebelling against his own culture. (Not that I’m pointing fingers at Avatar or The Blind Side or any of the other thousands of Hollywood versions of that same old trope.)

While the common belief is that science fiction starts with the question, “What if?” my favorite stories seem to ask, “What does it mean to be human?” Some people think science fiction only means space ships. Anthropology is a science too, and just as fascinating. I’m not only exploring racism and feminism, but also gender identity and sexuality as I search for the answer to what it means to be human. But feel free to call my stories fantasies. I’m more interested in dialog than labels.

Thank you, Catherine, for the chance to talk about the ideas behind my series.  

The Devil’s Concubine and The Devil Incarnate are available as ebooks and in print at your favorite online bookseller.  

Find me at JillBradenWriter.Blogspot.Com - http://jillbradenwriter.blogspot.com/

·     * I’ll admit to picking her name because I liked the sound of it. That’s one tiny step from picking random kanji for a tattoo. I’m waiting for someone to send me an email asking, “Did you really mean to name her ‘No Parking Between 12AM and 5PM?’”   

Purchase The Devil’s Concubine and The Devil Incarnate in print or ebook:
Wayzgoose Press
The Devil’s Concubine at Amazon   http://goo.gl/5xXoa3
The Devil Incarnate at Amazon http://goo.gl/ZgrVoT
And at Barnes & Noble http://goo.gl/fp7r4e