Yang, Neon
Entry updated 7 April 2025. Tagged: Author.
(?1982- ) Originally a pseudonym of the Singapore molecular biologist, journalist and author JY Yang (?1982–), who has also written as by June Yang, J Y Yang and JY Neon Yang; they legally changed their name to Neon Yang in 2020. They began to publish work of genre interest with "Interview" as JY Yang in The Ayam Curtain (anth 2012) edited by Joyce Chng and JY Yang as June Yang. Their work is primarily of fantasy interest, though the Tensorate sequence, beginning with the simultaneously released The Black Tides of Heaven (2017) and The Red Threads of Fortune (2017), might fairly be described in this encyclopedia as Steampunk, but is explicitly designated as contributing to what Ken Liu, who coined the term, describes as Silkpunk: stories where Science Fantasy elements marry and jostle with transformations of Asian Technology (in distinction to steampunk's similar use of fantasticated Victorian engineering tropes). The protagonists of the first two tales are twins, though the individual stories do not join together except in the world shared. Both have Psi Powers: in one case seemingly infallible Precognition, in the other a range of talents including Perception (akin to Empathy or Telepathy) of the inner motives of others, and the ability to kill via a form of Telekinesis. The third instalment, The Descent of Monsters (2018), introduces malign Technology and a third protagonist named Chuwan, who is tasked to investigate the ruins of a laboratory where an experiment went wrong. Chuwan's mission also includes tracking down twins. The fourth book is The Ascent to Godhead (2019). There is a sense that the sequence has not terminated.
Yang's first full-length novel, The Genesis of Misery (2022) retells without undue specifics the story of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) as a Space Opera set on colony planet (see Colonization of Other Worlds; Galactic Empires) seeded some centuries previous by a Generation Starship. The protagonist' s drive to escape immurement in birth planet, and other action-tinged complexities, do not lead to a conclusion in accord with the underlying analogies; sequels may be expected. [JC]
Neon Yang
born Singapore: ?1982
works
series
Tensorate
- The Black Tides of Heaven (New York: Tor.com, 2017) as JY Yang [Tensorate: pb/Yuko Shimizu]
- The Red Threads of Fortune (New York: Tor.com, 2017) as JY Yang [Tensorate: pb/Yuko Shimizu]
- The Descent of Monsters (New York: Tor.com, 2018) as JY Yang [Tensorate: pb/Yuko Shimizu]
- The Ascent to Godhead (New York: Tor.com, 2019) as JY Yang [Tensorate: pb/Yuko Shimizu]
- The Tensorate Series (New York: Tor.com, 2021) as Neon Yang [omni of the above four: Tensorate: pb/Yukio Shimizu]
individual titles
- The Genesis of Misery (New York: Tor, 2022) [hb/Angela Wang]
- Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame (New York: Tordotcom, 2025) [hb/Tran Nguyen]
collections and stories
- Waiting on a Bright Moon (New York: Tor.com, 2017) as JY Yang [novella: ebook: first appeared 12 July 2017 Tor.com: na/Victo Ngai]
- Between the Firmaments (New York: Tor.com, 2018) as JY Yang [novella: ebook: first appeared 9/10/11 October 2018 Book Smugglers: na/Reiko Murakami]
- Circus Girl, the Hunter, and Mirror Boy (New York: Tor.com, 2019) as JY Yang [novelette: ebook: first appeared 30 January 2019 Tor.com: na/Ashley Mackenzie]
works as editor
- The Ayam Curtain (Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012) as June Yang with Joyce Chng [anth: pb/Psylocke and Shellen Teh]
links
previous versions of this entry