Paper Mage

Originally published by Roc in 2003, now available as an ebook for the first time!

Set during the T’ang Dynasty, Xiao Yen, with the help of her aunt, becomes a paper mage: she folds paper into an animal or a thing, then does magic, so the paper becomes what she’s folded. However, she is still a woman trying to fill a man’s roll. The only people who will hire her are foreigners. She must leave her beloved home and travel with them, protecting their cargo, from the end of the Silk Road to the northern reaches of the Middle Kingdom. She accepts her obligation to them and her aunt, though she’s torn between her duty and a longing for a normal life, with children of her own.

Just before she leaves, Xiao Yen loses her lucky amulet. Things get worse after that, between misunderstandings with the foreigners, the dangers of the trail, and their traveling companions. Before long, Xiao Yen gets involved with a goddess’ battle against a northern warlord. But attacking a rat dragon, and destroying a Taoist immortal, are the least of the battles Xiao Yen must face.

Praise for Paper Mage:
—”An enchanting novel, skillfully rooted in Chinese history and myth. . .mythical, unusual, and thoroughly convincing.” –Terri Windling, Editor of “The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror”

—”A magical world as solid and believable as our own.” –Cecilia Dart-Thorton

—”An exceptional tale by an exceptional writer…It doesn’t get any better than this.” Dennis L. McKiernan

The Greenman Review
Strange Horizons Review
Rambles Review
SF Reviews

Background

Paper Mage started as a short story, back in 1991, before I started traveling. I was inspired by a number of things, the description of a paper folder from “Folding Universe” by Peter Engle, and how something unpredictable and tiny can set an ordered system to chaos from “The Turbulent Mirror” by John Briggs & F. David Peat. It was unwieldy as a short story, involving going from China all the way across the Silk Road to the Byzantium Empire and back.

When I returned from my big travels, I tried rewriting the story, but it was still too long and awkward. I knew that it was good, that there was something in this story that needed telling. I used it as my submission story to Clarion West. Once at Clarion, the other students encouraged me to expand the story into a novel. I wrote a novel outline based on the story as an exercise. I only used some of this original outline in the final novel.

I had never considered myself a novelist. But through Clarion, I built the writing muscles to think about it. I finished Clarion in fall of 1997. In January of 1998 I started doing serious research for the novel. I did research for six months while I wrote and rewrote the outline. It took me about six months to write the first draft, then I took another four months to rewrite it. (I sometimes joke that I’m not a writer, but a rewriter.) After some of my friends read the novel and gave me critiques, I rewrote the novel and sent it to an editor. That editor asked for another rewrite, which I turned around in about six months. That was the version of the novel that I sold. Of course, my editor asked for more rewrites.

Paper Mage – Character Name Pronunciations

Xiao Yen – X – generally pronounced “sh”, i – generally pronounced “ee”, so it’s Sheeou Yen

Bei Xi, Master Wei. Mei-Mei – ei – generally pronounced with a long “a” sound, like in Way, so it’s Bay Shee, Master Way

Fu Be Be – e – generally pronounced ‘eh’, so it’s Foo Beh Beh

Gan Ou – a as in ‘ah’, ou as in ‘ou’ (ouch), so it’s Gahn

Jrh Bei – jrh – generally pronounced like the ‘s’ in measure, so it’s Zhr Bay

Udo – long u, long o, uudoo

Vakhtang – VAHK-tahng

Tuo Nu – t like the ‘ts’ in cats, long u, long o, run together, so it’s Tsuuoo New

Zhang Gua Lao – z like the ‘s’ in measure, ua is run together, like in guava, ao like in ‘ou’ (ouch)

This isn’t a complete bibliography of all the research sources I used for Paper Mage. It is a good starting point for readers interested in the Tang dynasty and in all things Chinese.

Selected Bibliography

Non-Fiction

Beckwith, Christopher I. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton University Press, 1987.

Capon, Edmund and Werner Forman. Tang China: Vision and Splendor of a Golden Age. Macdonald & Orbis, 1989.

Cave, Roderick. Chinese Paper Offerings. Oxford University Press, 1998.

De Mente, Boye Lafayette. NTC’s Dictionary of China’s Cultural Code Words. NTC Publishing Group, 1996.

Eberhard, Wolfram. A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.

Engel, Peter. Folding Universe. Vintage Books, 1989. (This is actually a book on origami.)

James, Peter and Nick Thorpe. Ancient Inventions. Ballantine Books, 1994.

Lu, Henry C. Chinese Herbal Cures. Sterling Publishing Co., 1994.

Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peachers of Samarkand. University of California Press, 1963.

Smith, Authur H. Village Life in China. Little, Brown and Company, 1970.

Spring, Madeline. Animal Allegories in T’ang China. American Oriental Society, 1993.

The Red-Crowned Crane. China Pictorial Press.

Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Williams, CAS. Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1974.

Yang, Jwing-Ming. Ancient Chinese Weapons. Yama Martial Arts Association, 1999.

Myth

Bucher, J. Frank. The South River Pagoda. Fithian Press, 1988.

Carpenter, Frances. Tales of a Chinese Grandmother. Charles E Tuttle Company, Inc., 1980.

Palmer, Martin and Xiaomin, Zhao. Essential Chinese Mythology. Thorsons, 1997.

Walters, Derek. An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend. Diamond Books, 1995.

The World of Chinese Myths. Beijing Language and Culture Center Press, 1995.

Fiction and Poetry

Hughart, Barry. The Bridge of Birds. St. Martin’s Press, 1984.

Lao Tsu. Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng, and Jand English. Vintage Books, 1989.

Lewis, Elizabeth Foreman. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

Liu, Wu-Chi and Irving Lo. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry. Indiana University Press, 1975.

Spence, Jonathan D. The Question of Hu. Vintage Books, 1989.

Tu Fu. The Selected Poems of Tu Fu. Translated by David Hinton. New Directions Books, 1989.

Van Gulik, Robert. Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. Dover Publications, 1976.

Web Sources

Wonderful English-Chinese dictionary. Plus flash cards to help you learn Chinese, your name in Chinese, and many other fun topics:

http://www.mandarintools.com/

Chinese Emperors:
http://wwwtc.nhmccd.edu/people/crf01/history/china.html

Information about Chinese knotting and knot work:
http://www.chineseknotting.org/

Paper folding by Joseph Wu:
http://www.origami.as/

Chinese mythology:
http://www.paralumun.com/mythch.htm

Encyclopedia Mythica:
http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/

Mythology on the web:
http://www.mythsearch.com/

Myths and legends:
http://www.myths.com/pub/myths/mythold.html

Folklore and mythology texts:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html