science-fiction – The Wandering Wordsmith

Meet the alien species that put the humanity into human beings
Discover the fate of Slefonia III once warp travel became obsolete
Visit the Mind Library to commune with the dead

Kim Choyeop became an instant literary sensation in Korea with her debut short story collection. Each of these bitesize speculative masterpieces represents a journey into the unknown, guided by a writer blessed with a boundless imagination.

From alternative futures to distant alien planets, in the company of scientists, space explorers and ordinary citizens in extraordinary situations, Kim Choyeop revels in making the impossible seem not only possible but somehow inevitable.

Each story focuses on an specific issue of discrimination against women or other marginalised groups, adding a mind-bending twist to hold a mirror to modern society and its everyday iniquities.

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur

Amazon | Goodreads

Sci-fi is a genre I’m still very much dipping my toes in and figuring out what works for me – so when I saw a sci-fi anthology that was translated from Korean I definitely wanted to pick it up. The stories in this collection I felt take a look at the human condition, and how the human condition may evolve depending on how technology and the world advances. What if instead of burying and cremating people when their dead, they instead have their minds scanned and catalogued, to be kept in a library where family and friends could visit and essentially have a conversation with them. Would they be conversing with their actual soul/consciousness or just a simulation built from their memories? What would happen to humanity if someone figured out how to manipulate genetic code from conception to ensure they were for lack of a better word – perfect?

Each story is a different lens looking at different components of society and humanity and what some of the individuals in these futures might experience. It’s definitely a collection to sit with and absorb, not something to fly through. There is a depth in the writing that takes time to really take in and it was a wonderful experience. I’d love to see more of Kim Cho-yeop’s writing in the future.

Happy reading!

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light review

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Mike Chen brings us an epic love story—in a time loop. When strangers Mariana Pineda and Carter Cho get stuck together repeating the same four days, finally reaching Friday might mean having to give up the connection growing between them.

On Thursday at 12:42pm, Carter Cho is working as a technician at a particle accelerator when it explodes, striking him with a green energy—and sending him back in time to Monday morning. And this happens over and over again. Which at first is interesting, but quickly becomes lonely as the world moves through the same motions and only he changes. If he ever wants to get out of the time loop, he needs help.

On one of the loops, he finally manages to bring Mariana Pineda in with him by getting her struck by the same energy at the same moment. Now they have to find out how to get the accelerator to finish its current test so that they can finally reach Friday.

Along the way, Carter and Mariana help each other through grief, decisions about unfulfilling jobs, and confronting difficult pasts—all the while eating lots of great food since their bank accounts and cholesterol reset with every loop. But the longer they stay in the loop, the more they realize that getting out of it, might mean they’ll have to give up the connection growing between them that’s slowly leading to love.

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I’m always intrigued to see how certain sci-fi elements are handled and time loops is one of those things. Sometimes you do run the risk of the stories being very cerebral and harder to understand, but I found this one very accessible and about far ore than the time loop itself.

I did not expect this book to dive into things such as loss and grief but it did. I enjoyed seeing Carter and Mariana’s relationship build over the repeating days and found myself unable to put this one down thanks to the fast paced writing and intriguing concept.

Mike Chen is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Brotherhood, Here and Now and Then, Light Years from Home and other novels. He has covered geek culture for sites such as Nerdist, Tor.com and StarTrek.com, and in a different life, he’s covered the NHL. A member of SFWA, Mike lives in the Bay Area with his wife, daughter and many rescue animals. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @mikechenwriter.

Social Links | Author website | Twitter: @mikechenwriter

Happy reading!