Meagan Kimberly Presents

Writer. Editor. Book reviewer and blogger.

[meagankimberly]

epiphany: The Folklore Chronicles Taylor Swift's song "epiphany" on the folklore album compares a soldier's experience with war to what we experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic....

epiphany: The Folklore Chronicles

[meagankimberly]

Something to Talk About Review Disclaimer: Some links in my review for Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner are affiliate links....

Something to Talk About Review

[biandlesbianliterature]

20 Must-Read New Queer Books Out in May 2026

Here are 20 of the best new queer books of May 2026, including include a nonbinary epic, a gay secret society mystery, and a trans romantasy

[writingwithcolor]

Our Favorite Books from Asian and Pacific Islander Authors Releases in 2026

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month from WWC!

To celebrate, we’re shining a spotlight on some of our personal picks for 2026 releases from Asian and Pacific Islander authors. 

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao | January 20, 2026 | Chinese | Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance

Jess: This debut novel by Shen Tao about a village girl who offers herself as a concubine to a cruel, violent prince to save her village from starvation. The prose is lush and immersive, with a terrific use of the Rashomon effect as Wei unravels the mysteries surrounding her husband while navigating dangerous court intrigue. However, this book covers darker themes, including child sexual abuse, so reader discretion is advised. 

View on Author Shen Tao's website

The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto | February 10, 2026 | Kānaka Maoli & Hapa Haole | Science Fiction, Queer, Lesbian, Cyberpunk

Mimi: A standalone sci-fi heist novel about a bored hacker who is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician, only to find herself facing an unexpected enemy from her past. Written by a Pacific Islander author, this novel is part of an extended “lesbian space heist” universe set in a futuristic Hawai’i-like cityscape, with an all-sapphic and trans cast. I quite enjoyed how the story uses common sci-fi tropes like clones and AI systems gaining sentience to depict themes like labor exploitation, mass displacement, gentrification and surveillance.

View on Author Makana Yamamoto's website

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop (translated by Anton Hur) | April 28, 2026 | Korean | Short Stories, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

Rina: An SF short story collection about the human yearning for connection—across alien cultural lines, across the border between life and death, across unfathomable spacetime. I was very taken with Kim Cho-yeop’s inquisitive approach to storytelling and her imaginative worlds, which gently ask us to consider the kinds of distances technology is unable to close. 

Read my full review here: 

Storygraph link

Goodreads link

The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean | May 5, 2026 | Hong Konger | Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Paranormal

Mimi: A historical gothic novel set in post-WWII Hong Kong, which blends folklore, commentary on war, and local legends to recount a tale of a ghost-talker woman, who confronts a powerful spirit in the Kowloon Walled City. I've not read this yet, but the premise sounds fantastic.

Behind Five Willows by June Hur | May 26, 2026 | Korean | Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Rina: An homage to Pride and Prejudice set in Joseon Korea, during a time of government book banning. A girl from a lower-ranking family is a secret novel transcriber; a young lord, an author. This gem of a story was a stunning introduction to the work of June Hur, whose characters are as charming as her elegant, nature-imbued prose. 

Read my full review here: 

Storygraph link 

Goodreads link 

The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki | June 2, 2026 | Japanese | Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Paranormal

Rina: A collection of literary short stories about desire, ambition, and the ways storytelling shapes reality and memory. Across a variety of settings, Ruth Ozeki creates a full range of sympathetic and unsympathetic narrative voices, resulting in stories that are grounded yet a touch strange, gritty yet beautiful, dark yet hopeful. Ozeki knows how to craft discomfort and hope in equal measure.

Read my full review here: 

Storygraph link 

Goodreads link 

Let us know your most anticipated reads in the comments!

Update:

We have updated the language of this post to describe the featured authors more accurately. Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for the terminology mix-up!

We wish to be inclusive of the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander creators to American media and culture regardless of where they come from, hence the non-American authors on this list. We hope you enjoy our book recs.

-WWC

Your recommendations

@gyroshrike recommends:

I would also like to suggest a book that just came out, The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe, an author from Hawai‘i! It's an adult fantasy and from what I understand, the magic system and linguistics are pretty tied together. (I JUST got it, so haven't read much yet.)

@sin-opa recommends:

I would recommend Burn the Sea [by Mona Tewari]. Indian-American author and debut about the colonial period of India and the Portuguese.

[meagankimberly]

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

Before taking on how to write a nonfiction book review, I wrote a post about the anatomy of a book review and my formula. While it works well for fiction, nonfiction may not follow that same outline. Nonfiction covers a wide range, from memoirs to poetry collections to academic examinations of society, culture, and politics. Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you click…

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

[meagankimberly]

Ecuador Revisited in 2024

The first time I visited Ecuador in 2011, I wanted to find a connection with my father’s homeland. The second time I went in 2018, I sought a deeper connection with my heritage, especially with where my last name comes from. When I returned in 2024, for the first time with the whole family and our newest additions, it felt like a homecoming. And like any family homecoming, it had its ups and…

Ecuador Revisited in 2024

[meagankimberly]

What are you trying to fix me for? Maybe I'm broken but I'm not sure Am I depressed or am I just bored? Apathy and irony, post modern anxiety Tell me you're okay, yeah what's that like? Rose tinted glasses, that must be nice Doing your best while you die inside Apathy and irony, post modern anxiety (Apathy and irony, post modern anxiety)

-- All Time Low, "PMA"

[meagankimberly]

mad woman: The Folklore Chronicles

In Taylor Swift’s album folklore, the song “mad woman” takes on how sexism and misogyny force women to hold back their anger. I decided to tackle that subject with the same quiet ferocity in the form of an acrostic. we’re all a little mad Everyone says smile and playNice, so I flash my pearly whitesOpen my mouth wide and let theJaw strain taut against skinAnd sinew and the gaping mawDeepens…

mad woman: The Folklore Chronicles

[meagankimberly]

Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution Review

Disclaimer: Some links in my review for Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution by Shiri Eisner are affiliate links. If you click them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Whether or not you make a purchase is entirely up to you. A version of this book review first appeared in The Lesbrary. Summary While Shiri Eisner published Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution over 10 years ago, it…

Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution Review

[meagankimberly]

Once in a lifetime Once in a lifetime I wanna drink, wanna think, write a song about it I wanna smoke, make a joke, try to hide the damage I wanna drive this car right over the edge Of every bad idea I didn't have yet

-- All Time Low, "Once In a Lifetime"

[avoliot]

Butches in Books

Updating the list of my favorite butches in (mostly) fantasy

I really liked this list from CL Clark of recent SFF with butches and I think it's worth a look. I remember this was some of my hesitation, years ago, about writing sapphic - the first wave of it in mainstream SFF felt like a lot of unthreatening femme4femme, which of course is an important part of the ecosystem, but it felt like that was all that publishers were letting through, and I just didn't have any of those stories in me.

I once tried to list recent SFF butches unprepared on a panel, and after Gideon, The Unspoken Name and The Unbroken I just... ran out (there are others, some of that's on me).

Things are different now! I got zero pushback or pressure to make either En or Tamol femme! But not so different that a list isn't useful.

[writingwithfolklore]

Writing Resources to use instead of AI

For coming up with character names:

Behind the name (my absolute fav)

Allows you to choose the origin of where you want the name to be from, whether you want a more feminine vs masculine vs androgenous name (as voted by users), random surname generator, and clicking on the name gives you important info like if there are any famous people with the same name, where it’s from, how common it is, and how people tend to see it, etc.

You can also search their name database by letter or meaning or origin, so if you know you want a character who has a name/surname that starts with an A from Ireland, there’s a whole list for you to choose from.

Census sites

Especially useful if you’re looking for a name from a specific place and/or time period. Just search “(country) census (year)” and you’ll find a database of real people who lived in that place at that time. No one can ever call your names unrealistic again.

For coming up with place names:

Fantasy name generator

This site can basically come up with any name for any person, place, or thing you might ever need. There are also specific generators for different fandoms if you’re looking to make an OC in an established world.

For finding that one word on the tip of your tongue:

One Look Thesaurus

This is my go-to. Not only can you find synonyms like a regular thesaurus, but you can also describe words like “unhappy smile” or “quiet laugh” to find the more specific word you’re looking for.

For coming up with ideas:

Word cloud

When I need to inspire a new idea, I write down all the things I’m interested in (hauntings, academia, lesbians, etc.) and put them into a word cloud to shuffle them next to each other. Sometimes seeing a concept in a new context can spark new ideas!

WWF Discord

This is my discord channel (shameless plug) for when you need to brainstorm off other people but don’t have anyone irl to talk to. We’re also happy to read and give feedback on writing, answer writing questions, or just chat!

For visualizing places and characters:

Pinterest

Pinterest can at times be a bit too sterile for my tastes, but if you use the right words, you can find more realistic photos of places. For example, adding “aesthetic” after basically any word will bring up a more broad collection of photos to help you flesh out places.

This is also a great way to find photos of people and fashion to help visualize characters. I’m bad at describing clothes, so I usually collect photos of outfits to help me know what my characters are wearing. Searching up “character inspiration” will collect more interesting photos and drawings of people who might not exactly be of our world.

(However, to make Pinterest not show you AI results, you have to go into your settings and check the “reduce AI” box. Luckily, it does mostly work.)

Death to Stock

Like pinterest but completely AI free (hooray!) Only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly subscription (about $20 CAD).

Cosmos

Very similar to pinterest but slightly more "artsy". I'm not super familiar with this one but I believe all the photos are human and you can save them and create collections with a free account.

Dupe Photos

Royalty-free stock image site with very Pinterest-core photos!

Minecraft

If you haven’t built your entire fictional city in Minecraft instead of writing, why not? It’s fun.

The Sims

This one is dual purpose because you can not only create your characters in Create a Sim, but you can design their houses. If you really want to go for it, you can bulldoze all the lots in your town and build your world from scratch.

For checking grammar:

Grammar Girl

Easy to follow definitions and examples, and if you learn better by listening, every article comes with a podcast to follow along with instead.

Grammar Monster

This one is my favourite for checking grammar rules because there’s tons of examples in graphics that helps for any situation.

Reedsy

Among other things, reedsy can connect you to professional editors within your budget.

For writing advice:

One Stop for Writers

This one was recommended from my discord channel and has all sorts of tutorials and resources for the writing craft.

My Blog Directory

Another shameless plug, but if you need writing advice on something specific, you can search through my directory to see if it’s there. If it isn’t, you can always send me an ask about it!

For an alternative to Google Docs:

Ellipsus

Think google docs but without AI. Yay!

(will update this list with any more suggestions or resources I discover 😊)

[just-a-readthrough]

A great resource

[meagankimberly]

The Bookworm Guide to Budgeting

The life of a bookworm is not a cheap one. Reading can be an expensive hobby. But there are ways to save money without sacrificing the joys of finding new books to add to your shelves. Libby & Hoopla Hacks You can attach more than one library card to the Libby app to access multiple library catalogs. My cousin and I shared library card information so she has access to my county library, and I…

The Bookworm Guide to Budgeting

[meagankimberly]

Antarctica: The Journey of a Lifetime

Antarctica: The Journey of a Lifetime

[meagankimberly]

Can you make this last? Cause now I'm not so sure, Are you up to the task? Sometimes the sickness is the cure. You're searching so hard, You've lost yourself...

-- All Time Low, "Actors"

[wearewatcher]

for the ones who turn your haunted house into a haunted home <3

bonus: 

[meagankimberly]

invisible string: The Folklore Chronicles

The next poem in my series for The Folklore Chronicles, a poetic journey inspired by Taylor Swift’s album, is a piece for the song “invisible string.” the clues I didn’t see I always dreamed of sharing my spoton Hollywood Beach with someone special.tell them about summer days with friendsclimbing the ramp up to the lifeguard housewhere we didn’t belong. crunchingon pizza seasoned with sea salt…

invisible string: The Folklore Chronicles