The Dragon and the Stars (DAW, May 2010) is a science fiction and fantasy anthology featuring Chinese writers from all over the world. The cover is of a Western dragon, not a Chinese dragon. Click here and here to read blog posts and comments about the cover. Thanks to Bibliophile Stalker for this news!
Comments
Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon has a Chinese dragon on its cover. Did that hurt the book? NO. It was featured on American national television (The Today Show with Al Roker). And now it has a Newbery Honor Award!
Americans will be oblivious of this issue unless it's brought to there attention. As you can see with the whitewashing issue, they'll do it as long as they can get away with it.
Do you by chance know if the editors or publisher has been contacted for comment?
Charles, I have mad respect for you and I love you, but I think we are going to have to agree to disagree here. There are certainly stock photos of Chinese dragons. Much more thought needs to go into book covers. After all, books are not just commodities (though publishers treat them as just commodities). This isn't just about one book cover. This is about race and representation on book covers in general.
Many White people love Asian fiction. In the bookstore I get White customers all the time looking for books by Asian authors.
If I was going to add anything to the Stuff White People like Blog
It would be Asian fiction
So there really was no need to Whitewash this Dragon, even if DAW was marketing to only their White customers - I think they would fully embrace the authenticity of a Chinese Dragon
Tarie - Do you know you are going to read the collection?
Maybe the people who picked the cover didn't realize what they were doing. But that is No Excuse. If you don't know ask.
If they didn't want the authors to know they knew nothing about Dragons and their importance to Chinese culture - there's always google.
I don't think I'll be buying the book. This is a very personal choice, as well as a political one. I must be consistent. I can't boycott one publisher (first Bloomsbury, now Little Brown) and then tolerate another who made a similar mistake just because that second publisher published Asian writers (including one who is an influence and inspiration to my blogging).
-_-