Sarah Zachrich Jeng
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sarahzj.bsky.social
Sarah Zachrich Jeng
@sarahzj.bsky.social
Speculative thrillers: WHEN I'M HER and THE OTHER ME (Berkley)
Rep: Joanna MacKenzie
Tech worker/tech skeptic
https://sarahzj.com/links.html
Pinned
I might start spending more time here (classic late adopter) so hi! I write cross-genre suspense novels with sci-fi elements.

My latest book is WHEN I'M HER, which features toxic female friendship and body swapping. I also have a substack!

sarahzj.substack.com
All Possible Futures | Sarah Zachrich Jeng | Substack
Updates from Sarah Zachrich Jeng, author of WHEN I'M HER and THE OTHER ME. Click to read All Possible Futures, by Sarah Zachrich Jeng, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
sarahzj.substack.com
Reposted by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
Authors, Beware! There's a firm called "ClaimsHero" doing aggressive social media outreach claiming to
"help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
November 10, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I wrote about worldbuilding in romantic fantasy and how there's plenty of room for plot-forward and character-driven SFF novels.
A world without love is no world at all
On world building in romantic fantasy
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:24 AM
💖📚 October reads 📚💖
November 8, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
Support the 2026 @apexmag.bsky.social Kickstarter! Apex publishes amazing SF, dark fantasy, and horror and we need their stories now more than ever.

I'll give an Apex gift subscription and dedication to one random person who promotes this Kickstarter! 1/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
www.kickstarter.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:40 PM
💖📚 September reads 📚💖
October 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Google docs giving me a popup telling me my birthday is coming up (I am AWARE, shit I'm not THAT old) when I'm just trying to make a comment on a document is going to be my villain origin story
October 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
"You may have heard the aphorism that Happiness = Reality / Expectations. Multiply that by about 30 for your feelings about your career in traditional publishing. (What do you mean that math doesn’t make sense?)"

From my latest newsletter, about That Publishing Article:
Yes, publishing is depressing
And maybe that’s okay?
sarahzj.substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
💖📚 August reads 📚💖
September 13, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
This gets progressively funnier with every use of the term "floppy".
September 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
“A standalone can afford to leave questions unanswered. In fact it can’t not do that, because if you try to explain everything in one go then you don’t have a story, you have a wiki.”
Fast zombies are still the scariest
20-mumblemumble years later
sarahzj.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I ❤️ my library
August 19, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I’ll be at Auk Market in Gainesville this Saturday for their 2nd annual book + art faire! Enjoy delicious treats and browse books and maker goods from 10-3. I’ll be inside the Protocol Gallery - come say hi!

More info: www.facebook.com/events/68414...
August 19, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Happy 4th birthday to THE OTHER ME (released August 10, 2021). I’ll always love my weird speculative domestic suspense novel about an artist who discovers that marrying your high school sweetheart may not, in fact, be the best idea!
August 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I wrote about burying my father and traveling through the United States in 2025, and my complicated feelings about both.
Hostile territory
A road trip through the American heartland + my emotions
sarahzj.substack.com
August 9, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The first draft of my “LABYRINTH in Florida” romantic fantasy is done! Now the real work begins.

Image is one of Kay Nielsen’s illustrations for a 1914 edition of a book of fairy tales including East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The story and illustration both capture some relevant vibes ✌️
July 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
In my latest newsletter, I write about progressing toward the ending of your novel. (It doesn’t get easier as you get closer.)
sarahzj.substack.com/p/the-mirage...
The mirage of an ending
The closer I get, the more it recedes
sarahzj.substack.com
July 8, 2025 at 9:03 AM
💖📚 June reads 📚💖
July 1, 2025 at 4:57 PM
💖📚 May reads 📚💖
June 17, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Technology is so shitty rn that I started writing fantasy instead of sci-fi. sarahzj.substack.com/p/writing-sf...
June 4, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The recent (and recurring) discourse on whether authors should post critical reviews of others' books got me thinking about professional relationships, creative insecurity, and nostalgia for well-loved media properties.

Read at sarahzj.substack.com
May 6, 2025 at 11:11 AM
💖📚 April reads 📚💖
May 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Excited to be at Thrillerfest in June! If you're going, bring your coffee at 8am on Friday, June 20 to listen to me and these amazing authors talk about writing satisfying endings. (And if you're not a morning person, I'll see you at the bar!)
April 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The ebook of THE OTHER ME is only $4.99 at all ebook retailers!

This is my debut! It's the story of an artist who is transported to an alternate life in which she never followed her dreams, and it's about the choices we make for love...and those that are made for us.
April 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
In which I do a deep dive on adolescent rebellion, romantic longing, and the ways in which a 35-year-old movie about a mostly-obsolete technology connects to our current era.

sarahzj.substack.com/p/pump-up-th...
April 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
if I come out of this actually having been forced to understand the stock market, I'm going to be so fucking pissed
April 9, 2025 at 5:29 AM