Hellooo!

Last week I reviewed the magnificent ghost story https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2023/4/7/linghun-by-ai-jiang a powerful tale exploring the power of grief to capture us. I thoroughly recommend it. I was very lucky to have the chance to ask Ai a few questions about the novella and what else we can look forward to.

How do you like to booktempt people into reading Linghun?

I supposed the one-line pitch I like to give when people ask me about LINGHUN is that it’s a ghost story about a place where people go to buy houses so they can live with the ghosts of their dead loved ones.

How did these characters evolve from the initial idea?

LINGHUN was first a very short flash piece I had written titled “Welcome Home” that was published in Ghostlore: An audio fiction anthology edited by Lyndsey Croal. In it, only Wenqi and Liam existed, though not with these specific names. But as I brewed longer on the neighbourhood of HOME and the stories of Wenqi and Liam’s family, along with their experiences of grief and mourning, Mrs. was a character that revealed herself in relation to the history behind the town of HOME and its creation.

Ghosts are these days more the drivers of the plot usually to scare us but your focus here is on the living people and the power and consequences of their grief. Did you plan on making these ghosts differently?

I very much had the intent from the onset in exploring the idea of ghosts through this different lens as I was thinking a lot about how ghosts come to be and how they are often connected to memories, idea, experiences, places, and people, and though some might have horrific or traumatic memories tied to those who have passed in their lives, there are also those who long to reclaim the more joyous moments in which they remember their loved ones. And I had hoped to capture this longing and desire to hold onto someone, or even some place through a someone, that an individual has lost.

We never really find out why HOME exists which for me was perfectly fine. How much of a world’s backstory do you know and what makes you decide how much to share with the reader?

I tend to think of everything in metaphor, and HOME is very much a metaphor and physical manifestation of the feelings of grief and loss experienced by those who reside within its homes and also those who come seeking for a home in this town. Much like grief itself, HOME is both mysterious and inexplicable. Sometimes, when we ask someone who is mourning why they can’t let go or move on, there might not be an answer; HOME is the same in its existence, its persistence, its meaning as a whole and for its residents.

What else can we look forward to from you in the near futureand where can we find out more?

Along with LINGHUN, I have a mini collection out with Tales From Between titled Smol Tales From Between Worlds, that includes some of my lesser known works, interview questions, and also author notes. Forthcoming on June 20th is my cyber/biopunk novelette titled I am AI set to be published with Shortwave Publishing. I have a number of projects currently in the words, along with a steampunk/dark fantasy/clifi/cyberpunk novella out on submission with my agent, so I’m crossing my fingers that it gets picked up soon! Outside of those, readers can find my work on my website—www.aijiang.ca—and follow along for more frequent updates on Twitter (@AiJiang_) or Instagram (@ai.jian.g)

If there was one book, not your own, that you wish you could get everyone else to read what would it be and why?

Beloved by Toni Morrison is an all-time favourite book for me in terms of the strength of the story, the vividness of the narrative experience, the resilience of its characters in the face of trauma, pain and violence, and the lyricism of a kind of prose that haunts for generations.