Major Zhu O-Huang is a minor character in From the Grave of the Gods.

Statistics

Full Name: Zhu O-Huang
DOB: 30th June 1995
Hometown: Zaoyang, Hubei Province, China
Occupation: CNSA Astronaut; Military Pilot

Bio

Coming top of the CNSA’s shortlist of pilots for the Magnum Opus project, Major Zhu had excelled in all her simulation training. Her skill in the Chinese air force was widely known, even outside of China, but she wasn’t one to speak much of her achievements.

As the pilot of the Magnum Opus, Major Zhu’s role would be to remain on the ship in orbit, managing the descent and keeping in regular contact with the team on the ground. That Mars would be tantalisingly close, yet out of reach for her didn’t dampen her spirits, however. After all, she’s far more excited about her upcoming stay on the International Space Station after the Mars mission - a fact which brings Grant considerable consternation.

Despite this, Zhu gets on well enough with the rest of the crew - especially James and Yula - and is very interested in hearing about their lives.

Creating the Character

I feel bad for Major Zhu. I really do. First of all, I had the same problem here as with Yula: my international crew was too Western, and too white. I quickly settled on the space agencies I wanted involved and started looking for names for the Chinese representative, and I really hope I’ve chosen a realistic one, after all I didn’t want to unwittingly end up with a stereotype! These are fairly simple hurdles for a writer to get around if they’re paying attention.

But the reason I feel bad for Major Zhu is because I had written all the way up to the descent chapter of the book before I realised that someone has to stay on the ship! I was totally prepared for the Major to go down to Mars with the rest of the team, but then… who would crew the Magnum Opus? The answer, of course, is the pilot. Oops!

This does it for the crew of the Magnum Opus. If you enjoyed this insight into my erratic character creation process, go ahead and check out the other entries in the Meet the Characters series:

#1 Commander James Fowler
#2 Captain Austin Queen
#3 Cosmonaut Yula Merkulova
#4 Mission Specialist Grant Oliveras

And, look forward to the next one, in which we’ll be meeting Angela Marie-Stewart.

EDITED 17th September 2021

Finally added a digitally painted portrait of the Major. Now she fits with the rest of the crew!