1--What is the title of your latest release?
OF JADE AND DRAGONS
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A silkpunk fantasy about an aspiring female engineer who must infiltrate the prestigious (and secretive) Engineers Guild disguised as a boy, in order to weed out her father’s murderer.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The book is based on Qing dynasty history, so I figured a tech-based fantasy world building on Qing dynasty aesthetic would be suitable! Also, I decided to create a nation made out of several small islands because I’m from a small island city myself and thought it’d be fun to develop a world centering tiny islands.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Of course! Us STEM girls would definitely hang out (and hopefully not create any trouble!)
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Innovative, headstrong, resilient
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
How cannons and cannonballs actually work!
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I draft, so my first drafts are usually pretty clean!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Edamame
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I usually write at my dining table, facing the kitchen, so I get a great view of all the snacks that are available! Also, there’s always a cup of tea somewhere.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Jasper Fforde, who is one of my all-time favorite authors. I started reading his books almost ten years ago and just picked up his latest release (Red Side Story) last month! He is truly one of the most innovative SFF authors out there and I would very much like to peek inside his head to find out how he comes up with these brilliant ideas.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest, Book #2 in his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. This book made me feel absolutely tiny and insignificant, but in a good way.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I got “the email” from my agent, not “the call”—because time zones—but it was the singular most exciting email I’ve received in my entire life. I then treated myself to a fantastic bowl of ramen because a celebration with good food was clearly in order!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Definitely fantasy, with sci-fi a close second.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Ever After!
15--What is your favorite season?
Winter (which is unfortunate seeing as I live in Singapore…)
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Over a simple meal with my family
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty series! This series was where the concept of silkpunk all began, so highly recommend for everyone to pick it up (even though it is a very long series).
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Japanese cuisine!
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Binge watch TV dramas
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Hopefully Book 2 of the Fall of the Dragon duology?
Mulan meets Iron Widow in this thrilling silkpunk fantasy about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy and enter the famed and dangerous Engineer’s Guild trials to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder.
Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune.
Disguised as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal. Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own.
The secrets concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?
Young Adult | Romance Fantasy [Viking Books for Young Readers, On Sale: June 18, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593622759 / eISBN: 9780593622766]
Amber Chen is a Singaporean-Chinese author of SFF and contemporary fiction. She spends much of her free time living within Chinese fantasy novels and dramas, and also drinks one too many cups of bubble tea. Her debut silkpunk fantasy novel, Of Jade and Dragons, is forthcoming from Penguin Teen in Summer 2024.
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