Today, we’re honored to showcase our anthology contributor Ai Jiang (江艾). Ai has sent us a hopeful, wondrous tale, “A Species Called Hope,” for our cross-genre anthology Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers. And she has sent another tale for our magic-themed anthology Of Enchantment, Enigma, and the Infinite! And Ai confirms she will be part of these forthcoming anthologies as well: Of Dread, Decay, and Doom (horror), Omniboz: Tales from the Land of Oz (Oz stories), Of Starlight and Roses (romantasy), and Of Blades, Betrayal, and Blood (grimdark) We are thrilled to have Ai’s sparkling prose in our anthologies!

Ai Jiang (江艾) is a Chinese-Canadian author and winner of the Bram Stoker®, Nebula, and Ignyte Awards. She has also been nominated for the Hugo and Astounding Awards and is a Locus and BSFA Award finalist.

An immigrant from Shanghu, Changle, Fujian, Ai currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in many speculative fiction publications, including F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, The Masters Review, and many more. Ai is a prolific writer of both short and long fiction. Her books Linghun and I AM AI continue to garner recognition. Her novella A Palace Near the Wind publishes in 2025 via Titan Books.

Learn more about Ai Jiang via her website and follow her on social media via Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, and Bluesky.

Our second anthology, Of Enchantment, Enigma, and the Infinite, features fabulous authors from around the world, writing magical tales that charm, intrigue, or occasionally unsettle! Help support this anthology, which pays our authors and funds book production and shipping, by backing the Indiegogo campaign.