Reading Guide
I don’t limit myself to a certain age group when I write. As a result, some of my work may not be suitable for some readers. I can’t include content warnings for everything I write, but I’ve provided this page as a resource if you’d like to have a selection of my work tailored for a specific audience.
All Ages
“All ages” stories are suitable for an audience of mixed developmental stages that may include both children and adults.
I determine whether something is all-ages not by the complexity of the writing, but by the content. Violence may exist but typically isn’t graphic. Romantic and sexual content is usually chaste.
All ages stories tend to contain minimal disturbing content, though of course definitions of “disturbing” vary widely.
All-ages movies are typically G- or PG-rated.
- “Mother Tongues”—A science fiction story about the sacrifices a mother makes to ensure a good future for her daughter.
- “Th Fifth Lttr”—An oulipo story about overthrowing a tyrannical king.
- “Inhalations”—A sensory poem about using smells as a language.
- “The Love Letters” (by Peng Simeng, translation)—A lush story about space exploration and memory.
Young Adult
The age range for “young adult” (YA) varies, but generally, these pieces are for people who are transitioning developmentally from teenagers to adulthood, roughly 18–35 years old.
Common themes include coming-of-age and grappling with identity. The protagonists are also typically young adults, though they don’t have to be.
My YA work may contain disturbing material, but I typically write hopeful endings.
- “A Complex Filament of Light”—A story about a graduate student struggling to come to terms with their sister’s suicide.
- “Fat, And”—An essay about overlapping identities and how they relate to being fat.
- “Where a Heart Would Fit Perfectly”—A story about young sapphic girls of color grappling with the meaning and finality of death.
Adult
Most of my work is aimed at adult audiences and spans a range of styles, voices, and atmospheres. Horror and dark fantasy pieces tend to be more disturbing.
Mature
Work for mature audiences includes explicit sexual content, graphic violence, substance abuse, or other disturbing material that would be roughly equivalent to an R or NC-17 movie rating.
I do not consider non-sexual kink to be mature by default. Whether audiences consider something mature is also a matter of context and personal preference.
- “At Your Dream’s Edge”—A person calls forth a simulated nightmarish, gory landscape to prepare for a difficult experience in the real world.
- “Badwater”—An erotic poem about Badwater in Death Valley.
- “Chimera” (by Gu Shi)—Half detective story, half family drama, this novella translated with Ken Liu centers human experimentation and contains disturbing imagery toward the end.
I publish sexually explicit erotica as December Seas.
Please remember that this page contains only suggestions and isn’t a firm guide. Only the reader can decide whether a piece is suitable for them. If you aren’t sure whether something is suitable, please let someone else read the piece and provide their feedback.