book title: TOWARDS (a trilogy)
publisher: Silver Bow Publishing (New Westminster)
pubication date: feb. 25, 2026
link: https://www.silverbowpublishing.com/towards.html
An Interview with Yuan Changming on the Towards Trilogy
PP: Like every seminal work of art, your trilogy must have a compelling origin story. How did Towards come into being?
YC: Like many authors, I harbored a dream of writing a "magnum opus" from a young age, though the subject matter remained elusive for decades. The seeds were sown in 2000, when I wrote a 170,000-character diary-letter to my first love, detailing our life paths since our separation in 1980. After a friend’s harsh critique in 2002, I abandoned the project for nearly twenty years.
It took a reencounter with that same first crush in 2019 to reignite the flame. During the pandemic, I composed nearly 200 love poems for her, but I soon realized that poetry—while intense—could not contain the sheer scale of my longing. During Christmas week of 2021, I turned to prose. Within three months, the draft of Towards was complete. Without my personal muse, I would never have bridged the gap between record-breaking love poetry and expansive, philosophical prose.
PP: Between the first draft in 2022 and this release by Silver Bow Publishing, how did the manuscript evolve?
YC: My path was not linear. After revising the draft in early 2023, I navigated a series of "soft rejections" and editorial hurdles with international presses who found the second-person POV and bilingual elements "difficult." Rather than compromise the work's integrity, I reclaimed it. I harmonized the narrative viewpoints, infused the text with more direct dialogue, and—as karma would have it—found a champion in publisher Candice James. It is a testament to the Chinese proverb: "Good things happen to those who exert enough effort."
PP: You’ve called Towards your most ambitious project. What sets it apart?
YC: It is a radical hybrid. Within the narrative, I have integrated almost every literary genre: poetry, drama, travelogue, memoir, and modern digital correspondence. Through the protagonist Ming, I explore the total spectrum of the human condition—bridging "macro" concerns like geopolitics and philosophy with "micro" realities like infidelity and spiritual cultivation. It is an encyclopedic representation of contemporary life across two continents. By contrasting two eras and two cultures, I hope to encourage a more open-minded, respectful global dialogue.
PP: What is the central message you hope to convey through Ming’s journey?
YC: The central hook is a fundamental question of the soul: What happens after one achieves the "Canadian Dream"? I want readers to ponder whether happiness is merely success, or if it requires something deeper.
In my view, the "Dream" provides the material foundation, but love and spiritual growth form the Superstructure of Happiness. To reach this higher state, Ming must follow a specific trajectory: he must Detach from the material "red dust," Derail from conventional relationships to find raw love, and Detour through the natural world to harmonize his spirit. Happiness is the immediate goal, but spiritual wholeness is the ultimate purpose of life.
PP: Aside from your muse, what were the primary literary influences on this trilogy?
YC: I see the trilogy as a challenge to, and a dialogue with, world literature. If the first volume, Detaching, emulates Bill Porter’s Road to Heaven, the second, Derailing, serves as a parallel to Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence. The final volume, Detouring, stands as a direct challenge to Junichi Watanabe’s A Lost Paradise.
PP: Who is your target reader, and what are the market opportunities for such a complex work?
YC: I write to make my life meaningful, but I believe the "Boomer" generation—those in the "silver age" (65–75) navigating romance and spiritual health—will find themselves in these pages. While a bilingual, hybrid work poses a market risk, it also offers unique opportunities. This is a story of "seniors in love" that is ripe for film adaptation or Chinese translation. The "Superstructure" of the story is, after all, universal.
PP: This trilogy is a massive achievement. Do you have other projects in the works?
YC: The last six years have been a renaissance for me. I’ve recently finalized Museum of Limerence, a record-breaking sequence of 215 love poems. My output—including short stories, travel essays, and a recently completed cultural-philosophical novel—is the direct result of my reencounter with my muse. My work today is about breaking records and challenging the "intrinsic" limits of both English and Chinese literature.
