iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by wen-yi lee

vociferousvoid.bsky.social @vociferousvoid.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The Dark We Know by @wenyilee.bsky.social This books captures the loneliness, self-doubt, & confusion all teens feel at some point. This internal shame becomes a beacon a supernatural pied piper preying upon the children of Slater. Oppressive small town horror at its best. #booksky #yalit #lgbtq

131

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

We are thrilled to hear that THREE Reactor stories have been selected by @olivieblake.bsky.social and @johnjosephadams.com for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2026!! We've included links to the Reactor stories below. Congratulations to everyone!! 🎉

1204

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Clarion West @clarionwest.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Congratulations to the Clarion West alumni and instructors recognized by the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (BASFF) for 2026! Give them a follow: @isabelcanas.bsky.social @somtoihezue.bsky.social @wenyilee.bsky.social @kristinaten.bsky.social @cadwellturnbull.bsky.social (1/2)

Clarion West News: Clarion West alumni and instructors honored among the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (BASFF). Alumni: Isabel Cañas (CW ‘18), Somto Ihezue (CW ‘24), Justin C. Key (CW ‘15), Wen-yi Lee (CW ‘22), Stephanie Malia Morris (CW ‘17), Kristina Ten (CW ‘19), and Cadwell Turnbull (CW ‘16). Instructors: Elizabeth Bear, Tobias S. Buckell, John Chu, P. Djèlí Clark, Joe Hill, Matthew Kressel, Annalee Newitz, Sarah Pinsker, and Martha Wells."

53410

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

announcing WHERE RIVERS MADE THE GODS, my sapphic fantasy sequel in which a spirit medium meets the vessel of a fire goddess--and the dead girl on her altar. this one's haunted, angry, more spicy, more about love & more about resurrection :) out April 6, 2027 from @torbooks.bsky.social <3

2339

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Chronically Maeve @inkandash.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

"When They Burned The Butterfly" by @wenyilee.bsky.social was not a book that instantly hooked me, but as I went it sunk in, a slow burn beneath the skin until, maybe moreso than any other book, it became an incandescent inferno at its ending that transformed it from good to something so much more.

241

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Anathema Magazine @anathemamagazine.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

And… Anathema’s Kickstarter is live! Please read, donate & share to increase our reach! We’re excited to bring more speculative fiction, poetry and nonfiction by queer writers of color into the world! Our fundraiser is scheduled to run through the end of May: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ana...

kickstarter.com

Anathema: Spec from the Margins

Support the relaunch of our Ignyte and British Fantasy Award-nominated magazine dedicated to the work of queer writers of color!

0121138

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Chris Lay @chrislay.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

This. The dream of the 90s is dead. Cheap rent enables every kind of creative work and nothing else can substitute for it.

312184430

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Andrew Joseph White 🏴🏳️‍⚧️ @ajwhiteauthor.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

ICYMI: I have a short story in @wenyilee.bsky.social’s YA horror anthology, THE KIDS CAME BACK WRONG! It’s the last day of deer season in Whitepoint, Virginia, and Shrike + his boyfriend Possum (pictured below ✨) are about to have a very, very bloody morning. I can’t wait to share more!

A digital drawing of two boys in winter hunting gear. Shrine, on the left, is a white trans boy with long brown braided hair and glasses. He stares unsettlingly at the viewer. Possum, on the right, is a Latino cis boy with short black hair and teenage stubble. He looks off to the side, as if keeping watch.

0376

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

that BUTTERFLY "moves with the energy of a bar fight. It is fast, brutal, and intimate.... The magic feels like it is bleeding out of the cracks in the pavement... Lee is interested in the idea that feminine rage is a resource. It can be hoarded, stolen, or used to burn the whole city down." ❤️

0104

Reposted by wen-yi lee

P. H. Low @ph-low.com · 27/03/2026

incredibly honored & excited to have a story in this!! 💚💚

081

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I'm editing THE KIDS CAME BACK WRONG, a YA horror anthology for fans of Weapons & Stranger Things!!!! A class goes missing on a trip to the woods. 13 of the kids return, changed in ways they can't describe. 13 kids, 13 authors, 1 interconnected story. @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social, Fall 2027 🌲💚

34116

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Lee Mandelo @leemandelo.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Today's great news: Amplitudes was selected for the @otherwiseaward.org longlist!! Extending my deepest gratitude to the committee and all the contributors who made the book possible 🖤

0257

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Hache Pueyo 🕷️🗝️ @hachepueyo.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

A few months ago I pitched Reactor an article about SFF around the world focused on translations, and @cxorlando.bsky.social came up with the loveliest idea to expand it into a column. We start this month with Hiroko Oyamada's The Factory, a great little novel about the irreality of office jobs.

710646

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

the WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY paperback will come with a bonus story set in 1961 about a mother, her fire goddess, her sworn sisters, her feral 5 year old daughter, and the most consequential fire in singapore's history. and it's 25% off now at B&N!

041

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Tasha Suri @tashasuri.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

a book's content may upset you, it may disturb you, it may haunt you or disgust you - it is allowed to do that. this is distinct from content provoking a trauma response, which so many of us reasonably want to take the care to avoid. I fear some people are muddying these two things together.

0636

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Lee Mandelo @leemandelo.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Trans Rights Readathon is here again, so why not pick up Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity from @erewhonbooks.bsky.social? 22 stories from a broad range of contributors, all "grounded in the political realities of the present yet imagining alternate possibilities for the future." 🖤

01716

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

This book is exceptional and you should read it if you like dark fantasy!!

1135

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Clarion West @clarionwest.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

There's so many great stories here! Congratulations to the Best Novelette finalists including Clarion West alumni @somtoihezue.bsky.social, @wenyilee.bsky.social, and @foxesandroses.bsky.social!

384

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Mina Li (she/her) @codenameminali.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

this was such a good, good story.

1147

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I'm a Nebula finalist!!!!! "The Name Ziya" is a story I wrote at 22 for my Clarion West application but also to grapple my own thorny relationship with cultural names & assimilation. It took 3 years to publish; I am so proud it's my first award nom and so so thrilled to share space on this list 🥲

158616

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

the sff magazine space isn't perfect but i prefer it much more to my lit fic friends paying submission fees and still barely getting paid for their work

060

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Lee Mandelo @leemandelo.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Some recent book-mail featuring new work from @mariawrites.bsky.social @amalelmohtar.com @wenyilee.bsky.social and Cameron Sullivan! No greater joy than seeing friends’ books arrive tbh

Copy of “A Wild Radiance” by Maria Ingrande Mora held up in front of some plants

Copies of Sullivan’s Red Winter, El-Mohtar’s Seasons of Glass & Iron, and Lee’s When They Burned the Butterfly on a shelf

3314

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 26/02/2026

I know it’s difficult right now, but I insist that you seek and enjoy beautiful things, even if it seems frivolous or irresponsible in the face of overwhelming horror. I want you to feed yourself artistically, spiritually, and literally, because you can’t Do The Work when you’re starving.

2382323699

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Turn The Page! - Syosset Public Library 🎤 @splturnthepage.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Here's ep. 390C: Wen-yi Lee chats about WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY, the first book in THE BUTTERFLY DUET and a fierce, glamorous sapphic fantasy reimagining the secret societies of postcolonial Singapore. @wenyilee.bsky.social @torbooks.bsky.social turnthepage.blubrry.net/2026/02/19/t...

032

Reposted by wen-yi lee

P H Lee 🪬 @p-h-lee.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

finished, and greatly liked "When They Burned the Butterfly" by @wenyilee.bsky.social hard to express how good it is. a dying romance between terrible people during the twilight of Singapore's Chinese criminal gangs. incredibly courageous, passionate, and precise. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

us.macmillan.com

When They Burned the Butterfly

In this fierce, glamorous adult fantasy debut, Silvia Moreno-Garcia meets Fonda Lee, with the feverish intensity of R.F. Kuang's Poppy War trilogy.Singapore,...

142

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf @eliaseells.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by Wen-yi Lee. A fantasy set in 70s Singapore, skillfully explores the solidarity of crime, the intersections of queer femininities, & a nation in transition. Plus fire! Our drink is the Madam Butterfly.

An advance copy of WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by Wen-yi Lee alongside a pale yellow cocktail atop a rainbow silk scarf.

13010

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Uncanny Magazine @uncannymagazine.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

ICYMI! Reading for the Uncanny Magazine Poll? Try the short story "Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down" by Wen-yi Lee @wenyilee.bsky.social! You can read it here! buff.ly/VxV8OYv

The cover for Uncanny Magazine Issue 63, “Blessed Universe" by Galen Dara: An ethereal figure stands front and center of the frame, behind here there is a shower of stars on a violet space-landscape. She is dressed in robes that blend into her, and she holds her palms open. On each hand and the center of her chest there are three sources of light, as if she has the moon for a heart, and stars on the palm of her hands, a mist rises from her open palms. The quote reads: "The British plucked us from our prisons and sailed us here, this jungle island in the Nanyang with their treasure striated into the bedrock. More precious than gold, they told us on the ship, as though we had a choice to leave if we disagreed."

032

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Rachel Gutin @rachelgutin.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Fiction Standout #3: When They Burned the Butterfly by @wenyilee.bsky.social is a story about loss and love and finding your place. It's also a story about anger and revenge. It is well-grounded in its setting, and has multiple queer characters. Not a happy read, but a good one.

101

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Jamedi @jamreads.com · 26/12/2025

It's time to finally talk about my favourite books of 2025, so I made a list, without any kind of order, that pretty much covers it. It may be great to fill your TBR! You can check it here: jamreads.com/articles/my-... 💙📚

jamreads.com

JamReads - Making your TBR closer to infinite

In JamReads you will find content about books, and why you should read them more. This content may include reviews, interviews and occasionally, some news of the literary world

134932

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

"The girls' journey parallels that of their city in beautiful, bloody, haunting ways... this unity between self, place and history... seared When They Burned the Butterfly into my mind and made it my favorite book of 2025." to be read & seen; thank you @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social ❤️

063

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

my novelette The Name Ziya: "jaw-droppingly sharp passages on cultural appropriation, and yet the tale somehow maintains the uncomfortable balance between the lead hating a society that takes so much and yet loving the life it gives her" ❤️ and such amazing recs on the rest of the list!

154

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

this fantasy dark academia story is one of my favourites i've ever written and you can read it here with a lot of other writers i love!!

0101

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

everything everywhere all at once because i went in blind & on a whim with my cousin after cocktails and by the end of it we were both just stricken & sobbing

081

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Champ Wongsatayanont @champwongs.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

I'm seeing people posting their 2025 award eligibility, so here's mine. Please consider if any story touches your heart. Thank you! 🙏🏼

012

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Our first release of 2025 will be @kerstinhall.bsky.social 's ASUNDER! 🏆 A Finalist for the Nebula & Locus Awards, 🖤 A Reactor Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2024 📙 A New York Public Library Best-Of Pick SABRIEL meets WITCH KING in this deliciously dark fantasy! Preorder geni.us/asunder

The book cover for ASUNDER by Kerstin Hall against a background of a burning orange flower.

02610

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Kerstin Hall @kerstinhall.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

“I’m dying.” His tone was matter-of-fact and his expression perfectly serious, but Karys had the feeling he might be making fun of her—exaggerating, or telling a strange sort of joke at her expense. Her mistrust mounted as she scrutinised his face. “You talk a lot for a dying man,” she said.

A paperback copy of Asunder held over clusters of blooming pink hydrangeas.

1188

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

resurfacing the dark academia fantasy novelette i published earlier this year, about identity, assimilation & pursuit in a colonial institution ❤️ reactormag.com/the-name-ziy...

reactormag.com

The Name Ziya - Reactor

A girl reckons with what she must lose--and who she has become--in order to be accepted at the empire's most prestigious university.

0208

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Announcing a BRAND NEW Gilded Age fantasy of ballrooms, bargains, and bloodshed from the one and only @nghivo.bsky.social!! The Scarlet Ball commences October 2026 🩸

reactormag.com

Announcing The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo - Reactor

A Gilded Age fantasy of ballrooms and bloodshed, arriving October 2026

512832

Reposted by wen-yi lee

neocolonial malcontent chic @azadirachta-indica.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Not only is this superb historical SFF, but @wenyilee.bsky.social also writes magnificent critical articles!? This essay is such a good introduction to the present media fascination with cannibalism & consumerism 🥀 reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

reactormag.com

Tender Is the Flesh-Eating: The Literary Cannibal as Exploitation and Desire - Reactor

Wen-yi Lee examines the teeth of fictional cannibalism

211

wen-yi lee @wenyilee.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

you can take the girl out of the gothic but you can't take the gothic out of the girl! thank you @mollytempleton.com ❤️

072

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Jamedi @jamreads.com · 07/12/2025

When They Burned the Butterfly, by @wenyilee.bsky.social (pub by @torbooks.bsky.social), is a great love letter to Singapore, a historical inspired fantasy that you will enjoy if you like sapphic romance, street gangs and grey characters. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/when... 💙📚

jamreads.com

JamReads - Making your TBR closer to infinite

In JamReads you will find content about books, and why you should read them more. This content may include reviews, interviews and occasionally, some news of the literary world

044

Reposted by wen-yi lee

Arkady Martine | Dr. AnnaLinden Weller @byzantienne.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I expect nothing less from the brilliant @amalelmohtar.com, but this is gorgeous and heartbreaking in every way. You all should read it. Free Palestine.

212132