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Xiran Jay Zhao

Zachary Ying

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For best practice against capitalist monopolies, search up your local indie bookstore on Indiebound and order from there!

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Note about the audiobook: A new version is currently being produced because of mistakes in the Mandarin pronunciation in the existing one (I was not given the chance to preview it during production). If you buy it now you’ll receive the new version automatically when it comes out, but keep in mind that for now the Mandarin is incorrect. To hear the correct Mandarin, come to this page.

The new audiobook with correct Mandarin is now available! Get it anywhere you get your audiobooks.

FOR TEACHERS: If you are an elementary or middle school teacher struggling with your classroom budget, I can send you a copy of Zachary Ying free of charge! Please email your school name and address to xjzhaoinfo@gmail.com

FOR BOOKSELLERS: I can send you signed bookplates free of charge! Please email your store name and address to xjzhaoinfo@gmail.com

Zachary Ying is a middle grade series in the vein of Yu-Gi-Oh! meets Percy Jackson

12-year-old Zack never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.

And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

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