Tesia Tsai is the author of Deathly Fates, a Winter/Spring 2026 Indies Introduce selection. 
Katie Orphan of Orphan Books in Los Angeles, CA, served on the panel that selected Tsai's book for Indies Introduce.
“This fantasy novel immediately draws readers into a world that feels well-built and clearly seen. A young priestess and shepherd for the dead finds herself caught in the middle of many battles that she did not seek while simply trying to do a job that would allow her to provide better resources for her ailing father. Fortunately for both the heroine (and readers), she rises to the many challenges she faces, but not without doubt and difficulty,” said Orphan.
Tsai sat down with Orphan to discuss this debut title. This is a transcript of their discussion. You can listen to the interview on the ABA podcast, BookED.
Katie Orphan: My name is Katie Orphan, and I am the owner-operator-everything of Orphan Books in Los Angeles, California, and today I have the honor of interviewing Tesia Tsai, who was born in Los Angeles to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She currently teaches first-year composition at Brigham Young University, and lives with her husband, two cats, and a dog in Utah. When not writing or reading, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and planning her next trip.
Today we're talking about her debut novel, Deathly Fates.
There are a lot of things that I love about this book. I am a big fan of a fantasy road trip. There's something about setting out on a quest and meeting up with all sorts of people and situations along the way that immediately draws me in.
This book is about a young priestess, Siying, who has been trained by her father in the art of shepherding the dead back home. Now she is out on her own and she faces a lot of challenges, from the financial care of her father and sister to existing in a country at war, and of course, having dead bodies to transport back and forth.
Are there specific myths or legends that contributed to your worldbuilding?
Tesia Tsai: First of all, thank you so much for doing this interview with me. I remember meeting you at Winter Institute, so it's great to see a familiar face and I'm so excited by your excitement.
The premise of this novel was heavily inspired by the folklore of Chinese corpse driving. When I was first planning this book, I was inspired by Chinese hopping vampires, or jiāngshī.
I was inspired by those films that my mom used to watch when I was a kid. They were really campy horror comedy films with these creatures. I did the research, and found that those movies — as silly as they were — were actually inspired by something a little bit more serious, which was a practice that Taoist priests would do in the olden days of China. Back then, a lot of people would grow up, leave the home, and find work outside of their town.
If they passed away, it was really expensive for people to go get the bodies and bring them home for burial. A lot of people would hire these priests, who were fairly inexpensive, to go find the bodies, and bring them back.
This was so important because Chinese people believe that spirits need to be with their loved ones. If they're not buried in the family plot, then their spirits are cursed to be wandering and lost forever, which is really sad.
I was really fascinated by that part of the folklore. Not only these priests who were allegedly able to reanimate these bodies to guide them back home, but this central theme of being with your family. That’s something I could relate to, so I looked more into that. I found lots of stuff about how they may have reanimated these corpses magically, but there were usually two people, so it’s also possible that they would carry sticks between them and prop the bodies over them. As they were traveling, the bodies would kind of hop, right? That’s where this belief of hopping vampires came from.
There was another thing I came across where some smugglers would use this to their advantage, because in Chinese culture, it's very unlucky to look at a dead body. People who were smuggling things between borders, could pretend that they were carrying a dead body — or maybe actually be carrying a dead body — and hide some contraband.
I thought that was really fun and interesting, which is why I incorporated that a little into my character. Those are the main things that I was thinking of, in terms of mythology and folklore. When it came to writing this story, I had to start from scratch, because I'd never read anything like it before, but I think that made it really fun.
KO: I agree, it's really fun. How long did it take you to go from that initial idea to now?
TT: It took a long time. I started thinking about this story in 2019. I distinctly remember hanging out with another writer friend, and as she was working on her book, I was doing research.
It wasn't until 2020, when the pandemic hit, that I was like, “You know what? I'm stuck at home, so I might as well use this time to do something creative and work on this thing that I've been thinking about for a long time.”
So that's what I did. I just started writing it, and it flowed really quickly. It was one of the few times when I wrote something that it just clicked, and I finished it in three months. I had a friend who had done Pitch Wars before, and she was like, “Hey, I really think you should submit this to Pitch Wars.” Honestly, I felt really confident in the story. I was like, “This is a story that feels true to me and feels unique. I've worked hard enough that my craft has improved too.” So, I did apply for Pitch Wars, and I got in, which was amazing.
In the winter of 2021, I signed with my agent, who I met through Pitch Wars, and she's been awesome. We were on sub for two years, and I kept waiting for my agent to be like, “Tesia, I think it's time we shelf this project and start something else because we're getting a lot of passes.”
But she never said that. We just kept submitting to editors, and even if they did pass on it, they would offer feedback. They would be like, “I wasn't really connecting with the voice,” or “I wish there was more horror” or “I wish there was more romance.”
I ended up changing it from third person to first person, and adding a romantic thread to the story. Originally, it was more hinted at and not so much manifested. There was an editor who really wanted to see that, and I was like, “You know, I built the chemistry for a reason, so I might as well make something.”
Then, in winter of 2024, my current editor offered to buy it in a two-book deal. That was really awesome. Since then, it's been editing, revising, and getting ready to promote and sell this book. I'm very, very excited about it, and I feel very lucky and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful, supportive people.
KO: I'm so glad that you and your agent stuck with it. It's funny because you essentially answered one of my other questions, which was, “Were there any big changes from how you originally conceived Deathly Fates to what we'll be reading?”
It sounds like that was happening at the same time that romantasy was blowing up. When you were getting that feedback, did you notice at that time that people were starting to talk a lot about romantasy?
TT: Yeah. I definitely understood why my editor wanted that, not just because she likes romance, but also because it sells. I wasn't opposed to it, because I love reading romance. I wasn't confident in writing it, but I was really in love with reading it, so her suggestion was the push I needed.
I will say, though, the book is not as heavily romantic as people might assume. It's definitely slow burn. It follows the pattern of Asian dramas, where it's a lot of yearning and then the payout is a cute kiss or holding hands. If my readers are expecting this really passionate love affair, they will be disappointed.
KO: That actually has some good advantages. I certainly encounter readers who are moving into YA, who are okay with romance, but really want an adventure, and are in that adolescent transitional phase.
It's a totally valid warning, considering the state of romantasy, but for this age group, and for the variety of tastes and interests out there, there's a place for books like this. I love a slow burn. I love two people slowly falling in love as they journey through the countryside to right some ancient (or recent) wrongs.
What was the most surprising part of this process for you?
TT: One of the most surprising parts was how easily this book came to me. I channeled a lot of my own experience as the eldest daughter in a family. It's not that my parents rely on me heavily, but they have always looked to me as the child who needs to be a good example to her siblings — the child who needs to be responsible and capable. I really poured a lot of that into my character.
When I'm working on any other project, I'm trying to really understand a character that might be very different for me, and that takes more work and more effort. For me, characters drive the plot of a story, and because I knew Siying so well, it was easy for me to fill in the rest.
I didn't expect so many readers to connect with this book. It's been really pleasant, delightful, and surprising to hear how it's not just the fantastical elements of the book that have resonated with readers, but also the characters and the themes. That's exactly what I was hoping for when I wrote this book.
KO: Do you have other stories that you want to tell in the world of Deathly Fates?
TT: In this particular world, with these characters and this magic, I don't have anything planned right now. I've heard some people say they wouldn't mind a sequel. I don't have an idea for a sequel, but if people are curious enough, I'm sure I can come up with something. As far as the world is concerned, though, I am pretty steeped in this alternative ancient Chinese fantastical world.
So even if I'm not planning to write another book with corpse driving, I'm definitely working on stuff that is set in a similar world. I hope people will enjoy that. It's a lot of fun for me to be in that kind of world and to really explore it.
KO: That's great. I am glad that you had a two-book deal, so I'm glad that there is another one in the works. But first, I'm excited for everyone to read Deathly Fates!
If you’re a bookseller, you should make sure you’re stocking it and selling it to lots of people who come through their doors. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for sitting with me and answering my questions. It was really fun to hear so much more about how Deathly Fates came to be.
TT: Thank you, Katie, for reading the book, for loving it, and knowing it enough to do this interview.
KO: My pleasure!
Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai (Wednesday Books, 9781250378927, HC, YA Romantasy, $20.00, On Sale: 04/14/2026)
You can learn more about this author on Instagram.
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