Starting Again With Nothing, From Nothing
Ai Jiang on her Silk & Sinew story "The Heaven That Tastes Like Hell"
by Ai Jiang
What inspired you to write your story found in Silk & Sinew? What do you hope readers take away from reading it?
It seems that what those from my home town is most known for is leaving for abroad, and that was what my dad did when he was twenty-eight. His immigration papers had been rejected countless times, but somehow, when I’d been born, when I was only three months old, his paper were approved, and off he headed to Canada because for him, for much of his family who were from the rural side of the district, who grew up on farmlands, working in the rice paddies and carrying bricks rather than attending school, it meant a chance at starting anew, even if it meant starting again with nothing, from nothing.
In writing this piece, I thought much about the weight the only sons of families like my father were expected to carry, the pedestals they had been placed on and the ways in which they were expected to fulfill the dreams of all those around them rather than chasing what they truly desired. Sometimes we forget that they, too, are choiceless. But I also wanted to highlight the sacrifices of the women who raise these sons, how their desire to receive an education, to have the same opportunities offered to men, to the sons. And it is a reflection on how lucky I am in the choices I have and am able to make—something that seems so natural to me but unfathomable only a generation prior.
For more of Ai’s work:
Novella:
WINNER OF THE NEBULA AND BRAM STOKER AWARD FOR BEST NOVELLA/LONG FICTION!
From acclaimed author Ai Jiang, follow Wenqi, Liam, and Mrs. to the mysterious town of HOME, a place where the dead live again as spirits, conjured by the grief-sick population that refuses to let go. This edition includes a foreword by Yi Izzy Yu, Translator of The Shadow Book of Ji Yun, the essay “A Ramble on Di Fu Ling & Death” by the author, and two bonus short stories from Jiang: “Yǒngshí” and “Teeter Totter.”
Novels:
A River From the Sky: Natural Engines #2
Coming Sept 2026! An Empire in the Clouds
About:
Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist born in Changle, Fujian, currently residing in Markham, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Clarkesworld, The Masters Review, among others. She is the author of An Empire in the Clouds, the Natural Engines duology, Linghun and I AM AI. Find her on X (@AiJiang_), Insta (@ai.jian.g), and online (http://aijiang.ca)
Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora:
This is such a beautiful reflection on how much can change in a single generation. I love the recognition that both the sons carrying expectations and the women denied opportunities were constrained in different ways. What a gift to recognize the choices we have now because of what came before us.