Richard C Lin
Author
About
After thirty years as a corporate executive, Richard Lin recently retired when Covid-19 decisively taught him that there is much more to life than grappling with Zoom at 2 am. He now focuses on writing, philanthropy, and his family of one glamorous wife, three lively kids, and nine adventurous hamsters.
Richard has just completed his coming-of-age, second generation immigrant memoir, Arizona Awakening, the first in a series of four centered on themes of interracial romance and relationships, immigrant intergenerational conflict, and cultural identity. Richard also plans to craft an anthology of short stories regarding the Chinese young adult orphans that he and his wife, Cindy, have come to love and support.
Richard’s stories have started to appear in The Write Launch, The Dillydoun Review, Prometheus Dreaming, Potato Soup Journal, Drunk Monkeys, and other literary journals. While he lived in Taipei, he wrote business and tech news columns along with Sunday morning lifestyle feature articles for The China Post, Taiwan’s most widely-circulated English-language daily. Richard has also starred in and directed community musical theater productions, including The Jungle Book, Smokey Joe’s Café, Pardon My Fish, and His Disciples (for which he wrote the book and lyrics).
Publications
Never Tear Us Apart
"Never Tear Us Apart" is a story about how a love-torn teen and his Wai-Gong (maternal grandfather) are banished from the ones they love for starkly different reasons.
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To Where We Came From
"To Where We Came From" details the exploits of a young scamp in 1973 Taipei.
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Dancing in the Dark
"Dancing in the Dark" captures a teen boy's fumbling attempts to catch the eye, stir the mind, and capture the heart of the beautiful new girl in town.
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The Other is Gold
"The Other is Gold" highlights a teenager's "volunteer" work at an elderly care center, where he grows close to three of the residents and learns the value of Chinese filial piety.
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Painted Over
"Painted Over" centers on two Asian-American students' auditions to win the leading roles in Brophy's musical production of THE KING AND I. However their attempt to demonstrate to the world the charisma and grace of the Asian male meets with unexpected (or perhaps expected) results...
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Jab-Jab-Punch
A young American-born Chinese vividly witnesses how his new friend, a Vietnamese immigrant and his family, who came over with the wave of "Boat People" during the early '80s, powerfully write their own narrative in an America where he has struggled to do the same.
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Game Point
"Game Point" tells the story of a boy trying to win back the young love of his life through an intense, winner-takes-all racquetball match with the girl's handsome new beau.
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Drive
In "Drive," a young teen and his high school buddies spend one last night cruising through the desert in a souped-up Pontiac Firebird with some special guests that tempt his thoughts away from the one he loves.
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The Life Imagined
"The Life Imagined" chronicles a high school boy's last night with his passel as they drink the night away to the tune of Thoreau and Jack Daniels."
Read MoreBooks (Unpublished - seeking representation)
Editorial Reviews
PLEASE NOTE: ALL REVIEWS ARE BY ORGANIZATIONS THAT ACCEPT UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS
The Prairies Book Review:
Eloquent, adroitly written, and candid personal story of love and identity...in this hard-to-put-down memoir, Lin delivers a revealing account of his experiences as an American born to Chinese immigrant parents... the book’s greatest strength is the nuanced, poignant portrayal of Lin’s relationship with Lesley and deeply realized secondary characters. A seamless blend of sharp insights and skillful prose, the book paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of a teenager’s coming-of-age journey. Lovers of literary fiction will find much to admire in this intimate, immersive personal narrative.
BookView Review:
Richard Lin unfurls an exquisite story of life and love in this gripping memoir…with extraordinary candor and wit…his remarkable storytelling keeps the reader thoroughly invested. A thoughtful personal reflection, this un-put-downable, satisfying story about young love, racism, and social prejudices is easy to fall for.
K.C. Finn:Readers' Favorites Review
Richard C. Lin has crafted a tender work of non-fiction that showcases the journey of love, with all of the sharp edges that real life brings us along the way... Richard’s culture, his hopes, dreams, and clashes all develop with natural storytelling and raw, honest emotion...that feels personal, but also cinematic and immersive...
Diane Donovan:Senior Reviewer, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
ARIZONA AWAKENING's ability to move from youthful roots and infatuations to become a sweeping, epic story of change and romance is one of its many strengths and surprises. It is a powerful narrative of a young man's attempt to live up to his potential and his parents' expectations against the backdrop of social prejudice. It's a compelling memoir that will reach beyond young adult audiences to touch those interested in stories of love and transformation.
A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review:
Insightful, often even eye-opening, this skillfully written memoir will stay with you for a long time… Written in a lively and often amusing style, readers will find a lot to enjoy here… In fact, reading this, I was often reminded of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle – and that book won the Booker Prize in 1993! A touching memoir, candidly written, often thought-provoking, and always stimulating.
Jon Michael Miller, Author of MURDER & MAYHEM IN TROPIC GARDEN:Readers' Favorite Reviews
In ARIZONA AWAKENING, Richard C. Lin, an “ABC” (American Born Chinese), shares his high school years in Phoenix in the 1980s in brisk, flawless prose... For me, it was like being transported in a time machine back to the ’80s. ARIZONA AWAKENING is an exuberant and tender look back… As a coming of age novel for adults looking back and for teens looking forward, this one can’t be beat.
Grace Masso:Readers' Favorite Reviews
Arizona Awakening by Richard C. Lin is a compelling memoir…a beautifully narrated story, told in a gripping first-person narrative voice… It is told with humor and a voice that kept me turning the pages.
From The Editors
ARIZONA AWAKENING is a delightful, big-hearted coming of age story set against the backdrop of 1980s America. Grappling with both the pressures of upholding the values of his immigrant family and the intense feelings of adolescence, Richard Lin tells a timeless story of fortitude, inheritance, and learning how to love. Sincere and revealing, Arizona Awakening is an impressive contribution to the literature of American identity."
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John KnightFormer Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux
In ARIZONA AWAKENING, debut author Richard Lin depicts his coming of age in the American southwest of the '80s, deftly recreating that time of life when everything in the world seems alive with possibility and fraught with peril – adolescence.
It’s impossible not to care about the characters who populate Richard’s life. Each person is discernibly unique – from Richard’s exacting and often hilarious father, to his various co-workers and friends, to the spirited and charming object of his affections, Lesley – all feel animated with their own concerns and ambitions, a rare quality in the memoir genre, where “supporting” characters often serve only to guide the journey of the protagonist.
Richard’s experience of first love, of negotiating the demands and expectations of his immigrant Chinese family with his own emerging identity, and of navigating the hierarchical world of teenage boys, are all rendered skillfully with poignant humor, tenderness, candor, and generosity."
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Elizabeth WakefordFormer Senior Editor at Amazon Crossing
What a gorgeous piece of writing this is. Perceptive, funny, poignant, it really has everything one could want from a memoir. Richard's individual voice shines through but the book also offers a wider perspective on the immigrant experience in America, which I am sure will resonate with readers. It’s a great achievement – a book that kept me amused, entertained and, by the very end, genuinely moved."
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Dominic WakefordFormer Senior Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins
Team
Cindy Shueh Lin
Chief Marketing Officer
Cindy has recently retired after over twenty years as a GM, sales, and marketing senior executive with P&G, PepsiCo, and Disney. She has also served as CEO for Chunhui Children Foundation. She now shifts her talents and focus to support philanthropy in China, contribute to leadership forums as a motivational speaker, raise three lively kids, and lend her impressive business network and acumen to support her husband's literary endeavors.
John Knight
Development Editor, ARIZONA AWAKENING
John is an editor with more than 10 years of experience in San Francisco and New York trade publishing. He began editing at McSweeney's assisting Dave Eggers, and then founded a long-form journalism magazine that he edited for two years. After that, John moved to Farrar, Straus and Giroux where he worked for nearly five years, acquiring and editing bestselling and award-winning titles across a variety of categories.
Dominic Wakeford
Copy Editor, ARIZONA AWAKENING
Having previously worked as a commissioning editor at two of the UK’s largest publishing houses, HarperCollins and Little, Brown (a division of Hachette), Dom has worked on bestselling, prize-winning fiction and non-fiction titles across a range of genres: from literary to commercial, from crime to romance.
Elizabeth DeNoma
Manuscript Evaluation Editor, ARIZONA AWAKENING
Dr. Elizabeth DeNoma is a freelance editor, translator, and publishing consultant with deep expertise in international literature. She's worked at University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Microsoft, Websters Multimedia Publishing, and most recently at Amazon Crossing as a Senior Editor acquiring and editing global literature for translation into English.
