"Vivid and highly addictive" - the BBC. Tired of administering his kingdom ever since he was a child, Taliesin, the Son of Heaven and the 33rd Emperor of Jing, decides to max out his budget. He sets sail with a hundred glorious treasure ships to hunt down the mythical black unicorn. "Shonagon's in charge," he announces to the appalled Ministers of Cabinet. Can the divine swordswoman Sei Shonagon outwit Machiavellian dukes, quell unruly ronin, and fight rebellious Noh ninja on her own? Or does she need help from the handsome but terribly prim priest, Takanoha? Voyage to the Dark Kirin is the second novel of the Hoshimaruhon series, a wonderfully funny, sexy, swashbuckling romp through the familiar landscape of Chinese and Japanese swordfighting epics, stylishly delivered, as its opening credits promise, "in modern English and in full Technicolor". Rated (R) for Adult Themes.


Wena Poon is an American novelist and photographer. Her first novel Alex y Robert, about a Texan woman bullfighter in Spain, was adapted by the BBC and broadcast as a 10-episode Radio 4 series. Her play The Wood Orchid, about the Chinese woman warrior Hua Mulan, was professionally staged in Westminster Abbey, London by the Bush Theatre. Author of 13 books of literary fiction, Wena won the UK’s Willesden Herald Short Story Prize and was nominated for France’s Prix Hemingway and the UK’s Bridport Prize for Poetry. She was also a two-time nominee for Ireland’s Frank O’Connor Award and the Singapore Literature Prize. Born and raised in Singapore, Wena is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is a lawyer by profession. Her website is www.wenapoon.com.