Welcome
I’m so glad you’ve found my website. Here you’ll find both my fiction and non-fiction work, including my LA Times-bestselling novel SWIM (2019), about a meth addict having to plan his mother’s funeral while trying to stay sober, and Love Your Asian Body (2022), an oral history about the AIDS movement in the Asian American community, which won the 2023 Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS) Book Award in History.
People think writing is a solitary endeavor. There surely are solitary moments, but even before the publication of my first book, I’ve been building a community of fellow writers, readers, and activists. I continue to draw wisdom and strength from them.
I invite you to join this community! Sign up for my mailing list here.
Stay strong,
Eric
New Interview
Historian Dan Royles. author of To Make The Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle Against HIV/AIDS, interviewed for Nursing Clio, an open access, peer-reviewed, collaborative project that ties historical scholarship to present-day issues related to gender and medicine. In talking about Black men loving other Black men as THE revolutionary act (Joseph Beam), we found parallels in our stories.
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Check out our conversation here.
in the press
The Making of a Gay Asian Community is a significant and trailblazing work. It demonstrates effectively how both external and internal contradictions can fuel the formation of group identity.
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-- Dr. Amy Sueyoshi, San Francisco State University, Journal History of Sexuality
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SWIM marks the debut of a brilliant storyteller. This is San Gabriel Valley's Bright Lights, Big City--an exploration of a man grappling with drug addiction, relationships and family drama in the heart of the Chinese American community in Southern California. Never tragic or melodramatic, the novel seamlessly pulls us through Carson Chow's life, clearly and precisely exposing us to truths about being human.
-- Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award-winning author of the Mas Arai mysteries
Raw, vulnerable, and heartfelt, Wat’s debut novel opens a window into the dysfunctions of a diasporic Asian American family living in the sprawling space of Los Angeles through the eyes of its queer son.
-- Dr. Stewart Chang, University of Nevada, Las Vegas