A. Y. Chao
Alice is a Canadian fantasy writer. Her debut novel SHANGHAI IMMORTAL, about an arsey, irreverent, sometimes petulant but always entertaining half hulijing fox spirit, was a #1 Sunday Times Bestseller, and its follow-up, PARIS CELESTIAL, will be out in July 2025.
She’s lived in Calgary, Taipei, Paris, Stockholm, Beijing, London, and Hong Kong, giving her the unique experience of being a minority in Canada, a foreigner in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong SAR, as well as an expat in England. Belonging nowhere and everywhere, depending on her mood and mindset. She’s fascinated by the interplay between self-perceived versus imposed identity and how this intersects with belonging and enjoys exploring these spaces in her stories.
She was an Author Mentor Match R8 mentee and R9 mentor and is a Viable Paradise alumna. A recovering lawyer and xiaolongbao enthusiast, she knits to soothe anxiety and has a deep abiding love for Hobonichi planners and kawaii planner stickers. Between hot or cold, she’ll take frozen nostril hairs, champagne powder, and bluebird skies every time.
Alice lives in London with her historical geo-enthusiast hubby, chatterbox daughter, and sweet rescue pup. She is represented by Jamie Cowen of The Ampersand Agency, and grateful for the support of the Canadian Council for the Arts.
Pronouns: she/her
Find her social media links here.
This richly told adult fantasy debut teems with Chinese deities and demons cavorting in jazz age Shanghai.
Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King’s ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper – with varying levels of success.
So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all.
With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai. But when her hijinks put the mortal in danger, she must decide which is more important: avenging her loss of face, or letting go of her half-empty approach to life for a chance to experience tenderness – and maybe even love
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Now a Minister of Hell, Lady Jing is mind-numbingly bored. All she wants is plain talk and time with her beau Tony Lee, who has been distracted with mortal matters of late (impending war is such a drag).
But then a visiting Celtic deity, turns up boneless and drained of yin qi. The only way to help him is to return him to his pantheon's healer, in residence in Paris. Ready for a new adventure, Jing immediately volunteers for the task.
Accompanied by Tony Lee, the group settle into the Immortal Express for what should be a run-of-the mill journey until the train is hijacked by the Vampire Republic, who are seeking hostages in their bid to demand recognition by the international pantheons.
Jing fears the worst, but when she unwittingly reveals her heritage, the vampires embrace her as one of their own . . . if she abandons her friends. Caught in an impossible situation, can Jing use her wit and spark to save them all?