breathless convention weekends & chaotic updates
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Dear flashlights, I'm not quite sure where to start, and I'm still processing everything from the past two weeks because it has truly been a breathless time—quite literally with travelling from one con to another with only three days' breather in between (during which I did nothing but stare at the ceiling and sleep essentially). Somehow, my debut novella LINGHUN has won both the Stoker and Nebula Awards, but I think the true honour is just knowing the fact that this smol book has touched so many of its readers, and to know that I have garnered so much support for my writing is a miracle in and of itself. There are an endless number of people I need to thank from my publisher and editors and beta readers and audiobook team, to all the readers who recommended the smol novella through word of mouth to all the reviewers, podcasters. fellow writers who never fail to give me courage to continue on this journey. Thank you for believing in me. For those who were at the conventions in person or tuned in online, thank you for being there to celebrate with me. Below is the speech I used both times because these are words I wished someone had said to me, and I hope these are words that will mayhaps help another who is reading this: This book would not exist if not for all the kind hearts who have touched my life and believed in my writing. I wrote this during a time when I was forced to be alone with my thoughts, when the darkness seeping through matched the light I did not see outside while I wrote down each word. To all my flashlights who have guided me through the dark, to all those who have lost someone, some place, a language, a home, to those who are mourning, who remain in timeless grief, and to those who have chosen, with reluctance, to move on. You are not alone. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again to my family and my spouse for your faith and patience, to everyone and HWA and SFWA for all your kindness, support, and for this honour. On the writing front, I officially went on sub with my first novel on May 30th, and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll soon have good news to share, but it's a book very close to my heart and that I've almost edited to death at this point after 8 drafts. Below is the mood board for it and the current title I haven't yet publicized, but it's a post-apocalyptic science fantasy inspired by Chinese opera. It seems like I've been oscillating between genres as of late, and my next two is looking to be looping back to horror—one secondary world fantasy-ish (?) body horror and the other being a dark literary piece? I'll let the readers decide what they are and hope they'll find lovely homes once completed. I just turned in my dark fantasy novel to my agent, and I reckon that will go out on sub after another round or two of edits. Fingers crossed! Other updates: Ai Jiang: Transcending Genres and Exploring the Human Experience — An Interview with Tiffany Chu Flash Science Fiction Night: Howard V. Hendrix, Ai Jiang, Hailey Piper — I read from a new story "Ancestor Code Error" that later got accepted by Lightspeed Magazine I have a story forthcoming in the Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners anthology published by Bad Hand Books New Chaos Trifecta Columns live on PSYCHOPOMP.com — #14: Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics and #15: Creatures I'll be teaching another workshop with Reach Your Apex on September 28 at 6PM EST — Unconventional Descriptions and Subjectivity-Infused Storytelling Recorded an episode of Eating the Fantastic by Scott Edelman at StokerCon Recorded an episode of TheNecronomi.com with James Sabata and Bridget D. Brave on The Social Commentary of Okja For those curious about writing stats: What I've made so far this year from writing/workshops/critques: $8,116 One thing I'd love to do at some point would be to make enough from writing alone that I can offer all the classes I've taught/will be teaching currently at a cost for free. Until then! |