Fancasting Stray Kids: Behind the Music

 If you've travelled here from TikTok, yes, this is the droid you're looking for. If you're one of my readers or you've wandered here from the Google and have no idea what's going on, I've been fancasting the members of Stray Kids in musicals for kicks and giggles. You can find the posts on my cosplay/fan account: @kimiko971. They're all labeled so you shouldn't have any trouble finding them. I've referenced a lot of obscure musicals and specific performances/performers so here's YouTube links so you can hear what I'm talking about.

Elizabeth: The Musical:

This one comes up a lot in my fancasting because I love this show so much. There is a Korean version of this show but I'm most familiar (and in love with) the 2004 Vienna revival production; which is in German. This cast features Mate Kamaras as Der Tod (Death/Grim Reaper) and Serkan Kaya as Luchini (The Italian assassin/anarchist that murdered Elizabeth) who I feel are the best actors to ever be in these roles (and I've watched a fair number of them). 

Act 1 (with English subtitles)

Act 2 (with English subtitles)

If two hours is more time than you're willing to commit to reading subtitles (which is fair) here's the main songs that you should be acquainted with to understand why I cast the guys the way I did.

For the roles of Der Tod and Rudolph:

Die Schatten Werden Langer (The Shadows Grow Longer)

Der Tod:

Der Letzte Tanz (The Last Dance)

For the role of Luchini:

Act 1 prologue

Kitsch

I briefly mention that there's a Korean version, and if my manifesting works and the guys do get cast someday, this is the version they'd be doing. Here's a brief taste of that production. I actually like the lyrics for the Korean version of The Shadows Grow Longer. They're more poetic than in the German version. I just haven't seen an actor or idol cast in the roles in question that could compare to the 2004 Vienna cast. However, I do have to give the Korean productions a lot of credit for having better minions for Tod. In the German productions the single wing on the costumes are only present for maybe two numbers. In the Korean production they're used more and they're part of the choreography. It's really cool visually.

In the clip below, Kim Junsu is playing Tod and while he's a fantastic performer and a great actor his voice doesn't have the darker tones that Mate's does. He's definitely the best Tod I've seen in a Korean production.

The Last Dance

The Shadows Grow Longer

Chess:

This isn't so much obscure as it is passed over. It is a bit dated because it was written in and is set during the Cold War. However, I feel that it's still relevant and overall a beautiful musical. It's operatic at times, very pop in others, and yet it never feels like a variety show. Each song is perfect for that moment. The most surprising thing is that the entire show was composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, A.K.A. the guys from ABBA.

As I mentioned in the Lee Know episode the British version of the show, in my opinion, is superior to the American version of the show. In particular the original London cast is my favorite. Elaine Paige played Florence, one of my bucket list roles, Murry Head as the American, and Tommy Korberg as the Russian.

The Russian:

Anthem

The American:

one Night in Bankok

Pity the Child

Tanz der Vampire:

This musical is based on one of the cheesiest B vampire movies of all time: Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers. The musical doesn't spare the cheese. There's an entire song where scared villagers sing about garlic. I'm not kidding. They're just sitting in a pub, singing about how much they love garlic. Despite the overabundance of cheese, I love this show. The score was written by Jim Steinman--the genius behind most of Meatloaf's hits, the man who satisfied emo cravings for sad romantic angst before the word emo existed. Believe it or not, Total Eclipse of the Heart sounds better in German. The role that I talked about in my TikTok was Herbert Von Krolock, who only gets one song. I wish he got more solos but this one is very memorable. Also, the actor portraying Herbert in this clip presents the character the way that I believe Hyunjin could.

Wenn Liebe in Dir Ist

Scarlet Pimpernell:

I've adored this show since I first heard the soundtrack. It's funny, it's moving, it's sassy...it has a bit of everything while still being true to the source material. This is one of my bucket list shows (that I will probably never get to be in because most companies aren't interested in doing a revival.) The role of Chauvelin was originated by Terrence Mann (Broadway royalty and one of my favorite actors) and Percy was originated by Douglas Sills. Fun fact, rumor is that Douglas come out during intermission and, in character, read the audience for filth.

Percy:

Prayer

When I Look at You (Reprise)

She Was There

Chauvelin:

Where's the Girl

Both:

The Riddle

We Will Rock You:

As the title suggests, this musical is a post-apocalyptic tour de force featuring the best of Queen's hits. The plot is fun and the original London cast is amazing. If you're a fan of The Voice you might remember Tony Vincent. Before he auditioned for the The Voice he was on the West End, originating the lead role of this show and he was fantastic! Even if you think the plot is a cheesy vehicle for Queen's discography you can't deny that hearing these songs with these harmonies and the theatrical stylings that only musical theater can deliver, is incredibly satisfying.

Under Pressure

Who Wants to Live Forever

Bohemian Rhapsody

Mozart: L'Opera Rock:

I think it's safe to say that this is the most obscure musical in this series (and in my collection.) Imagine if the life of Mozart was given the Bridgerton treatment but with an Ateez flavored soundtrack. Clearly it was ahead of its time. The show opened in 2009 and only ran for two years. Sadly, it never left Western Europe but I feel that if it got a revival with the right cast (hint hint) it would be a global sensation.

Full show (with English subtitles)

Amadeus and Salieri:

Vivre a en crever

Amadeus:

Tatoue-moi

Salieri:

(WARNING: THIS IS THE RED LIGHTS OF THE MUSICAL. 18+!!!)

Le bien qui fait mal (The Good Thing That Hurts)

Those are my obscure pics. Hopefully that made it a lot easier to hear what I've got in my head and what influenced my casting. If nothing else at least I got you to watch some of the best of global musical theater. *grin* I love sharing my obsessions.

New releases and other updates

I have a new short story out! It's in Predator: Eyes of the Demon and it's available everywhere, in print, ebook, and audio. It's gotten great reader reviews and I'm so happy that fans are enjoying these stories.

I'm thrilled to share a table of contents with so many amazing authors. This was quite possibly the largest fandom I've written a story for. It was a little nerve-wracking so the positive feedback from fans was a great relief. I take no small amount of pleasure in the fact that I wrote a very violent story for a Disney owned IP.

In other news I was at Salt Lake FanX last week where I ran into a familiar face. This cosplayer had every detail perfect! It's by far the best Predator cosplay I've ever seen!

I was at Bard's Tower selling my books. Thank you to all the fans who stopped by and said hi. Since Larry Correia was at the booth I got to meet a lot of people who loved my story in the Monster Hunter Files. I got to connect with a lot of new readers. Friday I went to the con in my Aizawa cosplay and needed out at the My Hero Academia voice actor panel.

In other news, I've moved to Utah. I desperately needed a fresh start and so far I'm really liking it here. I'm settled into my new place and writing again. Right now I'm working on a short story for an anthology that a friend is putting together. That story is due on Halloween. As soon as it's turned in I'll get back to work on a historical novel that's a bit of a passion project. It's about 30% done. For that novel I'll have to publish it traditionally (through one of the big New York publishers) which is why I set aside the next Oneiroi War book. As soon as the historical novel is done and making the rounds to agents and editors I'll get started on book three of the Oneiroi war. I have the last three books in that series partially outlined already. I know how the series is going to end so don't worry. I will finish the series. My plan for the rest of the series is to write the final three books back to back so I can release them in quick succession. I don't want to keep anyone waiting longer than I absolutely have to. I feel bad making fans wait this long but it was unavoidable since my life went sideways last year, causing a bit of a mental health crisis. I'm much better now and back to writing daily. It feels really good to be making progress on these projects again.

Shang Chi and the Legend of Asian American Representation

I've thought long and hard about whether I wanted to write this or not. I loved Shang Chi. I've seen it twice already and if a friend asked me to go with them I'd go see it a third time without hesitation. It's an excellent film. I don't want to rag on it. I would rather talk about all the things that I loved about it like how they used different martial arts sales as an expression of each character's personality or how Michelle Yeoh stole every scene (as she should). I was about to forget all about my one big criticism when I saw this Gizmodo article. After reading that article I can't let it slide.

The article didn't make me angry. What it did was reinforce what disappointed me about Shang Chi. I went to the theater hoping that I would have a "Black Panther moment". I wanted to be as inspired and moved as African Americans were after that film premiered. I wanted to feel seen.

I wasn't.

It also wasn't entirely the film's fault.

A large part of it was mine.

I bought into the idea that this film would be a bastion of Asian American representation. I thought I'd see myself and my odd dual-culture experience reflected in these characters. Unfortunately in doing that I did the one thing that I've privately criticized others (and Hollywood in general) for doing. I forgot that Asia and the Asian diaspora is really big and really diverse. I saw the word Asian and glomped onto it without stopping to find out what kind of Asian they really meant.

Shang Chi was clearly focused on Chinese and Chinese-American culture -- which is where the focus needed to be. Was Shang Chi a good representation of Chinese and Chinese-American culture? I don't know. You'll have to ask someone who is Chinese or Chinese-American. I can tell you that when Jon Jon says that he speaks ABC it completely went over my head. I had no idea that he was switching to a diaspora dialect. That phrase isn't a part of my lexicon and that's okay because the reference wasn't intended for me.

I'm Japanese-American but I'm also from a very...secluded part of the Japanese-American community. I'm the child of a half-blood who was adopted. I've never met my Japanese relatives, I've never been to Japan, and I speak very little Japanese. 95% of my family is white as was the community I grew up in. I'm one of the few Japanese people who identify as a Weeb because literally everything I know about Japanese culture came from anime or manga. I was an idiot to think for a moment that anything resembling me or my culture would be in a Chinese superhero movie. I can't even find it in Japanese films. No one is going to be making films any time soon about my tiny little corner of the diaspora.

I do lay a little blame on Marvel and the director. As he said in the Gizmodo article, he was trying to make this authentic to "Asian American culture". It's a phrase that pops up every now and then and it triggers me every time. Why? Because there isn't a universal Asian-American culture or community. We have some similar shared experiences such as being called a slur for a nationality that we don't belong to. But the things that a Chinese-American household does is going to be different from those in a Desi household or of any other Asian diaspora household. It's impossible to represent every Asian culture in one film and it's inappropriate to assume that one culture is the official representative of 1/3 of the globe. The vast differences in the diaspora makes it even more complicated. Yet despite all that the term Asian American representation keeps appearing in a strange code switch type of context.

I don't know whether to call this a Hollywood assumption or an overgeneralized code so they can say they're being inclusive. Whatever it is it's something that is a part of the default mindset of a lot of Americans -- and sadly it's a mindset that Asian-Americans sometimes default to without meaning to. It's a pervasive American thing and it's going to take a lot of time and work to reset that default. Even being aware of it isn't going to reset it. I defaulted to it without realizing it. That's why I was so disappointed. I forgot myself. I was more disappointed with myself than I was with the film and I've had to come to terms with the fact that seeing a movie highlighted that fault in myself.

In spite of all of this I do really like the film. When a friend asked my thoughts on it after we saw it, specifically what did they get right about Asian culture, I didn't know how to answer. I left the theater feeling the same way I did when I saw Hero and House of Flying Daggers. I saw a great martial arts film and had fun. But can I call Shang Chi my hero? Sadly, no. There are more characters I can say that about in My Hero Academia than I can in any Marvel or Disney property. But I couldn't in the moment find the words to express that without putting down what was a great film, one of the few with an almost entirely Asian cast. I ended up telling my friend about some of the things I liked in general, which satisfied him. I kept my disappointment to myself (which is a very Japanese thing to do) only to voice it later on the internet (which is a very American thing to do).

I'm glad the director and the studio made an effort to make this a faithful representation of Chinese and Chinese-American culture. I'm glad that they hired Asian actors to play Asian characters and that they weren't afraid to have Chinese dialogue with English subtitles. Hopefully this film will continue to be successful. I can still hope that it will encourage more studios to make more films with diverse casts and themes. Maybe someday before I die I can have that "Black Panther moment".

New releases!

In case you missed it Book 2 in The Oneiroi War series is out! I'm really happy it's finally out in the world! You can get it here. It features another fabulous cover by Lee Moyer!

Here's a taste of what you'll find in this book: 

A girl without hope

A vengeful god

An emerging power 

Sachiko “Koko” Nakamura’s life was turned upside down when she lost one of her dads to cancer. When a stranger gives her an unusual pendant it opens to her a world of possibilities. It also puts her in the crosshairs of a vengeful god.

When Sair locked Morpheus out of the Demos he thought that would be the end of the constant danger but it was only the beginning of their troubles. The Demos is dying.

Morpheus is in the real world and in a new body. If he can get his hands on the Moonflower no one, not even the gods, would be able to stop him…and he knows who has it.

Alliances shift and secrets are revealed in this exciting continuation of The Oneiroi War.


I also have a short story out in the Straight Outta Dodge City anthology edited by my good friend David Boop. It's out now! Oh, did I mention that my name is on the cover of this one? There's a lot of exciting tales by greats in the industry as well as lesser known authors. My tale is a thrilling adventure about a transcontinental airship service that has a run in with a Native American deity.

I have another short story coming out June 1st in Blaze Ward Presents #3: Nuns With Guns. You can find it here. I'm really excited to be in this anthology! This story was so much fun to write. It's heavily inspired by anime and it's set in the same universe as The Void Around the Sword's Edge. If you're not familiar with the story you can find it in Fiction River: Pulse Pounders Special Kobo Edition. You can also find a video of me reading it here.

Finally I have yet another short story coming out in late June in A Procession of Faeries #5: The Wild Hunt edited by Jamie Ferguson. This tale is dark fantasy and it was inspired by a local theme park: The Enchanted Forest. I wrote this story backstage during Avenue Q -- my last production with Albany Civic Theater. I don't have a cover image or pre-order details yet but I'll share them when I have them!


With all of these stories coming out you'd think I'd take a break, but no. I'm hard at work outlining a novel. Sadly it's not the next Oneiroi War. It's a standalone historical novel set in postwar Japan and it's a story that is near and dear to my heart. Once I've finished that then my plan is to go back to Oneiroi War and write the last three books back to back. That should keep me busy for the next two years.

I hope all is well with you! Happy reading!

Music from The Closed Game

Dance plays a major role in this book and it's hard to dance without music. I didn't name any particular songs in the book but there were specific songs that I had Koko dancing to during those scenes. If you want to listen to those songs while reading the scenes I've listed them below along with YouTube links. If you're reading this post because you're a dancer or a choreographer who wants loves the idea of the routine and wants to perform a full version, be my guest. Just make sure you record it and tag me on Twitter (@KimMay_ninja) so I can watch it!

Here they are!



Chapter 2: Harajuku Fosse
         
              But by Koda Kumi

Chapter 14: Bitch Play My Song

              Nothing Else Matters by Apocalyptica

Chapter 20: Pinch Me

              My Beautiful Woman by The Backstreet Boys

Chapter 28: Turn It Out

              Oceano by Josh Groban


It've also put it together on a Spotify play list. (For some reason Spotify keeps adding songs to the playlist that I didn't intend to be there. I keep hiding them and for some strange reason they keep coming back. Sorry.)


Thanks for reading my book!

2020 release schedule

I've got some great news! I have another short story coming out February 4th! My story, Stealing Thunder From the Gods, will be in Straight Outta Dodge City, edited by David Boop!

It's available for pre-order on Amazon.

I love this story and I'm thrilled to be in another Baen anthology! I'm also ecstatic that my name is on the cover! This is the first time my name has made it on the cover! Oh, and do you see the huge names that I get to share a table of contents with? I'd be honored to be in an anthology with any one of them but to be with all of them is amazing! It's hard to contain the squee!

I also have news about Oneiroi War 2. The official title will be The Closed Game and right now it's on track for a January 7th release. I don't have the cover art yet but I'll share it when I do. I've almost finished the final edit -- just seven chapters left! I don't foresee any delays so fingers crossed that nothing happens to postpone it. I'm eager to finally see the next installment out in the world! I know many fans of The Moonflower are eager to read it.

In other news I'll be attending Superstars Writing Seminar in February. I've been asked to give my presentation on how to make the most of book signings. There's still space available if you want to come hear it. You can also check out the list of instructors at the link above. It's going to be an informative seminar and I'm looking forward to it! That's all I have planned for next year so far. As always once plans solidify for anything else I'll post the details here.

The Baker and Taylor situation

Recently Baker and Taylor, one of the largest book distributors in the US, announced that it was shutting down its retail branch. A lot of the authors I know reacted to the news with a "meh" or "okay, whatever" type of reaction while others who know more about the retail side of the business were uttering long strings of expletives. Both reactions are valid for different reasons but I wanted to go into more depth of what exactly this change means and how it affects authors as well as bookstores because I suspect that there are many who don't understand the situation.

Not only was Baker and Taylor one of the largest book distributors left it's also one of the last. There are still a few small regional distributors on the east coast but B&T and Ingram are the big boys. If a store didn't want to order directly from every publishing company whose books they sell (and few do because that's a huge headache) or if they're like some store who can't order directly because the big publishers are terrible at processing new account information in a timely manner then they have to order through a distributor. B&T gave a slightly better discount than Ingram and had some other great perks so out of the two they were the preferable company to deal with.

I do want to emphasize that B&T isn't going out of business. Their library sales and distribution division is still business as usual. It's only the book store side that they're shutting down slowly over the next two months. The reason why is a little hazy. Their public press release said one thing while their press release to their retail clients (the bookstores) said another. It could very well be both reasons but without further information it's impossible to know for sure. As far as I can tell it was a corporate/executive decision and most of the folks at B&T had no clue it was coming. Their staff are as sad about the announcement as the stores are and this definitely wasn't done on a whim. The execs put a lot of thought and study into other options before pulling the plug.

On the book store side the announcement has caused a lot of panic because now it limits options for ordering new stock and whether or not they can discount titles to stay competitive. It also may affect what stores choose to stock because the slightly less favorable terms mean that it's harder to financially justify taking a chance on a new author or a book on an esoteric subject matter. (More on that later.) Pretty much every bookselling association in the country has been emailing Ingram since the announcement to find out what their plans are to facilitate the extra demand they're going to recieve. The only information that's come out of Ingram so far is that they're committed to helping stores that don't already have accounts with them get set up and that they intend to increase their stock. The first point it great and a relief to hear. The second point has me worried. Why? Ingram hasn't revealed how they're going to increase stock and what they're increasing stock on.

There are three options that I can see for how they can increase stock.

Option 1: If they have unused warehouse space then they already have the ability to increase stock. Ingram has multiple warehouses across the country so it's possible they can put up more shelving to accommodate the extra stock. I don't believe it's probable but it is possible.

Option 2: They can decrease their stock of slower selling authors and/or subject matters and sidelines to create room for the more popular items. This is an option I think is far more likely since it's something that they're already practicing. They like to keep a pretty fast turn around so they have as little stock sitting around as possible. It's not unusual for them to have almost completely phased out of stock a title that's only been out two or three months -- and once they've phased it out that's it. They're not ever going to restock it.

Option 3: Purchase more warehouses and hire the necessary staff to run them. This would be the smartest move for them, especially since their business is going to increase, and the best option for the book business and publishing as a whole. Will they actually fork out the money to do this? I don't know. My fingers are crossed.

There is a pretty unlikely but not too far out of the realm of possibility option 4; which is to convince the big publishers to do more print on demand trade paperbacks. Some large publishers like Macmillan already do this and Ingram has a POD division that can facilitate it. The downside is that they're often outrageously priced which makes it highly unlikely that the public will like it if it does happen.

Whatever option Ingram chooses it's going to be rough the first few months as they figure out exactly how much their demand has changed and publishers figure out how much more of a print run they have to set aside for the Ingram order. Publishers are already kind of slow to fulfill Ingram orders (it's not unusual for it to take 2-4 weeks for stock to reach the Ingram warehouses) so part of the solution will depend on how publishers react and adapt as well. Hopefully they adapt quickly so stores don't lose too much in the transition. It's hard to ask customers to wait a few weeks for the warehouse to restock when they can go online and have it on their doorstep the next day. Those lost sales hurt and since brick and mortar stores are on the rebound it would be a shame to see any store have to close because they lost too much money waiting for backordered stock to arrive.

How does all of this affect authors? If you're traditionally published it's going to affect you the most. I'm willing to bet that most of Ingram's increased stock is going to be bestsellers and new releases that have received a lot of positive pre-release buzz. For new authors and mid-list authors it's going to be a lot harder to stay in the game. It won't be impossible but it's going to be harder to have the blockbuster first week sales to get another book deal because the necessary stock level for those kind of sales numbers isn't likely to be in the Ingram warehouse. I'd love to be proven wrong on that but honestly, I don't foresee it happening. For NYT bestsellers the worst I foresee happening to them is that they have to carry large stacks of book plates to sign when they're on tour so the people who couldn't get their hands on a copy because of warehouse shortages can still get a signature.

For indie authors this can be a great opportunity -- especially if you distribute through Ingram Sparks.  If you don't distribute through Ingram Sparks now would be a good time to start. Ingram Sparks titles won't be effected by warehouse space shortages at all because those come from separate facilities. The big key is to make sure your books are available at the industry standard discount (that's 70-75% on the back end so it's the standard 40-45% on the store's end). These coming weeks as stores transition over would be a great time to visit local indie stores or mail them a one page sell sheet about your books and highlight the information about them being available POD at Ingram at the standard discount. I believe that information will become a bigger selling point then it was before since orders for POD titles can fulfilled without any additional hassle. In these early transition months your titles will be easier for a store to restock than a lot of traditionally published titles.

If I hear more concrete information in the coming months I'll add it to this post but this is all I know right now. I hope the situation and the ramifications are more clear to you than it was before. I'm still hoping that the transition will be more smooth than I expect it to be but I'm not holding my breath either. As they say, only time will tell.