*ai ling fights against demons.

i think any author will tell you that one of the
best perks of being published is receiving fan
art from readers. i have been lucky to have gotten
a few from my artistic readers and i love each and
every one of them.

imagine my surprise today when liz wong, the
fabulous artist, tweeted this beautiful drawing
(rendered in pencil and colored digitally) of ai ling to
me. don’t you love the fierce expression on my heroine’s
face? the demons and feel of the drawing reminds me of
the lake scene from Silver Phoenix–one of the very first
scenes i ever wrote for my debut. i remember brainstorming
the scene in the early dawn, and i am not a morning person!

thank you so much liz for this wonderful drawing!
and for giving me permission to share it here.

have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

ETA: oooh, the serpent demon is here too!
it’s a montage of monsters and demons! love it since
my heroine of current novel is half serpent demon!

Silver Phoenix paperback releases today!
and it also includes my mom’s veggie homestyle
mapo tofu recipe (it is delicious!). see
greenwillow’s very own Head Chef martha mihalick’s
first delicious attempt here. also included is a teaser
for Fury of the Phoenix and some comments about
writing my debut by me.

in celebration of my paperback release, some
wonderful bloggers are doing fantastic giveaways
along with Fury of the Phoenix reviews. first, i heart
monster reviews Fury and is giving away a Silver Phoenix
paperback and Fury arc.

next, malinda lo shares why she enjoys my
novels, as only malinda can. =D i love her
endorsement! it means a lot.  she, too, is giving
away a Silver Phoenix paperback and Fury arc. you
can also see her delicious rendition of my mom’s
mapo tofu recipe!!

finally, ellen oh (fellow harpercollins YA author who
has an asian-inspired three book deal!) is
running a haiku contest on twitter and her blog! she’s
giving away two prize packs, including $75 worth in
giftcards! won’t you write a haiku for some Fury love? =)

also, a while back, cassandra clare was kind enough to
blurb Fury of the Phoenix:

“Cindy Pon’s writing is beautiful, conjuring up images
of breathless adventure, heart-stopping romance, dangerous
demons, and hidden secrets. Ai Ling is the sort of heroine you
can’t help but root for. A thrilling ride from start to finish.”

-Cassandra Clare, New York Times Bestselling Author
of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series

then today, i learned that she had selected Silver Phoenix as
a favorite read in a bn.com feature. !!! amazing! and i happen
to be in fantastic company as well, with books i truly enjoyed
reading (Bleeding Violet, White Cat, Book of A Thousand Days,
The Replacement, Anna and the French Kiss). thank you so
much, cassie!!

i believe my book may be featured in endcaps at
some bn stores under a “Cassandra Clare Recommends” sign.
let me know if you see this–so exciting!

so there you have it, all my book news. =) i can’t
believe we’re less than two months away from
Fury release and not much more before the awesome
Diversity Tour. it’s going to be crazy and amazing.
till next time, lovely readers!

thanks to everyone who took the time to blog or
comment in the contest post with your thoughts--it
really means a lot. now i’d like to share some of the
great entries i received!! WARNING! this post contains
a whole lot of Silver Phoenix SPOILERS!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MawgoUwOq8g

alison, a teen reader from the east coast, submitted this
fantastic vlog of why she loves Silver Phoenix. how cute is it?

i received three art entries--and what’s so fantastic
about them is that they are all from readers abroad!

by adam in thailand (using watercolor pencils)

this is the scene where chen yong saves ai ling
from his demonic doppleganger. adam mentioned
especially liking the terraced rice fields. me, too. here
is the passage from Silver Phoenix:

The sun descended, streaking the sky with ribbons of
vermilion. There was no farmstead in sight. Lush terraced
fields reflected the light. The fields had collected recent rains,
and the crops grew from pools tinted rose, gold, and green.

my comments: other than the terraced fields that i love,
this scene is where chen yong and ai ling join
each nother again. i especially love the sword
wielding action from chen yong. he looks fierce!

by annie in calgary, canada (using .7 lead and pencil crayons)

my comments: annie is also a teen reader! and i think this portrait
of ai ling is just lovely. i love the colors and i love that she’s holding
a calligraphy brush in one hand!

by haricha in the uk (using coloring pencils, ink, Photoshop
Elements and Imagine FX brushes)

my comments: i love the surrealism of this piece! how
ai ling holding her jade pendant is blending into the
chinese dragon behind her. gorgeous!

i also received some great written entries!

lauren from ottawa, canada submitted a fan fiction piece
titled “A Smile from Ear to Ear” based on a japanese monster.
she said she enjoyed the monsters from Silver Phoenix the most.
below is an excerpt, shared with permission:

When I woke up I was not sure where I was. At first I believed I was in the gardens of heaven. An angry wasp stinging me made me realize this was not the case. I was lying on the edge of a river, my clothes ripped and covered in blood. I struggled to stand up and crawled to the water to clean myself. Then I saw what my lord had done. He had taken his sword and split my mouth from ear to ear, giving me a grotesque smile. I was a monster. I remember feeling an unholy anger that sustained me when I could not find food or drink. My wounds became infected and I wandered the countryside in a delirious fever. I wanted to hurt and kill someone as my lord had to done to me. I did not know what to do, until the man found me.

He called himself Zhong Ye. He offered to help me get revenge, for a price. He offered to give me power to destroy my lord and any man who stood in my path. The power to hurt any man who threatened his wife the way mine did. My lord and husband had taken Xiu Ying from me. He had beaten me and scarred my body daily, then had the nerve to insist I had been betrayed him for another man. He did not even have the honour to kill me, only the cowardice to scar me. I readily agreed, not caring about what it might cost me. Zhong Ye filled me with spells and powers with only one command: I must find the girl named Ai Ling.

First I had to see to my own desires. I went to the grand palace. My lord was there feasting with his friends. He had remarried a young nubile girl half my age. I doubted that she had even begun her moon time. An angry feeling twisted within my heart. I waited until the night fell and snuck into the castle. He was sleeping on the pallet, his arm curled around his naked bride.

my comments: whoa! right? the entire piece is dark,
creepy and horrifying. but lauren ends the story on a hopeful
note, with ai ling’s help. i really enjoyed this story.

heather zundel wrote a wonderful Silver Phoenix
haiku sequence. here, i share the first stanzas. to read
the poem in it’s entirety, click over to heather’s blog.

Mere daughter
Unworthy of esteem by most
but cherished by a father still

One day, a letter
a summons from the emperor
leaves -- but does not come home

A journey begins
the step beyond the light is dark
but time -- too short

Courage, a medallion
gifts of her father, but to take hold of another’s spirit
a gift of her own

The world is wide
unknown dangers always lurk
a reflection of life

The pool seems safe
cool water, soft lilies bloom
but the monster’s hands are strong

my comments: i really enjoyed this poem. i was
especially impressed because heather had written it
same day and without much revising, which she lamented.
i think that’s why it read so true and so organic.

and finally, LT uses her craft skills and beyond to
bring a scene from the immortals gardens to life!

this is a scene in which ai ling, chen yong
and li rong enter the immortals gardens of the
golden palace. unusual trees such as the Love Lost
Tree greet the three friends.

Ai Ling stopped at the first tree, its trunk as thick as
three men, the roots gnarled and spread wide, drinking
deep from the ground. Its ivory leaves were shaped like
the palms of hands, and it bore fruit--glistening human
hearts that beat rhythmically on white stems. A jade placard
set into the ground had the words LOVE LOST TREE etched in
gold upon it.

my comments: um. amazing? you really must click over to
LT’s site to read about how she made the entire scene. she
mentioned some details she missed, but truly, what she has
is so wonderful. and it isn’t about getting the exact details right,
when she brought the feel of the entire scene to life. i love it.

the winner: so truly, how fabulous are Silver Phoenix
fans? i wish i had more Fury arcs to share! the grand
prize goes to LT for her fantastic hand crafted recreation of
the immortals gardens in the golden palace. i’d like to give a
second Fury arc to haricha for the wonderful mixed-media piece
of ai ling and the red dragon. congratulations to both winners!

and for everyone else mentioned in this entry, i’d love to share
some Fury swag if you’re willing to email your posting address. i
truly was so impressed and touched by the creativity, time and
thought all of you put into these entries. <3 thank you,
everyone! i hope you enjoyed these entries as much as i did!

*ai ling and chen yong by phoenix lu.

i’m afraid i couldn’t resist. after i saw the
amazing portrait that phoenix lu made of silver
phoenix and zhong ye, i knew i had to commission
another portrait of ai ling and chen yong together.

so here they are.

and i love it as much as the other!

again, i’ll be making postcards with this and giving
them out as swag closer to Fury of the Phoenix release date
along with the other portrait! i just love giving out lovely
book related freebies, it makes me very happy!

the sirens attendees will be getting the silver phoenix
and zhong ye postcard early at the conference!!

congrats to eve who won the last tgifbm! contest. thanks
to everyone who entered!

currently reading:

the little stranger by sarah waters

i commissioned a portrait of ai ling and
chen yong a while back from a digital artist,
shuangwen. she happens to be from guangxi,
the province that my mom is from! i couldn’t
be happier with it and hope to make postcards
from them to pass out as swag in the future! <3

thanks especially to courtney (ANGELFIRE,
HarperCollins/Katherine Tegan Books, 2/15/2011)
for recommending shuangwen to me!

i’ll be at the scbwi los angeles conference on saturday
only. eating mostly with friends. perhaps will make it
to one panel. but will definitely be at the gala–most
likely in my corset and awesome hat again. =D
if you see me, do say hi!!

squee!!! look at the wonderful portrait the
talented natalie whipple drew for me of ai ling
and chen yong together. don’t you love it?

be sure to click on the drawing to see a larger
version! i couldn’t be more thrilled. thanks so much
natalie!! i love it!!!

so for fun, i decided to cast for the major roles
in the film as well as for the sequel. since that’s
what i’m so immersed in at the moment.
as i’ve said before, i haven’t watched many chinese
films, so my choices of actors are quite limited.
also, ideally, the movie would star asian-american leads.

many of the actors i chose are not the right age range.
but they have the look and feel i think the character has.

liu yi fei as ai ling.
i saw this star for the first time in
the film Forbidden Kingdom a few years
back. she has the exact mix of innocence
and determination that ai ling has in my mind.

daniel henney as chen yong.
the man is ridiculously good-looking.
i mean, bordering on obnoxious.
but my editor said that was oh-kay.
so hoorah! ha!

jay chou as li rong.
apparently a mega star in many parts of asia, and
i didn’t even know it. he starred in Curse of the Golden Flower
as well as sang the song i linked in a recent post for ai ling
and chen yong. i couldn’t find any smiling/laughing fotos
of jay–as that’s how i picture li rong mostly in my mind.
but the looks are right.

takeshi kaneshiro as zhong ye.
i’ve only seen him in one film–Red Cliff.
i had a difficult time casting zhong ye.
i considered tony leung, because i just LOVE
him. he has such a romantic sadness in his eyes.
but perhaps not the edge i need for zhong ye.

gong li as silver phoenix.
classy, gorgeous, confident and dead sexy.
you don’t know much at all about silver
phoenix in the debut (despite the title =)
but meet and get to know her a lot better in
this second novel.

her role in Raise the Red Lantern is unforgettable.

definitely mired in The Dreaded Middle of the
sequel right now.
and believe or not, this little diversion does help
in my writing!!

do you have any suggestions of actors to star in
roles for Silver Phoenix, the movie?

edited to add, reader suggestions!

from ah yuan :

hu ge who apparently is in all the movies
in every ancient chinese production from mainland
china. =) i approve, for the smile alone. and definitely the
mischievous look that is so li rong. nijibug also suggested
hu ge!

michelle krusiec as ai ling.
i have never seen or heard of this asian-amerian
actress? i love her face shape and her eyes.
probably not enough innocence for me, however?
but it may just be the foto.

from ari :

leonardo nam as li rong.
again, i approve of the smile!
he looks like he could get into some trouble too. ha!

yin chang as ai ling.
probably known best (by me at least)
for her short stint as one of blair’s minions
on gossip girl.

zhang zi yi as ai ling.
i would be lying if i say i didn’t
consider her. i think she’s gorgeous and
love many of the chinese films she’s been in.
i think the only thing holding me back is
(and this being my own filter) she’s too aware
of her own beauty. and how to use it.
which isn’t where ai ling is yet. perhaps silver
phoenix, but not ai ling.

from mechelle :

mike moh as zhong ye.
i originally saw some smiling fotos and
thought li rong (because mike looked boyish
to me as well). but upon further research, yes, he
may very well be able to pull off zhong ye!

i just had to include the foto of tony leung. <3
he is such the leading man, love him.

i LOVE all the suggestions! keep them coming!

i’m very excited to share the indonesia
cover for Silver Phoenix! the publisher let me
know that my book went on sale last week
abroad! so exciting!

do you love the cover?
i think it’s gorgeous in a mysterious
quiet way. i was shown the cover before
the books went into print and i only had
two comments. one was suggesting the
chinese characters (they had stand ins
that actually said “chinese word”,
now it says “silver phoenix”)
and the fact that ai ling didn’t wear a single
braid–as she does throughout most of the novel.

both these changes were incorporated!
i think the dragon hints to the fantasy
elements, but the feel of it is definitely very
different from the american version.
of course, i love both covers! i couldn’t feel
more fortunate–the cover gods smile down
upon me.

*scurries to light more incense* =D

it’s top model wednesday!
i’m thrilled to share the newest
ALAN Review cover which features
several YA novel covers including many
debs such as :

ASH by malinda lo
HATE LIST by jennifer brown
STRUTS and FRETS by jon skovron

other covers also featured :

AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by gene luen yang
FIRE by kristin cashore
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want
to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Troy High by Shana Norris
(last two titles sussed out by steph. thanks, steph!)

no one knows what book cover is supposed to
be on the laptop yet?

also check out my interview with debra
on Old People Writing for Teens. =D

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUAxyjwcMoQ

it’s been nearly three months since i posted
the first set of silver phoenix reader questions.
i finally took the time to poorly edit this second
set. 8) this video has NO SPOILERS! so please,
everyone click and enjoy!

questions paraphrased :

from nels : what actors would i choose to
play the characters in silver phoenix?

from suzanne and faye : what kinds research did i do
for my debut? is it based on an actual dynasty or place?

also from faye : what are the meanings to the names
giving to silver phoenix characters?

*i apologize for the repost, but the original entry was
deleted when my website got hacked a couple weeks
back.