Ashley Duongtran

I've read over 500 books in the last four years. Many of them more than once. Some of them six times.

I don't read to escape reality—I read to live more lives than one lifetime allows. Speculative fiction lets me sit with lessons I might dodge in the real world: what loyalty costs, how power corrupts, why people stay when they should leave. The fantasy frame makes it easier to look directly at hard things.

When I find a world I love, I move in. I reread Anne Bishop's The Others series the way some people rewatch comfort shows. I remember storylines years later—not always the character names, but the shape of the plot, the emotional beats, the moment everything shifted. That's how my brain holds stories: by structure and feeling, not just detail.

That's also how I approach the work I do with authors. I care about the architecture underneath—why a story holds together or falls apart, how readers experience pacing and tension, what makes a character voice land in audio. I trained in editorial work through UCLA Extension's editing program and spent years in pharmaceutical advertising before making the turn toward fiction. The narration came from the same place—wanting to give voice to the worlds I already love living inside.

I specialize in speculative and romantic fantasy because that's what I read. Paranormal romance, romantasy, urban fantasy, supernatural thriller—these are my shelves. When I work on your book, I'm not learning your genre; I already live there.

Outside of books: I onewheel to dinner reservations, plan trips around where I want to eat, and have rewatched Bones more times than I'll admit. Bad Batch has a piece of my soul. When I find something new I love, I dive in with my whole heart—which is either a personality trait or a warning, depending on how you look at it.

If you're an author in my genres looking for someone who gets it, I'd love to hear about your project.