Justinian Huang: On Uncovering the Greatest Love Story Never Told

Born to immigrants in Monterey Park, California, Justinian Huang studied English at Pomona College and screenwriting at the University of Oxford. He is now based in Los Angeles with Swagger, a Shanghainese rescue dog he adopted during his five years living in China. Follow him on Instagram.

Justinian Huang

Photo by Benjamin Yi

In this interview, Justinian discusses how his day job of developing animated TV series helped inspire an aspect of his debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace, his hope for readers, and more!

Name: Justinian Huang
Literary agent: Dan Milaschewski and Ariele Fredman (UTA)
Book title: The Emperor and the Endless Palace
Publisher: MIRA
Release date: March 26, 2024
Genre/category: Romance, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Suspense
Elevator pitch: Inspired by Asian history and folklore, The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a sweeping, supernatural romance of tradition and subversion, of danger and betrayal, of lust and–ultimately–eternal love. From ancient China to modern Los Angeles, it takes us on three distinct timelines that weave together into one shocking climax.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I’m not a size queen, except when it comes to hooks. So, when I first heard about the true history of an ancient Chinese emperor’s love affair with one of his men that led to the downfall of the first Han Dynasty, I knew it was the biggest hook of all time … literally the greatest love story never told! The fact that this emperor and his lover were barely in their 20s made me feel so connected to these kids, even though they lived thousands of years ago.

I knew that there was an epic romance here just begging to finally be told, and as a queer Asian person myself, it felt like a magical birthright for me to tell. And when I decided to reincarnate the Emperor and his lover into two more lifetimes in the book, it really began to write itself.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I was an expat in Shanghai from 2015 to 2020, and it was around this era that I started writing short conversations between this Emperor and his lover. Some of those turned into chapters, but throughout those five years, I actually wrote only a handful of pages. But the two of them were always on my mind.

Then the pandemic happened. In January 2020, I was on what was supposed to be a six-day vacation in Malaysia when the Chinese borders were shut down due to a mysterious illness. In a blink of an eye, my life and career in China just ended. I came back home to California just as the pandemic hit the States. It was in lockdown that I finally wrote the first draft of this book, in what can only be described as a fever dream. Writing it took me two months bunkered in my mom’s attic, but the idea had been in my head all those years.

The biggest change that happened in the writing process was that the three different timelines originally never intersected, at least not physically. They were meant to be parallel lives that had thematic nuances connecting them, which did feel very literary and deep. But then I started boring myself. My day job is developing animated movies like “Over the Moon” and “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” and I consider my brand of storytelling to be one that is unapologetically entertaining.

So, I changed it. I realized that it would be much more challenging—read: entertaining—to somehow weave these seemingly unrelated timelines together in a way that is thrilling and shocking … and then unravel them asunder. And that’s what the book is now.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I’m going to take off my Capricorn armor and be completely vulnerable here, and it is meant only to inform other writers in a tough business. What surprised me the most was that out of all the seasoned editors of Asian descent in publishing, not a single one of them wanted my book, which stars an entirely Asian cast and features rare-in-print queer romances entirely between Asian folks. This rattled me a lot at the time.

But I owe a big thanks to gatekeepers of publishing, like Evan Yeong and his colleague Eden Railsback, as well as industry people like Clare Mao at Greenburger—these are the young Asian folks that loved my book. In fact, Evan and Eden both recognized and championed the worthiness of The Emperor and the Endless Palace, and it is because of them that my book found its place at HarperCollins, with Evan as my editor!

Now that we are getting a lot of positive feedback, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly, the rattles are mostly gone. What I learned is that rejection can actually be the publishing gods pointing you in the direction that you are meant to go, because I couldn’t ask for a more empowering home than with Nicole Brebner and the MIRA Books team. I’m delighted to be working on multiple projects with them.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I found out too late that I was sitting wrong as I wrote this book! My chair wasn’t right for me, and my monitor was at a weird angle. And as I sat there and wrote for days upon days on end, I ended up really screwing my neck, which is now permanently achey. I highly encourage anyone setting out to write your debut novel to first consult with a chiropractor about the best chair, desk, and monitor setup for your writing station. Your spine will thank you for it after 80,000 words.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Early on, when I told folks I was writing a romance between Asian men, I was constantly told that it was very “niche,” but the truth is that The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a book for anyone who has ever been in a relationship that they love, but also hate … and can’t escape. I don’t believe romance needs to be tied up in neat happily-ever-afters, and I hope that readers can recognize or even discover some profound truths about themselves when it comes to love.

There are also some spicy scenes that are absolute doozies, in my humble opinion, so readers can get whatever the heck they want out of those.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Delusion is the pregame to Success.

Also, get an agent who takes a lot of videos and photos (thank you, Ariele).

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