‘Stars And Smoke’ Author Marie Lu Admits She’s A ‘Huge’ BTS Fan

etcanada.com:

Marie Lu is showing her fangirl side. The acclaimed young adult author is no stranger to fandom, even admitting she considered herself an “army”. “I think we’re really lucky today to see more and more Asian superstars on the rise.

I’m a huge BTS Army fan,” she laughed. Speaking on other Asian-American Pacific Islander stars making waves in the industry, she found herself inspired by the work of artists like BTS – especially in her latest novel Stars and Smoke. READ MORE: Michelle Yeoh On The Importance Of Sharing Your Culture: ‘You Should Be Able To Embrace Who You Are’ The young adult novel follows international pop sensation Winter Young, whose path collides with undercover agent Sydney Cossette when a private concert for a mob boss’ daughter becomes a chance for the star to enter the world of espionage.

While the story sounds fantastical, Lu revealed it was actually based on history. “The origin of the story actually began when I read an article about past celebrities who used to be spies like Frank Sinatra and Roald Dahl,” she explained. “And they were all kind of spies in the past.

It got me thinking [about] what modern day celebrities might be spies and as somebody who grew up just loving music, you know – I was a teenager who had her wall covered in posters of people – I never got to see Asian-Americans as music stars.” The author created the story partially to fill in that absence of representation she felt growing up as an Asian-American. READ MORE: Andrew Phung On Whether He Or Simu Liu Has Better Sneaker Game “I remember latching on to Michelle Branch at least because she is a part Asian-American.