Neon Yang

Neon Yang's space opera "Waiting on a Bright Moon" is a Tor.com Original short story Xin is an ansible, using her song magic to connect the originworld of the Imperial Authority and its far-flung colonies— a role that is forced upon magically-gifted women “of a certain closeness”. When a dead body comes through her portal at a time of growing rebellion, Xin is drawn deep into a station-wide conspiracy along with Ouyang Suqing, one of the station’s mysterious, high-ranking starmages At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Tor.com Original

Waiting on a Bright Moon

wonderfully captivating for the short length

Montgomery Pierce

Utterly fantastic, beautifully written. For a short story, this handles its themes (focusing primarily on sexuality and authoritarian regimes) with a precision that is complimented wonderfully by buttery smooth prose. As a huge fan of second-person perspective, I thought that Yang did a stunning job of writing through Xin in such a way that didn't feel jarring or off-putting. What is perhaps lacking (and that is said rather loosely) is simply having more page time for the story to really explore Xin, this world that Yang has built, and the relationship between her and Suqing.

Highly recommend for people who are fans of space opera leaning into its fantasy elements, F/F focused SFF, and gorgeous writing.

Lia Yuliana

Update 02/12/2021

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    When you lift your voice in concert with your song-sister on the originworld, the act consumes you.
  


Waiting on a Bright Moon is a short story about Tian an ansible of the Eight Colony that sing songs which functions as a connection to open portals between the colony and the origin world. One day a dead body passes through the portal which launched an investigation. Tian is then questioned by a starmage named Suqing a law enforcer in the colony. Together they form a relationship that blossomed through pain and trauma from the ripples of their past and current displays of the Empire's cruelty to stomp down the rebellion movement. Neon Yang's prose are as exquisite and beautifully rich with tenderness. The inclusion of Chinese lyrics into the story is a nice detail that I find charming. Though I wish I know what the lyrics meant while reading as I don't read Chinese but this didn't hinder me from enjoying the whole story. It is impressive that Neon Yang is able to pack a lot of emotion and connection within the pages. Written in first person from the perspective of Tian works well to wrap up the story and I liked that it leaves a question instead of an answer which fits the title well. 
For those who are looking for a sapphic Sci-Fi with fantastical elements weaved in it, I highly recommend for you to read Waiting on a Bright Moon. 


  
    What the future holds, you cannot say. But you have your song. It is all that you have, and you have to pray that it will be enough.

Sahi K

Probably more of a 4.5.


I’ve only read one novella by the author before but found it so beautiful, that I’m not surprised that this short story is also equally wonderful. In so few pages, the author is able to make us feel invested in the two characters and their budding romance, we start believing in their rebellion which wants to overthrow the extremely sadistic imperial authority, and we also understand the basics of the world and the magic system even though they are not always explained completely. It’s just masterful writing and I was totally captivated by it, and I can’t wait to read more of the author’s works.

Jennifer

Waiting on a Bright Moon is a character-focused novella set in the outer space. It's written in an intimate second person narrative and focuses on the romantic relationship between Xin and Suqing. Within the brevity of the novella, J.Y. Yang introduced a Chinese-inspired worldbuilding that's confronting a rebellion. 

Personally, I thought the premise and the intimate writing style quite interesting but due to the length of the novella I didn't think the worldbuilding was up to the calibre that I'm looking for. Character-wise, I thought Suqing was pretty well fleshed out for sheer length of the novella (I think Suqing's headspace was well described) but I didn't feel really connected to Xin (the ansible who's addressed in the narrative). 

Due to the multiple technical drawbacks, I didn't think the potential of the premise was fulfilled and it was merely a pretty average & quick read. 

N.B. This book contains following content warnings: weapons, death, physical violence

(2.5 stars out of 5)

Rina

If this were longer, more things could have been fleshed out. I liked the writing but I didn’t feel compelled enough to get invested in the characters or the plot. Suqing and Tian though!!

Waiting on a Bright Moon A Tor.com Original

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