CASSANDRA KHAW

THE TECH WRITER’S FOOD OF THE GODS COMBINES TWO MYTHOLOGY-MASHING NOVELLAS

Introduce us to your protagonist!

By day, Rupert Wong pushes pencils for the Chinese Hells (or at least the version manifested in Malaysia). By night, he concocts culinary masterpieces for a dynasty of ravenous ghouls.

What mythological elements does the book draw upon?

I pulled out things from Chinese mythology, Malaysian animism, Greek legend, Slavic folklore, and some English urban legends. I was fascinated with how European folklore bleed together. There’s a Slavic god in the book that was once the Coolest Important Dude ever, but time broke him into personality traits. Little quirks, little bits of symbology that were then cannibalised by newer cultures. It’s interesting to see how much was lost and how much survived.

Did these two adventures have any particular inspiration?

With Rupert Wong: Cannibal Chef I had this staunch desire to drag readers kicking and screaming through Kuala Lumpur! As for And The Ends Of The

Earth, it started with the question, “How does Demeter feel about the decision to leave Persephone with Hades like that?” She accepted Zeus’s judgement, but was she okay with that?

Can we expect a full-length Rupert Wong novel?

I hope so! I want to write a scattering of prequels, detailing Rupert Wong’s life in the early ’90s, complete with musings on how Western pop-culture leaked into the country via the adoption of the internet.

Food Of The Gods is published by Abaddon Books on 4 May.