“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
— James Baldwin
(On MOBILE, navigate with the SANDWICH MENU above)
THOUGHTFUL
REALISM-BASED
HUMAN
SCI FI
It’s hopepunk
NOT military sci fi, alien invasion, space opera, macho individualism, violence worship, or time travel. NO “AI” writing.
More like CLASSIC sci fi.
(I register copyright for my books before publishing them.
NO pop-up ‘subscribe’ boxes on this site!)
LIBRARIANS and BOOK CLUBS:
MSD is carried in Arapahoe Library System and BiblioBoard.
CotF is carried in Arapahoe Library System and Biblioboard.
Both are in the CO State Library Book Club Resource.
My kind of reader:
- is an adult, new adult, or precocious young adult
- enjoys convention-breaking stories / literary sci fi
- enjoyed "The Expanse" (books or tv), "Don't Look Up" (movie), "Upload" (tv), "Speaker for the Dead", "Arrival" (movie), "Infomocracy", and/or "Delta-V"
- tries to think globally and objectively, and appreciates diversity and challenging the status quo
- seeks ways to find non-magical hope in the face of this world's challenges
- has a natural curiosity about the real world, including why we think the way we do
- perhaps is neurodivergent, or knows the immigrant experience or marginalized experience
- appreciates the proper use of language, and doesn't mind occasionally looking up new words
Nov 2024
(this one’s for ~10-12+)
Oct 2023
Oct 2022
What I do:
- ↑ global characters (usually more than one focus character)
- ↑ irreverent/subversive social commentary
- ↑ thought-provoking, emotionally impactful stories
- ↑ realism as a default
What I DON’T do:
- ↓ write-to-trend
- ↓ "chosen one" stories
- ↓ a status quo world unaffected by humanity’s mistakes
- ↓ white-male-American-centric focus characters
- ↓ gratuitous violence or macho individualism
- ↓ use AI in any part of my creative process (I might use AI tools for translation or similar functions)
(If you relate to the “My Kind of Reader” section, and the Do/Don’t list, stay in touch through my periodic newsletter!)
Looks like your average white guy, but isn’t…
Required headshot
(Photo by Henok.T Photography)
Some ‘Lower Decks’ sarcastic Vulcan salutes for you
(Photo by Henok.T Photography)
X. Ho Yen is the pen name of a Cuban-Chinese-East Prussian child of refugee immigrants. When his Cantonese grandfather emigrated (as a contract laborer) to Cuba, his Chinese name was interpreted as “Ho Yen” and spelled as “Hogen” (the ‘y’ sound is spelled with a ‘g’ in Spanish). This pen name is not cultural appropriation. It’s roots.
The effects of unrecognized autism (mid/late 1900s) and a broken family dominated X.’s life for 42 years. With rare help and sheer luck, including a mutually supportive marriage, he survived. He broke a lifelong Complex PTSD in 2007 and somehow managed to get an education and a career, although very late, as usual.
Before his 2.5 decades in aerospace engineering, he was a sandwich maker, security guard, deliverer of flowers, preschool teacher, data processing grunt, taxi driver, and independent software author.
X. is a feminist. Women’s rights are human rights. It should come as no surprise that X. sees one race, the human race.
He wants to continue the trend of humanizing and de-militarizing realism-based sci fi, and does not write stories with white, male, American main characters.
He is a big fan of Carl Sagan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, great explorers and science communicators of the 20th century.
He went with this pen name because, believe it or not, it’s easier to get right than his real name, and it’s certainly more memorable. Originally, he was planning to use different pen names for different genres. But he’s abandoned that idea, as it’s tough enough to find an audience for one pen name. :)
