What is the title of your latest release?
MOTHSBLOOD
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
An ambitious alchemist attending a secret university in Paris must confront her shadowed past after the impossible murder of her immortal professor.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I moved to France after graduating high school, and my experiences running around Paris inspired me to set MOTHSBLOOD in the same city. Paris’ long history, as well as the fact that it was home to the real-life Flamels, made it the perfect city for a fake alchemy university. Thematically, I also think of Paris as a city that feels like a dream to outsiders, but in actuality is a very real place with many of the same problems and shadows as anywhere else in the world. I love Paris, but I’m very aware that it’s a living city, not a fairy tale - and I wanted to reflect that in MOTHSBLOOD.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would probably try to mother her honestly, like give her a blanket and a nice meal and some tea, but otherwise she’d be pretty difficult to be around. The character I would actually want to hang out with is Kareem Idrissi.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Ambitious, vain, and troubled.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I really enjoy research! I poured hours into digging up various sources and texts on alchemy, namely how it was viewed historically throughout western Europe and how so-called alchemists practiced their craft. They were often quite secretive about their methods, so it was definitely a long process, but it was almost like a historical treasure hunt, and that was so fun!
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I draft! I tend to think non-linearly, so I let my brain double back, edit, skip forward, etc. as I draft. When I revise, though, I tend to work in order as much as I physically can.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love a needlessly fancy, rich dessert. One of the best things I’ve ever eaten was a chai coconut chocolate cheesecake from Gregory’s in Oakland.
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a little corner in the guest bedroom with a standing desk, some art of mine on the walls, and my desktop computer and mechanical keyboards. I usually like to take my laptop to various cafes and parks and work out of my house as much as I can, though!
Who is an author you admire?
There are so many - historically, Mary Shelley is and always will be an absolute icon. I also greatly admire Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, and Ursula K. Le Guin. In terms of modern authors, I am a huge fan of Katherine Arden, N.K. Jemisin, Laini Taylor, Shannon Chakraborty, and Fonda Lee!
Is there a book that changed your life?
Every book changes your life a little bit. I will say that Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer duology, which I read as a teenager, really solidified my desire to write character-driven speculative fiction with lyrical prose. Prior to reading that book, I hadn’t realized it was even a possibility to combine all those elements - they felt too disparate.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was in grad school, about six months into my master’s program, and I was student teaching at the time. My agent and I had been in communication leading up to my initial offer from Bloomsbury so it wasn’t a total surprise, but there was a very surreal moment where I had to step out of my class to take a call and it was confirmation of a pre-emptive offer! I was shaking the rest of the day. I remember driving back to campus for my evening class and just randomly starting to cry. It had taken me three agents, three manuscripts, and around seven years to get to that point.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Anything fantasy and sci-fi, of course, but I also really love literary fiction with tinges of horror and surrealism. I also love my classics!
What’s your favorite movie?
Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Train to Busan, and Everything Everywhere All At Once hold the top three spots in my heart.
What is your favorite season?
I’m an October baby, so autumn, naturally! But I sort of love every season, especially since moving from California to the midwest. (The stretch of winter from January to April can go, though.)
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My partner and I have our birthdays six days apart, so we traditionally do a joint celebration! Apple picking, a nice dinner, gifts, and then we turn the apples into a pie. It is very cozy and autumnal, and we’re usually decked out in flannels and sipping spiced cider the whole day. This year might be a bit different, though, seeing as MOTHSBLOOD releases right in between our birthdays…
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really enjoyed the TV show Widow’s Bay! I’m also loving Shannon Chakraborty’s THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI, which just had a sequel come out.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I grew up eating Korean food, both homecooked and in LA’s many incredible Korean restaurants (the Korean-American culinary culture in southern California is so close to my heart that I may or may not be writing a book about it…) but after backpacking through Vietnam a few years back, I have to say that it’s the one type of cuisine I could never get sick of.
What do you do when you have free time?
I’m a hobby person, so whatever hobby has my attention at the moment! Historically it’s been jewelry making, knitting, crochet, sewing, baking, and building Magic: The Gathering decks. I always try to get outdoors as much as I can, though, usually through hiking and gardening.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m holding on to quite a few publishing secrets so I can’t say for certain, but readers can expect a wide range of fantasy, from gothic to cozy, and some non-fantasy works as well.
An ambitious alchemist must uncover her university's dark secrets while trying to escape from her mysterious past in this electrifying debut.
On a rain‑soaked night in modern‑day Paris, Larkspur Lee and her academic rivals find themselves at the center of an impossible crime‑the murder of their university's headmistress, the immortal Petronelle Flamel.
In the aftermath of Flamel's death, the school devolves into chaos. The mysterious investigator assigned to the case, Violaine, believes a cult known as the Promethean Genesis is responsible for Flamel's murder. But Lark, who knows all too well what kind of horrors that the Prometheans commit, will do anything to stay out of the cult's reach. Matters are complicated when the mentor she crossed an ocean and a continent to escape re‑enters her life, enticing her to his side once again while secretly wielding an agenda of his own.
As the Prometheans' plans come to fruition and the university's dark history comes to light, Lark has no choice but to decide whether the power she desires is truly worth the price.
Fantasy [ Bloomsbury Publishing, On Sale: October 13, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9798260200438 / eISBN: 9781639737895 ]
Lynn D. Jung is a speculative fiction writer from southern California. She has since dwelled in France, Costa Rica, and Thailand and is currently based in Wisconsin. Her short fiction, which has appeared in Apparition Lit and The Icarus Writing Collective, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She loves writing about complex worlds and the messy characters that inhabit them, and she spends her free time identifying native flora and making YouTube videos about writing.
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