Mia Tsai and Jenn lyonns in Conversation
Join us for an unforgettable evening with acclaimed author Mia Tsai and Jenn Lyons!
Join us on July 30th at 6:30 PM as we welcome Mia Tsai and Jenn Lyons in conversation to celebrate the release of Mia's newest novel, The Memory Hunters—a lush, thought-provoking dystopian tale exploring memory, culture, and resistance in a world shaped by spores and secrets. Hailed by authors like Jacqueline Carey, Andrea Stewart, and Yume Kitasei, The Memory Hunters blends gripping narrative, exquisite worldbuilding, and heart-wrenching emotion into a story that lingers long after the last page.
We’re also excited to celebrate Jenn Lyons, whose fantasy novel The Sky on Fire just released in paperback! Jenn lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and three cats, and brings a sharp, imaginative voice to everything she writes—shaped by a background in video game development, art, and an enduring love of mythology, martinis, and all things Batman.
Come hear Mia and Jenn talk about worldbuilding, character creation, memory and mythology, the ethics of resistance, and what it takes to craft vivid speculative futures and fantastical realms. Whether you're here for the sapphic pining, the archivist drama, the epic fantasy, or just love fungi-laced dystopias—you won’t want to miss this conversation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Memory Hunters
Inception meets Indiana Jones in this cinematic, slow burn, romantic fantasy following a headstrong academic and her equally stubborn bodyguard as they unearth an ancient secret that rocks the foundations of their society…and challenges their unspoken love for one another. A sapphic, dark academia-adjacent, climate dystopia — with mushrooms — for readers of Blood Over Bright Haven, A Memory Called Empire, and Ink Blood Sister Scribe.
Kiana Strade can dive deeper into blood memories than anyone alive. But instead of devoting her talents to the temple she’s meant to lead, Key wants to do research for the Museum of Human Memory. . . and to avoid the public eye.
Valerian IV’s twin swords protect Key from murderous rivals and her own enthusiasm alike. Vale cares about Key as a friend—and maybe more—but most of all, she needs to keep her job so she can support her parents and siblings in the storm-torn south.
But when Key collects a memory that diverges from official history, only Vale sees the fallout. Key’s mentor suspiciously dismisses the finding; her powerful mother demands she stop research altogether. And Key, unusually affected by the memory, begins to lose moments, then minutes, then days.
As Vale becomes increasingly entangled in Key’s obsessive drive for answers, the women uncover a shattering discovery—and a devastating betrayal. Key and Vale can remain complicit, or they can jeopardize everything for the truth.
Either way, Key is becoming consumed by the past in more ways than one, and time is running out.
“One of the stars of Mia Tsai’s The Memory Hunters is the setting itself; a future with discernable roots in our present, traceable through the threads of culture, geography, music and language that bind humanity as inextricably as the strands of mycelium make a forest into a family.” —Jacqueline Carey, New York Times bestselling author of Kushiel’s Dart
“The Memory Hunters is a gripping examination of who has the right to keep a culture’s history, set in an eerie dystopian future suffused with memories and fungal spores. The characters here jostle for power, for one another’s hearts, for control of key moments that will determine which direction the future takes. A lush and dynamic read!” —Andrea Stewart, bestselling author of The Drowning Empire series
“The Memory Hunters is a gorgeous, haunting dystopia that will infect your blood with its hyphae and fruit inside your heart. Tsai is a master at building romantic tension, even as revelations unfold in a cascade of “oh shit, OH SHIT, OH SHIT,” amidst a plot as complex as the story’s world. The story surfaces deep questions of culture and institutional preservation, and who has the right to remember things. The yearning of Tsai’s characters is exquisite, and the worldbuilding rich with detail and meaning. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.” —Yume Kitasei, author of The Stardust Grail
“As a reader, I loved Tsai’s rich character work, complicated relationships, and compelling exploration of a climate-haunted future — and as an archivist, I loved that The Memory Hunters grapples with the ethics of memory work and structural and institutional power imbalances, in the most interesting work of archival sff I’ve read this decade. I love to see lesbians pining, but I also love (and am much less likely!) to see a good in-universe literature review; I’ll be recommending this one with both my professional hats on.” —Rebecca Fraimow, author of Lady Eve’s Last Con
“The Memory Hunters is at once feral and tender, fierce and full of yearning. It’s a piercing examination of the ways museums uphold dominant narratives, of the violence of curation and the preciousness of land and lineage—all shot through with heart-pounding fight scenes and pure, undiluted sapphic angst. Absolutely devastating.” —P. H. Low, author of These Deathless Shores
“The Memory Hunters is an ambitious and thematically rich beginning to what is sure to be a brilliant duology. It has everything I love about fantasy—innovative worldbuilding, heartstopping action, and characters that I’d follow to the end of the world, even if it involves diving too deep into unsettling memories. Tsai weaves a unique dystopian narrative that examines the sociopolitics of climate devastation, the biases of historical narratives, and the perils that come with resisting cultural hegemony.” —S. Hati, author of And the Sky Bled
“A tale of fierce loyalty, delicious deception, and a yearning for what might have been—The Memory Hunters breathes life into a forgotten past. Tsai’s stunning storytelling will keep you feverishly turning pages. I loved every minute.” —Shay Kauwe, author of The Killing Spell
------------------------------------------------------
Sky on Fire
Enter a world ruled by dragons…
The Sky on Fire is a daring new fantasy heist adventure that will thrill fans of Temeraire, Fourth Wing, and Dragonriders of Pern
Anahrod lives only for survival, forging her own way through the harsh jungles of the Deep with her titan drake by her side. Even when an adventuring party saves her from capture by a local warlord, she is eager to return to her solitary life.
But this is no ordinary rescue. It’s Anahrod’s past catching up with her. These cunning misfits—and their frustratingly appealing dragonrider ringleader—intend to spirit her away to the dragon-ruled sky cities, where they need her help to steal from a dragon’s hoard.
There’s only one problem: the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas—and she wants Anahrod dead.
From Jenn Lyons, the acclaimed author of the Chorus of Dragons series, this soaring standalone fantasy combines conniving dragons, lightning banter, high-stakes intrigue, and a little bit of heat.
You may also like the following events from Read It Again:
Also check out other
Arts events in Suwanee,
Literary Art events in Suwanee,
Entertainment events in Suwanee.
