The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

I would have made a very very bad historian, I think. Why was it important for you to tell this story rather than a story of wealth and warriors?

Some of the objects are of great monetary value, but others are humble, and it’s the humble things, the overlooked things, that topple an empire. A lot of times, I felt as if I were staring through a dark glass, trying to see In-yo so I could talk about her, and though I from where I was standing so to speak, I couldn’t see her thoughts and her feelings, I could look at a piece of gold she held or a gaming tile and imagine what she must have thought about it. The story came first, but my favorite part of writing Empress was looking down and around at all the things that touched the characters. Did the objects come first, or did the story dictate what they would be? The story is told with reference to objects as touchstones of memory. They were just going to be investigating the house on Lake Scarlet, but then I realized, no, that’s terrible, and the story formed into the shape that it did.

At first it was Chih alone, and then when they needed someone to talk to, Almost Brilliant showed up. I heard about Tor’s call for submissions, and Chih came trotting along, a historian cleric who was good at their job and honestly a little bad at actually being a cleric. It started out as something a bit simpler and honestly a bit sadder. Nghi Vo was kind enough to answer some of our lingering questions about this vibrant world and all the complex characters she created.

It’s a novella with the scope and depth of a series, both in terms of its emotional impact and its descriptive power, and it left me breathless. The Empress of Salt and Fortuneis an intricate, elegant set of tales, nesting the tale of an empress inside the tale of a servant-girl inside the tale of a cleric-historian. With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo