In yesterday’s post, I introduced you to my author friend, Camy Tang, a “loud Asian chick who writes loud Asian chick lit.”
Camy writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else 
that comes to mind.
Camy and I chatted about adoption, racism, and Christian fiction:
Laura: You and your husband are thinking about starting a family. Have you considered adopting? Why or why not?
Camy: Actually, we have considered adoption. My husband and I have worked with our church youth group for years and are open to adopting an older child, although we’re still in prayer about it.
We’ve also discussed adopting from China.
Laura: Since you’re Asian-American, would you prefer to adopt an Asian child? Or are you open to adopting a child of any racial/ethnic background?
Camy: I personally would like to adopt a little girl from China because we could raise her in a Chinese American household and help her understand the variety and riches of her racial background.
Laura: Have you faced any overt or subtle racism? If so, can you give us an example of how you dealt with it?
Camy: Actually, I have been very lucky because I haven’t experienced much racism at all. I grew up in Hawaii, where the majority ethnicity is Asian, and in moving to northern California, I’m still surrounded by Asians since there is a large Asian population here.
I think the only “racism” I’ve encountered personally have been a few Caucasian guys with Asian fetishes who visited my church when I was still single and who targeted all the Asian girls.
Laura: What inspired you to write Asian American chick-lit from a Christian perspective?
Camy: I love Christian fiction, but noticed there just weren’t many Christian novels about Asians, and there weren’t ANY Christian novels about Asian Americans (very different from Asians in, say, China) or any Christian novels written by Asians.
Since I’ve pretty much grown up in the Asian American culture, I wanted to write something that might be interesting and unique to Christians growing up in other ethnic American households.
I also tend more toward humor than women’s fiction or historical novels (anyone who visits my blog regularly knows I’m very silly and irreverent), so I naturally gravitated toward chick lit.
Laura: Do you base your characters on real people/situations? Where does “fact” stop and “fiction” take over?
My characters are mostly fiction. I try really, really hard not to base any characters’ personalities off of people in real life. In my opinion, that’s just not polite.
However, peripherals like a character’s occupation or maybe a character’s unique quirk of behavior will sometimes come from real life stories I hear.
Laura: Tell us a little about your upcoming books.
Camy: The novel that just released is Single Sashimi
, the third book in the Sushi series. Here’s a blurb:
Drake Yu. Why would Drake call her after … what, five years? Six?
Venus heard in his voice that resonance that was almost a growl, that titanium-hard determination to get what he wanted. And he usually got what he wanted. The voice said: “I want you to work for me.”
Not this time… If it was a choice between Drake and McDonald’s—she’d choose french fries. She’d never work for him again. It would take an act of God.
Venus Chau is determined to start her own game development company and launch the next Super Mario-sized phenomenon. However, she needs an investor to back her idea. When Drake Yu, an old nemesis, approaches Venus with a contracting opportunity at his sister’s startup, the offer to become Chief Operating Officer tempts Venus to think the unthinkable.
Venus would rather throw away her PS3 than work for Drake again … except Grandma bribes Venus to do this favor for Drake’s wealthy family with a coveted introduction to the most respected investor in the game industry. It’s also a short job—only a few months—so Venus won’t have to stand Drake’s presence for very long.
But one wild youth group, a two-faced assistant, and Grandma’s determined match-making threaten to make them both fail—or go insane. With the encouragement of her three cousins, Lex, Trish, and Jennifer, Venus discovers that even a wounded heart can undergo a beautiful transformation …
My next novel is a Christian romantic suspense titled Deadly Intent, coming out in August 2009 (tentative date) from Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line.
This may not be the actual back cover blurb, but here’s a blurb I submitted recently in my Art Fact Sheet:
THERE WAS A DEAD BODY IN HER MASSAGE ROOM
And massage therapist Naomi Grant is suspected of murder. She’s frustrated and helpless as a web of lies closes in around her, framing her. She doesn’t have time to worry about her shaky faith or think about her growing attraction to the victim’s ex-husband, Dr. Devon Knightley.
Orthopedic surgeon Devon had only needed to claim his mother’s necklace back from his ex-wife, but suddenly he’s embroiled in a murder investigation and someone is trying to kill him. He wants to somehow protect Naomi from the trap being set around her, but can he keep them both safe against a villain with deadly intent?
Laura: Your Sushi series books focus on four cousins. Will there be a fourth book in the series?
Camy: There will be a fourth book in the Sushi series. It will be a novella and I’ll have it available FREE for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Camys_Loft) or as a print on demand book available for purchase on Amazon.
Laura: What’s your favorite thing to do on a sunny day in Silicon Valley?
Walk the dog! We live right next to the rolling foothills and it’s really nice to go walking. My only problem is that my dog is not good around other dogs (she’s really friendly with people, though). So I have to be careful when she encounters other dogs on her walks.
I'm giving away THREE copies of Camy's latest novel, Single Sashimi, this week. All you have to do is post a comment on this post (or on the previous post). Tell us why you love/hate chick lit, Christian fiction, or
sushi. Or ask Camy a question. I’ll announce the winners on October 21, 2008.
Visit Camy’s website at www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now. Camy's giving away ten boxes of books and 30 copies of her latest release, SINGLE SASHIMI.
, won first place in the Debut Author category of the 2008 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest. (Try saying that three times, fast!)
, we learn more about Lex’s cousin Trish Sakai, a flirt who has done more than her share of sleeping around, and is now attempting—rather unsuccessfully—to make amends for her wild lifestyle. Turning her life around is complicated by the fact that her gorgeous ex-boyfriend is stalking her.
and 
on her blog this week.
