When I first became aware of author Justinian Huang, he had been promoting his debut novel, The Emperor and The Endless Palace, on social media. In the post back in February, Huang issued an “apology” to those offended by the material in his book.
He begins by saying, “It’s come to my attention that the excessive amount of sex in my book has upset a lot of people. When I wrote this book, I just wanted to write a book I wanted to read, but in the last week, I’ve been name-called, trolled, and sex-shamed. I just wanted to say to those folks who are rightfully offended by my book — now that my hardcovers have come in… I know what I need to do with them.”
He then proceeds to spank himself with his book.
It was at this moment I knew I needed to read this book — and it’s juicy.
“Can I tell you something?” Huang tells The Nerds of Color. “I’m actually a very shy person. I do like to act and put on this persona of spanking myself with the hardcovers like that was just all fine. I felt like I was wearing drag in a way. You have to hustle when it comes to being a debut author.”
The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a romantic love story about finding your soulmate through different timelines. These two characters are drawn to each other in 4 BCE, 1740, and present day. How can you separate two souls meant to be? What makes Huang’s love story extra juicy is the fact it focuses on two gay Asian men — a demographic that has rarely been given the spotlight in media.
“Some people have this preconceived notion that Asian men are demure or desexualized beings,” says Huang. “I think there is a huge fear of Asian male sexuality. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to a lot of my friends who are OnlyFans performers who happen to be Asian and male, and they tell me there’s a scope of fear and lust for it.”
It’s one of the reasons why Huang doesn’t shy away from the explicit sex scenes in the book. Sex between two men is normal — and should be treated as such — and seen just as sexy as scenes between a man and a woman. Huang wrote what he wanted to read and is very proud of the results.
“[I enjoyed] writing Asian men that were very sexually swaggering and very sexually confident because that’s actually [my] truth,” he shares. “They say write what you know – and I know spicy Asian men, and that’s what I wrote about. It wasn’t me trying to prove a point, really. It’s just my reality.”
But, of course, sex with a purpose, Huang explains. All the sex scenes — as explicit as it is — have a point to them that moves the characters along in the story. As a former film executive, he knew every scene needed to have a point to move the plot along or create character development. So, every sex scene in his book had a reason. “I would never have a superfluous sex scene just for the sake of it. That’s gratuitous.”
Huang spent a long time researching for his book since he based part of the story on a real Chinese emperor in the Han Dynasty who fell in love with one of the men in his court – and his kingdom supported it.
“I just thought it was such an epic love story that people don’t know,” Huang recalls. “Just in terms of human love stories. It’s so beautiful. I thought it was a shame that it wasn’t known. So, I knew I wanted to write about it.”
When Huang worked for DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio in China, he visited universities and asked professors about the emperor and his lover. They would provide him with the information. He was surprised at how open the scholars talked about that emperor and his lover.
“I had a great time hearing the history from them firsthand,” he says. “Over the years of doing this, I started to put together a lot of the story in my head about this emperor and his lover because, at first, they were very unapproachable. They were very mythological. Then I was inspired by books like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, who took these royals and made them very approachable young men. I can do that, too.”
He decided to create three separate times — the first being the emperor with his lover, but the second story based on one of China’s few queer folk tales, Huang Jiulang by Pu Songling — a tale about an innkeeper who becomes smitten with a fox spirit. The third timeline is more reflective of Huang’s own time period.
“I remixed [these stories] completely for my book,” Huang explains. “But, the whole point of having something ancient history than having traditional folklore and then having a present-day [story] — all three of them concerning Asian folks was to resonate the point that queerness has always been part of my heritage. It’s important for us to acknowledge that. I call it a magical birthright for Asian folks. We have very rich histories now being uncovered, which is exciting.
It’s about time queer Asian men get to tell their stories and be celebrated. With the growing number of movies and TV shows showcasing gay and queer men, Huang is excited for Asian men — especially gay Asian men — to get their due.
“People have been telling me that my book is one of those [celebrating gay men],” he says. “So it’s good when you’re in it. It’s hard to step out of the bubble occasionally. I think straight Asian men get afraid when queer Asian men are a little louder. They’re afraid that they already feel that Asian men are emasculated or feminized or whatever. They think that us leading this train of celebrating male sexiness and male bodies will leave them behind. Whenever I can, I try to remind them if you look at Classic Hollywood, to be perceived as queer by women is the first step to becoming a Sex God. I encourage them to let their queer brothers lead or co-lead… It’s not just a queer Asian male renaissance — I hope it’s an all-Asian male Renaissance here.”
Check out the full, unadulterated interview below:
The Emperor and The Endless Palace by Justinian Huang is available everywhere now.
One thought on “‘The Emperor and the Endless Palace’ Author Justinian Huang on Queer Love Stories”
Comments are closed.