Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Bookshop is pleased to host author Ryka Aoki to discuss Light from Uncommon Stars. This event will be held virtually via Crowdcast.

You can register for this event by ordering Light from Uncommon Stars here or by clicking the "Save My Spot" button above with a donation of any amount of your choice. Donations are to help sustain our events programming. If you cannot afford to purchase the book or to donate even $1, you may register for the event for free, no questions asked, by e-mailing us at events@tubbyandcoos.com. There will also be the option to purchase the book during the event!

More information about the event and purchase the book here!

Good 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.

Shizuka 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.

Ryka Aoki‘s first novel He Mele a Hilo was published by Topside Press in 2014. She is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections Seasonal Velocities, and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon this Soul. Ryka’s 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. Her most recent novel, Light from Uncommon Stars, was a national bestseller, and was recognized as one of the best Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 2021 by Barnes & Noble, Kirkus, Goodreads, Bookpage, and the New York Public Library. Ryka has been honored by the California State Senate for “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.” She has an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and is currently a professor of English at Santa Monica College. You can find Ryka online at www.rykaryka.com.

Ryka Aoki & Light from Uncommon Stars