Duo Duo: The Story of a Little Solder

Released in China April 29 2022.

Duo Duo: The Story of a Little Soldier, is loosely based on real people and events, written in a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction. The story centers around a young accordion player named Duo Duo, who left his family at the age of 12 to join the Music and Dance Troupe (a special troop in the Chinese Liberation Army) in a remote region of western China, 3,000 miles away from home, near the border of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Tucked in the mountainous outskirts of Kashgar, a regional city full of colorful ethnic culture, Duo Duo grows up fast in an isolated military camp where newspapers and mail are weeks delayed, radios are limited and toilet paper is a rare commodity. His adventures begin in 1976, a year of political turmoil and cultural change that marks the turning point in the contemporary history of China. Over the next six years, Duo Duo, together with his friends, a group of young soldiers he calls big sisters and brothers, experience life-altering adventures and ordeals, traveling and performing in the most treacherous terrain on earth, from the high mountains of the Pamir plateau to the deadly Karakoram of the Tibet plateau. They laugh, cry, dream and play music together as young Duo Duo transforms from an innocent, adorable kid to a rebellious teenager struggling for the freedom of expression in this military camp full of social intrigue, drama and tragedy, desire and betrayal, politics and ambition, before life sends the young soldiers their separate ways.

30 years later, Duo Duo accidentally runs into his long lost Uyghur friend Batur in a Middle-Eastern restaurant in Flushing, NY, which sparks the idea of reuniting with his former troop-mates. One of the storylines follows Duo Duo’s return journey to Xinjiang for the 30-year reunion, retracing the footsteps of his youth.

The story shifts between places and times, between reality and dream, in a counterpoint interlaced by threads of consciousness from “Wife,” the narrator of the book, whose commentary sheds light into the psychology of these lost youths. The book ends with Duo Duo reading a chapter from his wife’s new book The Story of Little Soldier Duo Duo at his beloved grandmother’s tomb, under the rare summer snow.

Here is the endorsement of my manuscript from Ernest Hebert, prize-winning author of ten published novels, including The Dogs of March and The Old American:

The Chinese version will be published by Knowledge Press and the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House in 2020. Kui is currently looking for publishing companies for the English version.

California Shoreline – for soprano, string quartet and prepared piano

加州海岸线——为女高音，弦乐四重奏与预制钢琴而作