Siren Queen
This short novel features both glamorous Hollywood history and fanciful urban fantasy, blended into a hypnotic alternate-history depiction of queer culture on the margins of the 1930s and ’40s moviemaking world. In Vo’s reimagining, movies are made by sinister demigods who have exchanged their humanity for immortal storytelling skills; the cameras of the giant studios literally feed on the life force of mortals desperate to attain a similar immortality through film stardom. The ones who succeed live forever as literal stars in the heavens; the ones who fail are fed to the insatiable maw (imagined in this world as a literal fairyland Wild Hunt) of public clamoring for new films and stars to love.
It’s a heady blend of magic and craft that’s been done before, but Vo adds a powerful new point of view for the ambitious starlet who narrates this novel. “Luli Wei” is the stage name given by the studio to this young, star-struck daughter of Chinese immigrants; a few lucky encounters, the mentorship of a movie-queen lover, and a ruthless willingness to risk her soul allow Luli to break out of the stereotypical servant-and-prostitute roles Asian girls usually play, and land an iconic role as the evil “Viper Queen.” Ultimately, she must challenge her rapacious director and studio head in suspenseful, otherworldly face-offs reminiscent of folktales like Tam Lin and King Lindworm.
Vo’s writing style is a satisfying blend of lyricism and hardboiled wisecracking, combining a lot of familiar elements into an original revision of the Hollywood myth. In the process, she creates a powerful parable of the real human cost of the closeted lives of LGBTQ+ actors and creators during the Golden Age of filmmaking.
