Peter Tieryas Liu, Watering Heaven, Signal 8 Press, 2012.
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What would you do if you found out your girlfriend laid an egg every time she had sex? Who would you be if you were invited to a party in Beijing but had to make up a brand-new identity for six weeks? Peter Tieryas Liu's Watering Heaven is a travelogue of and requiem for the American dream in all its bizarre manifestations and a surreal, fantastic journey through the streets, alleys, and airports of China.Whether it's a monk who uses acupuncture needles to help him fly or a city filled with rats about to be exterminated so that the mayor can win his reelection bid, be prepared to laugh, swoon, and shudder at the answers Liu offers in this provocative debut collection.
"Exuberant.Wildly inventive.Grungy with global resonance for the 21st century.This debut collection of fiction rides bareback over the metaphysical divide of Asia and the USA. An astonishing energy prevails. This is definitely a writer to watch." -Xu Xi
"A surreal menagerie of short stories that sometimes veer into the realm of magic realism. There is something both slightly haunting yet inviting in these tales of love and loss that are both sensitive and intelligent. He's a writer to look out for." -Sang Pak
"This debut collection probes the membrane of modern meaninglessness in consistently passionate and original prose. With its inquiry into love's very anatomy, Liu's brave new world comes full-force with a spinning intensity, keeping us on the edge of our postwar, pre-apocalyptic seats. Encore!" -Leza Lowitz
"Expertly attuned to the zeitgeist-the tangle of our social networks, our cubicle culture, the language of science-the brilliant, haunting stories in Watering Heaven are always leading us somewhere deeper yet: that fathomless reservoir of human need and longing." -Tim Horvath
"Edgy, clever and memorably innovative, he masterfully treats his panoply of characters.The untainted directness of language as well as his surreal brilliancy reminds one of the very best of Borges, Calvino, Pynchon.Here is an author who singlehandedly breaks the sun in half with sheer novelty and song." -Leonore Wilson Goodreads Summary: “What would you do if you found out your girlfriend laid an egg every time she had sex? Who would you be if you were invited to a party in Beijing but had to make up a brand-new identity for six weeks? Peter Tieryas Liu's Watering Heaven is a travelogue of and requiem for the American dream in all its bizarre manifestations and a surreal, fantastic journey through the streets, alleys, and airports of China. Whether it's a monk who uses acupuncture needles to help him fly or a city filled with rats about to be exterminated so that the mayor can win his reelection bid, be prepared to laugh, swoon, and shudder at the answers Liu offers in this provocative debut collection.” There was something that grabbed at my attention when Watering Heaven was requested to me. Perhaps it was the fact that I haven’t read much in terms of Asian fiction, or perhaps because it was described as a travelogue. Whatever it was, it sparked something in me.
Watering Heaven is a collection of nineteen short stories, all with some connection to Asia, be it the setting or the characters themselves. There’s also a lot of Asian folklore including in Watering Heaven, and I loved how these were included into the stories. They complemented each other well, and I thought that they were a fantastic edition into the stories. The stories wove together well too, not always with the characters featured but also with the settings and landmarks. I love it when stories do that, as I feel it really helps them to interlock together well.
The writing in Watering Heaven is exquisite. And I really do mean that. There are so many beautiful quotes in this book. They didn’t feel misplaced within the stories either. Sometimes, a quote can be brilliant, yet stick out like a sore thumb for the wrong reasons. This isn’t the case with Watering Heaven, everything flows together seamlessly. My favourite stories, basically the ones that have stayed with me, were A Beijing Romance, Staccato and Searching for Normalcy. That’s not to say the others were bad, those three were the ones that made the largest impression on myself. A lot of these stories are incredibly thought-provoking, asking weighty questions and taking the characters through experiences that I hope to never have to go through myself.
My one real complaint with Watering Heaven, and this is an extremely petty complaint that I have about nearly every single short story I read: some of the stories were too short. I know that’s the point of short stories, I honestly do. I just get so attached to the characters and their backgrounds that I want to spend more time with them, learn more about them and their relationships with others. I just get so frustrated reading short stories sometimes, it’s like getting a lick of ice cream when you just want to have the entire scoop. Watering Heaven also has some mature themes running through it, so this isn’t one for people who don’t like reading about sex or death. I didn’t personally have a problem with the themes, but I am all too aware that there are people that do.
Overall, Watering Heaven was an interesting and, at times, thought-provoking read. Whilst it’s not something I’d have picked up off my own back, I’m pleased I got to experience the beautiful writing that is contained within these stories. - www.musicbooksandtea.blogspot.com/
After a stretch of reading narratives from WWII China, this week I turned to a collection of contemporary short stories, mainly set in Beijing and Los Angeles.
Watering Heaven (Signal 8 Press, 2012) by Peter Tieryas Liu consists of twenty stories that mostly feature male protagonists who surround themselves with feisty, independent, and intelligent women.
Peter Tieryas Liu writes about themes that we can all relate to: workplace satisfaction, relationships, identity, acceptance, and death. As I read Watering Heaven, I couldn’t help but think of Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong’s avant garde director extraordinaire.
One of my favorite pieces is titled “The Political Misconception of Getting Fired.” In this story, Byron, the protagonist, becomes reacquainted with his high school crush. June contacts him on Facebook and they make a plan to meet for dinner. But when June speaks of aliens and UFOs, Byron freaks out and fakes a work emergency. As Byron leaves the dinner, he starts to regret his decision to leave. What happens later will change his life forever.
Another one that I’ll remember for a long time is “The Interview”, in which the protagonist is fired from a job for misidentifying a female manager as a male. When he interviews for another job, he’s asked the most intense questions about subjects such as death, marriage, cheating, love, happiness, and work ethics.
I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection and felt like I was right there in Beijing, LA, and the other settings in the book. Tieryas Liu is a young and fresh voice, and I can’t wait to read more from him in the years to come. He has a fabulous book trailer for Watering Heaven. You can click here to see the YouTube clip. - Susan Blumberg-Kason
Peter Tieryas Liu sent me a copy of his book Watering Heaven, a collection of short stories. It’s his first book. Order it on Amazon here or learn more about Peter Tieryas Liu at his website here. He’s got tons of publications in some of the top literary journals in the country, including Zyzzyva, Indiana Review, Evergreen Review, and Kartika.
Let me first begin by saying that short stories is usually not my genre. I say “usually” because I’m more of a novel-guy, although longtime readers have seen me heap tons of praise on writers of longer short stories like Alice Munro and Yiyun Li. Watering Heaven is a book of very short stories, some only three or four pages. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, since I was crossing into an unfamiliar space.
This book surpassed expectations. In a short story (as opposed to a novel), a writer must choose each word carefully and bring the arc of the narrative together with efficiency. A good short story must be precise. The stories in this collection are imaginative, clever, quick, and fun to read. Liu writes with an extraordinary command of language and nuance. Many of the stories involved first person Asian American men in relationships with Chinese and Chinese American women, stories that take place in China and in the U.S. I really enjoyed his portrayals of the cultural dimension of these relationships–his portrayals were light and expressive, much as one would expect.
Most of these stories have elements of surreal realities or extraordinary occurrences. The first story involves a woman who lays an egg every time after having sex. Another involves a man with HIV-resistant blood who sets up his own place in an abandoned town. Another story tells about the daughter of a man who studied feces who is now taking pictures of a man who flies through the air using acupuncture. Throughout the stories, however, the author manages to maintain a level of seriousness that illuminates the human condition of his characters. I was impressed with Mr. Liu’s powerful imagination and ability to see things beyond the ordinary. Though I’m still primarily a novel-guy, I think even most novel-people will like this book and get much from it. - www.bigwowo.com/
Today, I have Peter Tieryas Liu on the blog where I got to ask him some questions!
1. If you had to describe your book to a friend, what would you say?
This is my debut collection of twenty stories called Watering Heaven out from Signal 8 Press. The stories were written during my travels throughout the world, particularly in China and Thailand. Some of the stories have elements of magical realism, say as in a woman who gives birth to an egg and a man who is able to fly. Others are grounded in reality but take on strange slants on humanity; a man who takes photographs of urban legends and a filmmaker wants to defend the rights of rats who are about to exterminated. Many of the stories have been published in some of my favorite literary magazines and I’m glad for the chance to get to share all of them at once in the form of this book. The title comes from the William Blake poem, the Tyger, describing the celestial war when the angels were forced out of Heaven. It reflects the theme of transition and change that marks many of the stories and protagonists.
2. What made you decide to become a writer?
Would it sound strange if I told you that a strange voice in the back of my neck originating with a third eye inspired me to write a piece about wingless birds fighting against milk-thirsty chimpanzees when I was seven? Later, I was implanted with a brain cell formulated from nanolasers imprinted with a command that I write about the quirky contrasts of urban life with the ambitions that propel a society forward. Machinations may abound, but my focus has been microscopically planktonite. Literally, biochemical plankton infesting fish causing everyone who eats anything that eats aquatic organisms with gills to blog, scribble, and write every concept and idea on a pen, iPad, keyboard, and smart phone. I try to capture some of the nuances. Say watching a centipede or a pill millipede struggling briskly with his legs to cross the sidewalk. It’s an odd analogy for the balancing act present in modern lives. (To answer your question, I just love telling stories)
3. Favorite TV show? Movie? Book?
Too many to list here. Can I just share what I’ve enjoyed in the past month? I loved watching the season premiere of Walking Dead and have also enjoyed Game of Thrones. Movie-wise, my wife and I have been watching some old Kubrick films and have really enjoyed those. The last movie I saw at the theater was Dark Knight Rises and I loved the ambitious nature of the film. I did also see Hotel Transylvania, which I loved, but I’m biased as I worked on the film. As for books, there’s a wide variety: The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, Grim Series Poem by Kristine Ong Muslim, VII by Kyle Muntz, re-reading parts of the works of Marvin K. Mooney by Christopher Higgs. I also re-read Candide by Voltaire and was shocked at how violent and nihilistic it got, even if it was meant as satire. There’s too many good books and not enough time. I really respect a readers time and try to make sure every story I write satisfies them in one form or another.- ladybugstorytime.blogspot.com/
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
This was a well written and thought provoking short story collection. It’s intelligent and strange, with wonderful descriptions and metaphors and revelations and I enjoyed reading it. My favorite story was the first one, Chronology of an Egg, perhaps because I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first opened the book.
“’Words should have gravity. If you can’t get arrested for a word, it probably isn’t worth using.’” –Chronology of an Egg
The reason I didn’t rate this collection of stories higher was because towards the middle of the book, I felt a lot of repetition and it was losing it’s charm. It became more predictable as the main character of each story meets up with a strange and fascinating woman. This type of fiction is something that appeals to me, but it’s also easy for me to dislike it. I liked the stories in this collection, but I felt it could have been a shorter collection or hold more surprises in order for me to rate it higher. This is definitely a personal thing for me and I’m always a little hesitant to take requests to read surreal fiction because it is harder for me to rate highly.
I would definitely recommend this short story collection, especially to those that like magical realism, surrealism, and/or strange, yet intelligent stories. It was well done and I would definitely read other works by the author. - Megan Monell
I stuffed too many stories into the first draft of Watering Heaven. There were originally thirty of them and I picked the stories in sets. For my short stories, I find myself frequently latching onto themes and exploring them through three stories. For example, the stories “Searching for Normalcy,” “The Interview,” and “Urban Dreamers” were written as triplets exploring the abnormalities of corporate life. “Chronology of an Egg,” “Gradients,” and “Staccato” were another set that examined hybridized love and the metamorphosis of the American dream. Tenuously speaking, these sets of threes coalesced into the first draft of the book. It was a messy web that ran unevenly throughout. Determining the title, Watering Heaven, based on the William Blake poem, “Tyger,” helped me focus on the theme of a journey and disillusionment, weeding out a few of the stories including the one of a guy with insecurity issues because he has a green dick and two lovers who fall in love over a dying bird. After deleting three others, I had seven sets of three and one solitary story, “An Empty Page,” that was always a bit of a loner. To supplement those, I had three experimental stories that hadn’t been published yet, but that I personally loved. That brought the grand total to twenty-five.
I’ve worked in both games and films, and one of the most amazing things to see is a storyboard of the entire film through rough images on the walls. There’s often a colorkey pass and you see the hues transitioning between different arts and moments in the film. Without hearing the music, without even seeing the specific images, you can tell the mood of specific parts just by the color tone.
I made post-it notes with the titles of each story and their theme (in one or two words) underneath, then placed them in a long row. For example, the story “Beijing Romance” was ‘love,’ while “Unreflected” was ‘identity.’ Once I had them arrayed in that fashion, if any stories were too similar, I tried to separate them. Likewise, I didn’t want the story shifts to be too dramatic, so while splitting up my sets of 3s, I still tried to find interlinking themes to transition the stories. I also tried to position my more ‘experimental’ stories in locations where they wouldn’t be a distraction in case any editor found them to be the weakest links. These stories were ones where I delved into issues that were deeply personal to me as in “The Political Misconception of Getting Fired” about a guy meeting up with his high school crushed who turns out to be obsessed with UFOs; “Rodenticide,” about a failed filmmaker who decides he will die for the rights of rats; and “Resistance,” which is about a man who develops HIV resistance and wants to help a group of prostitutes escape their past.
Many of the stories were written in the long months I spent overseas in Asia, particularly Beijing and Bangkok. So I also listed location beneath these notes in order to give some variety to the locations. Once the order was set, I sent out to several publishers and was thrilled when Signal 8 Press accepted.
My editor, Marshall, was great to work with and in some ways, understood the collection as a cohesive unit better than me. While making extensive editorial suggestions throughout the collection, he also felt we should cut five stories. We had several detailed emails talking about which ones should go. Three of them were relatively easy. The last two he selected were really tough for me. With his permission, I’m including his original email:
“The Whimsy of Creation”: At first I wanted to move it to the end of the book, like the 3rd-to-last position, because I think it’s a powerful story. Thing is, it shouldn’t be paired with “Resistance” for thematic reasons. This is why I think it should go. On the one hand, as good as it is, it seems like a waste, but I also think it’s sort of grimmer and darker than the rest of the book, and inconsistent in tone.
“A Collection from Existence”: Mainly for thematic reasons, as well. I started in on it and then stopped, reread it, and decided it wasn’t adding to the collection as a whole.
It was tough to hear this. Sad to say it, but I would have much easily parted with almost any other story aside from these two. “The Whimsy of Creation” was a story I’d labored on for over a year, a narrative about a man bonding with his uncle while visiting some Asian brothels. “A Collection From Existence” was probably the most unstory-like story I’d ever written, and was intended as such as I wanted it to be a ‘collection’ rather than a story per se (when I originally published this story, I thought to myself, if I never get another story published again, I’m OK with that). It was very painful letting those two go because they were both longer pieces that I felt provided anchorage to the collection. They’d also both received extensive editing at the magazines they’d originally been published in, the Evergreen Review and Quiddity Literary International Journal.
I consulted my board and whined to my wife and tossed and turn before sending the email agreeing to the changes because I knew deep down that Marshall was right; thematically, they both stuck out. But it was still hard for me to admit as much without feeling like a part of myself was being ripped off and thrown away.
Probably one of the most important changes was also Marshall’s suggestion. Originally, I’d placed the story, “Forbidden City Hoops,” as my first story because its original publication in ZYZZYVA sparked off a long run of publications of the stories I wrote in China. It was both a thematic and symbol placement. Marshall suggested I place “Chronology of an Egg” (about a woman who gives birth to eggs when she has sex) as the first story. He was absolutely right. Many of the reviews and friends who’ve read it have told me “Egg” was the story that sucked them in.
There’s an asymmetrical self-similarity in fractals that miraculously maintains itself with scale whether you zoom in or out. The integrity and flow has to work on the individual page as well as within the range of stories, and I found in my attempt to put it together, visualizing the story using physical post-it notes, as well as getting a second perspective from an editor, helped in making the collection what it is. If I were to get another stab at it, the only thing I might change is that there’s a concentration of short short towards the back that I’d spread out a little more. At the time, having focused on the themes and locations, I didn’t include lengths of the stories as well. The breakout, like the stories, needed a third category.
Peter Tieryas Liu
