K-Ming Chang is a Lambda Literary Award winner, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, a Kundiman Fellow, and an O. Henry Prize Winner. She is the author of the novel BESTIARY (One World/Random House, 2020), which was shortlisted for the Faulkner Award and longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Otherwise Award. In 2021, her chapbook BONE HOUSE was published by Bull City Press. Her story collection GODS OF WANT (One World/Random House) won a Lambda Literary Award, and her books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Korean, German, Turkish, and other languages. Her most recent books are ORGAN MEATS (One World, 2023) and a novella titled CECILIA (Coffee House Press, 2024). In 2026, she will be making her YA debut with STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE, a romance forthcoming from Holiday House, and her second YA project, a novel-in-verse titled GIRL GODS, will be forthcoming from Kokila (Penguin Random House) in 2027. Her next novel for adults, NEEDLEMOUTH, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster on October 20, 2026. Her writing is most frequently described as “not for everybody” and occasionally described as “for the freaks.”

I had the opportunity to interview K-Ming, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome back to Geeks OUT! For those not familiar, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi! My name is K-Ming Chang, and I’m a writer based in California. My fiction has been described as “feminist fabulism,” and I write about queer daughterhood, bodily transformation, and mythology both personal and collective. 

What can you tell us about your latest book, Needlemouth?  What was the inspiration for it?

Inspired by gothic literature, queer coming-of-age, and classic works of horror and monster fiction, Needlemouth is about three young cousins (Cindy, Mandy, and Yangyang), who are haunted by a demon called Needlemouth, a creature who is part vampire and part hungry ghost, and who calls on the girls to end her patriline. As the girls travel to the demon realm and back, struggling to break out of the indifference and numbness of their claustrophobic and patriarchal environment, this novel explores the cyclical and systemic nature of violence, the perverse nature of patrilineal family, the women who protect abusers, and the beautifully monstrous and resistant parts of ourselves that cannot be silenced or annihilated. 

My inspiration came from a desire to honor rage as a sustaining life force, and the need to challenge the status quo, to liberate the abject and to carry the pain and loneliness of these girls. I wanted to write a book about reviving, resurrecting, and trying to get justice for yourself, even and especially if justice is not possible. 

As a creative, what drew you to the art of storytelling? Especially speculative fiction?

I come from oral storytellers, and I’ve always been interested in language as a liberating force that can lead you to exciting and surprising places that logic cannot. And I’ve always loved books, and especially genre-defying and hybrid writing that helps expand my idea of what’s possible on the page. Books have always been horizon, and especially books with speculative elements and a deep commitment to other realities. 

How would you describe your creative process?

It definitely varies from project to project! Often, my writing begins with voice, a sense of being possessed by another character or consciousness. Sometimes I’ll create a very loose outline that will eventually be abandoned as I immerse myself, but more often I just start writing, and I try to make the first draft as daring and surprising for myself as possible. I’m very much driven by a desire to encounter the unexpected, and to be pleasantly disoriented by my destination.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or difficult? 

I love drafting and the sense of endless possibility and potential. To me, the first draft feels almost devoid of the pressure of making decisions, because anything can happen, and you don’t have to commit to or decide on a particular pathway. In that stage, the book feels most like an ideal, an abstract and amorphous creature that can truly exist as anything in my mind. Revision is a lot more difficult for me, because it’s about making decisions, and I’m extremely indecisive. That’s when the self-doubt begins to creep in, and when I feel slightly more restricted, but I remind myself that those choices are crucial, and that every book is merely one version of that first draft, a commitment to a particular vision.

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

There are so many! Some of my favorite writers include Marilyn Chin, Venita Blackburn, María Fernanda Ampuero, Hiroko Oyamada, Bae Suah, Lisa Tuttle, Natalie Diaz, and many others—right now, I’m particularly interested in feminist horror and horror in translation, but I’m also a lover and reader of poetry at heart, so I love to return to my favorite innovators of language and image. 

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

I’m a bird person! I grew up with birds, and I currently have pet parrots who are constantly chattering and singing as I work. There are many, many birds in my books, and I expect there will be many more. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I wish I was asked about my favorite vampire! I have many, but I have a particular weakness and affection for Carmilla. Her seductive nightly visits were a partial inspiration for Needlemouth, and I have a feeling that her eternal presence will continue to influence my future work. 

What advice might you have to give for aspiring storytellers out there?

This is so difficult! This might be generic, but it’s something I tell myself: to stay committed to your vision, to not think too much about audience or reception, to protect the drafting process so that you can be as free as possible for as long as possible. 

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

Yes! I have a YA novel forthcoming in March 2027 titled GIRL GODS, and it’s been described by the brilliant Mar Romasco-Moore as “sapphic Animorphs.” I also have a short story collection forthcoming titled EXHAUSTED MONSTERS, and it’s filled to the brim with monsters both literal and figurative, which is really exciting. 

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of GeeksOUT? 

My eternal recommendation is Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen by Marilyn Chin—playful, wild, delightful, filled with both the sacred and the profane, genre-defying, and so singular. 

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Header Photo Credit Andria Lo