Birthday Guest: Atom Yang

Please welcome my birthday guest - Atom Yang!

Pen names are funny things.

I had always thought of them as something a writer hid behind—well, literally because their real name and the details of their real lives were hidden. Even the fancier word for them, pseudonym literally means “false name.”

However, now I don’t think there’s anything fake about a pen name. It may be a mask that shields our privacy, protects our loved ones and careers, even defends us against friends and family who would judge us—but masks work both ways. They may also allow the person behind the mask to be someone they’ve always wanted to be to the people in front of the mask.

More than a novelist, or author, or writer; more than a specific profession like romance writer.

I’ve found that having a pen name is like having an alter ego. Even though we may follow the adventures of Superman or the X-men, and that’s our focus—they do still have personal lives they attend to: Superman works at The Daily Planet and the mutants of X-men go to school. We’re just not as interested in the non-heroic aspects of their lives; we’re not completely disinterested, but comic books aren’t titled Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous Bruce Wayne or Poor Peter Parker for a reason.

My point still stands, though, that a pen name is an alter ego. I alternate between this identity (ego) as Atom and my other identity. There’s nothing different between the two except the focus—one is on writing and I would say more open about what he finds sexy and romantic. The other is more reserved, and regards the nature of his current profession with caution. I know there’s a difference because I post and share slightly different things on social media as each ego.  

I’ve been tempted to change my real name to my pseudonym. I find I enjoy what Atom has come to mean to me and to other people. And I think the name is cool! I did pick it myself, after all. I’ve had people tell me it sounds too complicated, superheroic, or silly, but you know what? It’s a bona fide real name—I couldn’t get it as a handle on a lot of social networks because it had been taken (and there were other variations also taken, given how many Atom Yangs are out there). So it’s a cultural thing, too—what we consider out of the ordinary, and I’m glad that on this planet, I sound like an alien guy with powers, but on another planet, I’m just Joe the Plumber.

All this said, Atom was born when my first story, Red Envelope, was accepted by MLR Press, and the executive editor Kris Jacen asked if I wanted to use a pen name. Did I want to publish under my own name and stroke that ego, or did I want to separate my worlds? I chose to separate them (duh) and originally, I had as my “birthday” the day I chose my nom de plume.

But then I changed it to my actual birthday.

Because we’re the same person. We just alternate names, not who we are. 

BLURB: 

The Chinese New Year is a time for saying goodbye to the past and hello to the future, but Clint doesn’t want to bid farewell to his cousin’s handsome American friend, Weaver, after they share an unexpected passionate encounter.

The Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar, a time for family reunions, and for saying goodbye to the past and hello to the future. Clint, however, doesn’t want to bid farewell to what happened after last year’s celebration, when he and his Cousin Maggie’s handsome Caucasian friend, Weaver, shared an unexpected but long-desired passionate encounter. East is East and West is West, and Weaver seems to want to keep it that way, but maybe Clint can bridge that great divide this coming New Year, and show Weaver what it means to be loved and accepted.

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EXCERPT:

Prologue

Growing up, I lived two lives.

In one life, I watched the same programs and played the same video games as the other kids in my neighborhood. We skated, made friends, got into fights, and did most of our homework. My name was Clint, and I was named after Clint Eastwood because my maternal grandfather loved the TV show, Rawhide, cowboys, and the Wild West (despite how the Chinese were treated during that time and place) and wanted me to have a real American name. I’m grateful they didn’t pick Rowdy.

In my other life, I went to Chinese school on Sundays where my teachers called me by my Chinese name, and I got extra homework on how to be more Chinese. I had to learn to read and write in a language I rarely saw in my daily life, although I spoke and heard it every day from my parents. It was a bummer, but I suppose it made me realize how much being Chinese was about doing Chinese things, and how much being American for me was about doing twice as many things, and being who you are was about doing one thing: staying true to yourself.

Once I understood that, I didn’t live two lives anymore. I lived one.

Chapter One

I called up my mom to make sure I had the family recipe right for mapo tofu. It’s a spicy dish that’s usually made with ground pork, but I told her I was leaving the meat out to offer an option to my favorite aunt and host of the celebration, Shirley, who had become a vegetarian since the death of my uncle last year.

“Your mapo tofu is not vegetarian,” my mother said in Mandarin, “it has garlic in it.”

“Garlic is not slow meat that got stuck in dirt, Ma,” I replied testily in Mandarin. My generation spoke to each other in English, but to our parents and elders, we spoke Chinese.

“I’m not criticizing you, don’t be so sensitive!” my mother shot back. “I’m only telling you so you’ll know. Onions and garlic, they’re not considered vegetarian.”

Yes, I’m going to ask it, because some Chinese ways were foreign to me. “Why are they not considered vegetarian?” I said in a calmer tone. Mea culpa for snapping at my mom.

“Oh, it increases your yang,” she answered.

“Are you saying it makes you, uh, makes you want to, um…” What was the word for horny and sex in Mandarin? I never learned that vocabulary in Chinese school.

“Make love,” she said conspiratorially with a giggle. The words were translated literally from English.

“Ma, that’s silly. I’ve never noticed that when I’ve eaten garlic.”

My mother heaved a dramatic, disyllabic sigh. “Hai-ya, you think you know everything. What about Italians?”

“They’re not all wanting to…make love,” I said, feeling squeamish about using the new words with my mother. “Anyway, I hope Aunt Shirley will eat my tofu.”

My mom laughed again, a sound like wind chimes that’s tickled me as far back as I can remember. “Don’t say that! Eating someone’s tofu means you are, ah…” She searched for the English word, knowing my limitations, and quickly completed her thought in Chinese: “Touching someone’s body where you should not.”

“Really? Ha! Thanks for letting me know!”

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Weaver will be at the celebration.”

At the sound of his name, the laughter in my throat stilled and I found myself annoyed with my mother again. “Weaver is Maggie’s friend.”

“You like talking to him. Every year, since you both were little.”

“Since we were twelve. And I talk to everyone at the party, especially if they’re around my age.”

“Has it been that long? I remember you would talk about him all the way home and for weeks after. He has grown to be such a handsome man, don’t you think?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I mumbled. It’s not that I never noticed Weaver—his brown hair bleached by the sun, lightly toasted skin, and eventual six-foot height made him an easy game of Where’s Waldo in a crowd of my family members. I couldn’t help but notice him, and the way he had grown into his broad shoulders, big hands, and large feet that seemed so awkward when we were boys. It didn’t escape me, the way his square jaw, softer when we were both in middle school, became chiseled over time, and sometimes covered in stubble the color of burnt caramel flecked with ginger and bright gold.

She went on as if I had said nothing. “I love to look into his eyes! They’re so blue, like marbles! It’s so strange!”

My mouth went dryer than the Gobi. I tried to swallow, but failing that, I cleared my throat. “Yes, his eyes are very blue.” They reminded me of sea glass: navy in the evening, like the traditional changshan he wore to last year’s celebration; and the brilliant blue of a summer sky, which I saw on the winter morning before he left.

That morning was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and traditional belief held that the people you see on this first day would be the ones in your life for the rest of the year.

This didn’t turn out to be true.

“I thought you would be happy to know he’s coming back from China to visit. Maggie says he’s met somebody over there.”

My shoulders, which had been trying to say hello to my ears, dropped and I hunched over a little, a boxer weathering a punch. “I’m sure Maggie will be happy to see him,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “Okay, I have to…do stuff. Get ready for tonight!”

“Are you upset about something?” My mother was either telepathic or she had secret cameras in my apartment, and I hoped for the latter; I glanced around suspiciously. “Mama knows when you’re unhappy,” she added in a soothing tone when I took too long to answer. When she spoke in the third person, I knew she meant business—there was both a formality and an intimacy when she talked like that; it wasn’t cute like “mommy knows best” or generic like “a mother doesn’t have to guess.” She meant, “I am your mother, you are my son, and I know you because you are a part of me, I raised you, and I want you to be happy.”

Yes, it’s kind of codependent compared to American individualism, but it’s kind of normal in a highly interdependent culture. There was something about her concern for my happiness that formed a lump in my throat, and made me wish I could hug her, tell her my hurts and cry them away on her bosom like I did when I was a child.

My throat tightened as if I had failed Darth Vader for the last time. Shit, my mother was part of my sadness. I couldn’t tell her what happened between Weaver and me after last year’s celebration because she would be upset—and for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t want to risk losing my relationship with her, and I didn’t think she would try to understand.

“Mama understands you,” she said.

Great, she’s telepathic. Hidden cameras would’ve been nicer. Creepy, sure, but at least my heart would be private.

I took in a controlled breath, hoping that she couldn’t hear on the other end as I ironed flat my emotions.

“I’m okay, don’t worry; a little nervous about making the dish correctly. I’ll see you later tonight.” She was quiet on the other end, and I knew my refusal to share what was bothering me hurt her feelings. And I had lied. “I love you,” I said in English.

We never expressed this to each other in Chinese, because it wasn’t something said in Chinese culture; the emotions were too strong, the words too coarse, and besides, it was assumed that parents and children loved each other. Still, my mother and I, we chose to be indelicately Western with this feeling, which meant we had to say it in our other tongue.

“I love you,” she said in singsong English. She hadn’t given up, and I knew she’d press me again later, or ask one of my relatives to get me to divulge what was bugging me before too long. “Okay, bye-bye!”

“Okay, bye-bye,” I echoed, and hung up, and stood there.

And stood some more.

Weaver was coming back

BIO:

Atom was born to Chinese immigrant parents who thought it'd be a hoot to raise him as an immigrant, too--so he grew up estranged in a familiar land, which gives him an interesting perspective. He's named after a Japanese manga (comic book) character, in case you were wondering.

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