… Lianyu Tan

1. What’s the time of the day when you feel most like yourself?

9:30pm—10:30 pm.

2. What’s your coffee order? 

Small latte. At home, roasted dandelion tea with lactose-free milk.

3. How would you describe yourself in three words?

Work in progress.

4. What do you think of garden gnomes?

They’re okay I guess but I don’t want them near my house! They remind me of the Disney series Gravity Falls, which was a great series.

5. What’s your one massive food weakness? 

During lockdowns I had a small freakout about not being able to find Lao Gan Ma chilli oil via delivery—but it was fine, I stocked up.

6. What makes you smile?

Kittens!

7. Do you believe in soulmates?

This really depends on the definition of soulmate. If a soulmate is just a cool person you really click with and who shares similar interests as you—of course, I believe everyone can find someone like that. But when we edge closer to concepts like fate or prescience or reincarnation, then no, I don’t think so.

I think the popularity of fated mates tropes and similar boils down to the understandable fear of Getting It Wrong—of picking the wrong person/s to spend one’s life with. And I get that. I really do! It’s one of the most important decisions you actually have control over.

But the way probability works, you’re almost certainly going to pick a person who’s a sub-optimal match. And that’s not a bad thing?? Who knows if your ‘ideal’ is even alive/available/the right age/the right whatever.

The thing is, if you want a long-term relationship, at some point you have to choose, despite imperfect knowledge (of yourself, of them, of the dating market, of the future). And that is Terrifying.

But I do believe you can work to grow together rather than apart. And I believe you can decide to keep choosing the same person, day after day, despite the hardships that will inevitably crop up.

I got insanely lucky the day I asked out my wife. We’ve been together my entire adult life and I am so fortunate to have met her. I feel like I’ve been dropped at the right-hand-side of the normal distribution curve for picking life partners; that is, I’ve somehow found myself in the top 1% for love, compatibility, and longevity of the relationship.

That is a really roundabout way to say that objectively, no, I don’t believe in soulmates. But if they exist, I just might have found mine.

8. What author would you follow till the ends of every literary genre they chose to write in? 

This would apply to a lot of authors, but I’d be remiss not to note the one author I’ve actually done this with: Seanan McGuire & pen names. Her October Daye series (M/F urban fantasy, queer side rep) was my comfort read for a long time, but I especially love her horror writing as Mira Grant. Into the Drowning Deep has sapphic main characters, as do books 2 and 5 of the Wayward Children series.

9. What makes you cry?

Grief. Guilt.

10. What’s your best feature?

I’m hoping it’s going to be my capacity to change.

11.  If you were a book, which book would you be and why?

I aspire to be The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle—magical, bittersweet, multi-faceted. And capable of earning its rights holders a whole bunch of money. 😂

12. Favorite flavor and scent? 

See question 5.

I love the fragrance of baked goods, but it always makes me hungry!

13. In a crowded room, what makes you notice a woman?

I first noticed my wife’s beautiful singing voice! She was doing karaoke at someone else’s party.

14. What’s your one big regret?

I have so many:

• Moments when I could’ve shown more kindness or consideration.

• Listening to (cis men) when they told me something was too hard so I shouldn’t even try.

• Doing things that amounted to punishing myself for not being more neurotypical.

15. What would be the title of your autobiography? 

It doesn’t matter because it will never exist, thankfully!

16. Three women you’d have over for dinner and what would you serve? 

Are dead people okay? In which case I think I’d have to ask over my direct recent ancestors, plus a translator. I’d serve hot pot and then a fruit plate with pineapple cookies.

17. What’s the one thing you’d want the 18 year-old you to know?

You should see a therapist.

18. What’s in your fridge right now?

My fridge is usually full! Leftovers, vegies, fruit, condiments, soda.

19. If you could choose one song to be played every time you enter a room, what song would that be and why? 

‘Love Like You’ (instrumental), the ending theme to Steven Universe. It’s the procession song we played when my wife and I got legally married.

20. What’s the one book you wish you could read again for the first time? 

I know I evangelise this book all the time, but it’s incredible if you’re looking for an epic fantasy book to eviscerate you in the most precise way: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson, book 1 in The Masquerade Quartet. I was lucky enough to come to it completely spoiler-free except knowing it would be devastating. It was, and it was glorious. I owe this book and this series so much. My second novel was deeply influenced by its takes on race and colonialism and desire.

Also, my wife and even internet strangers have been telling me for ages that I probably have ASD (autism spectrum disorder), and it never really hit until I read reviews from people who were like ‘as a lesbian with ASD, I deeply identified with Baru’ and I was like oh my gawd lol. I identify with Baru probably even more strongly than I do with my own characters. The whole series changed me in so many ways. I highly recommend it for fantasy readers who are okay with the content warnings (there are a lot of those, fyi).

Lianyu Tan’s latest book, The Wicked and The Willing can be found here: mybook.to/LianyuTanWickedWilling