Helen Huang's Blog: nuclear power nuclear game, page 10

when did I first decide to be an author

When I was in primary school, I dreamed of being an author one day. I started to write stories, I called them mini-novels, but I was warned by my father not to study liberal arts, so I would not get into trouble for the rest of my life.
My father was very creative. Once on a wall at home, he sketched a dragon next to his parent's portrait and wrote a poem in beautiful Chinese calligraphy, describing the dragon and how it would fly high once it awoke. When the workers' rebellion team came to search our home and saw the dragon, although it was under Chairman Mao's portrait, they still accused him of having the ambition to fly above Chairman Mao like the dragon.
I fully understood his warning was from his own painful experience, because during the Cultural Revolution, as his children, we were bullied as little black elements too. Therefore, I chose to study architecture instead. I wish I could tell my father now that it is okay to study arts, because I’m in Australia.

My daughter designed the book cover

The cover is specially designed by one of my daughters who just finished university on photo and media design, and she is also an actor.

I'm a very lucky mother having a team of four daughters' support behind. Since they were little, I started telling them about China and my personal experience in China. And for sixteen years, this book has accompanied me going through many difficult times. I'm glad I have finally turned the words into a book. It's a gift to them and also the people in free world that we should continue fighting and defending our liberty, equality and freedom.

It took me sixteen years to publish it

I started writing Nuclear Power Nuclear Game when I was at home looking after my four daughter. When the girls were older enough to go to school, I started my home design and construction business. However I continued writing whenever I had time. Sometimes I didn't write even one word for a year when I was too busy with my projects. Meanwhile I also experienced personal issues which also slowed writing to a halt. Plus a long time spending on searching for a traditional publisher as well....
That's why it took sixteen years to finally publish the book.

Main characters are real or fictional in the book

The main characters are all fictional.

However, In many ways, the main character Zoe is written in memory of my father who was branded a black element during the Cultural Revolution. He was punished and indoctrinated by the communist regime so significantly that at one point, even after he had survived his suicide attempt, myself and my siblings were mandated to read propaganda works for one hour every night after dinner. However, through it all, he never lost his characteristic kindness. And John is a collective image from many excellent gentlemen I have come across since I arrived in Australia.

A pitch of Nuclear Power Nuclear Game

Zoe and John have a perfect life, with promising careers and marriage plans. But their innocence is soon shattered when the Chinese Communist Party seizes power in 1949. Zoe finds herself locked in a political cage, indoctrinated, and forced to make nuclear bombs for China. Meanwhile, John maintains his belief in anti-nuclear proliferation and is recruited to the CIA to monitor Pakistan's nuclear program in Islamabad. Over the course of decades of separation and individual struggles in the face of competing ideologies, their loyalty to each other and their faith in love will be tested.