I did a Q&A with Susan Sanford Blades in the January edition of her Girls to the Front newsletter! Thank you, Susan. It was fun to talk about the timeline of writing The Quiet is Loud, worldbuilding, its themes, and of course – its food.⁠ I didn’t consciously draw on those childhood examples when developing the special powers, but to me it seemed realistic that not every person with abilities could successfully wield them in […]

I’m honoured that The Quiet is Loud was recently reviewed by Erin Della Mattia for Prairie Fire. An excerpt: The result is a complex and ambitious novel about how we construct our identities when we feel like outsiders, whether that be as a person with exceptional capabilities, a child of immigrants, or a mixed-race person caught between multiple cultures. You can read the full review here! Thank you Prairie Fire and Erin for your thoughts,

I’m excited to moderate an AugurCon panel: Worldbuilding the Real World: Creating the Fictional Here, featuring Kim Fu, Natalie Zina Walschots, and Maria Dong, discussing worldbuilding in our own reality. Worldbuilding is one of my absolute favourite things about writing, and I’m eager to hear how these talented writers approach it in their own work. Learn more here, and check out AugurCon here! (I’m looking forward to AugurCon and its back-to-back amazing panels and events.)

I’m looking forward to reading from The Quiet is Loud at two exciting events in October: Toronto Canzine Saturday, October 1 2022 I’ll be reading as part of Pulp Fiction, with Terri Favro and Jason Smith. The Quarantine Review’s Re-launch Reading Series Wednesday, October 12 2022 Looking forward to joining Catherine Bush, JJ Dupuis, and AG Pasquella, other Quarantine Review contributors for the magazine’s first in-person event. Find more details here! (Header image is a free stock

Many, many years ago, Broken Pencil published a short story of mine. It was so long ago that I no longer remember the story’s name. I was a new zinester then, and so appearing in Broken Pencil was a dream. So it felt very special to see The Quiet is Loud reviewed in their magazine recently. Garner’s speculative narrative … these questions in a complex family history while maintaining a day-in-the-life narrative feel. It’s a fearlessly unique

I was happy to see The Quiet is Loud recommended as one of “16 Books You’ll Love by Asian and Pacific Islander Authors” at She Does the City. The Filipino themes in my book were very important to me, so it’s an honour for my book to be on this list. “Samantha Garner’s debut is a stunning blend of literary and speculative fiction, that explores themes of racial identity, belonging, love, betrayal, and magic.” Check