This afternoon, at the 20th Annual National Convention of the Asian American Journalists Association here in Boston, authors Ed Lin and Henry Chang read excerpts from their recent novels in a panel discussion called Authors Showcase: Asian American Detective Writers.  And how both authors got to where they are, as accomplished writers and engaging storytellers, is no mystery at all.

Lin and Chang both admitted that they'd never actually planned to write a mystery novel.  In telling their stories, it just happened.  I've read both of Lin's books, This is a Bust and Waylaid (which, as a mostly non-fiction reader, were the first two novels I've read in their entirety in several years), and as Lin eagerly introduced me to Chang, I expected to be impressed.

And what impressed me most , beyond his New York accent, was his integrity and the integrity of his work.  His first novel, Chinatown Beat, gathered dust in the back of a closet for 11 years after being widely rejected by publishers for being unlike any Asian American literature of its time.  Yet he didn't once feel the need to change his story to make it more palatable.  I bought Chinatown Beat on the spot.

And I'll be looking out for both Snakes Can't Run by Ed Lin and the third book from Henry Chang's Chinatown Trilogy next year.