Alice Poon

Set in a world of human conflicts, fantastical martial arts, sorcery and celestial magic, Alice Poon's debut fantasy, The Heavenly Sword, follows a martial maiden's heartbreaking adventures in her quest for love and justice.The goddess Chang'e, reborn as Shandong village girl Tang Sai'er, is sent by the Deities to the mortal world to impede a future tyrant. Her mission requires her to be both a warrior and also chaste. The Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, the Sky Wolf incarnate and once Chang'e's suitor in heaven, incites a brutal civil war to usurp the throne. He secretly covets Sai'er, but also fears her power. Ma Sanbao, a eunuch in Zhu Di's Palace, falls in love with Sai'er while they train together in Wudang kung fu. Sai'er is enamored of Sanbao, but knows she must focus on her celestial mission and her desire to protect her family and village folks from the tyrant. When Sai'er and her allies pit themselves against the wicked new Emperor and other adversaries, one being the vicious Green Dragon, Sai'er has to enlist the help of the immortals. But even with their help, she finds that her dreams are on a collision course with her mission. The Heavenly Sword is the first part of a spellbinding duology weaving Chinese mythical folklore and speculative history into a sweeping tale of family love, fellowship loyalty, loss, sacrifice and kung fu rivalry.

The Heavenly Sword

Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong

From the author of The Green Phoenix comes a riveting tale of female friendship, honor, and sacrifice for love, set in 17th Century China and featuring the intertwined stories of three of the era's most renowned courtesans, escorts skilled in music, poetry and painting who could decide themselves whether or not to offer patrons bed favors. Inspired by literary works and folklore, Tales of Ming Courtesans traces the destinies of the three girls from the seamy world of human trafficking and slavery to the cultured scene of the famously decadent pleasure district of the city of Nanjing, evoking episodes in Memoirs of a Geisha. The girls all existed - Rushi was a famous poet, Yuanyuan became the concubine of a general who changed the course of Chinese history by supporting the Manchu invasion in 1644 and Xiangjun challenged the corruption of court officials to try to save her lover. Rushi's daughter, Jingjing, gradually pieces together the stories of the three from a memoir left to her by her mother. Betrayal, tenacity and hope all come together in a novel that brings to life an important era in China's history, and particularly highlights the challenges faced by independent-minded women.

Tales of Ming Courtesans

Green Phoenix

In this propulsive sequel to The Heavenly Sword, the heroine Sai'er is beset with grim challenges as she leads the White Lotus Sect to oppose Emperor Zhu Di. When the Green Dragon threatens to kill villagers to punish Sai'er for wounding Zhu Di, she is forced to fight the demon in an undersea battle. Aided by her immortal friends, Sai'er engages in violent clashes with the enemy camp. All the while, she yearns to start a new life with her lover Sanbao, but is haunted by the prospect of a final showdown with Zhu Di. The Earthly Blaze is the second and concluding part of Alice Poon's magnificent duology combining Chinese mythical folklore and speculative history into a sweeping tale of family love, fellowship loyalty, loss, sacrifice and kung fu rivalry.

The Earthly Blaze

The story is set in colonial Hong Kong and spans four decades from the late 1940s. Historic events that took place in that period have provided inspiration for much of the story background and some of the episodes. Wendy and Diana are childhood playmates in the 50s. From their early teens, their fates take divergent paths. They become life-long enemies Wendy trudges through a miserable childhood and youth in a broken home and the only solace in her early life is the friendship of Edward, Diana's kid brother. Stomaching one mischance after another, she promises herself that there's nothing she can't overcome by sheer will. Diana seems to have come to this world just to be pampered by luck, glamour and wealth. Her father, a property tycoon whose wealth began heaping in the pre-anti-corruption days, teaches her that there's nothing money can't buy. No one has stronger faith than she in her glorious destiny. As it turns out, Wendy and Diana are both proven wrong. Before they take their final bow in the story, their paths take life-altering twists and turns......

Fated and Fateless

Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition discusses how the land system in Hong Kong, inherited from the British, has helped to create unrivaled wealth for the ruling class and how the lack of competition law has encouraged industrial and economic concentration in these same entities. Arguing that the land system, industrial concentration, and phenomenal wealth imbalance have given rise to a host of social and economic ills, the concise analysis concludes by offering solutions to heal Hong Kong of these problems.

Alice Poon

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