For too long, Asian storytelling in the West has been repackaged for the white gaze—exoticised, sanitised, and distorted to fit a narrative that suits someone else’s agenda. We have been allowed to tell our stories only when they align with the comfortable, digestible tropes: the obedient immigrant, the suffering but noble sage, the kung fu master with no real identity outside of his fists.
But our stories are not monolithic. They are raw, visceral, and filled with complexities that the world has often refused to acknowledge. They carry the weight of ancestral trauma, the ache of displacement, the quiet fury of being overlooked. They are about love and violence, power and submission, tradition and rebellion.
Asian men, in particular, have been dehumanised in media for as long as Hollywood has existed. We have been the perpetual sidekicks, the asexual punchlines, the villains without depth. Meanwhile, Asian women have been hypersexualised, fetishised, reduced to nothing more than objects of desire.
With House of Leaves, I wanted to break that mould. I wanted to write Asian men who are dangerous, who are seductive, who are flawed, who are complex, who are human. Men who command attention, who take up space, who define their own narratives instead of being defined by them.
We are not here to be tolerated. We are here to be seen, to be heard, to be feared, to be desired. We are warriors, lovers, thinkers, and kings in our own right. And our stories deserve to be told without apology.
Writing House of Leaves was thus not just about crafting a story—it was about rewriting history in a way that places us back at the center. It was about making a statement that the Asian voice is not one to be silenced: it is bold, it is fierce, and it is here to stay.
If you have ever felt like the world has ignored you, reduced you, or forced you into a box you never chose, this book is for you. It is for every Asian man who has ever been told he isn’t enough. It is for every person who has felt their culture, their identity, their very existence diluted into something palatable for the mainstream.
The time for silence is over. The time for rewriting our own stories has begun.
Are you ready to listen?
To learn more about House of Leaves, visit the Books section here.