Uncreated Conscience

The hardcover of SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon

Recently there have been rumblings in the blogosphere about the re-jacketing of Cindy Pon‘s book SILVER PHOENIX that have been brought to my attention. Reactions have been mixed, from outrage to support, with many bloggers pointing to the re-jacketing as yet another example of publishing cover racefail (the first being Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR and the second being Jaclyn Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER GLASS).

This is a bit of sensitive subject and I was a little wary of writing about it. It isn’t the topic; I’ve blogged about race and cover matters before and I try to champion novels with POC themes, settings, and characters whenever possible, but this situation requires delicacy for a few reasons.

1. This is not directly analogous to situations in either LIAR or MAGIC UNDER GLASS.
2. I am not Cindy Pon’s editor or publisher so I obviously don’t know all the details.
3. Despite my best intentions to keep neutral, there may be some finger-pointing (not at Cindy or her publisher).
4. What I say may come off as a little defensive even though I don’t mean it that way.
5. Contrary to what we want the outcome to be, in this situation, we as the concerned reader may not be able to effect much change.

Those reasons aside, I did feel I was qualified to say something about this topic based on these reasons:

1. I work in editorial.
2. I am a woman of Asian descent.
3. I ain’t happy about this either.

Above is the original cover for SILVER PHOENIX. The re-jacketed cover is below the cut.

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This morning I got a phone call from “Home” around 9:00am EST, which meant it was 6:00am back in Los Angeles where my family was calling from.

DAD: Hey Noonster, I’ve got your brother on the phone; he needs help with an English assignment.
JJ: (hiding the fact that she was still in bed) It’s early back there, innit?
DAD: Yes, but enterprising fellow that he is, he left this off until the very last minute and we are in need of your assistance.
JJ: (sighs) What is it this time?

I am my parents’ convenient English tutor when it comes to my little brother. (I suppose can’t call him that anymore, since he is now 13 years old and two inches taller than me.) I am also their convenient car ride service whenever I am home and Trouble is still attending school. I fulfill the role of dutiful Asian daughter beautifully, thank you. Anyway. This morning my brother called. His teacher had given him the most inane assignment; the 7th grade class had just finished reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and he was supposed to pick three characters from the play and then cast three famous actors in the roles and enumerate the reasons why.

Er, we do live near Tinseltown. Movies do, in fact, run our lives, but dear God, I could teach English better than this.

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A bit late, I admit, but things are a little busy in Chez Jones, what with the Sacramento Joneses down in sunny southern California for a visit.

New Year’s passed in typical Jones family fashion with my mother and grandmother making 떡국 (tteok guk — beef soup with rice cakes except in my case it’s non-meat), viewing the Rose Parade floats the night before on my parents’ street before watching the parade itself on TV, and watching the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber fly overhead. I leave for New York again on Sunday and while I’ll be sad to leave the bosom of my family, I will be grateful to be in my own apartment again. And to get started on my resolutions because while I am still at my parents’ house, I feel like I’m on vacation and not entitled to be good.

If you are as obsessive about list-making as I am, then I recommend you check out Listography. I spent most of New Year’s Day crafting a resolution before being carried away with other lists: books to read, books read in 2009, movies watched in 2009, and a dozen ridiculous wishlists broken in technology, art supplies, and style & decor (if you’re ever wondering what you should get me as gifts).

I have now read all my new books (and one old one: Downriver by Will Hobbs) and am out of books to read, which was probably not the wisest decision to make before flying out in a few days. Oh well.

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Although I did not talk about the passing of Kurt Vonnegut (mea culpa), I need to mention the death of Lloyd Alexander, the author of The Chronicles of Prydain.

Requiescat in pace.

This may be the best summary of Lloyd Alexander’s Taran Wanderer that I have ever read.

Taran

I don’t know who I am, so I’ll go all over the place.

THE END

Oh Taran.