Exclusive Interview: Chloe Gong On New Novel, Vilest Things

Every day is a dream come true when we get to read books, write reviews, and chat with our favorite authors! For those of us on BookTok, we know how much of a staple Chloe Gong is on our bookshelves. So when we got the chance to interview Chloe on her new novel, Vilest Things, we dropped everything to start reading and brainstorm!

Vilest Things is the second book in Chloe Gong’s Flesh and False Gods trilogy, taking place immediately after Immortal Longings. This sequel follows Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa trying to settle into their new roles (and bodies) as royal advisor and soon-to-be King August Shenzhi, respectively.

Be sure to read our in-depth review of Vilest Things here! In the meantime, we’ll share our exclusive author interview with Chloe Gong. She spills all the details on writing the sequel, Calla and Anton’s romance, and what to expect in book three!

Vilest Things

Congratulations on the upcoming release of your new novel, Vilest Things! How would you describe your journey writing the second book of your Flesh and False Gods trilogy compared to the first?
Thank you so much! Writing Vilest Things was incredibly different to writing the first book, Immortal Longings, both in what I wanted to do for the story and in my life circumstances at the time of creation. I love it when a fantasy series rapidly expands its worldbuilding as the books go on, which means Vilest Things brings plenty of revelations about the world, about their history, and about everything the characters once took for truth in Immortal Longings.
In that way, it felt a lot more intricate to put together because the characters and their politics were holding up the core of the book… but I was under professional deadlines to get the book written, whereas Immortal Longings was written entirely without expectation. Immortal Longings emerged during my senior year of college when I was writing it to distract myself from my impending graduation and the fact that I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so escaping into those pages was always a joy. As much as I adore Vilest Things too, there’s always an element of knowing there is now an audience and readers waiting to find out what’s going to happen next—and I really hope they resonate with the next installment!

New Characters

With the introduction of new characters in Vilest Things that are sure to shake things up, we have to know. Which character do you see yourself in the most, and why?
This is such a great question, and one that I am really musing about how to answer because I really make it a mission to write the characters in this series to be awful in their own special ways. Maybe Yilas, because she’s really just trying to get by in her healthy relationship while the entire city keeps trying to explode around her.

Calla And Anton

We love that you drew inspiration for Calla and Anton from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (the characters). If you could start a series based on another Shakespeare play, which would it be?
I recently finished watching Succession and couldn’t stop thinking about how it’s a modern King Lear retelling where the tragedy has been embedded in the narrative from the very beginning, so that’s on the top of my mind right now.

Calla and Anton’s push-pull romance definitely played with our emotions throughout this book. How did you decide the different ways their relationship would be tested?
I love gravitating toward whatever the messiest situation is. One thing that I really wanted to lean into with Vilest Things was the pseudo-love triangle when Otta Avia comes into the picture. It’s not an Antony and Cleopatra inspired work unless there’s petty jealousy and all the consequences of powerful rulers wielding their influence for their own personal grievances. Calla and Anton are people who want it all: the kingdom and the lover, the revenge and the comfort. Whenever there were opportunities to really bring that to the light and let them call each other out on it, I was having the time of my life.

Chloe Gong’s Favorite Moments

Without giving away any spoilers, what was one of your favorite moments from Vilest Things?
The ending! Many of the quick events that happen as we’re nearing the end of Vilest Things were so hard for me to work out, because I knew where we needed to land in order to move the book from Point A to Point B properly, but I had to write it wrong several times to actually feel what was right. Our three main characters are all learning world-shaking news at the end, and I was incredibly excited to finally reveal those moments after sowing hints throughout the course of the book.

Looking Ahead

You’ve mentioned before that you wanted to expand on body-jumping and the magic system, which we can see in book two. How will the characters and their kingdom continue to change as these abilities become more complex and what was once considered impossible becomes possible?
As the trilogy progresses, much of what we think we know in book one no longer holds true in book three, but if we were to go back to the beginning, I wanted it to feel as though it was always clear this was due to a limited worldview of the characters, not because this is actually “new” information. History is written by the victors; the textbooks remember the war the way the winners told it. The kingdom has always been the same, it’s only that the truth will start becoming more widespread, and our characters will have to reckon with this in order to gain the upper hand!

Book Three

The ending of Vilest Things does an amazing job of setting up the potential conflicts for book 3! If anything, what hints can you give us about the final book in the trilogy? Do you already know how the story ends?
All I will say is that book three is very much my Roman Empire, and by that I mean I have always been so intrigued by the Battle of Actium, and this trilogy has been leading up to my desire to reimagine that. I do know how the story ends—that final image of book three was one of the first things I knew before I began Immortal Longings… I’m very excited to finally get to it!

You can order a copy of Chloe Gong’s Vilest Things here!

We’re still pinching ourselves to make sure this interview with Chloe Gong actually happened! Are you excited for Vilest Things? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Interested in reading more bookish interviews? You’re in luck! 

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