We chat with author Abigail Hing Wen about Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies, which follows Tan Lee who finds himself embroiled in an unusual love triangle, all while trying to defuse a heist, unravel a conspiracy, and navigate the most complicated babysitting assignment ever.
Hi, Abigail! Welcome back! How have the past four years been since we spoke for your debut Loveboat, Taipei?
Thank you for having me and for your help launching Loveboat, Taipei and its progeny into the world! Since then we’ve been through a global pandemic and seen so much upheaval in the world. Telling diverse stories that bring people together has never been more important. So I’m thrilled to share that Loveboat, Taipei became a movie, and that its adaptation, Love in Taipei, has just launched on Netflix after coming out with the wonderful Paramount+ last year. Now a Loveboat book trilogy is in the world.
And my fourth — yes, fourth! — novel, KISSES, CODES AND CONSPIRACIES, launches August 13! It’s the first outside the Loveboat universe and I couldn’t be more excited to share it.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve told stories my whole life to my younger siblings, about adventures involving us, our cousins and our friends in a world without grown ups (this, as it turns out, is at the heart of all my novels!).
I didn’t know I could be a writer, though, for many years. Even with people telling me I had a gift for it. I struggled with imposter syndrome and thought they were just being kind. But 16 years ago, I had an idea for a fantasy novel, and instead of writing a legal article to go onto the job market for a law professorship, I tried my hand at it. It came flowing out of me, and the rest is history.
Your latest novel, Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
San Francisco Bay Area — oh no, that’s four words right there!
- Thriller
- Romance
- Imposter syndrome
- Coins
- Family
What can readers expect?
Diverse and unique characters on a romp through the San Francisco Bay Area. A guy who’s exceptional at cracking codes, and doesn’t know it. The daughter of a billionaire Shanghainese family, on the run. And the girl literally next door, who rents out the back rooms with her widowed mom. The three of them get entangled in an international chase, but along the way get to visit my favorite places around town, including the Palace of Fine Arts, Barnes and Noble in Union Square and the University of California Berkeley campus.
Where did the inspiration for Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies come from?
Marissa Meyer invited me to join her Serendipity Anthology, which launched in 2022. The focus was on inverting tropes, and I chose Class Warfare, about a girl and boy from opposite sides of the tracks. I had known someone whose fiancee had left the country with her parents, never to be heard from again — and she didn’t give the ring back! The injustice and mystery of it had always bothered me. So I re-imagined it in The Idiom Algorithm.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Tan, Winter, Rebecca and Tan’s little sister Sana end up at a teen shelter in a cathedral in Berkeley, run by a badass nun, Sister Ava. I loved writing her character! She would die for the kids in her charge, has access to resources and is nontraditional in so many ways that I hope is refreshing and welcoming to everyone.
With Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies originally a short story, how did it evolve into a novel and what was the process like?
The Idiom Algorithm featured Tan Lee, Winter Woo and Rebecca Tseng on a different adventure. Our editor, Liz Szabla, loved the characters and unusual living arrangement with Winter in Tan’s home, and asked me to consider writing a babysitting novel that would continue their journeys.
The babysitting novel (originally, unremarkably, titled Spring Break) became a thriller when Tan’s ex showed up on his doorstep with a handful of Tang Dynasty coins stolen from her billionaire father, and a bunch of thugs on her heels. I’m grateful Liz let me keep the thriller journey, all the way to a helicopter taking off from a Barnes & Noble rooftop!
What’s next for you?
I have an unannounced middle grade novel about artificial intelligence that I wrote in 2015, and directing a short film prequel to it. A decade later, the world is finally ready for it and I can’t wait to share more!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I’m lucky enough to have my hands on an advanced reader copy of my dear friend, Sabaa Tahir’s HEIRS! It’s coming out October!
