iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

That means a lot! Thank you both for reading (and for saying hi)! ❤️

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Chris Campbell @chriscampbell.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I wrote this piece at @viableparadise.bsky.social and I owe a big thanks to @dragons.bsky.social @traewrites.bsky.social and @avani.bsky.social for staying up way too late with me while I finished it.

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Thank you for reading 🥹❤️

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

word on the street (from the good folks at @gollancz.bsky.social ) that The Poet Empress is on sale in the UK for 99p! Please check it out if you've got a chance!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

word on the street (from my editor 😄) that The Poet Empress is on sale for $2.99 this week!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

😭😭 Thank you for reading!

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François Dominic Laramée, PhD 🇨🇦 @fdlaramee.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Well, I have just finished reading a masterpiece. The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social, is absolutely breathtaking. And also the kind of book that makes one think: "I'll never, ever be able to write like this, but I can't wait for tomorrow morning to try anyway." Magnificent!

Cover of the book The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao.

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Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

"It is not a weakness to be seen." Just finished @dragons.bsky.social's THE POET EMPRESS and man, I am not okay. This book was so addictive, so gorgeously written, and so utterly heartbreaking, I have no words. If you liked Apothecary Diaries (+ wished it were darker), you need to read this now.

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

😭 Thank you for reading!

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Odyssey Workshop @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Only a few days left to apply! Scholarships galore!!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Thank you so much for the very kind review. I'm incredibly honored!! ❤️

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Fantasy-Faction @fantasyfaction.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Today JC Kang reviews Shen Tao's (@dragons.bsky.social) debut, The Poet Empress! - JI 🐉 "We sometimes read a book that makes us question whether or not we have any business writing...for me, most recently with Shen Tao’s debut, The Poet Empress." fantasy-faction.com/2026/the-poe... #booksky 💙📚🪐

The book cover sits in the center of the image. The cover shows a fiery red and orange Chinese dragon flying through a deep blue night sky. Clouds billow in the background and magical sparks surround the dragon as it flies. Shooting past him are blue meteors and near the bottom of the cover red petals (feathers? scales?) flutter around its body. The background of the image is a starry night sky highlighted by a blue nebula.

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Mina Li (she/her) @codenameminali.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

THE POET EMPRESS by @dragons.bsky.social is a stunner of a debut. I know it's only March, but it's one of the best books to come out this year, from the nuanced characterization to the moving prose to the way the Rashomon effect is used throughout the plot. I'm gonna preorder the paperback.

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Wow, these are such kind words. Thank you so much for reading! 🫶🫶

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Wow, 10k Poet Empress sold!! Thank you very much for your support, to all my brilliant readers!!!! #booksky

The Poet Empress sales chart showing 10,001 units sold since release

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Honored to be picked by a most excellent book club- Go get your Aardvark books now! - Goose approved :)

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

I hope you enjoy the story!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

My debut is officially out today!!! (I can’t believe I get to say that) Thank you to my publishing team, my writing friends, and all the wonderful ARC readers!! Thank you for taking a chance on a debut author!! #booksky

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I will be doing an AMA (ask me anything) at reddit.com/r/fantasy on release day if you'd like to join me there!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

My debut is coming out TOMORROW!!! :) #booksky

BookPage starred review of The Poet Empress

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Thank you so much for having me! I really enjoyed our chat on Long Story Short!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Right?! I feel honored to be counted among this group!

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Reena @reenamccarty.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Look at all the beautiful books! I can't believe I get to be part of this debut class.

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Marley Rose-Teter @marleyroseteter.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

IT'S OUR YEAR, GEESE!!! Look at all these incredible first quarter books...including @sadieturner.bsky.social's TIDESPEAKER, which pubs TODAY!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

2026 is our debut year!! Here are some of the SFF authors I have the honor of debuting with early this year. I am really excited about these books so please check them out when you have the chance! #booksky

Tidespeaker
A Barista’s Guide to Love & Larceny
A Vow in Vengeance
Into the Midnight Wood
The Book of Blood & Roses
The Poet Empress
Godstorm
Once Upon A Song

February🌷
Heart’s Gambit
Queen of Faces
The Forest on the Edge of Time
The Faithful Dark
All We Have Is Time
The Iron Garden Sutra
Weavingshaw
Saltswept

The Last Starborn Seer
Midnight on the Celestial
These Shattered Spires
Child of the Dragon
A Wish So Deadly
Prodigal Tiger
Honeysuckle
Aicha
The Geomagician
The Celestial Seas

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Love the choices! Glad to hear someone else does this too :p

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Do other writers have a different font for each book they write? My current WIP is an Arial book :p

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Erin Rose 🍉 - Updates Only @authorerinrose.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

SPARRING PARTNERS is available for request on Netgalley! We so appreciate your early reviews as they help drive sales 😁 🫶🏼 Happy reading! #2026Debuts #RomanceBooks #BookSky #Netgalley

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

SO excited about a second starred review for The Poet Empress! A world of thank yous to Library Journal 🥰

DEBUT Famine spreads across the land of Tensha, and young Yin Wei does the only thing she can think of to save her family—become a concubine to Prince Guan Terren. Heir to the Azalea Throne, Terren is a cold man, with poetry magic that he uses for cruelty and death. As Wei navigates the inner machinations of the court, she realizes that she may have to become just as self-serving as Terren to survive. Not only do the other concubines battle each other to secure the spot as future Empress, but Terren deals with attacks on his succession from his honorable older brother, and both Wei and Terren face treachery from other court members. To achieve her goals, Wei must kill Terren—and with one forbidden poem, she can accomplish it. However, the only way to write this poem of death is with love, and she hates everything Terren is. The novel’s unique magic system and character-driven plot create an immersive tale.VERDICT Tao’s debut is an intricate study of court politics and what a young woman will do to survive. Hand to fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang or She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan.

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Congratulations Kemi! 🥳

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Kemi Ashing-Giwa @kashinggiwa.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

On a planet damaged by rushed terraforming, a bodyguard-turned-reluctant rebel joins the last dregs of her parents’ failed uprising... THE KING MUST DIE is out today! If you love stories about found families, revolutions, and second chances, this book’s for you.

Cover for THE KING MUST DIE, illustrated by the amazing Eleonor Piteira.

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

I'm so happy to say that The Poet Empress got a starred review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social !

Starred review for The Poet Empress from Publishers Weekly with quote "Tao’s prose gleams with poetic precision, and climactic revelations strike with devastating inevitability."

The Poet Empress
Shen Tao. Bramble, $29.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-250-40681-1
Tao’s haunting debut immerses readers in a famine-stricken empire where poetry is power. In the final years of the Azalea Dynasty, Yin Wei, a peasant girl desperate to save her starving family, volunteers as concubine to the notoriously cruel Prince Guan Terren. This act of survival pulls her into a labyrinth of palace intrigue and rebellion, where each written word contains magic that can shape a person’s destiny, but where female literacy is illegal. Against the lush backdrop of Tao’s lyrical worldbuilding, which draws from Chinese history and myth to craft a court defined by both beauty and brutality, Wei’s transformation from naive villager to calculating courtesan is expertly rendered. Meanwhile, Terren emerges as a monstrous yet profoundly human prince. Their uneasy bond anchors a story less about romance than the corruptive and redemptive powers of language and ambition. The many political threads become fascinatingly tangled, Tao’s prose gleams with poetic precision, and climactic revelations strike with devastating inevitability. Fans of R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War and Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun will be enthralled by this fierce meditation on love, power, and survival through art. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Jan.)
Reviewed on 10/31/2025

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Kemi Ashing-Giwa @kashinggiwa.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Just 3 days before THE KING MUST DIE comes out! I'm thrilled to share these very kind words from @hanalee.bsky.social, author of the Magebike Courier duology! Preorder TKMD: www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ki... ...then grab a free digital poster by Eepz: www.simonandschuster.com/p/the-king-m...

Graphic with blurb snippet from author Hana Lee: “The world of The King Must Die is a shattered, starving place, and yet the scenery and culture are so lush with detail that every description felt like a feast. Fen, the novel’s protagonist, is friendless and alone–but the people she bonds with along the road to revolution are everything an SFF reader hopes for when they hear the words “found family.” ...The King Must Die begins as a whisper and swells into a war cry.”

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Does anyone know where a new author can find lawyers familiar with literary contracts?

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

🥹 Thank you for your amazing work on it!

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Shen Tao @dragons.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

They are giving away 50 copies of my debut, The Poet Empress, on goodreads! I hope you'll enter 🥰 #booksky #ThePoetEmpress

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