I write character-driven epic fantasy novels that center women’s authenticity, female friendships, and spiritual deconstruction/reconstruction

My story

I was born and raised in the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. For the uninitiated, it is a quasi-Christian, Korean nationalist cult famous for its arranged marriages and “mass weddings.” I began questioning its teachings when I left home for college to study international politics. I finally left the Unification Church in my early 20s – and tried to trade in one high-control religion for another by becoming a Presbyterian Christian. When I failed at that, I continued seeking. Eventually, in my mid-20s, I found my spiritual home within Episcopalian Christianity while pursuing a PhD in political science.

My spiritual journey includes: heartbreaks; questions with no answers; transformative, loving friendships with compassionate, wise people of all faiths; a family that had the courage, wisdom, and love to transform alongside me; a professional purity culture recovery coach; and reading many, many books on liberal and progressive theology.

I draw on this experience in my novels to: portray the difficulties of overcoming the religious teachings you grew up with; share the experience of being a religious minority; deconstruct politically motivated theologies, including purity culture; and point out the absurdity of religious sectarianism and dogmatism. I also draw on being a biracial woman of color and eldest daughter, my experiences in academia and government, and my theoretical and practical knowledge of politics and diplomacy.

My story is not just about me, but about my family and friends, whose love and support helped me on my journey of spiritual deconstruction and reconstruction.

My audience

My ideal reader is faith-curious, a feminist, and a fantasy-lover – or anyone who checks at least one of the three boxes!

  • Faith-curious includes everyone who is approaching faith and religion with an open heart. Faith-curious encompasses liberal and progressive people from all faiths. Faith-curious encompasses atheist and agnostic people who want to better understand the motivations and worldviews of people of faith. Faith-curious encompasses exvangelicals/post-evangelicals, people grappling with purity culture, and people leaving high-control religions who want to make sense of what they went through. Faith-curious encompasses people who are in the process of deconstructing faith and/or reconstructing faith.

    Faith-curious does not (necessarily) mean you are looking to convert, but that you are curious about how others relate to faith, respect that there are different ways to relate to the mystery of the divine, and are intrigued by how religion has shaped the political and social world we live in and can be a force for good in the world. The opposite of faith is certainty, and the opposite of being curious is “knowing” everything. Faith-curious people do not believe they have all the answers.

    My novels play with religion in the framework of the Christian tradition because that is the territory I covered in my spiritual journey. But the beauty of making up a religion – multiple religions if you count the sects! – for my fantasy world is that it hopefully makes the themes and commentaries more universal across religions.

    Whether my characters are atheist or agnostic or religious – sincerely or cynically, casually or fanatically – I will always treat my characters’ faith seriously, not as a plot device.

  • Feminism is the belief that everyone, regardless of gender, should have equal rights and opportunities. Writing fantasy for feminists as a feminist doesn’t mean sexism and the patriarchy doesn’t exist in my fantasy world. But feminist women and men will enjoy my novels for the ways I highlight how sexism and the patriarchy shape my female characters’ lived experiences – women because they will feel seen, and men because they will have a glimpse into what it is like to be a woman in a man’s world.

    Writing fantasy for feminists as a feminist also means I treat the psyche and relationships of my female characters as complex and multi-faceted, and I am intentional about the message I send about a woman’s “place” in the real world by subverting gender expectations. If you are a woman struggling with feminism, then I implore you to read my novels with an open mind and imagine what that possibility looks like – believing you should have equal rights and opportunities as men.

  • And finally, you are most likely to enjoy my novels if you enjoy character-driven epic fantasy. You love seeing the characters stumble and grow, despite all their resistance to change. You love learning about new systems – political, theological, and magical. You love the tactile immersion in a new world. You love when the emotions, the conflicts, the stakes are dialed up to 11. I promise to do my best to deliver the heart-pounding, gut-wrenching awe and angst that my favorite fantasy novels have inspired me with over the years.

My success

Success to me is writing and sharing the best version of the stories I want to tell. Full stop.

The “best” version of my story is one in which my words take my readers on an emotionally gripping, intellectually thrilling, and spiritually satisfying journey that reveals something true about the joys and contradictions of the human condition.

If you would like to be part of my story and my success by being a beta reader for one of my novels, then please get in touch! I would love to hear from you.

My inspiration

My work has been shaped by the insight and knowledge of many authors who came before me.

  • As I mentioned in my story, I read a lot of progressive and liberal theology. Authors I found particularly inspiring include: Rachel Held Evans, Kate Bowler, Linda Kay Klein, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Beth Allison Barr, Nijay K. Gupta, Marcus Borg, Rob Bell, Harvey Cox, Pete Enns, James J. Martin, N. T. Wright, James Alison, David Bentley Hart, Jemar Tisby, James H. Cone, Ken Wilson, Jeff Chu, David P. Gushee, Zach W. Lambert, among others.

  • bell hooks and Brené Brown have been particularly strong influences on my thinking and writing. I also have been shaped by the works of Emily Nagoski, Jay Shetty, and Mark Manson, among others.

  • Novels that I read when I was younger and continue to inspire me include Meghan Whalen Turner’s The Queen’s Thief series and Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel.

    I aspire to the satisfying, slow-burn character arc of Rachel Hartman’s Tess of the Road, the meticulous world-building of Fonda Lee’s Jade City, and the critical exploration of social and political themes of N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and C. L. Clark’s The Unbroken.

    I have also been inspired by anime (e.g., Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Attack on Titan) and manga (e.g., Fruistbasket, Akatsuki no Yona, Mugen Spiral).