Siren Queen

Siren Queen

Author	Nghi Vo
Publisher	Tordotcom
Publication date	2022

Siren Queen (2022) is a historical fantasy novel by Nghi Vo set in a magical 1930s Los Angeles. The story follows an aspiring actor known as Luli Wei, who hopes to achieve immortality through stardom. Hollywood provides obstacles in the form of racism, sexism, queerphobia, and dark magic. Luli rejects stereotypical roles and on-screen and off, instead embracing the power of playing movie monsters. The book was Vo's first novel to be written, but the second to be published, preceded by The Chosen and the Beautiful (2021) in a similar magical universe.

Plot

A young Chinese-American girl is living above her parents' laundry in a magical Los Angeles. Captivated by the magic of movie-making, she resolves to become a star. Achieving stardom, in this Hollywood, involves a literal apotheosis that grants immortality. After a series of bit parts for the director Jacko Dewalt, she blackmails him for an introduction to the studio executive Oberlin Wolfe. To avoid revealing her real name (and thus making herself magically vulnerable), she takes her sister's name, Luli Wei.

Luli joins Wolfe's studio system, on the condition that her roles will include "no maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers." These conditions initially limit her career. She befriends her roommate in the studio dorms, a kidnapped Skogsrå named Greta. She also begins a romance with the more-established actress Emmaline Sauvignon. Greta falls in love with Wolfe's protégé Brandt Hiller, the intended sacrifice for a ritual known as the Wild Hunt through which Wolfe feeds a dangerous ancient power. Eventually, Luli lands a major role as a siren. She relishes portraying a monster, and befriends her famous co-star Harry Long. Harry reveals to her his secret relationship with a man, Teo. Luli's siren movie is a hit, as is its sequel. Greta (now pregnant) and Luli rescue Brandt during the Wild Hunt, and he and Greta escape to Sweden. Emmaline rejects Luli, angry that she drew Wolfe's negative attention.

Two years later, Luli's initial contract with Wolfe is nearly over. Teo breaks up with Harry, who marries a young actress on the studio's orders. While filming the third siren movie, the set catches fire and Harry disappears; he is declared dead. Luli connects with the butch Tara Lubowski at a lesbian bar. Jacko is brought on to direct a hasty re-envisioning of the siren film without Harry in the lead. As Jacko's revenge on Luli for her long-ago blackmail, the film now ends with the siren begging pathetically for her life. Luli is initially angry that Tara (under a male pseudonym) has written this degrading ending, but after she and Tara get to know each other better, they begin a romance. Filming the climactic death scene of her siren, Luli achieves magical stardom.

The epilogue is narrated from Luli's perspective as a celestial star in the present day, reflecting on the legacy of her long career and her romantic relationships.

Development and inspiration

Vo initially wrote a draft of Siren Queen for a contest run by Angry Robot, which sought novels from writers who didn't yet have agents. It was the first novel she wrote, although her second novel The Chosen and the Beautiful (2021) would be published before it. Despite losing the contest, Vo began sending the draft to agents, and eventually gained representation from Diana Fox. At the time, it was her longest piece of writing, and she has described it as challenging to shift out of the writing mindset which shaped her earlier short stories.

The movies starring Luli's siren are loosely inspired by 1930s horror films and the later Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Other influential movies include Morocco (1930), Shanghai Express (1932), Queen Christina (1933), and Design for Living (1933). The characters of Greta and Harry Long are inspired by Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro. The Chinese-American star Anna May Wong is mostly reflected in a minor character in the novel, Su Tong Lin, though Wong shares some details of her background with the novel's protagonist Luli. Another minor character, Louisa Davis, echoes Hattie McDaniel. In general, these inspirations are loose, with no real films or specific biographical events being dramatized in the novel.

Style

The novel is framed like a memoir, narrated by a future Luli who is aware of the differences between truth and memory. Scenes from movies are also described like Luli's memories, weaving them in to the narrative. The fantasy elements are introduced without explicit explanation, only gradually building into a distinctive world. A key narrative effect is a feeling of unreality, or the sense that metaphors are actually real. By never quite providing enough information to fully understand the dark magic that Luli navigates, the book keeps readers in suspense; there is always a lingering possibility of another cost to be paid.

Major themes

Outsider status and monstrosity

Lilu navigates Hollywood as "a multiple outsider in a rigged system," facing racism (especially Chinese exclusionism), sexism, and queerphobia. A central question of the book is how Luli will accomplish her ambitions, especially whether she will sacrifice her authenticity by accepting racial stereotypes in her roles and keeping her queer relationships secret. Her embrace of her monstrous siren character accompanies an embrace of a non-assimilationist strategy: she claims power by setting her own terms and forcing others to accede to them, sometimes ruthlessly.

Reception

In 2023, Siren Queen was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and the Ignyte Award.