About Shing Yin KHor…
Shing Yin Khor is a game designer and graphic novelist based in Los Angeles, CA, by way of Malacca, Malaysia. Their game design work, which includes the 2022 Indiecade winner for Best Tabletop Game, Remember August, centers around physical storytelling artifacts, divination mechanisms, and immigrant interpretations of nostalgic Americana, and is rooted in their work as a builder and artist - keepsake games centered on the bridge between physical making and traditional tabletop RPGs.
Their second graphic novel, The Legend of Auntie Po, was published by Penguin Random House in June 2021, and was an Eisner winner and National Book Award in Youth Literature finalist. Their widely circulated autobiographical and memoir work, such as Say It With Noodles, I Don’t Want to Write, and their Catapult column, Curiosity Americana, live at the intersection of the immigrant experience and examining nostalgic Americana, and is acclaimed for its accessibility, rawness, and honesty.
They are currently working on their third full-length graphic novel and a deck of tarot cards, as well as adjunct teaching at USC Games. They are available for freelance writing and game design work.
Writing samples
Dialogue Samples
Legend of Auntie PO
The full script from my National Book Award finalist and Eisner winning graphic novel, a historical fiction book about Chinese logging camp cooks and the myth of Paul Bunyan.
The Last Great American RoadTrip
A sample of the script from my upcoming graphic novel, about talking statues, nostalgic Americana, and grief.
Bureau of Telephone Fornication
A robot-operated phone sex hotline.
Descriptive and Instructional Writing.
A MENDING
Directions and prompt cards for A Mending, my solo-designed keepsake game project about embroidery, map-marking and visiting old but distant friends. This project was one of Polygon’s top games of 2021, and raised $190k in pledges.
Remember August
An epistolary live game, where 6000 letters were sent out in one month.
Unset Motel
A horror short story, delivered via mail over 6 months.
Three Rocks
A divination Twine game, built to deliver a custom fortune after the player finds three rocks.
Other Writing
Say It with Noodles
A comics essay about food and language. Winner of an Ignatz award in 2018
I Do Not Want to Write
An comics essay about refusal. Winner of the National Magazine Award for Best Illustrated Story in 2022
The Undercut
A comics essay about queer hair. Compiled in Ignatz award winning anthology Be GAY DO COMICS from The Nib.
Illustration
I am not usually available for illustration work, but love drawing maps and will occasionally make myself available to draw a cool map.
Map from A Short Rest.
Map from A Short Rest.
paper map from A Mending.
the Thunderlock Barcrawl, for Rolled and Tolled #0
The Town of Frondflingfar, for Rolled and Told #9
Map for Glitchhikers video game.