Another Avatar — S.P. Somtow

Selected for the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 anthology, this urban contemporary fantasy novella by World Fantasy Award-winning author S.P. Somtow tells the story of Kris, a boy growing up in a Catholic orphanage in the slums of Bangkok, who learns that he is actually the final incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu and must battle the dragon Jade to keep the world green. The first in a series, Another Avatar tells how Kris blunders into discovering his identity after sneaking out to a midnight funeral, catching a god in the act of stealing bananas from the orphanage kitchen, and accidentally fixing the lottery.Somtow is the J.D. Salinger of Siam! - George Axelrod, screenwriter of Breakfast at Tiffany'sAuthor of over seventy books like Jasmine Nights, Mallworld,and Vampire Junction, composer of a number of widely admired operas such as Dan no Ura, Helena Citrónová, and The Silent Prince, S.P. alternates between his homes in Los Angeles and Bangkok. In 2017, he became the first Asian to be awarded the European Cultural Achievement Award, given by the KulturForum in Berlin to one person each year, a nod to his many accomplishments in music and literature as a bridge between Asian and Western cultures.