On August 13, two days before 광복절 (Korean National Liberation Day), my debut novel was released. The book is about Korean-American family, and also about Greek mythology, and I promise this combination makes sense in the end. (For those who are curious, I wrote an uncharacteristically personal guest post for Women's Writers, Women's Books on the topic of what inspired me to write a Eurydice and Orpheus retelling about my Korean grandmother.)
It was surreal to go to a store the other day and see it on a table next to Salman Rushdie and other acclaimed writers. After 13 years of this story existing in some form, I'm so excited that this book is finally out—both because it is a beautiful book that I am proud of and that I hope you enjoy, and also because I would love to stop being my own publicist (it is VERY awkward).
So here is an omnibus post of book-related info that I will keep updated and pinned going forward to finally give the memento mori tag a rest. Below the cut, you will find a running list of indie bookstores and public libraries that I know carry my book. (If you have a New York Public Library card and have 5 minutes, I will love you forever if you would email your local branch to ask them to carry my book, thus fulfilling my lifelong dream of living in the NYPL.)
Also below are a few upcoming events at which I have been invited to speak!
Bookstores by State (as of 9/11/2024)
Search for your local bookstore here!
Arizona
Changing Hands Bookstore (Phoenix and Tempe)
California
Gallery Bookshop (Mendocino)
Timbre Books (Ventura) Sold out for now (but you can still order online)!
Indiana
The Press (Valparaiso)
Iowa
Prairie Lights Books (Iowa City)
Maine
Longfellow Books (Portland) Sold out for now (but you can still order online)!
Massachusetts
Nantucket Book Partners (Nantucket) Sold out for now (but you can still order online)!
Porter Square Books (Cambridge and Boston both back in stock!)
Missouri
Skylark Bookshop (Columbia)
Montana
Chapter One Book Store (Hamilton)
New Hampshire
Water Street Bookstore (Exeter)
New Jersey
Watchung Booksellers (Montclair)
New York
Astoria Bookshop (Queens, 1 signed copy left!)
Book Culture (Signed copies at the 112th St. and Broadway stores; also available at LIC and Pittsford Pittsford has sold out for now!)
Books are Magic (Brooklyn, at both Smith St. and Montague St.)
Market Block Books (Troy) Sold out for now (but you can still order online)!
Greenlight Bookstore (Brooklyn) Back in stock!
Shakespeare & Co (Manhattan, Lincoln Center has signed copies; Lexington also as copies back in stock)
Yu and Me Books (Manhattan; comes with bonus goodies, see below!)
North Carolina
Quail Ridge Books (Raleigh)
Oregon
Powell's (Burnside, Cedar Hills, and Hawthorne locations)
Rhode Island
Heartleaf Books (Providence)
Vermont
Phoenix Books (Burlington and Essex)
Washington, D.C.
Politics and Prose (at both CT Ave NW and Union Market)
Washington State
Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle)
Wisconsin
Woodland Pattern (Milwaukee)
Libraries (as of 09/10/2024)
Worldcat Listings (Probably the most comprehensive)
Libby (for e-books)
California
Berkeley Public Library
Illinois
Chicago Public Library
Kentucky
Lexington Public Library
Maine
Portland Public Library (On Order)
Michigan
Canton Public Library (On Order)
New York
Greenburgh Public Library (Available)
New York Public Library (Available)
Queens Public Library (Available)
Texas
Harris County Public Library (In Processing)
Virginia
Arlington Public Library (In Processing)
Wisconsin
Whitefish Bay Public Library
Washington State
Seattle Public Library
Online
Bookshop.org (US)
Bookshop.org (UK)
Massive Bookshop (all profits go to community bail funds)
Barnes & Noble
Target
KYOBO 교보문고 (Korea)
Upcoming Events
September 3: Astoria Bookshop in conversation with Maia Lee-Chin for the release of her incredible book Et Cetera
September 22: Narrative Bookshop (Somerville, MA) in conversation with Maia Lee-Chin
September 28: Brooklyn Book Festival for a debut authors panel moderated by THEE Edwidge Danticat
October 17: Fall for the Book Festival in Fairfax, VA for a panel on mythology with Rania Hanna, the amazing author of The Jinn Daughter
creon leaving polynices unburied and burying antigone alive vs odysseus leaving elpenor unburied and going alive to the underworld himself… maybe to go to hades before your time, you have to take the place of someone else who ought to be there. i bet orpheus never buried eurydice
“If I were Orpheus I would have saved Eurydice” “if I were Orpheus I simply would not turn around”
If I were Eurydice I would not have died in the first place. No matter what happened, the amount of love I had for my spouse would keep my heart pumping and the knowledge of being loved would counteract any poison in my veins.
And no I don’t think love ever leaves because it’s been eight years since my dad died and he is in every thought and hope and dream. and when I think I can’t fix the computer he is here. and when I eat chocolate cake he is here. and when the sun glows at 3pm he is here. and he will always be here because his life made mine, and my life will be his epilogue
Only about 70 pages in so far, but very much enjoying it. If you're looking for a less-typical Greek myth inspired story, something non-linear, and prose that will make you jealous, here you go! 🖤
(Also, I was told light beach read and I was lied to!)
Honestly cannot believe this, but the Portland Public Library (in Maine! Not Oregon!) is partnering with Portland Ovations to host a Broadway Book Club, with Memento Mori x Hadestown as their inaugural selection!
The book club will meet at the downtown library on October 3. Participants can receive a free copy of the book AND will have a chance to win a free pair of tickets to the Broadway National Tour of Hadestown, which will be performing in Maine on October 18–19! Registration is recommended but not required.
I am trying to sound very calm about this, but to be perfectly candid, I am very NOT calm about this, because Hadestown is one of my favorite musicals of all time and a dream pairing for my book. Our receptions of Eurydice, Orpheus, Persephone, and Hades are very different (with the exception of one joke/pun in common about Orpheus), and I am really interested to hear readers' thoughts on how (if at all) the two works speak to each other.
I will also take this opportunity to say I LOVE LIBRARIES, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY, AS THEY CAN MAKE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!
Thank you!! AND YES to these important tags from @ghostlycircaea about library cards, which reminds me that September is Library Card Sign-Up Month, and no I did not just make that up! In fact, ilovelibraries.org is running a library activity challenge that gives participants a chance to win prizes (first prize is a Visa gift card, other prizes are posters):
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, so we’re challenging everyone to try something new at their library and share their experience. Whe
If you're near Portland, Maine, participating in the Broadway Book Club could count, which means you could theoretically get a free book AND free tickets AND a prize. And even if you're not near Portland and/or have no interest in the book club, libraries offer tons and tons of other helpful and fun resources that you can explore.
Honestly cannot believe this, but the Portland Public Library (in Maine! Not Oregon!) is partnering with Portland Ovations to host a Broadway Book Club, with Memento Mori x Hadestown as their inaugural selection!
The book club will meet at the downtown library on October 3. Participants can receive a free copy of the book AND will have a chance to win a free pair of tickets to the Broadway National Tour of Hadestown, which will be performing in Maine on October 18–19! Registration is recommended but not required.
I am trying to sound very calm about this, but to be perfectly candid, I am very NOT calm about this, because Hadestown is one of my favorite musicals of all time and a dream pairing for my book. Our receptions of Eurydice, Orpheus, Persephone, and Hades are very different (with the exception of one joke/pun in common about Orpheus), and I am really interested to hear readers' thoughts on how (if at all) the two works speak to each other.
I will also take this opportunity to say I LOVE LIBRARIES, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY, AS THEY CAN MAKE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!
Hi, I've never told a writer what I think of their published work before and it feels a little weird that tumblr is how I'm doing it, but I just needed yo send you a message saying I just finished Memento Mori and it is one of the most profound books I have ever read. It made me cry multiple times in public and I literally underlined passages of it to read to nh therapist. Thank you very deeply for writing this
Dear Anon,
Thank you thank you thank you, both for reading my book and for this lovely message, which has transformed my week. Publishing is a strange and difficult journey (at least for me), but messages like yours make it all worth it. I'm so touched that the book meant something to you and that you took the time to let me know. I wish you a wonderful weekend and beyond!
And you can use their reality to keep them calm if they are panicking! We had a husband who was always panicking trying to find his wife. Telling him she had passed away was not an option, but through the family we figured out their routine and could tell him not to worry, that she was at the salon or getting coffee with MaryAnne and would be home soon. It calmed him down, stopped him from trying to climb out of windows looking for her, and kept him in his own reality.
If you are working with dementia patients and they aren’t your family, try to get small details from the family that can help!
We had an older gent who was always wanting to get in his car and drive off so we would tell him his car was in the workshop. Eventually someone came up with a car of a make and model he’d owned that was non-working so we parked it up in the garden and he used to get in and sit happily behind the wheel and go for ‘drives’ - he even used to give other residents lifts to wherever they thought they were going.
Trying to orient someone with dementia is cruel in the short term and ultimately pointless. You’ll only upset them by trying to tell them the truth and they’ll have forgotten in an hour and be asking after the same long dead people again. My mother has worked in dementia care for over 25 years and will often tell families “So-and-so is happy in their dementia world”
If they are happy in their dementia world, great. V started wanting to phone the police because her parents had stolen all her savings and bought a retirement flat with the money (her mother lived in a council house with her sisters until her death). That was relatively harmless - she couldn’t get to the phone herself and we could tell her that they’d been called and were gathering evidence.
One of her friends, George, was more of a problem, because if he didn’t recognize his surroundings, he would regress to the 2nd world war. If he was indoors he would assume he’d been captured and try to escape. He succeeded several times. Once he was outdoors, believing he was behind enemy lines and hide. Then attack anyone who got too close with whatever he’d found that he could use as a weapon.
The worst instance was when he was in hospital and somehow managed to get up onto the building’s flat roof. Nobody could figure out how the hell he’d got up there, but luckily getting him down was a lot easier than it might have been because he decided the fire brigade were soldiers who’d recaptured the town.
memento mori art from pompeii in particular is sooo…. your death has been immortalized & that is the primary thing we remember of you! forget remembering to die, die remembered as dead
Not super fandom related, but this blog is already a mess haha. I got inspired to do a portrait of Hermes while doing some research about Greek Mythology. It was inspired by a portrait I found, so I decided to redo it in my own style as an exercise. I wasn't sure about which background colour to use so I thought why not both?
The original image I used for reference can be found in this article: https://littleelephantastrology.org/finding-hermes/
