Welcome back to Delicious Horror: Silk & Sinew edition! I can’t believe I only have two posts left. Today, I’m joined by the one and only Ai Jiang. I adore Ai’s writing — her prose makes my brain smile, which is a weird description, but that’s what reading her writing feels like! Her story in Silk & Sinew plays with second person point-of-view, which is one of my favorites to both read and write. Let’s find out more, and be sure to tune in next Wednesday for the final post!

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun, and I AM AI. Find her at www.aijiang.ca 

Title of story in Silk and Sinew: 

“The Heaven That Tastes Like Hell” 

Tell us briefly about your story and/or the inspiration behind it: 

My father is the inspiration behind this story as he comes from a village who placed sons on pedestals and during a time when sons were depended on for the livelihood of their entire family. 

What did you decide to make to pair with the story, and what from the story inspired your delicious food or drink? 

I chose something very simple yet crucial growing up, not only for me but for my family as a whole—rice, as it is the staple of almost all our meals, just like the way my father had grown up needing to be the one who created the foundation of our home. 

Can you share the recipe or a link to the recipe?  

https://www.hungryhuy.com/how-to-cook-rice-in-a-rice-cooker/