Creator's Note: Why Subscribe to Albert Aspen?
Dear reader,
Welcome! Thank you for stepping in!
Let me ask you a question: when was the last time you walked into a bookstore and actually bought something you loved?
I know. As a book lover, I walk into Barnes & Noble each time with the firm intention of taking one home—row after row of “bestsellers,” shiny covers, breathless blurbs—I pick up a copy, flip through it, give it a chance. Then I put it back on the shelf thinking: what a piece of crap.
Since my days as a journalist more than a decade ago, the prophesied “death of print media” has hung like a sword of Damocles over those of us who write. Creators like myself lived with the constant fear of being abandoned by the times.
After twelve years away from writing, after living through the good, the brutal, and everything in between, I came back to the page. But when I showed the draft to a few agents, they said that it was “a bit long” and that publishers might worry about printing costs. Come on—being long isn’t a sin; being long and boring is!
Traditional publishing nowadays runs on a loser's logic: minimize risk, follow trends, think short-term. It never asks “is this good?” It asks “does this look like the last thing that sold?” The agents (I met) don't know what good literature is. The publishers can't guarantee quality. Once a work is swept into a complex process, editing, revisions, and adjustments are no longer guided by value or aesthetics, but by the tug-of-war between power and ego. What comes out the other end—the product, the book, the literature that's supposed to move the reader—is flat, castrated, and lifeless.
And yet, the need to read has never diminished—people still read to learn, to connect, to experience the voices of others. As technology evolved, the printed word became just one among many forms of expression. Words now transform into images, into drama, even into music; video, podcasts, and social media each carry stories in ways print never could.
In the internet age, a writer can reach readers directly—no permission needed, no intermediaries. Now that it is already 2026, I chose to face the market—and my readers—directly.
Here is what I create: Original Stories for Adult Readers—authentic, compelling, and alive with a sense of play.
I write to uncover the magic within the ordinary, to kindle hope amid the grind of daily life, and to remind readers to value their own existence simply for being. All the characters are inspired by real people, the story springs from lived experience, yet the spirit it carries transcends reality itself. I would like my stories to resemble the most exquisite jewelry—cut with precision, shaped by beauty, and meant to be savored—stories that do not fade.
Who is Albert Aspen?
Before the twelve years away, here is what Albert Aspen had already accomplished:
Journalist and Cultural Editor of People’s Daily—the very tip of China's media hierarchy; somewhere between Pravda and The New York Times. Writing stories based on real people used to be my daily job.
Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Bachelor of Engineering in Animation Production of Wuhan University.
Master of Business Administration (MBA) of London Business School.
Postgraduate studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management and Columbia University.
I’m no longer the brash, razor-edged writer I was in my twenties—
(no offense to those still there, but writing, like wine, only grows richer with time). Now I know exactly who I am, what I stand for, and how writing fits into my natural gift; and I only answer to my higher voice and my readers.
Stories travel freely, from screen to mind, from one life into another. And it is readers like you who decide what is worth sustaining. When these stories resonate, your support allows them to continue, to grow, and to be told. You, the reader, are what gives the story a real life.
I believe the readers who are drawn to my work are people who have seen enough to know better and built lives of their own, people who have mastered the demands of adulthood yet still carry a quiet innocence within, and people who instinctively recognize the weight and value of work crafted with sincerity and sophistication.
The story unfolding on your screen, episode by episode, is As I Wish, an adult fantasy novel about destiny, magic, and the chaos of modern America. This story has been brewing in my mind for over three years. The first drafts of all twelve chapters are already in place. This year, As I Wish will step out of imagination and take form in reality. The kitchen is busy, and this book is being served one course at a time: completed episodes will be serialized weekly.
Upon completion—nothing will stop it, expected between winter 2026 and spring 2027—every Paid Member with six consecutive months of subscription, and every Founding God, will receive a physical copy.
Our official website is now LIVE at albertaspen.com!
Click here to check it out: The Official Site (Join and Subscribe For Free!)
If you wish to contact the author, please have your owl 🦉 deliver a letter to albertaspen@albertaspen.com.
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