A. Y. Chao is a Taiwanese Canadian novelist of fantasy currently residing in London, UK. She describes herself as a recovering lawyer. Shanghai Immortal is the first volume in a planned trilogy.
Fiction
Paris Celestial
Hodderscape, 2026.
Forthcoming June 2026; sequel to Shanghai Immortal
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
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?
Fiction
Shanghai Immortal
Hodderscape, 2023.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From the author’s website)
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 lov