New original fantasy by Yoon Ha Lee, Phoenix Extravagant
4th February 2020
We’re very excited to share news on the upcoming book Phoenix Extravagant by the magnificent Yoon Ha Lee. Publishing in hardback June this year, Phoenix Extravagant showcases Lee’s extraordinary imagination in this new standalone title mixing vivid fantasy with commentary on colonialism.
Editor David Thomas Moore acquired World English rights in Lee’s new novel from Jennifer Jackson at the Donald Maass Literary Agency, identifying it as a “standout title for the summer”.
About the book:
Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. Just an artist.
One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.
But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.
What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…
Author Yoon Ha Lee on Phoenix Extravagant:
“I never thought that taking up watercolor painting would result in a book about a nonbinary painter, colonialism, and a pacifist mecha dragon, but here I am! Phoenix Extravagant takes place in a fantasy version of Korea during the Japanese occupation–I hope you find it as intriguing to read as it was to write.”
Editor David Thomas Moore on the book:
“This book is stunning. It has profound beauty, it has (literally) earthshaking magic, it has family both birth- and found-, it has a great heaping helping of revolution, and it has a frickin’ dragon. Yoon’s told a remarkable story about a gentle, thoughtful person who has to do desperate things and why; more than anything, it’s about the human spirit.”
Phoenix Extravagant is out in hardback on the 9th June 2020 (US) and 11th June 2020 (UK), and will follow in paperback in 2021.
For review copies of Phoenix Extravagant and author interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk