Authors SAMANTHA CHONG & T.A. CHAN in conversation

About the Books:

Prodigal Tiger

For five years, Caroline Chua has lived in exile from her home and family in Malaysia at a magical academy in New York City--far enough away that she can’t hurt the people she loves. That is until she is abruptly summoned home in an emergency—her beloved older brother, Aaron, who is next in line to become the Protector of the Island, has vanished. And now back in Penang, she can’t help but notice that things don’t feel the same as they once did and it’s unclear if she’s changed, or the island.

Despite her family’s desire to keep her close and the Council’s explicit instructions to stay out of trouble, stubborn, self-sufficient Caroline is hell-bent on saving her brother with or without anyone’s help. But when it turns out that Aaron has been kidnapped by vengeful ghosts with a centuries-old grudge, even Caroline must admit she’s in over her head and will need the help of the friends she had abandoned, including her first love, J.J.

The ghosts’ goals are simple: break the barriers between the ghost and mortal realms during the Hungry Ghost Festival using Aaron to take the island’s magic, and cement their rightful place as the true—albeit dead—rulers of the island. With only seven days before the barrier weakens, Caroline is in a race against time to save her brother. But as enemies stack up, always one step ahead, Caroline can’t help but wonder if she’s strong enough for this battle. Or is she doomed to repeat the mistakes that sent her away all those years ago?

The Celestial Seas

Ishara Ming is the sole survivor of a spacefaring whaler destroyed by the Ballena, a legendary sentient spacecraft that haunts the darkness between stars. The fatal encounter left her with a metal-plated arm, a faulty memory chip, and a burning need for revenge.

To take on the Ballena, Ishara assembles a crew of capable misfits. Among them is Quinn—her trusted first mate, the girl with wildfire eyes, and the only person who always stands by her side, even when everyone else thinks Ishara is a delusional captain who hallucinated the Ballena.

That is, until Augustus, a ship mech armed with his own mysterious reasons for vengeance, convinces Ishara to let him join the crew. He brings the one thing Ishara’s never had before: a tracking method tailored for finding the Ballena. Pulled between Quinn’s and Augustus’s gravitational forces, the pressure to issue increasingly risky orders, and the feeling that her past is rapidly catching up with her future, Ishara has to decide what—or who—she is fighting for before she loses another ship.

About the Authors:

Samantha Chong is a versatile cross-platform storyteller. Originally from Malaysia, she knits her multilingual and diverse backgrounds into every story she weaves. Her work has been published in BBC Travel, Gastro Obscura, OpenTable, and the Guggenheim. In Sam's free time, you’ll find her eating her way through any city or losing track of time while falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.

T. A. Chan grew up in New Hampshire, attended school in Philadelphia, then settled in California. With a passion for anything that is wonderfully weird, science fiction and fantasy quickly become her favorite genres to play in. She enjoys crafting character-focused stories that explore the human experience, as well as plots that twist and challenge expectations. Her insatiable curiosity of the natural world and technology inspires much of her writing. When she’s not typing away on her laptop, she’s probably snuggling with her dog, drinking boba, hiking, or working on the next Mars mission.

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