Tor.com Publishing is excited to announce that consulting editor Jonathan Strahan has acquired World English rights to Zen Cho’s wuxia-inspired fantasy novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water.
A bandit walks into a coffeehouse and it all goes downhill from there…
In this rollicking update on the classic Chinese bandit fantasy, Zen Cho tells the story of Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon who joins up with an eclectic group of bandits, whether they like it or not.
Said Zen Cho:
“Some time ago I got an idea for a wuxia-inspired story about a displaced nun who joins a group of bandits—but it only came to life when it collided with my interest in the contentious period of Malaysian history known as the Emergency. The result owes as much to Petronas holiday ads as to Jin Yong.
At heart The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is a story of common (and some very uncommon) people seeking to survive in an uncertain world. I’m thrilled that Tor.com Publishing has taken it on, and I hope it resonates with readers of all backgrounds.”
Said acquiring editor Jonathan Strahan:
I fell in love with Zen Cho’s work when I stumbled across a copy of her wonderful short story collection, Spirits Abroad. It was smart and romantic and completely delightful. I’m not sure it prepared me for her debut novel, Sorcerer to the Crown, which was the Jane Austen-influenced dragon fantasy set in London that I never knew I needed, but always did, but I knew I wanted to work with her as soon as I could.
We started talking about Zen writing a novella for Tor.com Publishing a few years ago—there was a coffee in Finland, some emails, a meet up somewhere else—and then The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water fell into my inbox not so long ago and I was entranced. It’s a magical story of a thief and a nun and . . . Well, you have to read it for yourself. I know you’re going to love it.
Zen Cho is the author of a short story collection (Spirits Abroad, Fixi, 2014) and two historical fantasy novels (Sorcerer to the Crown, 2015 and The True Queen, 2019, both published by Ace and Macmillan). She is a winner of the Crawford Award and the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer, and a finalist for the Locus, Hugo and Campbell Awards. She was born and raised in Malaysia, resides in the UK, and lives in a notional space between the two.
