Book Launch: After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Stelliform Press

Stelliform & Cynthia Zhang launch a new novel + chat about dragons, diaspora, climate, & care  - with special guests + prizes!

Cynthia Zhang&#x27;s tender queer fantasy novel, AFTER THE DRAGONS, launches on August 19 and we&#x27;re celebrating the book&#x27;s quiet challenge to climate grief, its steadfast commitment to care in a time of crisis, and its adorable, tenacious dragons! The launch will open with poetry by Elinam Agbo and Misha Grifka. Kari Maaren will share her trope-lampooning ukelele tunes. We&#x27;ll hear Cynthia Zhang read from After the Dragons, followed by a Q&amp;A with Cynthia hosted by Stelliform Press&#x27;s Publisher, Selena Middleton.This online event has free, ebook, and paperback ticket tiers because we want EVERYONE to come and welcome this wonderful book into the world. We also have some fabulous prizes to give away including an illustration of Mei the dragon by fabulous cover artist Wang Xulin!Event Itinerary:<ul><li>8:00-8:05 - Welcome &amp; Intros</li><li>8:05-8:20 - Opening Performances from Special Literary and Musical Guests Elinam Agbo, Misha Grifka, and Kari Maaren</li><li>8:20-8:30 - Cynthia Zhang reads from AFTER THE DRAGONS</li><li>8:30-8:55 - Q&amp;A with Stelliform Press Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Selena Middleton and Audience Q&amp;A</li><li>8:55-9:00 - Prize Announcements!</li></ul>About Cynthia Zhang&#x27;s AFTER THE DRAGONS:Dragons were fire and terror to the Western world, but in the East they brought life-giving rain. Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern dragons survive. As drought plagues the aquatic creatures, a mysterious disease—shaolong, or “burnt lung”—afflicts the city’s human inhabitants.Jaded college student Xiang Kaifei scours Beijing streets for abandoned dragons, distracting himself from his diagnosis. Elijah Ahmed, a biracial American medical researcher, is drawn to Beijing by the memory of his grandmother and her death by shaolong. Interest in Beijing’s dragons leads Kai and Eli into an unlikely partnership. With the resources of Kai’s dragon rescue and Eli’s immunology research, can the pair find a cure for shaolong and safety for the dragons? Eli and Kai must confront old ghosts and hard truths if there is any hope for themselves or the dragons they love.After the Dragons is a tender story, for readers interested in the effects of climate change on environments and people, but who don’t want a grim, hopeless read. Beautiful and challenging, focused on hope and care, this novel navigates the nuances of changing culture in a changing world.About Cynthia Zhang:Cynthia Zhang is a Ph.D. student in Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture at the University of Southern California. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Kaleidotrope, On Spec, Phantom Drift, and other venues. She is a 2021 DVdebut mentee. After the Dragons is her first novel.Special Guest PerformancesElinam Agbo will open the event with poetry. Agbo was born in Ghana and grew up in Kansas. She holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. A graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, she has received support from Aspen Words, the Clarion Foundation, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation, among others. Her work has appeared in The Bare Life Review, American Short Fiction, Waxwing, PEN America Debut Short Stories 2018, and elsewhere. She is currently the Kenyon Review Fellow in Prose.Misha Grifka follows with two short poems. Misha Grifka Wander is a Midwestern artist and writer currently pursuing a PhD at Ohio State University. Their work focuses on queer experience, speculative futures, and the environment, themes they explore through comics, poetry, and prose. Previous creative publications can be found in 614Now and Apricity Magazine. Misha lives in Columbus with their partner and two very soft cats.Kari Maaren shares her music about genre literature, and various types of monsters. She has produced two CDs, Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off and Everybody Hates Elves. Her first novel, the Nebula- and Sunburst-nominated and Copper Cylinder-winning YA fantasy adventure Weave a Circle Round, was published by Tor in 2017. She has a completed webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains. She has won Aurora Awards for her music (2013 and 2015) and comics (2015 and 2019).About Stelliform Press:Stelliform Press is a small independent Canadian literary press which publishes fiction which address our world’s most pressing problems: climate change, ecological destruction, and the effect of these issues on how we relate to each other and to the other beings that live with us in the world. We see these problems as systemic and pervasive, exacerbating long-standing social issues, and challenging us to confront the roots of human thought and feeling. See the <a href="https://stelliform.press" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stelliform Press website</a> for more info.About Our Launch Partners:After the launch, the party continues over at <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">r/fantasy</a>. Join us there for a post-launch AMA! Thanks to the r/fantasy mods for organizing, promoting, and moderating the afterparty!Stelliform Online Event Safety Protocol:We take all abuse and/or harassment extremely seriously. The following are steps we are taking to protect our authors and guests:<ul><li>Zoom password protection</li><li>Chat monitored by Stelliform volunteers</li><li>Zero-tolerance policy of abusive/harassing behaviour and inappropriate interactions/questions posed to authors or between guests; any offensive questions or comments will be deleted and you will be banned</li><li>If you are banned your paid ticket will not be refunded</li></ul>

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Book Launch: After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

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Book Launch: After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

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