author • DARKER BY FOUR (out now!) • THE BEASTS BENEATH THE WINDS • JADE FIRE GOLD (out now) • southeast asian • cancer survivor • 🏳️🌈 • rep: Laura Rennert
If “flirt to roast ratio” is your thing, may I humbly recommend DARKER BY FOUR, my YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology about the Ten Kings of Hell - queer Asian teens being chaotic gremlins as they navigate their way in a crumbling world filled with gods + monsters 😱
Enemies to lovers this, friends to lovers that, strangers to lovers so and so… at the end of the day, what really matters is the amount of pining, longing and yearning and the flirt to roast ratio. The rest is confetti.
Daniel Dae Kim has joined the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender!
He will play Fire Lord Ozai; Prince Zuko’s father, the ruthlessly-driven leader of the Fire Nation!
3 years ago almost to this very day, I was diagnosed w cancer. Today, I’m grateful to celebrate the release of my debut novel. The journey has been long (& weird😂) Thank you for ur support & encouragement! Here's to many more book birthdays🥺😋
buy links:
Fall '15: dreamt of the desert, started writing JADE FIRE GOLD
Fall '17: got into
#pitchwars
, signed w my agent
Fall '18: book didn't sell & I was diagnosed w cancer
Aug '19: completed chemo+surgery+radiation, BEAT CANCER, completed revisions, sold my book
Fall 2020: 👇😃
and when adult readers keep asking me if my YA book is "spicy" or "has smut"? and then what? 😭
yes YA books can have kissy scenes and teens have sex irl etc...but pls don't ask YA authors if their books "have smut" when the main characters are often 16-ish yr olds 😑
Hi! Reminder that JFG is a work of fiction & fantasy. It’s not historical & is not meant to be used as an educational tool to teach people mandarin or Chinese culture. It’s important to decolonize our minds from thinking that we need to expend mental, emotional & physical labor /
Can't believe I've to spell this out: when BIPOC+marginalized authors say we want better rep in publishing we LITERALLY mean we want to tell our own stories. Feel guilty or "bad" for us? Want to "save" us? BOOST & UPLIFT OUR VOICES DON'T WRITE OUR STORIES. it's not hard!
JADE FIRE GOLD will now be out on OCT 12🔥
Super excited you'll meet my characters sooner. A huge thank you to
@jayessart
for bringing them to life. I've always wanted "film poster" style character art & now I have it 😭😍
preorder
idea: a writers' coffeeshop where you pay a flat membership fee every month for desk+wifi+pantry access for coffee/tea/snacks... and every night, there's like 1-3 hours of workshopping, craft talks, readings etc but it's voluntary to participate. kinda like wework for writers?
Shall we talk about the elephant in the room? 2 months of 2019 have passed and we've seen 2 poc writers pulling their books because of problematic elements that reviewers/bloggers/other authors have found. While I fully support their apology and the action they chose to take 1/
A fur-coated lady tried to "steal" my uber what even?? The driver got impatient with her bizarre arguments with me & yelled, "You have to get your own car, Susan!" And the lady said, "how do you know my name?"
The look on the driver's face when he said, "lucky guess, m'am." 😂
one BIPOC author is pit against another BIPOC author. If your experience of being Chinese differs from mine, it doesn’t mean that I’m less Chinese or pandering to white people. Let’s not play the dangerous game of “who’s Chinese enough to write Chinese fantasy”. ✌️
Seriously people. THIS is where the focus should be - yeah mulan didn't get the rep it should have but at the end of the day all I see is an american company colluding with a government that's carrying out actual genocide.
to educate others. Google is free! It would be kind & justified to extend to BIPOC authors the grace given to white authors to explore aspects of our own cultures & not hold us to some mythical standard of purity. Also, I’m sure I don’t have to explain how harmful it is when /
i was accused of 'bad rep' cos I allegedly used mandarin 'wrongly' in my book when the fact is, the words are from a dialect my maternal side of the fam speaks 🥴 i do wish everyone in publishing - from professionals to readers - would keep an open mind when reading BIPOC stories
*All* cultures have complexity of identity, language, etc. and people in publishing, along with readers, definitely need to make room for these complexities! We're all products of our own, often unique identities, and we really need to make room for all of these nuances
As US-China political tensions rise, I really hope people understand that Chinese people + Chinese diaspora + Asians in other countries + Asian Americans =/= Chinese GOVERNMENT.
There’s a difference between everyday human beings and a state apparatus. Don’t conflate them.
⭐️NEWS! Over a year ago I spoke about this book w
@PublishersWkly
, joking that no one would want it. But my agent
@LitTraveler
believed in it & my editor
@aejerman
loved it 😭💜
DARKER BY FOUR started while I was undergoing chemotherapy & dealing with existential thoughts & 1/
it makes me wonder about this all means for an industry that is letting its marginalized creators crash and burn this way, when so many things could have been done at every stage of publishing to rectify the issues in these books. What are agents, editors and publishers doing 2/
Here she is, glowing in the sun 😭 so pretty! When I first received my author copies of JADE FIRE GOLD & removed the jacket sleeve, I was surprised that the hard case was yellow and gold. And then it struck me that it really is the most appropriate color for this book. In Chi…
HELLO I'M THE FIRE ELMO GIF RIGHT NOW sjkdhskdj
Here's the UK cover for JADE FIRE GOLD 😭😍
Thank you to my UK team and designer Aaron Munday for this beautiful work of art!!!!!!
Her destiny. His revenge. 💚🔥💛
We're thrilled to reveal the UK cover for
@junescribbles
' stunning debut,
#JadeFireGold
, coming 4th November!
Look out for this epic own voices YA fantasy, inspired by East Asian mythology and folk tales. Pre-order now >
🔥JADE FIRE GOLD🔥
Oct 12 (US) Nov 4 (UK)
slow burn, reluctant allies, pining, identity shenanigans, angst & fluff, the gays don’t die, soft boys, dysfunctional & found family, only one bed, only one cave 🥰
Preorder
GR:
breaking hiatus to say I just found out that Jade Fire Gold hit the bestseller list during release month in my home country, Singapore! 😭 omg
ok but the true highlight is seeing my book/name is on the list next to Jujutsu freaking Kaisen & Gege Akutami? asfjafk🥺😱😍
if they care so little about the actual content of the books they sign and buy? Are they buying into the "diversity trend" for a quick buck as opposed to doing actual work to support and SUSTAIN marginalized creators? 3/
sometimes i think about that (white) agent who rejected jade fire gold by telling me, in essence, that the book wasn't chinese enough...i would wish that agent a good day but i would not mean it :)
Hello!
#JADEFIREGOLD
is a YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology, coming out in Fall '21.
elavator pitch: "What if Katara were the Dark Avatar & Zuko was hunting her down?"🤔
Add to GR:
learn more:
#BIPOCdebuts
#the21ders
Dear diary, today is my first day of being a published author. Nothing has changed. My cat woke me up at 530am by gnawing on my foot. Then I had to scoop litter & clean his puke as he proceeded to throw up multiple times. Also my laundry did not miraculously fold itself. Rude!🤣
🔥4 months to the release of Jade Fire Gold so time for a GIVEAWAY🔥
RT & Follow for a chance to win a signed & personalized US edition arc + mini holographic art sticker!
*cat not included 🤪
Open internationally where USPS ships 😋
Ends Monday 6/14 11:59 EST.
🔥JADE FIRE GOLD - Oct 12 🔥
(Nov in UK)
"What if Katara were the Dark Avatar & Zuko was hunting her down?"🥺
Preorder (keep ur receipts, UK links to come):
GR:
Art:
check out the new blurb fr
@EpicReads
Being the public face of a book, the author takes the bulk of the praise - and hence the brunt of the criticism when things go bad. But we have to ask ourselves, who are the gatekeepers? And what will these gatekeepers do now? 4/
OKAY LET’S GO - 10 weeks to Jade Fire Gold 🔥
\o/ here’s the preorder swag you’ll get if you preorder my book 🥺💕 Open Internationally + applies to both US & UK editions! While supplies last.
Full details
Close ups of swag in thread
HELLO! I'm thrilled to announce that my debut YA fantasy
#JADEFIREGOLD
has moved to
@harperteen
& I'm joining the
#21ders
! Super excited to work with the brilliant
@aejerman
& the kickass
@epicreads
team 🔥
More info & updates to come!
Add to GR
✨PM announcement✨ If you like
🔸underworld mythology
🔸death gods who love bubble tea
🔸queer Asian teens being the absolute worst in the best way possible
🔸grouchy angry girls
🔸burnt cinnamon roll boys
🔸anime fight scenes
add DARKER BY FOUR to gr 🥰
If you like
🏮100% poc cast
⚔️outcast seeking revenge
🔥 girl caught in the crossfire
👩❤️👩adorable lesbian couple
😏hot dodgy priest
👑sad reluctant prince
😥family angst
🤔political intrige
add
#JADEFIREGOLD
to your TBR
My drafting process
10k - I’m a genius 😏
20k - this is the best thing I’ve written 🥰
30k - omg wtf I’m in hell delete everything 😭
40k - calm down bitch u got this 😒
50k and beyond - I’m gonna travel back in time and murder past june for coming up with this book idea 🥴
There's an unspoken burden and responsibility held by marginalized/poc creators that happens behind closed doors. The fear that a single wrong word used or an inaccurate terminology means that we're dishonoring or letting down our own. 7/
2 starred reviews, 2 big book boxes, several foreign rights, multiple printings, earned out...but yeah no book 2
i've no sympathy/empathy for that dude who opened his mouth...if i were that successful, i'd simply keep quiet & enjoy my life! 🥰
What are the repercussions for other marginalized/poc creators? Will gatekeepers close the doors once more because they now deem us a "risk"? Or will they take responsibility and learn from this mess? Will they commit to hiring diversely? Will they see the value of SRs? 5/
BUT I know that marginalized/poc creators will go on doing your best - because we know our voices and stories matter. And hopefully one day, everyone else will feel the same. fin
It sucks to see one of us fall (even if the reason is valid) because there are so few of us. No one's saying it, but I'm sure some of us are thinking "is it going to be ME next?" even if there's nothing problematic or wrong with our books 6/
Hi
#JadeFireGold
is a dual POV YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology: A girl who steals souls has to team up with a vengeful exiled prince to rescue her grandmother from a cult of priests.
#BIPOCdebuts
#the21ders
graphics credit
@actualgina
I want to thank everyone for their check-ins in the past few days. I hesitated speaking up about Emily Duncan becos doing so dredges up a lot of personal trauma for me. However I understand my silence might be mistaken as approval or complicity so I feel compelled to speak up /
🔥The soft launch for JADE FIRE GOLD's pre-order campaign is live🔥 (please boost!)
Get exclusive physical AND digital swag😈
💫OPEN INTERNATIONALLY \o/
💫There's a Shop Indie special :)
💫swag list is up -photos to come
Details
JADE FIRE GOLD received it's first trade review and it's a STAR FROM KIRKUS sdglgjslfkjsdlfks \o/ 🥺
(I might have screamed and thrown/dropped my phone in the dentist's office, scaring everyone😬)
Here's an excerpt ;-;
if you'd like to read the full:
AHH! I peeked at goodreads ( i know i shouldn't) & saw that
#JADEFIREGOLD
has >2k adds \o/ 🔥
As a thank you, I'm sharing character art of my two main characters from the amazing
@jhocaaaa
🥰
(thot it'll be fun to share the sketch - more art + giveaway soon hehe)
#the21ders
I don’t really tweet writing advice but here’s one thing for BIPOC authors - don’t gatekeeper your stories or your writing and your ideas. There’re enough people in this industry trying to do that to you already.
We owe it to ourselves to tell the stories that feel right to us.
Hello! I’ve been very bad at cross posting oops BUT if you’re interested in Jade Fire Gold preorder campaign swag - I’ve been doing a daily reveal on IG. I’ll thread here soon but here’s a sneak peak of the signed bookplate + indie exclusive bookmark 😋
✨DARKER BY FOUR✨ out 4.2.24
A girl makes a deal w a death god to regain her magic & save the boy who took it😈
- underworld mythology
- lonely gods, grumpy girls & burnt cinnamon boys
- cosmic romance, villain romance
- soulmate + reincarnation tropes but done C-drama style
there’s been so much “do this/don’t do that/this is bad/why does this sell?” chatter on my timeline that I,,,
I just wanna see your books
trad published, indie published, agented, on sub, unagented
pitch me those darlings no matter how they fit in the ever shifting “norm” ♥️
Jade Fire Gold e-arcs are up for request. I hope you'll enjoy💕 If you choose to review on those platforms, I'd be super grateful🥺please🤐abt spoilers!
edelweiss
netgalley
(Apologies for typos, it's an uncorrected proof 🥲)
It feels super special to have a fellow Singaporean as my cover artist. Thank you GUWEIZ! check out more of his art on IG (@/guweiz)
sign up:
Here's a sneak peak of the full jacket - I can't wait to share the full illustration with you soon! 🥰
I have news!🔥Jade Fire Gold is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection😱😭🥰
Thank you so much for the honor
@JrLibraryGuild
!!! 💕
preorder & get your swag
I wrote 0 words for
#NaNoWriMo
but I did build a new website & a map with my own two hands🥰have a look! there's also an author's note for
#jadefiregold
, content warnings, art etc.
sign up for newsletter updates:
#WritingCommunity
It’s Darker By Four’s book birthday! 😱 still slightly shocked that the self indulgent book I started writing during chemotherapy is going to be in readers’ hands. There’s so much more I could say about the book of my 💜but I’ll just leave a snap of my acknowledgments here 🥰 /2
✨DARKER BY FOUR✨
A girl makes a deal w a death god to regain her magic & save the boy who took it😈
Shadowhunters X the Chinese underworld, for fans of Legendborn, Only a Monster & anime like Jujutsu Kaisen + Noragami
Preorder
Keep ur receipts!🧵⬇️
gentle reminder: Jade Fire Gold borrows fr wuxia/xianxia/c-drama elements, it is not 'western influenced'. If some things seem familiar, it's either cos some themes/aspects of story craft r universal or cos they're taken out of context & perceived thru a non-asian centered lens💕
Here’s the publishing news I was talking about! Incredibly grateful to
@molluskey
and the
@hodderscape
team for providing a lovely UK home for Jade Fire Gold 😭🥰💕
I can’t wait to share with you what else we have in store 😈🔥
We're delighted to announce that we are the UK publisher for
@junescribbles
'
#JadeFireGold
💚🔥💛 coming November 2021.
This epic
#ownvoices
YA fantasy is inspired by East Asian mythology and is full of dark magic, family ties and revenge. We can't wait to share it with you!
We’re pleased to announce our debut box for Jade Fire Gold by
@junescribbles
! This epic fantasy has rich worldbuilding & we loved the enemies to lovers dynamic of the MCs! Plus it's got some wonderful fan favourite tropes that are sure to make you swoon (caves are the new beds).
Been thinking about this tweet. whenever I talk abt Jade Fire Gold I tend to focus on tropes/zutara or clever one liner. Yes! It’s a fun YA fantasy, but I also took inspiration fr our world & its messiness & inequity & horror.
Here’s a less “fun” thread about JFG - no spoilers/
What a cool Rose quartz dining table area! Could you imagine this in your own backyard?! 💕💕💕
.
.
Photo Credit Rockmystic
#minerals
#minerals
#backyardgoals
I hope the writers address this in season 2. it'd be gratifying to see alina embrace/acknowledge her Shu side meaningfully. if u're going to shoehorn 'racism' it's only responsible to interrogate & address it properly, & not treat it as window dressing for fake diversity points
It feels like Alina was written for the white gaze.
On a plot level, the only purpose that Alina’s race serves is to make her a target of racism. There’s not much else to her cultural identity. There’s no joy that she experiences from being Shu Han. All we see is her pain.
I...might be screaming right now as I'm eating cake dlghjkdsgjhskjgh
Jade Fire Gold! on
@BNBuzz
! green banner! ahhhh
psst: the 25% off coupon still works!
I'm not done🙃I'm wondering why not "fantasy racism" if they really wanted "racism" in the show. why did it have to be so obviously anti-asian? What's with the stuff about rice & eyes & that poster? like WHY did it even have to be triggering for asian fans to watch this? why???
I hope the writers address this in season 2. it'd be gratifying to see alina embrace/acknowledge her Shu side meaningfully. if u're going to shoehorn 'racism' it's only responsible to interrogate & address it properly, & not treat it as window dressing for fake diversity points
How about we don't define what "romance" is based on the heteronormative standards that society has packaged and sold to us (and also shoved down our throats ew!)??? Like...let's just...NOT do that
Jade Fire Gold holographic sticker 😮
(Video resolution is shitty cos Twitter - my insta has better videos + videos of it shimmering in direct sunlight if you’re interested! Same handle)
got tagged in a bad review😭, mins later got tagged by an excited reader calling JFG the best book they've read this year AND they called Altan a tsundere adkjsdkjk - the serotonin spike is 🔥cos I'm like yes YOU get it! anyway, ur book will find its readers - keep writing!💜
Sometimes I wonder if the advice "write the book you want to read" or "write what you know" applies to poc/marginalized authors. Some of the stuff WE want to read & write are so culturally specific and/or experience-specific that I dread to hear the phrase "could not connect" 1/2
✨DARKER BY FOUR COVER REVEAL✨
Big thanks to Team
@hodderscape
& artist
@cyt_draws
for bringing my gremlin kids to life 🥹😭💜
@molluskey
: let's lean into anime vibes
me: 😱😱
*the 四 in the title was created by my US pub team - it means 4 but is also a homonym for 'death' 😈
⚔️COVER REVEAL⚔️
EVEN GODS NEED TO FORGET.
A girl who lost her magic. The boy who found it. And a city having one Hell of a time . . .
Darker by Four from
@junescribbles
is coming April 2nd 2024. Pre-order your copy now >
ICYMI not just 1 MC but all 3 MCs from DARKER BY FOUR🥰 (coming out 4.2.24) - an Asian fantasy set in a modern world where a vengeful girl, a fallen golden boy, and an enigmatic mage unravel the mystery of a missing god from the underworld.
art by
@warickaart
preorder for swag!
I am kindly asking authors to please mention if their book has a bisexual main character. It certainly helps find interested readers who are looking for books with bisexual main characters
Hello fellow
#AsianDiasporaCreators
, I'm a Chinese Singaporean SFF writer living in the US!
"What if Katara were the Dark Avatar & Zuko was hunting her down?"
#ATLA
If that sounds cool you might like my debut YA fantasy
#JADEFIREGOLD
(Fall'21)
👉
OMG! so honored to be one of
@PublishersWkly
's Fall 2021 Flying Starts 🥰 Also I see that
@sarahcyung
included this random thing I said about what I'm currently working on in the article and I'm screaming sakjhsadgkjhs 😂
Flying Starts: June CL Tan (
@junescribbles
) discussed her debut YA novel, ‘Jade Fire Gold,’ a Chinese folklore–infused high fantasy that addresses colonialism and colorism
DARKER BY FOUR is out in exactly 3 months 😱
I started writing DBF during chemo & what came out was an contemporary/urban Asian fantasy inspired by Chinese underworld myths, xianxia tropes & my fave anime 💁🏻♀️
preorder campaign swag reveals dropping soon💜
Helloooooo!!! Jade Fire Gold received its second starred review - it's from
@PublishersWkly
😭🥰 🔥
I'm SO happy that the supporting characters are mentioned 🥺 I love each and every one of them dearly & hope that readers will too 💕
read more here:
I hope all the white liberals on my tl remember the fear they’re feeling right now as we move forward in the next few election cycles. This is the fear marginalized people & BIPOC live with daily — and even so it’s not at the same level or depth. Stop. letting. us. down.
Hi!
#JadeFireGold
is a dual POV YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology: A girl who steals souls has to team up with a vengeful exiled prince to rescue her grandmother from a cult of priests.
#the21ders
#debutauthorchat