Our Favorite Books from Asian and Pacific Islander Authors Releases in 2026
Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month from WWC!
To celebrate, we’re shining a spotlight on some of our personal picks for 2026 releases from Asian and Pacific Islander authors.
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao | January 20, 2026 | Chinese | Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance
Jess: This debut novel by Shen Tao about a village girl who offers herself as a concubine to a cruel, violent prince to save her village from starvation. The prose is lush and immersive, with a terrific use of the Rashomon effect as Wei unravels the mysteries surrounding her husband while navigating dangerous court intrigue. However, this book covers darker themes, including child sexual abuse, so reader discretion is advised.
View on Author Shen Tao's website
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto | February 10, 2026 | Kānaka Maoli & Hapa Haole | Science Fiction, Queer, Lesbian, Cyberpunk
Mimi: A standalone sci-fi heist novel about a bored hacker who is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician, only to find herself facing an unexpected enemy from her past. Written by a Pacific Islander author, this novel is part of an extended “lesbian space heist” universe set in a futuristic Hawai’i-like cityscape, with an all-sapphic and trans cast. I quite enjoyed how the story uses common sci-fi tropes like clones and AI systems gaining sentience to depict themes like labor exploitation, mass displacement, gentrification and surveillance.
View on Author Makana Yamamoto's website
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop (translated by Anton Hur) | April 28, 2026 | Korean | Short Stories, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction
Rina: An SF short story collection about the human yearning for connection—across alien cultural lines, across the border between life and death, across unfathomable spacetime. I was very taken with Kim Cho-yeop’s inquisitive approach to storytelling and her imaginative worlds, which gently ask us to consider the kinds of distances technology is unable to close.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean | May 5, 2026 | Hong Konger | Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Paranormal
Mimi: A historical gothic novel set in post-WWII Hong Kong, which blends folklore, commentary on war, and local legends to recount a tale of a ghost-talker woman, who confronts a powerful spirit in the Kowloon Walled City. I've not read this yet, but the premise sounds fantastic.
Behind Five Willows by June Hur | May 26, 2026 | Korean | Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Rina: An homage to Pride and Prejudice set in Joseon Korea, during a time of government book banning. A girl from a lower-ranking family is a secret novel transcriber; a young lord, an author. This gem of a story was a stunning introduction to the work of June Hur, whose characters are as charming as her elegant, nature-imbued prose.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki | June 2, 2026 | Japanese | Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Paranormal
Rina: A collection of literary short stories about desire, ambition, and the ways storytelling shapes reality and memory. Across a variety of settings, Ruth Ozeki creates a full range of sympathetic and unsympathetic narrative voices, resulting in stories that are grounded yet a touch strange, gritty yet beautiful, dark yet hopeful. Ozeki knows how to craft discomfort and hope in equal measure.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
Let us know your most anticipated reads in the comments!
Update:
We have updated the language of this post to describe the featured authors more accurately. Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for the terminology mix-up!
We wish to be inclusive of the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander creators to American media and culture regardless of where they come from, hence the non-American authors on this list. We hope you enjoy our book recs.
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[ID: a tweet reading "I had a dream that eminem put out a really long and involved rap about how Mario games (like in general) are too hard and he described a bunch of scenarios he'd encountered in the series and would say 'Now Does That Sound Fair To You?' after each one" end ID]
Black woman cyborg rapper with no feelings and other racial tropes; musical artists are weapons for the military
Anonymous asks:
I am working on a scifi dystopian story. In which musical artists are also turned into human weapons by the military to be used in an intergalactic war as part of their record deal, artists often being given or crafting elaborate stage personas to playone artist is a Black female rapper(L). Her stage persona is an unfeeling cyborg.
I want to use this zany premise to explore the dehumanization and exploitation popular artists face from both the public and the industry.
With L(and others) i wanted to address how BIPOC artists particularly are more often victims of this and in ways different to what white artists experience, L has more cybernetics installed by top brass and is caged by a persona that paints her as unfeeling/“more machine than person” despite how at odds it is with reality and L pushing back against it. A persona crafted by her record label so as to play to the harmful idea Black people feel less pain.
My main concern is that by making it so this character has more weaponry installed in her body then other artists it is unintentionally falling into the trope of Black characters being “stronger” or more “dangerous".
Would making it so all music artists have the same amount of cybernetics help alleviate this issue?(highlighting the choice made by the label to assign this kind of persona to her specifically when all artists have these modifications done to them as being a choice rooted in bigotry and the idea of the strong Black woman trope) or is there more that could be done.
Your story is the social commentary - so lean into it
Is “ making it so this character has more weaponry installed in her body then other artists unintentionally falling into the trope of black characters being “stronger” or more “dangerous"?
Yes…but let’s go back to the word unintentionally. Are you sure it is unintentional of you? Isn’t it your whole point to be intentional about this?
You seem fully aware of the oppressive aspects of what is happening to these characters, and I understand hope to address them directly and make a social commentary.
So is this not an intentional choice from you and regarding all of the other stereotypical characterization (Strong, unfeeling, dangerous etc.)?
And do you plan on addressing this in your story and the exploitation that is occurring to your Black cyborg woman character?
Because you must for this to work.
Everything about her existence seems to be social commentary. A story like this, with a character like this, must engage with and acknowledge the racist tropes, stereotypes and storyline being inflicted on your Black character (and any other BIPOC in the story).
You say you want to explore the dehumanization and exploitation of your characters, so do that. And do it boldly.
Ensure there is the narrative that this is abnormal, oppressive and wrong.
Of course, there is the side that paints this all as natural and just fine, such as the government, but there should be a strong opposing side (that carries your voice) running through this novel.
The Hunger Games for example
Think of The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
While people are fearing for their lives, the whole premise of children fighting to the death is wrong, and we feel that from Katniss, Peeta, and the other major characters. Reading the novel, we experience contrasting opinions, acceptance and resistance, but empathize with the cause for justice and freedom.
The Hunger Games, people of the Capitol
Then you have the villains of the novel, the “neutrals” and complicit. For instance, the elites in the capitol, the sponsors, game makers. Some people had sinister motivations; authority, power, greed, ratings! Hate. Some cared only for the drama and romance, and painted real peoples’ lives as entertainment. And lo and behond, marketing for THG movies did the same thing!
Moviespheregold: Team Peeta or Team Gale?
But you do not just get one narrative that paints the games as acceptable. Through your characters, readers can see the truth for themselves -- the injustice of it all which the author wants you to see and feel.
The Hunger Games has some parallel to your story topics, particularly on propaganda and weaponization of human bodies. One might say Katniss is used in a similar way. There are even deeper layers here when you consider that Katniss may be Native American coded (based on books).
Another aspect that may help your story to consider
Rina adds:
One of the biggest principal themes Suzanne Collins focused on was the power of televised entertainment to drive state propaganda & complicity in the regime—Katniss's body is distorted and disguised through the cosmetics and costumes to tell a narrative the Capitol wants to tell, and then again her image is remade into that of a soldier and her disfigurement exploited by District 13 to recruit soldiers in the war they intend to win for themselves.
Research more and read to study
I urge you to:
Research even more into what goes into writing a dystopian novel with strong social anti-racist, anti-oppression commentary. I know you’ve done some reading, but I’d advise reading even more from a point of studying the craft.
Read well-written dystopian novels for how to give this social commentary in your narrative. I have not read enough dystopian books, at the time of this post, to recommend much, so I'm going to leave it to some of our excellent mods (and you readers) to give your relevant recommendations!
See recommendations near the end of this post.
Know your history. Delve into some more research. At the very least, these quite dystopian things that are happening in your dystopia are unfortunately just reality. History.
“When I wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time. The reason I made that rule is that I didn’t want anybody saying, ‘You certainly have an evil imagination, you made up all these bad things.’ I didn’t make them up.”
- Margaret Atwood
As for L, your “unfeeling” Black cyborg
Show the humanity in this cyborg character. There should be a chink in the armor, a crack in the picture of her being unfeeling. Perhaps a depth to the rap where there is allegedly “not supposed” to be.
Research the history of rap and hip-hop and you’ll know how on-point it would be to use her music as revolutionary in the opposite direction that the government wants to use it.
Give us some contrast, some clear defiance of the stereotypes.
It’s important that your story is bold with the fact that your Black cyborg is an embodiment of racism and oppression. She is assigned this false stereotypical, oppressive narrative. It’s not meant to speak of a truth of these traits simply being a fitting role for a Black woman.
Another important note: Black people, especially women, have been leading social movements for change and liberation from the beginning. Black women leading the change, and in your case, your Black woman cyborg, fuels another social commentary of us being the mules for the world, doing the revolutionary work. This is something else for you to recognize as you write.
~Mod Colette
A veteran's perspective
I can comment with an auxiliary perspective as a veteran and artist (writer). You’re also tapping something interesting with the idea of the military using BIPOC bodies to advance their agenda at the expense of the individual service members. Historically, while many service members got hazed and experimented on, BIPOC service members were far more likely to suffer these abuses, and to a much greater extent.
The American intelligence apparatus also has a history of using artists to their advantage – The CIA even created American LiteratureMFAs as a means of peddling American soft power.
-Mod Melanie
Recommended reading
From Mods Rina & Jaya:
Dystopian fiction
Nnedi Okorafor, Noor | Rina: Afrofuturist fiction that explores transhumanism and the encroachment of megacorporations on citizens' bodies. Follows a Black female cyborg protagonist who conflicts with how her augmentations improve her mobility but also make her a target.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain Gang All-Stars | Rina: Takes the death game dystopia concept but makes it specific to the prison industrial complex and its dehumanization of Black people, including assumptions that they feel less pain and draw less sympathy. Follows the POV of multiple Black characters.
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower | Jaya: Octavia Butler was a queen, may her memory be a blessing. She explicitly wrote anti-colonial stories about the future. That’s why Laura, her protagonist, comments on the senseless cruelty and hate leveled at others in a climate change dystopia. She struggles to find meaning and refuses to accept the world as it is. Feelings and faith matter in the face of shameless capitalism.
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go | Jaya: What is dehumanization? Is it when you’re seen as a commodity and not a person? That no one cares about who you are? Society has cured cancer and long-term disease, but someone had to pay the price. Every character thinks, emotes and feels — but society has deemed those activities don’t matter if you aren’t a real human being.
Further reading
F.D. Signifier, “I’m What the Culture Feeling” | Rina: A video essay on the Kendrick v. Drake beef that is really about the history of hip hop and its gatekeepers' commodification of the Black experience, and how that has shaped the industry and its artists. Link: I'm What the Culture Feeling
Britt H. Young, "I have one of the most advanced prosthetic arms in the world—and I hate it" | Rina: An essay about the able-bodied romanticization of the "cyborg" when it comes to amputees and their prosthetic arms, and pushing cybernetic enhancements to "fix" them according to an able-bodied lens. Link: "I have one of the most advanced prosthetic arms in the world — and I hate it"
Hey, wild idea here, but when you click the box to add alt text, you should still be able to see the image that you're describing. You shouldn't have to write image descriptions from memory.
Instead of using butter for your grilled cheese, you should switch to linux. You can set up a virtual machine to try out various distros to see which ones work best for your needs
I think it might be useful if we viewed representation as an imperfect community effort rather than a big, heavy weight that every writer, artist, animator, etc needs to bear by themselves.
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