Books and Boba

On this episode, we discuss our October 2026 Book Club Pick Ebony Gate by Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle, chosen for us by our Honey Boba patrons. The first book of the Phoenix Hoard trilogy, Ebony Gate follows Emiko Soong, a former assassin/enforcer for her mystical clan, trying to live a quiet life of self exile/retirement after a particularly bloody mission. Unfortunately, she gets dragged back into the game when a god of death calls in a family debt, and is forced back into the spiritual underworld of San Francisco's Chinatown on a quest to retrieve a missing gate to hell.
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
Purchasing books at our bookshop
Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook

The Books & Boba November 2026 Book Club Pick is Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode we're excited to chat with award winning author Sabaa Tahir, who joins us to chat about her newest YA Fantasy Romance novel Empire, which concludes her Heir duology (the spinoff/sequel series to her much beloved An Ember in the Ashes quadrilogy). We chat with Sabaa about her journey to becoming an author and thoughts on Asian inspired fantasy, before discussing how she approached returning to the world of An Ember in the Ashes for a second go, and some of the central themes of the new series.
-For those worried about spoilers, we try our best to talk around themes of Empire, but we did flag a 5-minute segment at about 34:52 that contains spoilers for one of the twists of the first book Heir that you might want to avoid if you haven't read it yet-
Follow Sabaa on Instagram at @sabaatahir and check out her novel Empire available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
Purchasing books at our bookshop
Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2026 pick is Ebony Gate by Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we catch up on the latest Asian American book news and publishing announcements for our October 2026 mid-month check-in

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
Front Desk by Kelly Yang; ilust. by Fumio Obata
Olivia Harper Is Haunting Me by Zoe Hana Mikuta
The Skull & the Seagull by Lenny Wen
Belly Takes the Bus by Marie Tang; illust. by Tracy Subisak
The Monster Who Almost Stole New Year by Eva Wong Nava; illust. by Lenny Wen
It's Market Day! by Meghana Narayan
Always a Corpse Bride by Kendare Blake
The Escaped Bear by Sheela Chari; illust. by Stephanie Graegin
Appa's Eighteen Wheels by Jessica Yoon; illust. by Cat Min

Book news mentioned on this episode:
Min Jin Lee’s American Hagwon debuted as a NYT Hardcover Fiction Bestseller
Crazy Rich Asians HBO series sets cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Ronny Chieng
Theo James, Hoyeon, Christian Slater to Star in Thriller ‘The Hole’

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
Purchasing books at our bookshop
Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2026 pick is Ebony Gate by Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode we sit down with speculative fiction author (and writing Youtuber) Lynn D Jung to chat about her debut novel Mothsblood, A dark academia/fantasy mystery thriller following Larkspur Lee, an ambitions and competitive Korean American woman studying alchemy in modern day Paris, who's life is turned upside down when she finds herself in the middle of an investigation when the immortal headmistress of her school is found inexplicably murdered, and the conspiracy she thought she left behind in the States follows her across the pond.
Follow Lynn on Instagram at @lynndjung and check out her novel Mothsblood available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
Purchasing books at our bookshop
Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2026 pick is Ebony Gate by Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode we welcome back author E. L. Shen to chat about her newest novel Foreigners! Loosely based on her own family's history, Foreigners is a compelling take on the multigenerational Asian American story following characters from Qing dynasty China, 1960's New York, and present day New England, and the lies (big and small) we tell to fit in.
Follow E. L. Shen on Instagram at @elshenwrites and check out her novel Foreigners, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
Purchasing books at our bookshop
Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:
Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2026 pick is Ebony Gate by Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective