Symphony of Fates (The Dragon Songs Saga, Book 4) by J.C. Kang

 Release date: April 7, 2017

Subgenre: Asian fantasy, epic fantasy

About Symphony of Fates:

Kaiya escapes her ordeal at the hands of the Teleri Emperor, only to return to a homeland beset by enemies on all sides, and crumbling from within.

As a teenager, she quelled a rebellion with the Dragon Scale Lute. As a young adult, she vanquished a dragon with the power of her voice.

Now, robbed of her magic by grief, Kaiya must navigate a web of court intrigue to save the realm before it falls. Only she can lay claim to the Dragon Throne on behalf of her unborn sons—whether the father is the lover who perished rescuing her, or the hated enemy who killed him.

In the final story in Kaiya’s saga, she must rally a nation, repel invaders, and prove to the world why her family alone holds the Mandate of Heaven.

Excerpt:

 

Chapter 1: Deceptions

The setting sun outside the castle window taunted Kaiya, its descent marking one more day of concealing her pregnancy. Though Doctor Wu’s unparalleled acupuncture skills detected the twin boys in her womb, she couldn’t discern their father. Was it the exiled spy she’d to love during her escape from the frigid Northwest? Or the foreign tyrant who murdered him?

Neither was an appropriate match for a nineteen-year-old princess. Not when her unborn sons stood next in line to inherit the Dragon Throne.

“My choice is clear.” Kaiya turned to her half-elf bodyguard, who was also her sworn sister and one-time rival in love.

Yan Jie sat on the wood floors of the guest suite’s anteroom, sharpening a wicked knife that didn’t match the softness of her plain, pink dress. She looked up, even as she continued to draw the knife across a whetstone in rhythmic swishes. Jie’s childlike features had never appeared so forlorn.

Kaiya should’ve also been wallowing in grief. She’d ransomed her body and dignity to spare hostages from a brutal death, yet couldn’t save Father, Eldest Brother, or her beloved Tian. The experience would have broken her, if not for the mental block of Jie’s Tiger Eye technique.

It gave Kaiya emotionless clarity. “Ming is Tian’s brother and heir to a province. He’s the best match.”

Jie shrugged. Her usually perky voice droned. “You already rejected him once. No, twice.”

“I doubt he’ll need much convincing,” Kaiya said. Ming would likely jump at the opportunity for social mobility, but she’d use the magic of her voice if necessary.

Now if he would only return home from his deployment before her flat belly started to swell.

The double doors slid open, revealing the castle steward. His green court robes rustled as he sank to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor. “Dian-xia, Lord Zheng has returned and is on his way to greet you.”

Well, that was serendipitous. At last, after five days of waiting in his family’s castle at the border to the Wilds. A week since missing her period.

After conveying her permission with a nod, Kaiya turned toward Jie. “This is it. Try not to kill him.”

Staring at the wall, Jie nodded absently. A sudden jerk of her hand revealed a trickle of blood on her finger.

“Are you all right?” Kaiya took a step toward her. For the meticulous Moquan to nick herself sharpening a knife…

With a bob of her head, Jie thrust the bleeding hand behind her. “It is nothing, Dian-xia.”

Kaiya peered at the girl. Despite the command to speak freely, Jie’s tone and diction had reverted back to distant formality.

Someone cleared their throat at the door. Kaiya looked up, prepared to declare her intentions to Zheng Ming.

Lord Zheng Han, father of Tian and Ming, knelt on one knee, fist to the ground. His dark green travelling cloak, draped over his plain robes, smelled of a humid early spring. He must’ve come directly to meet with her. If only Ming travelled so fast.

Amazon 

 

About The Dragon Songs Saga: 

1. Songs of Insurrection
2. Orchestra of Treacheries
3. Dances of Deception 
4. Symphony of Fates  

 

About J.C. Kang:

JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor and technical writer to pen multicultural epic fantasy stories. 

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Interview with J.C. Kang, author of the Dragon Songs Saga

Today, the Speculative Fiction Showcase has the great pleasure to interview J.C. Kang, author of the Dragon Songs Saga. Symphony of Fates, the latest book in the series, is released on Friday, April 7.

Q: On your web-site, you describe yourself as a “Multi-cultural Epic Fantasy Author”. What does that mean, to you?

A: I grew up reading the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance, and other classic fantasies. One common thread was the medieval European cultures, oftentimes with darker-skinned peoples as evil. 

However, so many civilizations have their own myths and legends. As one of those evil darker-skinned folk,  I wanted to fuse several together, and include non-humans like elves and dwarves.  There is “good” and “evil” in all races. The Dragon Song Saga focuses on the East Asian characters, who can evoke magic from artistic expression. My current work-in-progress takes place in the equivalent of Renaissance Italy, and follows a Western Mediterranean Diviner, East African sorceress, East Indian mystical warrior, Middle Eastern warrior-priest, and half-elf ninja.  I know, it sounds like the beginning of a bar joke.  The half-elf is one of the main characters of the Dragon Songs Saga, and the others make cameos in that series.

Q: You recently released Dances of Deception, the third book in your Dragon Songs Saga. What made you decide to rebrand the series?

A:  While I loved my original covers and titles, I realized that they didn’t represent my intended genre, Epic Fantasy.  I was attracting YA Fantasy Romance readers, who wanted the heroine to fall in love with the dragon, not vanquish it.

Q: Speaking of dragons, they play a significant part in both Eastern and Western legend, and also in contemporary fantasy. Why do they remain so powerful?

A: My late uncle, Professor David Jones, taught anthropology at the University of Central Florida. One of his academic works, Instinct for Dragons, researched themes of dragons which crossed over dozens of cultures all over the world.  He theorized that dragons were a fusion of predators of primates and prehistoric humans:  Big cats (sharp claws and teeth), serpents (scaly reptiles), and raptors (flying). We have a deep-rooted instinct to believe in this super predator, which carries on to today.

Q: How do you draw upon your experience as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor in your writing?

A:  Besides being able to physically intimidate readers into buying my books, martial arts helps me to visualize fight scenes—I received a wonderful review from a reader who felt “the descriptions of physicality and movement will have you feeling like you’re running, fighting, playing alongside the characters.”  And since my first series takes place in an East Asian equivalent, I draw on Chinese Medicine concepts as a means of explaining the magic system.

Q: As a geek myself, I recently discovered the Chinese historical/fantasy series Nirvana in Fire, and am hooked. Are there any similar series that you would recommend?

A: MH Boroson’s Girl With the Ghost Eyes is a wonderfully-researched Historical Fantasy, which follows a Daoist Priestess in early 1900s San Francisco Chinatown. David Wingrove’s Chung Kuo series is sci-fi with an Imperial Chinese feel.

Q: Would you rather see your stories on the big screen or the little screen?

A:  I’d be ecstatic with either! If I had to choose, though, the little screen—there are so many stories to tell, that the episodic nature of television would work better for how I envision the series, and all the plot twists.

Q: What is your favourite Science Fiction (or Fantasy) film?

A: Wow, where to start with Sci-Fi? I’ve probably seen most of the major ones, and there are too many awesome ones to list.  As for fantasy, I’m sorely disappointed with majority of them, especially the recent ones which rely more on CGI effects than a good story.  I loved the Hobbit as a book, but couldn’t stand the movie trilogy (really, did they need to make 3?). I guess classic ones like Willow, The Dark Crystal, and Dragonslayer are my favorites.

Q: Are you--or have you ever been--a gamer?

A: I’m afraid I’ll show my age by answering, but yes. When I was younger, I’d walk half a mile and spend 25 cents to play Pong and Frogger.  I won competitions in Gauntlet and Street Fighter II.  Nowadays, however, I would waste too much time—I get addicted easily.  The only major fight I’ve had with my wife was over me playing too much Civilization II (and I confess, I currently spend way too much time playing a tablet version of Carcasonne).  My theory is that there is so little we can control in our daily lives that computer games give us a chance to “do over” until we “win.”

Q: Do you have your own office, study or writing space, or can you write in a cafe or the library?

A: I write best in cafes with free refills.  I don’t drink coffee, so that usually means tea.  The staff at my three regular haunts know me by name.

Q: Who do you consider are your major influences in writing?

A: Tolkien for his world building.  Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman for character chemistry.  Jacquelyn Carey for really exploring characters. Martin for all of the above, and also the long game plot twists.

Q: Plot Twists?

A: I love them when the hints have been there the whole time, like Martin’s L+R=J, or Rowling’s Severus Snapes.

Q: Can we assume your story has them?

A: YES! Every story has some kind of plot twist, which will reframe how readers interpret characters’ actions from before.  I hope I live long enough to reveal the Big Twist.

About J.C. Kang:

JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor and technical writer to pen multicultural epic fantasy stories.

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Dances of Deception (Legends of Tivara, Book 3) by J.C. Kang

Release date: March 2, 2017
Subgenre: Asian fantasy, epic fantasy

About Dances of Deception:

 

A mighty empire threatens to invade Cathay, and only a Dragon Song can ensure peace.

After vanquishing the Last Dragon with the power of her voice, all Kaiya wants is a quiet life of anonymity. Instead, the Emperor sends her to negotiate peace with the aggressive Teleri Empire.

The critical mission reunites her with her childhood friend Tian, now an assassin-spy who loathes killing. He is no longer the adorable, gullible boy from her memories, any more than she is the adventurous, sweet girl from his. Instead of rekindling nostalgia for a youthful innocence they both yearn for, their reunion ignites a mutual hatred.

When the Teleri Empire breaks off talks, Tian must help Kaiya escape. Orcs, Ogres, and enemy soldiers stand between them and home, and their volatile relationship could get them captured… or killed.

Excerpt: 

CHAPTER 1:

Value of a

Dragonfly’s Life

Zheng Tian knew many ways to kill the smuggler, but none to ease his own conscience.

A column of sun streamed in from the dusty warehouse’s skylight, reflecting off his target’s seventeen glittering rings. All it would take was a signal to assassinate him and his two bejeweled henchmen.

Hold the dragonfly with care, eight-year-old Princess Kaiya’s voice chimed in his head, quoting an old Hua proverb. For even their fleeting lives have value.

What was the value of a man’s life?

Now twenty-one, Tian banished memories of the gentle girl to the recesses of his mind. Time to focus on the most distasteful of his duties. Just eleven feet away, the olive-skinned Estomari merchant walked from crate to crate, checking items off a cargo manifest and barking orders.

The twenty-four wooden crates contained legitimate trade goods, for sure. However, Marcus Larruso also trafficked in the local girls, sending them to the South, where their fair complexions and blonde hair would fetch a handsome price. Perhaps he deserved death.

Tian’s goals weren’t particularly noble, either. As much as he wanted to, he wasn’t here to rescue impoverished girls from a short and miserable life of exploitation, far away from home.

Larruso reached the last of the two crates, while one of the heavily-armed bodyguards stepped onto the spot where he would die.

The power of life and death, in Tian’s hands. Perhaps that burden was a form of punishment, one which widened the gulf between his carefree youth and the ruthless spy he had become.

He flashed the hand signal from his vantage point.

Six Moquan Black Fist spies fell upon the three unsuspecting smugglers in clinical silence.

Old Tong, the most experienced of them, darted from between the last two crates. He covered Larruso’s mouth and slashed his throat with a black-lacquered knife.

At the same time, Pockmarked Zu dropped from the rafters. He stomped through the largest man’s knee and applied an unremitting chokehold. His victim’s frantic clawing only hastened his demise.

The most recent arrival to their embassy in Iksuvius, Cheng, burst out of the shadows and hacked at the third henchman’s neck with his curved sword. Blood sprayed, and the man let out a choked screech before falling dead.

 “Clear.” Six voices echoed the word in quick succession. Lives, so easily snuffed out.

 

Amazon

 

All three novels of the Dragon Songs Saga are on sale for 99 cents from March 3 to 10.

1. Songs of Insurrection
2. Orchestra of Treacheries
3. Dances of Deception 

About J.C. Kang:

JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor and technical writer to pen multicultural epic fantasy stories. 

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