Goodbye and Everything After with Mae Coyiuto

I met Mae in 2023 when her charming YA debut novel, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys came out. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, it’s so sweet and funny. I especially loved how the book reflected on Chloe’s Chinese-Filipina identity as she gets sets up on dates by her family and that tricky time when you’re deciding where to go for college and carving your own path.

I also discovered something Mae and I have in common. We both love tennis and she happened to play for her college, the same college I worked at while she was there. We didn’t meet at that time, but it’s funny to think that we were in the same bubble at the same time. We probably passed each other at some point in the dining hall.

I’m so excited for Mae’s sophomore novel, Goodbye and Everything After, which is out now!

It’s been five years since Nika’s beloved father passed away, but her family has never fully grieved. They don’t speak of him much at all, except on the anniversary of his death. Whenever they visit her father’s grave, Nika’s superstitious mother still insists on practicing pagpag, a Filipino belief that you can never go directly home after attending a funeral—or risk the spirit of the departed following you back home. But when her mom’s new fiancé suddenly shows up at the cemetery for this year’s memorial for her dad, she furiously walks out, breaking the pagpag superstition. The next day, she finds herself face-to-face with the ghost of her dead father. . . and Nika’s the only one who can see him. As she spends time reconnecting with her dad’s ghost, Nika learns about her parents’ past and how they started dating back in high school. And when she starts to fall for her neighbor Seph and accidentally re-creates memories of her parents’ love story with him, her dad’s spirit slowly becomes more solid and alive. Fearing that she’ll lose her dad again, Nika makes it her mission to find a way to make her dad stay permanently, no matter what the cost. With a perfect blend of humor and heart, Mae Coyiuto artfully brings past to present in a way that explores grief head-on.

MC: I always give my stories the wrong titles and this was called "Pagpag" for most of my drafts. One day, I was brainstorming with my cousin, and we kept on throwing words that related to the book's premise. We went from 'After Goodbye,' 'The After of Goodbye,' and many more versions until we finally landed on 'Goodbye and Everything After.'

MC: I think the most evident trope is that there's a ghost only one character can see, but the book is also filled with interweaving love stories. There's a slow burn neighbors to lovers trope (and a scene where they're conveniently stuck in an elevator together).

JT: Yes, we love close proximity over here.

MC: I went through three drafts of big revisions with this story and the writing process for each draft looked a bit different. On my best writing days, I was probably at a cafe fueled by matcha or at my sister’s place where she and her husband generously let me use their home office.

MC: In this book’s acknowledgements, I mentioned how I really wanted to write a zombie love story when I was sixteen. I eventually didn’t push through with the idea since I felt like I wasn’t a good enough writer to pull off stories with anything supernatural. I’m not sure if I pulled it off here, but I’m really proud of this book since I got to face that fear and insecurity while writing.

JT: I love this so much! I hope we get to see a Mae Coyiuto zombie love story someday.

MC: My previous YA novel, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys, felt like an ode to Beyoncé. This one felt like my tribute to Mariah Carey. I listened to a lot of Mariah and even read her memoir (highly recommend!) a few years ago while I was in the middle of drafting.

MC: One of the gifts writing has given me is getting to explore more about my culture and traditions. I've practiced superstitions like pagpag and have been attending events like the ting hun engagement ceremony my entire life, but I got to look into them more thoroughly in researching for this book. Aside from pagpag, you can spot a few other superstitions sprinkled throughout the book like how you shouldn't sleep with wet hair, how a three-step staircase is considered bad luck, how you're not supposed to put chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice.

JT: I think this is so fascinating. Similarly, I like to research traditions and superstitions I’ve practiced to make sure I represent it properly in my books. As a reader, I appreciate it because yes, it’s totally bad luck to stick your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice.

MC: Dentist appointment with Doctor Derrick. It’ll sound way more poignant with context!

MC: I feel like I see some takes how reading fiction, especially genres like YA and romance, aren't "productive reading." I highly disagree as someone whose life has been changed by these books.

JT: Hard agree. Ew. Since when did reading have to be “productive”?

MC: I loooved Midnights with You by Clare Osongco. It's a book that I would've been obsessed with if I read this in high school. As a perpetual night owl, I find the idea of two insomniacs falling in love during late-night driving lessons deeply romantic.

JT: Yessss! I loved Midnights With You! I loved reading it as an adult, but the way I would’ve made it my whole personality if I read it as a teen.

MC: Some other YA books with a slight twist I really enjoyed: If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch, If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang, The Hole in the Middle by Kendra Fortmeyer.

MC: Nothing to announce as of now!

MC: I’m reading Accidents Happen and Other Stories by F.H. Batacan. Really enjoying it so far!

Mae Coyiuto is a Chinese Filipino writer, born and raised in the Philippines. Her debut YA novel Chloe and the Kaishao Boys was named a 2023 New York Public Library Best Book of the Year. Mae earned her BA in Psychology from Pomona College and her Master’s Degree in Writing for Young Adults/Children from The New School. If she’s not writing, she’s usually fangirling over Beyoncé, tennis, Gilmore Girls, or all of the above. She currently lives in Manila.

Follow Mae on Instagram and get the latest updates from her website: www.maecoyiuto.com.