This is a new feature I’ll be doing for the future – Philosophy (in a Teacup) – interviews with interesting and up-and-coming authors, especially (but not exclusively) interesting folks in short fiction. My first interview is with the always-experimental Ai Jiang (江艾)!
Thank you for joining us! Tell us more about your book/ series/ short story work.
LINGHUN: A modern ghost story set in a town called HOME, where people go to buy haunted houses to live with the ghosts of their dead loved ones. [R. Jean Mathieu’s review]
I AM AI: A cyborg posed as an AI struggles to stay alive in a tech dominated city threatening to leave those like her behind.
SMOL TALES FROM BETWEEN WORLDS: Smol tales that will take you from world to world, genre to genre, featuring many of my less known works.
In terms of my short fiction work in general, I’d say I like to experiment with different genres and cross genre work (though this is similar to my long form as I move into more book-length projects). I tend towards more unconventional perspective use in writing and concept-driven stories. Many of my current long form works-in-progress draw on bit of experimental I had tested through my short stories.
Why do you write speculative fiction? / What is speculative to you?
I think speculative to me is not just having fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc, elements, but it is almost a philosophical musing about the self, the world, and humanity as a whole, as well as the political and social makeup of society—the ways in which things can be different from how it is now, the way our world might evolve or devolve, how humanity might look like if in a world outside of the one we know and understand, exploring our reality through a different lens.
What is your favorite sci-fi, fantasy, or horror trope? / What is your favorite subgenre?
I suppose “The Chosen One” is my favourite trope because I find chosen one stories quite inspirational. In terms of subgenre, I like dystopian fiction. Although bleak, I feel like it’s a genre that really gets us to interrogate humanity and our society and reflect upon it more thoughtfully.
What is your favorite speculative fiction book (besides Linghun)? / What is your favorite speculative short story?
Toni Morrison’s Beloved. My favourite speculative short story is “Flowers for Algernon” — Daniel Keyes.
Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
I suppose it might be cliché to say, but I find inspiration everywhere, in everything, and in everyone.
Bonus question: Novels or short stories? Which do you prefer to read? Which do you prefer to write?
Oh this is a tricky one, but I’d also like for novella to be a choice here!
Sacré OUAIS!
Ed. note
I like novels when it comes to broad, sweeping worlds and narratives but short stories for contained moments in time and within a character’s life. And of course, novellas for all the in-betweens, and for its succinct nature but ability to still experiment and create layered worlds within its word count limitations. If I’m tight on time, I like to read short stories, but when I have longer quiet moments, I enjoy novels. I’d say this is similar for writing, though as they say, novels are where the money is—but I have high hopes that novellas will quickly join its ranks.
And that’s our first Philosophy (in a Teacup)! Merci beaucoup, Ai Jiang, for kicking us off. LINGHUN and Smol Tales are available for sale now, I Am Ai is available for preorder.
I cant wait to read her work!