Bite Hard

poems/prose/performances, SF author's premier book

Bite Hard, a collection of poetry, fiction, and performance pieces by Justin Chin, weaves together a vision of otherness that is unique in gay writing. Chin, who was born in Malaysia, raised in Singapore, and is now living in San Francisco, writes from queer pan-Asian experience: outsiderness times two. Whether describing a series of bad ex-boyfriends (he has had seven named Michael, each worse than the one before) or being pursued by "rice queens" (white men interested only in Asian lovers), Chin's authorial power resides in his ability to articulate humor as well as rage in the reality of what it means to be an Asian American homosexual in a country that valorizes Caucasian heterosexuality. Witty, smart, and sexy, Bite Hard is the work of a young artist finding his voice with passion and intelligence.