AI JIANG | 江艾

What a way to end off the year truly! This book has gone through so many revisions (and even more to come when we get into the editorial process) that it makes me both excited and nervous to share it with you all. I'm excited to say that my debut novel will be officially forthcoming with Titan Books in 2026 in hardcover! I'd written AN EMPIRE ABOVE OPERA as a standalone, but somehow, I also have a prequel planned for it—AN OPERA OF SALAMANDERS, which will be set in the far past of the same...

This newsletter was meant to be dedicated to analyzing openings of short stories/books, but it seems life has gotten a bit hectic, so I'll have to save it for a later newsletter! But I wanted to send out a shout with some quick updates. On the writing front, I'm going on submission with my dark fantasy/body horror novella next week and hopefully another folkloric dark fantasy novel in January/February 2025. This is also the first year as a full time writer where I'm finally making a liveable...

I feel like fall always brings along with it such a melancholic mood. Outside of reclaiming why I want to write, I've found myself thinking a lot about how I want to be spending my time as its finite nature is becoming more and more apparent. I remember as a kid, I'd think of the long hours at school feeling like each day was forever, as well as the four months of summer that often stretched. And I found myself waiting for time to pass, until the next grade in elementary, until graduation for...

It has been an absolutely wild month to say the least— There's been quite a lot of rushing about with the wedding ceremonies that took place on July 25th and 29th which consisted of me switching into five different outfits over the course of twelve hours and my spouse dying in his attempt to carry me over 200m instead opting for the walking while holding hands option (which I thought he chose but supposedly he felt adventurous on the day of and so...)—pictures here, here, and here, for those...

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...

I remember when I first signed the deal with Titan Books for A PALACE NEAR THE WIND, 2025 felt so far away, and now there's less than a year before the smol book comes out! I'm so excited to share with everyone the cover designed by Natasha MacKenzie!! You can read the full announcement and also read an excerpt of the opening on REACTORMAG.com! Read the rest on REACTORMAG.com

Somehow, I'd managed to finish writing a book in the month of February, and I've concluded that my books are almost always half the size of their final word count during the first draft. The first novel I'd written back last June began as 45K words before growing steadily to 86K and ending up 83K words. A PALACE NEAR THE WIND (forthcoming 2025 with Titan Books) began at 25K words and ended at 46K before being cut down to 39K. And the book I'd just finished is standing at about 47K, though I...

Apologies for the dump of an update this newsletter will be as I've essentially been in a cave working on the 8th draft of my novel to get back to my agent. I'd finished writing the book within a month June 2023, but it took 2 years of brewing on its details before I actually got started on the writing, and it's been on and off editing for the past 8 or so months. Exhausted is the best word I think I have for what I am, but also, extremely, extremely relieved. There are still issues with it,...

It's been a whirlwind of a time this award's season, and I've found myself lucky enough to make it onto some initial ballots and recommendation lists! I think many writers have a strange relationship with awards and shouting about our work. On one hand, it feels uncomfortable to be promoting our work, but on the other hand, it feels like we're doing an injustice to our work and the people who have helped with publishing it if we don't try to get as many eyes on it as possible as it doesn't...

So clearly I've not been keeping up with the newsletter since July, and I think I've definitely been experiencing a bit of a social media and email answering burnout. Hopefully I'll be able to slowly get back into it! This newsletter might be a long one as I attempt to load everything that's been happening since August. I'd just gotten back from my trip to China and visiting family I haven't seen in the past eight years. I also met my spouse's father for the first time since we got together...