Sprinkles of Dreams Author Feature // Debut Authors & Writers to Watch (& Love)

Hello, beautiful people of the internet!! 🌟

The idea for this blog post literally shook me awake this week, and I couldn’t focus on reading, or doing anything productive, until I had finished writing a draft for it.

As you all know, I’m very, very passionate about boosting books and writers I believe in, especially marginalized ones, and making it my personal mission to scream about them on all my social media platforms, but especially on my blog—so naturally, I found this to be the perfect kind of post to invest my heart and time in. ✨

I mean, listen. The road to getting published, especially traditionally published, is not an easy one, and if there are any people in the universe I’d cheer on with all my might on this journey, these are the first ones that come to my mind.

These are all writers I absolutely adore and admire so, so much, and whose books/drafts/writing I’ve already had the honor and absolute pleasure to experience, and whose little sneak peeks and general (social media) presence always inspire all the positive feelings in the world in me.

(This is by no means an exhaustive list, though!)

So, without further ado, let me introduce these absolute gems to you. 💗

CHLOE GONG

Chloe Gong is the absolutely stunning writer whose Young Adult Fantasy debut These Violent Delights is going to be published in fall of 2020! It’s pitched as a Romeo and Juliet retelling by way of The Godfather, and it honestly sounds way too good to be true—I may have cried myself to sleep when I saw it … figuratively. Of course.

“A monster has awakened in 1920s Shanghai, killing off citizens and stirring trouble between two feuding gangs. The rival heirs, Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai, must work together before the monster destroys all they hold dear, even while the Chinese Civil War breaks out around them.”

She also has one of the most beautiful aesthetics ever, and I’m always tearing up thinking about how we’re mutuals??—basically, follow her on all your social media platforms to make your life prettier and brighter by basking in her mere presence.

Chloe’s memes and short stories that you can start reading now! 💫

✨ Twitter | Goodreads | Website

REBECCA MIX

Does Becca even need an introduction? It’s kind of unconceivable to me for anyone not to know her—she’s the Queen™ of memes, and being witty, and she’s always ready to make any conversation sparkle with an insightful quip, funny memes, and snappy comebacks, and generally by being a human emoji with the sunglasses.

(Because she’s so cool. Get it?)

Twitter | Instagram | Website ✨

 

I can’t wait to read her book, a “YA fantasy about a blood-witch whose mission to assassinate a prince gets complicated when she falls for his sister”, and love it with my entire heart and soul. (Becca, if you’re reading this: 👀👀.)

Anyway. Her book Bloodwinn will mean so much to so many people. (Including moi.)

Here’s a link to her published work! 💫

K.M. SZPARA

Have I ever been more obsessed with an author’s writing and all their literary work, merely from reading one (1) short story, and not knowing much else about them? The answer is a resolute and resounding no.

Imagine my surprise, when I found out that K.M. Szpara has a book coming out soon, and with one of my absolute favorite publishers in the world, Tor.com!!

[inserts all the heart emojis]

We all know that Tor.com is eons ahead of other publishing houses in terms of—well, who am I kidding. Their progressiveness in every imaginable aspect is unparalleled, and we are but mere mortals in their presence. So. Basically the perfect fit for any and all of Kellan’s works.

Docile will be out on March 3, 2020—my birthday month! [wink wink @ all of Tor’s publicists/marketing peeps]

✨ Twitter | Goodreads | Website ✨

TASHIE BHUIYAN

There’s no end to how much I admire Tashie for how hard she works, and how passionate she is about everything she writes, and I’m so beyond ready to cheer on all her books, and scream about them from all the highest rooftops.

I will always remember bonding over C.S. Pacat, Madeline Miller, and all the angst in Captive Prince, as well as chatting about growing up as Asians, with Tashie. She’s such a sweet and wonderful person all around, and I’ll never stop rooting for her.

✨ Twitter | Instagram | Website

 

 

COUNTING DOWN WITH YOU

a YA CONTEMPORARY featuring ownvoices Bangladeshi-Muslim representation, slowburn fake dating, subverted bad boy trope, excessive outings to bakeries and bookstores, forced tutoring sessions, female friendship, and supportive grandmas.

ANDREA TANG

Don’t even get me started on all the ways in which I adore Andrea!! Seriously. Her Twitter bio says “AMM mentor” and “martial artist, theater kid, & professional geopolitics nerd”, but really take a second to let that sink in. And then add a million more adjectives that make her personality shine.

You should also see her being her graceful self doing aerial silks, and fangirl with her about Tan France (or anything else in the cosmos) someday. It’s an Experience, let me tell you.

REBELWING

“The story of rebellion and resistance features a scholarship student at a prestigious prep school who smuggles black-market media in a near-future North America divided by culture wars.

Her life changes drastically when a sentient cybernetic dragon imprints on her as its pilot, forcing her to the forefront of a revolution.”

✨ Twitter | Goodreads | Website

MARINA LIU

Marina is one of my favorite people in the book community, and I admire and appreciate her existence so much!!

She’s super smart, and eloquent, and I’m always in awe of all the thoughts that her mind draws out of a seemingly never-ending abyss (of Genius). Also, the way she thinks, and the way she writes, and basically … her capacity of insightfulness is so mind-blowing to me??

Twitter | Instagram ✨

I’m so honored that I got to read her murder-y sci-fi Hamlet retelling, which had me speechless, and I’m so excited to see her conquer the publishing world!

(And hopefully not forget about me. 🤧)

What you can expect from a (future) book of hers (AO3-style); Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Urban Fantasy, Angst and Humour, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, which ends in a nightmare lesbian OT3, Enemies to Lovers, Found Family, Royalty, Dubious Morality, Military Kink …

JUNE CL TAN

I actually wrote this blog post before the official announcement went live that June’s debut Jade Fire Gold, a “dual-POV YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology” had been sold, so … imagine me jumping up and down in excitement and tearing up with all the happy tears for June even though I had to delete everything I’d written, because it no longer made any sense.

Here’s the synopsis (I love)!

“In order to save her grandmother from a cult of dangerous priests, a peasant girl cursed with the power to steal souls enters a tenuous alliance with an exiled prince bent on taking back the Dragon Throne. The pair must learn to trust each other but are haunted by their pasts–and the true nature of her dark magic.”

I can’t wait to adore this series.
(Be still, my smol Asian soul).

✨ Twitter | Goodreads | Website

GRACE LI

Wait, another writer I admire endlessly? Why, yes.

I don’t think words can express how eagerly I am (and have been, since 2018) awaiting her book The Fall of Troy. My heart is in serious danger of spontaneously combusting one of these days, okay.

“THE FALL OF TROY is a reimagining of the Iliad, set in the Greek underworld. When Helen of Troy enters the afterlife, she must face all the heroes who died in the war she caused — and they aren’t ready to forgive her.”

Someone tell me that I can read this soon, and reminisce about The Song of Achilles, please.

Twitter | Website ✨

COCO MA

I genuinely can’t believe it took me so long to discover Coco Ma, and her debut Shadow Frost? Words elude me at this unspeakable oversight of mine. She finished writing this book when she was just fifteen, next to being a piano prodigy, and performing on concert stages??

 

She also graduated with a pre-college diploma in piano performance from Juilliard, and is currently studying at Yale.

me: [is Forever in awe]

 

Shadow Frost is currently available to request on Netgalley!

✨ Twitter | Goodreads | Website ✨

Which of these authors and books are you most excited about?
(“All of them” is the correct answer, obviously. 😎)
Do you enjoy these kinds of blog posts, and would like to see more of them from me in the future?
Let me know in the comments 💗

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