I’ve been waiting for Keshe’s debut novel for what seems like years, so I’m so excited to have her here on Bookish Brews with us today. Today we’re talking about writing myths into stories, and more importantly, Keshe’s new book The Girl with No Reflection. I hope you enjoy our quick chat!
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The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow
A young woman chosen as the crown prince’s bride must travel to the royal palace to meet her new husband—but her world is shaken when she discovers the dark truth the royal family has been hiding for centuries—in this lush fantasy debut perfect for fans of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and Violet Made of Thorns.
💫 Atmospheric 💀 Dark Content ✒️ Debut Author 🪄 Unique Magic
- Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Interview with Keshe Chow
Amanda: Thank you so much for joining us today Keshe! I’m excited to talk to you about weaving myths through stories. But first, can you introduce yourself and tell us about your book The Girl with No Reflection?
Keshe: Thank you so much for having me, Amanda! I’ve long admired your work and ethos and feel so honoured to speak with you.
I’m a Malaysian-born Chinese Australia author of speculative fiction and romance. My debut, The Girl With No Reflection was released in August 2024. It’s a YA fantasy romance novel, inspired by Chinese mythology, about a dark mirror world populated by sentient reflections cursed to mimic us.
In the book, the curse is starting to wear off. The reflections, getting restless, are waiting to burst out of the mirrors, attack, and replace us. My main character is tasked with closing the mirrors, but she falls in love with one of the reflections, so if she’s successful then they’ll wind up stuck on opposite sides of the mirrors.
Amanda: First, let’s talk about what drew you to the Hou Yi and Chang’e myths. Why did you choose to write those into your book? What makes them special to you?
Keshe: I just love the Hou Yi and Chang’e myth, because it’s so deeply romantic, yet tragic. Depending on the iteration of the myth, Chang’e either chooses to sacrifice herself for her husband, the great archer Hou Yi, by drinking the Elixir of Immortality that was meant for him. Or she drinks it to escape from him. Either way, it’s a myth where Chang’e, as a woman, has agency – something which I wanted to explore in my novel.
In The Girl With No Reflection, the main character Ying Yue lives in a patriarchal society, and while it is not exactly analogous to historical China, it has some similarities. Through the story, she makes decisions (for good or ill) to break out of the mold she’s expected to conform to.
On a grander scale, it was important to me to incorporate Chinese myths into the story. Firstly, because of my own cultural background, but also because the short story that my book is based on – Fauna of Mirrors by Jorge Luis Borges – was originally said to have been based on Chinese folklore. Whether this is true or not has never been fully elucidated, but if it is true then to a certain degree the story was appropriated… So it felt right to bring it back to its roots and weave Chinese folklore through the narrative even more heavily.
Amanda: I know you focused a lot on the imagery to incorporate these myths into your story, what are some of the parallels that readers can look out for?
Keshe: I really wanted to play into the Chang’e myth by surrounding Ying with a lot of ‘moon’ motifs and energy, whereas the love interest (Prince Zhang Lin) represents the sun.
The fish imagery might seem a little arbitrary, but that was drawn from the original Borges story, which stated that guardians would be placed between our world and the mirror world and these would take the form of fish.
The carp and dragon symbolism comes from another Chinese myth, the carp at the Lóngmén gate.
There are also callbacks to other Chinese mythological creatures such as three-legged crows, áoyīn, and more.
There is also symbolism in the names I’ve given various characters. For example, the main character’s name means ‘moon reflected on water’ so the opening scene is of her staring at the reflection of her face, pale and moon-like, on the surface of a pond. The meanings of the characters’ names become extremely important toward the end of the book… I won’t explain since it’s a spoiler!
Basically, I incorporated a lot of Chinese mythology and folklore into every aspect of the story!
Amanda: In general, besides imagery, what are some other ways to incorporate mythology into writing? Are there other things that you did or other ways that you have seen other writers do well?
Keshe: I think just weaving it into the general tapestry of the world and the story works well. I recently read ARCs of Last Dragon of the East and Legend of the White Snake, both books that incorporate Chinese mythology into the narrative, and it’s done so in a very organic way while pausing for long enough to explain the lore to readers that might not already be familiar with it.
Amanda: Myths often come from deep and complex oral histories, meaning the stories can change over time, between each retelling, and between regions. How do you balance this knowledge with the pressure to get the story “right”?
Keshe: This can be difficult, to be quite honest, because even the popular myths have different versions according to the region or era you’re from! There are certainly some myths that require a little more sensitivity than others, for example some mythological figures are lauded and seen as almost god-like by certain people. Even the archer Hou Yi, the star of the Moon Goddess and Archer myth, is sometimes a hero and sometimes a villain, depending on which version of the story you read.
So for certain mythological figures and creatures, I was careful not to draw direct inferences to the inspiration by doing things such as using the same naming conventions, or making the story arc identical to the original. Instead, I took aspects of those stories, drawing parallels which would make them meaningful to people familiar with Chinese folklore and history.
I’m very upfront about the fact that this book is a second world fantasy – it’s not a direct corollary of our world, or of Chinese history, nor is it supposed to be. Even though it’s inspired by Imperial China and its mythology, it shouldn’t be seen as representative of the history, politics, social order, spirituality, or customs of that era.
Amanda: What would you tell other writers who want to incorporate mythology into their stories? Do you have any wisdom to share? Any worries that you had to overcome in publishing your story?
Keshe: I was lucky because my publisher agreed to hiring a sensitivity/authenticity reader who was able to read through the manuscript with the Chinese cultural elements in mind. The manuscript also underwent a queer sensitivity read.
In the end, my advice would be to go ahead and do it, especially if it’s inspired by your own heritage! You have the connections and are the best placed person to do the research and handle these things in a mindful manner. Plus, readers are hungry for mythology stories that are new, different, and that transport them to new places.
Amanda: Thank you so much for joining us today! Is there anything else you’d like to say before you leave us today? What’s next for you on your author journey?
Keshe: I’m currently working on my next YA fantasy, which is coming out with Delacorte Press in Fall 2025. It’s called For No Mortal Creature and is a cross between Wuthering Heights and Inception, but with ghosts. It’s based on a Chinese folklore idea that ghosts can die and become ghosts of ghosts, and exactly how deep does the afterlife go? It’s even darker and more viscous than The Girl With No Reflection; I’ve recently seen the working draft of the cover art and it is STUNNING. I can’t wait to show everyone!
