Sue Lynn Tan is the author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess, a debut fantasy novel available now. We asked Sue Lynn to explain her inspiration for the book in her own words.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a romantic fantasy inspired by the legend of Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess—a story I have loved since I was a child, staring at a picture of the goddess in her beautiful robes, among the clouds. It is often retold during the annual Mid-Autumn festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, on the night of a full moon. This festival is an important one in my culture, a celebration of family, reunion, and love, which are also key themes in my book.
According to the myth, Chang’e was married to Houyi, the famed archer. One day, ten suns rose in the sky, causing great devastation to the world of mortals. Houyi was tasked by the gods to end the suffering, and he shot down nine of the suns, leaving one to light the earth. He was gifted an elixir which would grant him immortality, but did not drink it, as he was unwilling to leave his beloved wife. Yet it was Chang’e who took it instead, becoming immortal and flying to the heavens. Some believe that she was exiled to the solitary moon for her theft by the Jade Emperor, while others think she chose it because it was the closest place to our world. It was said that Houyi missed his wife greatly and began laying out offerings of her favourite foods on the anniversary she left, with others soon following suit and praying to the moon goddess for good fortune, happiness, and safety—beginning a tradition of the Mid-Autumn festival.
The first line in Daughter of the Moon Goddess is, “There are many legends about my mother”. There are indeed many variations of the myth, as to why Chang’e took the elixir. In one, she swallowed it to prevent it from falling into the hands of Houyi’s thieving apprentice. In another, it was said that Houyi became a tyrannical king, and Chang’e consumed the elixir to help his people who would otherwise suffer forever under his reign. Or it might have been, that she simply wanted to become a goddess.
Chang’e’s heartrending separation from her husband saddened me for I believed she loved Houyi, and I often wondered if there might be more to the tale. What if Chang’e did it to protect someone else, whom she loved as much as her husband? A child, perhaps, who would possess the fire and passion of her parents, and who would fight as fiercely for her mother as her father did for the realm.
From this idea, Daughter of the Moon Goddess was born, a fantasy of immortals, magic, and love—both family and romantic—in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.
This story means so much to me, filled with so many things I love of my heritage, the stories I grew up with, the elements of Chinese fantasy which fascinated me in my childhood. In Daughter of the Moon Goddess, I wanted to both honour the original myth as well as take it in a different direction, and I am excited for more readers to discover the legend of the moon goddess.
