Red Smoke tells the story of Hai-Lian, her friends and her family, and her struggle living in a society where superstition determines her options for life, love and happiness.
The Book
The book is a glossy, full colour, 90-page graphic novel, or as an ebook.
Told over nine chapters, and a span of about thirty years, Red Smoke is a story with pirates, and mermaids, and found families, and lost purpose.
Red Smoke was first published in December 2019, following a successful kickstarter campaign.
The Story
Everyone knows that mermaids attack ships carrying women. It’s best for everyone if women aren’t permitted to sail the open sea. The women of Havenport forged a Treaty with the pirates generations ago. Women control everything within the town boundaries, and in return, the men make the rules for the sea.
Hai-Lian loves her beautiful girlfriend Fern. She also craves adventure. All she wants is to see what lies beyond the horizon – but as a girl, she must stay close to shore. But what if she isn’t really a girl? Can she leave? And how much will she have to give up if she tries to go?
Havenport. The town where the Council makes the laws, and the Sheriff enforces the Treaty. All women are welcome, no matter where they come from and how they arrived. Fishing boats sail out as far as the headlands and no farther, not when they are crewed by women. Aunty’s is the best place in town for a drink at the end of a long sea voyage, and Aunty has earned a reputation for being tough but fair. The markets sell everything – fresh fruit from the mountains, fresh fish from the bay, treasures from afar.
Chen is struggling with who he is. All he wants is to inherit Lao-Lao‘s house, and have everyone leave him alone to tend his garden. Maybe learn to be a healer. But until he comes out and tells the world who he is, nobody will know what is in his heart. Not even Chen.
Sometimes, if you wait too long, decisions are made for you.
Fern loves her girlfriend, Hai-Lian. She is also waiting for her husband, Kai, to get home before the baby arrives. All she wants is her family around her, safe, as she builds a life for them all. But how will the choices made by her family affect her future?
There are many ways to protect the people you love.
Some easier, some more difficult.
And some have painful consequences.
The Audience
The comic is suitable for a YA+ audience. If you’re not sure whether this story is suitable for younger readers in your life, here are some things you might like to know:
The story depicts alcohol, the (superstitious) fear of monsters, and some implied intimacy. People get drunk. People smooch and hug. Nobody gets eviscerated or decapitated.
The town of Havenport is diverse, with queer and polyamorous families as a normal, everyday part of society. (Coming out is still a big deal, because finding out and proudly declaring who you are is always a big deal.) The gender binary is important to the setting, but subverting and questioning the binary is important to the story.