It's a Jumble

  It's out!! My debut collection of short stories, The House of Illusionists , is officially out in the world! It's available at Amazon , Indiebound , Barnes and Noble online , and direct from publisher .  You can go to my personal dedicated book page for more information (including advance praise and interviews). You can also visit the official publisher website here. 

  I am far, far overdue for a personal writing/publication update, I realize. 1. Short Story Publication in Lightspeed Magazine In June, my latest fantasy story was published in Lightspeed Magazine . “When the Faerie King Toured the Human Realm” is about exactly what the title says. It’s also about social media fame, parasocial relationships, street food, and the very human need to feel that we belong to a story larger than ourselves. It is one of my favorite things that I have written, ever, and there’s a wonderful podcast version, narrated by Susan Hanfield, if you would rather listen than read.   It was inspired, as you can read in the  accompanying  author interview , by watching   waaaay too many xianxia c-dramas, a genre of  Chinese television drama that is centered  on "xian,” immortal beings from Chinese folklore/tradition. If you, too, are a fan of this   genre, just know that the Faerie King looks exactly like your favorite male xia...

  My latest story, “The Path She Sings, ” is now up and free to read at The Deadlands! It’s a weird little bit of dark fantasy/horror, and it’s just over flash-length at only a little over a thousand words. And with this, I cross out one of the squares on my writer’s bingo card—The Deadlands has been a dream market of mine for years. I’m honored to finally appear in their pages, alongside beautiful fiction, poetry, and essays from talented writers. Go read the whole issue if you can!

The year is drawing to its close, and it’s that time when writers make posts about their award eligibilities for the year. I had three pieces published in 2023. I would be honored if you took a look at any of them.   Nonfiction essay “Hungry Ghosts in America, ” published in the anthology Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror , edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith.  This is my first published foray into the personal essay form, and in truth it was one of the hardest, most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever written. Still, I am honored to be published alongside this group of brilliant, brilliant women. Unquiet Spirits revolves around myths, monsters, and spirits of Asian culture, and the personal meaning that these spirits have for their contributors. These pieces are fearless, heartbreaking, brilliant, and moving. The final product is gorgeous, and I’m so proud to be part of this unquiet sisterhood Review from   Horror World:   “ Unquiet ...

 I have a new story out today! "Microseasons of the Dead" is live at The Future Fire Magazine, on this last day of October. It's a slightly experimental, dreamy piece inspired by the microseasons of the traditional Japanese calendar, and I'm so glad it's found a good home. 

  (Note: updated on 3/07/2021) "Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe" is my latest story, now out at the wonderful Translunar Travelers Lounge . This story is about exactly what the title says, and it came about in early 2020 when I was spending too much time on the fanfiction site, Archive of Our Own. As I read fanfics in the early days of our global pandemic, I thought about how the grimmest, darkest of media have the fluffiest, cutest, softest of fanfics. I thought of how we consume and process dark stories. Of how some fans rewrite endings and scenarios, placing their beloved characters into more lighthearted worlds, while others lean into the darkness.   As I wrote this story, it also became about other things. About stories in general, about we look to stories to tell the meaning of our lives, of how we find inspiration—and perhaps even courage--in stories. A reader, the writer Rajiv Mote, on Twitter actually describes my story more eloquently than I ever could. As h...

I have a new story out today. “The Breaking” appears in Issue 13 of Mithila Review, alongside stories and poems from so many wonderful writers. “The Breaking”   is an apocalypse-story that, yes, feels weirdly resonant in these current times, in ways that I certainly didn’t anticipate when I wrote it a year ago. There is no virus, no plague, in my story. But it’s about people who refuse to see what’s in front of them, about those who won’t hear what is clear to others. It’s about an unbridgeable gap in perceptions, one that I’ve felt since fall 2015 in my country. And “The Breaking” is also about family. It’s about the gap between generations, and the care-taking that occurs within families, and the responsibility a sister feels for her brother. I also mention food in the story, because I almost always mention food! This story stars two Thai-American siblings and is one of the rare instances in which I’ve explicitly written Thai-American characters. The Thai-style omelet, ...

Well, it’s that time of year when writers make posts about their award eligibility for the year. I had four new stories published in 2019. I admit that “The Message” and “The Red Cloak” are particularly dear to my heart, but I’d be honored if you took a look at any of them.  “The Bone Lands”  (fantasy, 3821 words).  Kaleidotrope , January 2019. I sought you on a plain of whistling bones. I walked through towers made of giants’ femurs, and under the great curved arches of a leviathan’s ribs. A journey to the underworld. A story about what love can and cannot do. Reviewed by SFRevu: “A beautiful tale about the power of love.”  “The Message”  (science fiction, 4236 words).  The Future Fire , February 2019. They say I’m too young to remember what this country once was. They say I don’t remember that brief period of hope and freedom, which bloomed just briefly between dark ages. When it seemed like the world might actually come togeth...

Nearly two years ago, in the wake of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, I sat down to write my usual bimonthly blog post of short story recommendations. And I wrote this:   “ I don’t know what good a story does. I don’t know what a single poem or song can do. I don’t know, I don’t know.” It’s twenty-two months later, and I still do not know. But—quite apart from the chaos and darkness of this present moment—I have never known. Since my teens, I have asked myself this question: “What good is fiction? What good are books and stories? What do they do ?” I know what stories have done for me. I know the light and comfort that books and art bring into my life. And I also fear that it’s all frivolous. I think of Keats’ letter to a friend, where he compared poetry to “a mere Jack o’lantern to amuse whoever may chance to be struck with its brilliance." (Letter to Benjamin Bailey, March 13, 1818). I wonder if he's right in that sentence. I wonder if a protest song has...

Alexander Chee on writing: “All my life I’ve been told that this isn’t important, that it doesn’t matter, that it could never matter. And yet I think it does. I think this is the real reason the people who would take everything from us say this. I think it’s the same reason that when fascists come to power, writers are among the first to go to jail. And that is the point of writing." --Alexander Chee, from his essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

My latest story, “Traces of Us,” is now live at GigaNotoSaurus. It’s a story about sentient spaceships and neuroscientists in love. It’s dear to my heart for a number of reasons, and I’m so gratified by the responses it’s been getting from readers. (Writer and critic Charles Payseur has an absolutely beautiful review--with spoilers!-- here ) The story is grounded in some very real science. I'd like to talk a little about that scientific grounding, and the inspirations (both scientific and not) behind this story. SPOILERS (I’d suggest continuing only after finishing “Traces of Us” ) _____________________________________________ The story seed The seed for this story came from a feature article I read in The New York Times back in 2015, “A Dying Young Woman’s Hope in Cryonics and a Future.”   It’s a beautifully written story about Kim Suozzi, a young woman who died of brain cancer at the age of 23, but who hoped to have her mind p...

I have a new story out today at the online magazine GigaNotoSaurus ! It’s my second publication there, and I’m so excited to appear there again. The story is called “Traces of Us,” and it’s a hard science fiction story about sentient spaceships and neuroscientists in love. It’s also something of a love letter to St. Louis, where I lived years ago. It’s dear to my heart, and I hope you read and enjoy it. More story notes to come soon =)

I’m thrilled to announce that my latest story, “ Wild Ones,”  is now up at Bracken Magazine . I have loved this magazine since it’s first issue, and am so happy to be appearing there now, alongside absolutely lovely artwork, poems, and other stories. Bracken Magazine’s tagline is “lyrical fiction and poetry, inspired by the wood and what lies in its shadows.” “Wild Ones” indeed takes it setting from the woods. It’s the story of a mother and her teenage daughter, and of the wildness within us all. Some notes on inspiration: --Years and years ago, I read Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising and fell in love with its invocations of Celtic mythology and Old European legends. The scene where Herne the Hunter leads the Wild Hunt against the Dark has never left me. --There is a patch of woods near my home, a tiny scrap of forest hemmed in by suburban development. I like to walk there, especially in the fall. --The fall is my favorite time of year. And the sound of the...

I am late with this, as with everything these days. I had only one piece of fiction published this year: “Taiya,” which appeared in the fall in The Future Fire . But this one piece has received more attention than any other short story I’ve written. It’s received some wonderful reviews. Maria Haskins and A.C. Wise both featured it in their recommendations . It’s listed in the 2017 Nebula Suggested Reading List. And today I found out that it’s also featured on The Book Smugglers website in “12 Short Stories as New Year’s Resolutions.”  (Click on those lists above, please. They feature amazing, amazing authors and works that I love, and I am still stunned to be listed alongside them.) It means so much to me that “Taiya” has gotten this attention. It means so much to me that this story resonates with people. This was one of those stories from the heart; this was the first story which truly scared me to write. I described some of its inspirations and background, an...

A few weeks ago, my latest fiction story was published. It’s called "Taiya," and you can read  i t  here at The Future Fire.   It’s a ghost story set in an imaginary country. And it’s been getting some wonderful reviews. Maria Haskins included it in her September 2017 Short Fiction Round-up A.C. Wise featured it (and me!!) in her series, Women to Read: Where to Start: October 2017 post. The website Lady Business also has a lovely review (warning: spoilers! I’d suggest reading the story first before reading the very perceptive analysis here) As a writer, I am of course always thrilled by good reviews and attention to any of my stories. But this one is particularly dear to me. I wrote it three years ago, and it was the first story that truly scared me to write. It wasn’t the (named) ghost in the story that scared me. What scared me was the feeling of exposure, of revealing something about myself that I perhaps didn’t want anyone else to see. This is wh...