The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai

Erewhon Books is pleased to announce The Memory Hunters, the first in a new science fantasy duology by Mia Tsai, arriving next year in the Summer of 2025.

Set in a post-climate-catastrophe world where generations of memories are etched in blood, The Memory Hunters follows a memory diver for the Museum of Human Memory and her bodyguard as they unearth a terrible secret about the foundations of their society—and discover how deep the rot really goes.

Author Mia Tsai says, “I always felt, given the themes and overall setting of the project, that Erewhon would be the perfect place for The Memory Hunters. A book involving museums, anticolonialism, diaspora, feral young women, and mushroom anthropologists couldn't have fit anywhere else. From the beginning, I wanted to ask: Who tells your story? Who gives someone the right to tell your story? The Memory Hunters is my exploration of those answers, wrapped in a sapphic princess and knight adventure tale.”

Editor Viengsamai Fetters added, “Electric, action-packed, and with a sharp cast of characters to sink your teeth into, The Memory Hunters kept me turning pages long into the night. It’s delightfully genre-bending: an anticolonial fantasy adventure meets academic intrigue meets a sci-fi race against the clock. If you’re mad about the British Museum, you’ll love this book. If you’re always looking for the ‘post’ in post-apocalyptic, you’ll love this book. And if you’re simply a fan of hopelessly entangled disaster lesbians, well. Let’s just say: you’ll love this book.”

The official book description is below:

Kiana Strade can dive deeper into blood memories than anyone alive. But instead of devoting her talents to the temple she’s meant to lead, Key is determined to use her skill as a researcher for the Museum of Human Memory . . . and to avoid the public eye in opulent, cutthroat Asheburg.

Valerian’s lightning-fast swords protect Key from murderous rivals and her own enthusiasm alike. Vale cares about Key as a friend—and maybe more—but more than anything, she needs to keep her job so she can support her parents and siblings in the storm-torn south.

But when Key collects a memory about the temple’s founding that diverges from official history, only Vale sees the fallout. Key’s mentor suspiciously dismisses the finding. Her powerful mother demands she stop research altogether. And Key, unusually affected by the memory, begins to lose moments, then minutes, then days.

As Vale becomes increasingly entangled in Key’s obsessive drive for answers, the two women uncover a shattering discovery—and a devastating betrayal. Key and Vale can remain complicit, or jeopardize everything to bring the truth to light. Either way, Key is becoming consumed by the past in more ways than one, and time is running out.

Cover reveal and preorder links to come soon!