My China Trilogy: Kellie Liang Returns in The China Dilemma
April 18, 2026, A Note from author Timothy Trainer: I’m fortunate to have signed a publishing contract to get The China Dilemma out later this year. Things happen when writing fiction.
Having created Kellie Liang in The China Connection (published in 2023), it was an easy decision to write a second novel with her having a central role in The China Factor (published in 2024).
However, the ending in The China Factor (yes, even I was surprised by the ending) left me scratching my head, asking, well, what happens? Kellie Liang wasn’t done.
In fact, things that cause tension in U.S.-China relations have only gotten more complex, and she continues to find herself mixed up in ways she couldn’t have predicted. If you haven’t read the two previous books, there’s time before The China Dilemma is published.
Click here to buy the first two books in Tim’s trilogy!
About the Timothy Trainer: Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector, and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.
Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff.
Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific, was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains.
In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection.
In 2025, he published the sequel, The China Factor, which ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list in 2025.
Don’t miss this week’s blog post by IP attorney, author Timothy Trainer, host of the podcast and video show Tim’s Travails • Follow Tim on Substack
