Hugo Award winning and Nebula Award finalist S. L. Huang's next book is The Language of Liars (Tordotcom), a pulse-pounding sci-fi that explores the power of language and identity and how the two intersect! Huang’s worldbuilding and bold, complex characters are brought to life in vivid detail from the first page. The Language of Liars was included in “Most Anticipated” lists from Literary Hub, BookRiot, and Shelf Awareness, and has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.
S. L. Huang is a Hollywood stunt performer, firearms expert, and Hugo Award winner who has been a finalist for a Nebula, Locus, and BSFA Awards as well as the ALA Carnegie Medal. Huang has a math degree from MIT and credits in productions like Battlestar Galactica and Top Shot. The author of The Water Outlaws, Burning Roses, and the Cas Russell novels, Huang’s short fiction has also appeared in Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Nature, Reactor, and more, including numerous best-of anthologies.
Nerds of a Feather: Congratulations on your forthcoming book,The Language of Liars! What do you think is the heart of the intersection between language, colonization and cultural identity?
S.L. Huang: Thank you! And wow, starting with a doozy of a question...
To be honest, I would say the heart of these issues is "complexity." On one side, building cultural bridges and seeking out intellectual understanding -- and on the other, stealing or overwriting the voices and traditions of living people -- it's a tangle that can turn heartbreakingly tragic even when everyone involved has the best of intentions, even before individual greed or cultural arrogance enters the picture.
It's an exploration that's close to my heart given my own family background, and there's so much there that I wouldn't be able to fit in an interview answer...but I suppose that's why I wrote a book!
NoaF: Is writing a character similar to absorbing another identity, in a way?
S.L. Huang: I've never thought of it that way, but now that you've said it, I sort of love it. It tickles me that as an author I'll become akin to the Borg -- ALL WILL BE ASSIMILATED!
NoaF: How does your math degree inform your writing, and your understanding of linguistics?
S.L. Huang: I think the biggest impact of my math background is correlative -- that is, in the same way I enjoy math, I enjoy other types of nitty-gritty riddle-solving, whether that's worldbuilding or linguistics or making a finely-tuned plot fit together precisely. It can be terribly difficult at times, but often results in the satisfaction of a solved problem, which is one of my favorite feelings in the world.
NoaF: How about your training as a firearms expert and Hollywood stunt performer? How does that inform your writing?
S.L. Huang: Fight design for movies is remarkably like choreographing action for books. You never want it to be about the individual moves -- instead, you want the emotions and stakes to drive it all. That's what I think needs to push any type of action, from sword fighting to romantic intimacy.
I think that's also the secret to what can make a particular type of action "interesting" even to readers who don't usually like that type of book.
NoaF: Who are some of your favorite spies in history and media?
S.L. Huang: Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 is not just a favorite spy, but hands-down one of my favorite characters in media. Sassy bisexual space lizard whose motives keep us constantly guessing -- he might not be the most moral character, but he's by far one of the most interesting!
In The Language of Liars I went with a cinnamon-roll spy, but I aspire to someday write a book starring a protagonist as deliciously complex as "plain, simple Garak."
NoaF: What are you reading and enjoying now? Who are some other writers that Nerds of a Feather readers should have on their radar?
S.L. Huang: The 2026 book that I've already read a copy of and want to shout from the rooftops is Yoon Ha Lee's Code and Codex -- if you like linguistics or space opera or math or, well, literally any of the things my own book is about, you'll love Yoon's! It's like nothing else I've ever read.
And I haven't read these two yet, but other books I'm super stoked for this year include The Subtle Art of Folding Space, by John Chu -- out this month as well! -- and The Fist of Memory, by Wole Talabi, whose other works I've loved. Check them out with me!
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Gabrielle Harbowy is an editor, writer, and literary agent based in Southern California. She can be found at gabrielle-h.bsky.social or gabrielleharbowy.com
