She scrapes together money for her hormonal treatments by doing porn chats online, putting up with 'clients' that call her a freak but also find her alluring, but what Katrina really wants is to play her violin to create beautiful music based on video game soundtracks. Neither parent can accept the fact that Katrina is transgender. Her father gets drunk and hits her and her mother. Katrina Nguyen can no longer stand it at home. And now she thinks she has found the seventh.

Shizuka Satomi, once a brilliant violinist, now a feared and legendary violin teacher known as the Queen of Hell, has traded her soul to the Devil, but she has an escape clause: If she can deliver the souls of seven of her best students to her demon-in-charge Tremon Phillipe, Shizuka herself will be able to walk free. When was the last time I read a book this mind-blowingly original? Light from Uncommon Stars takes elements of different familiar story lines - a deal with the Devil, aliens from outer space living among us, and the all-too-real struggles of a young trans woman trying to survive abuse and rejection - and combines them into something completely new, jarring, unexpected and beautiful, much like the Bartók sonata around which the plot revolves. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.Īs the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth.

She's found her final candidate.īut in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. An adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

The light from uncommon stars