View audiobook of Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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Light From Uncommon Stars

by Ryka Aoki

Narrator Cindy Kay

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Length 13 hours 13 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Beautiful book by a wonderful author! Check the content warnings though x”
— Grey • The Grey Area

Bookseller recommendation

“A violin teacher who has sold her soul to the devil, a transgender girl on the run from her abusive family, and an alien refugee of an intergalactic war who has recently purchased a donut shop— Light From Uncommon Stars begins with distant threads and weaves them delightfully together into a tale of found family and the power of music to heal and bring us together. This book left me feeling that the world was a slightly stranger and brighter place than I thought, and really craving a donut.”
— Zoe • Bookshop Santa Cruz

Bookseller recommendation

“A wonderful story with science fiction and fantasy elements about a young trans* violinist called Katrina who runs away from home and falls into the clutches of a famous violin teacher.”
— trans*fabel • trans*fabel

Bookseller recommendation

“Narrated by Cindy Kay who lends her melodic voice to bolster the story and gives characters respectful, authentic accents. I love this story! ”
— Yarrow • Maria's Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“So I am NOT a fantasy reader but this book rocks. In theory, it sounds like it would be cringey but it is not. It's super unique and I love how everything is treated (from a moral standpoint). It was hard to read anything after this because nothing was quite as gripping as this world. ”
— Naomi • Ruckus Books

Summary
About the author

#40 in Bestselling LGBTQIA+ Fiction Audiobooks

"Cindy Kay masterfully narrates this unique audiobook, which combines a variety of genres to tell a moving story of self-acceptance and finding safety even in the bleakest of times." - AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award reviewGood Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.Hugo Award FinalistA National BestsellerIndie Next PickNew York Public Library Top 10 Book of 2021A Kirkus Best Book of 2021A Barnes & Noble Best Science Fiction Book of 20212022 Alex Award Winner2022 Stonewall Book Award WinnerShizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

Fiction Science Fiction LGBTQIA+ Fiction

RYKA AOKI (she/her) is a poet, composer, teacher, and novelist. Her latest novel, Light From Uncommon Stars, was an Alex, SCKA, and Otherwise Award winner, and was also a finalist for the Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte Awards.

Ryka is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections Seasonal Velocities, and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul, and her first novel, He Mele a Hilo, was callled one of the "10 Best Books Set in Hawaii" by Bookriot. She has been recognized by the California State Senate for “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people,” and her work has appeared or been recognized in publications including Vogue, Elle, Bustle, Autostraddle, PopSugar, and Buzzfeed, as well as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. She was also honored to work with the American Association of Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, where two of her compositions were adopted as the organization’s “songs of peace.”

She has an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and is currently a professor of English at Santa Monica College.