“My family comes through Hawaii, and Hawaii has been going through some rapid changes.
I realized that they’re not raising sugar cane anymore on the Big island.
I felt like I wasn’t really allowed to own my own sexuality.
‘Light from Uncommon Stars,’ ‘Kween,’ and ‘The Emperor and the Endless Palace’.
I think that that has shocked a lot of readers.”
I write what I know, and I know a lot of spicy Asian men."
And also happens to be sort of this haven for immigrants and refugees," he says.
“It’s one of the most diverse cities in America….
The communities that I exist in aren’t made in silos.
Communities engage with one another, and sometimes in messy complicated ways.”
But he also found it essential to infuse himself into the voice of the novel.
