Wendelin Gray Gets Feted By the 2020 Royal Dragonfly Awards

Local Pittsburgh author Wendelin Gray was recently honored with another couple of book awards, this time for her four-volume, horror-fantasy satire, The Lucky Cat Series. The 2020 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, a contest run by Story Monsters Magazine featuring K-12 publishing, announced their winners at the beginning of December:

https://www.storymonsters.com/book-briefs/2020-royal-dragonfly-winners-announced

Volume 3 of the series, Lucky Cat and the Gods of War, won 1st place in the 2020 Royal Dragonfly Award’s political novel category; volume 4, Lucky Cat and the Kaiju Horde, won 2nd place in the same category; and volumes 2 and 1 from the series got honorable mentions, which is the award's third place slot. The series’ volume 3 and 4 book trailers also got a few honorable mentions in one of the marketing categories.

Previously, volume 1, Kumori and the Lucky Cat, had been named to Kirkus Review’s Best Indie Book List of 2019, and other volumes of the series had gotten some good reviews from Kirkus, too. This volume, which tied with volume 2 of the series for the honorable mention position of the Royal Dragonfly Awards, takes place after World War III when the world is reorganized into three predatory totalitarian superstates. Naïve office lady Kumori Ando gets pulled into the political intrigue when her heirloom, magical lucky cat statue sends her to rescue a handsome young man hiding in her apartment’s dumpster. Joining the resistance movement, she quickly gets in over her head. “Much dystopian fiction can be heavy-handed, but Gray…employs a spare, delicate style that’s effective, whether describing an interrogation, quiet scenes, or a huge cat’s rage” – Kirkus Review.

Volume 2 of the series, Lucky Cat and the Snow Maiden’s Vengeance, goes back to the time just after World War III when the Reorganization of the world takes place. It follows the original owner of the magical lucky cat statue, Suna Hagiwara, and her sister Yuki. Nurse Suna goes to the new superstate of Eurasia to work in the gleaming ruling city, while dollmaker Yuki is left behind when their homeland of Japan turns into a Forbidden Zone where the superstate deals with its undesirables. “Her characters are well developed and the worldbuilding feels solid…. Another absorbing, entertaining entry in this one-of-a-kind SF series.” – Kirkus Reviews.

In volume 3 of the Lucky Cat Series, Lucky Cat and the Gods of War, which took the 1st place award, a curse raises the superstate’s only serious opposition across the globe, a band of supernaturally animated Hinamatsuri dolls and their minions who begin a guerrilla war against Eurasia as they take Suna’s niece Chika Hagiwara under their wing. Harnessing the power of mystical roses destroyed in the French Alps by the superstate decades earlier, the Empress and her royal court bring their own unyielding form of justice to the city. “In this follow-up to Lucky Cat and the Snow Maiden’s Vengeance (2018), Gray continues to add meticulous layers to her saga of spirit-animated figurines battling for humanity’s freedom…the author’s portrayal of magic is subtle and rewarding…This engaging and complex series installment offers fans more supernatural maneuvering.” - Kirkus Review. Here is one of the book trailers that got an honorable mention from the awards, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIFYSf2CSfg

The Lucky Cat Series’ final volume, Lucky Cat and the Kaiju Horde, which took the 2nd place award, moves ahead in time. Long after the superstate of Eurasia’s guerilla war with the dolls has ended, a high-ranking official’s fascination with Chika Hagiwara’s mysterious rose garden in the village of Tyosha leads him into a trap. Now challenging the dolls to defend themselves and threatening to unmask their true identities, his meddling ends with a terrifying confrontation, and the magical Hinamatsuri dolls return to fight against the superstate as the truce is broken, unleashing the kaiju at their command in a battle for the soul of Eurasia. “As in previous volumes, Gray offers a trademark blend, where gory fights and the Japanese monster genre—known as kaiju—are combined with descriptions of subtle delicacy.” – Kirkus Review. This is the second book trailer that received an honorable mention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoOe_oBDmPU

Wendelin Gray is a linguist, writer, artist, and dancer. Fluent in three Asian languages, she has been a core volunteer on programming and event planning with the Silk Screen Asian Arts Organization in Pittsburgh, PA, from 2007 to 2018. She also has been a regular contributor to Pittsburgh Japanese Culture Society events since 2011 and has provided regular programming for the adult education program at the Monroeville Library since 2015.

Her horror novel, The Haunting at Ice Pine Peak, won the 2016 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award Bronze Level for Young Adult Fiction E-book and earned the 2018 Story Monsters Approved Seal in the Tween Category.

Gray blogs regularly about East Asian language and literature at http://icepinepalace.wordpress... and https://sunrisesintheeast.wordpress.com/.

All of her books are available in print and e-book editions at Amazon.com.