31 Mar, 2021
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March 2021
22 works reviewed. 13 by women (59%), 9 by men (41%), and 10 works by POC (45%)
Year to Date
64 works reviewed. 37.5 by women (58%), 25.5 by men (37%), one by an author whose gender is unknown (2%) and 27 works by POC (40%)
Grand Total to Date
1812 works reviewed. 1020 by women (56%), 755 by men (42%), 21 by non-binary authors (2%), 16 by gender unknown (2%), 506.75 by POC (28%)
27 Mar, 2021
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“Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful.” — Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite
In this mind-expanding work of speculative fiction, available in English for the first time, one of South Korea’s most treasured writers explores the driving forces of humanity — love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence — in two pairs of thematically interconnected stories.
Two worlds, four stories, infinite possibilities In “I’m Waiting for You” and “On My Way,” an engaged couple coordinate their separate missions to distant corners of the galaxy to ensure — through relativity — they can arrive back on Earth simultaneously to make it down the aisle. But small incidents wreak havoc on space and time, driving their wedding date further away. As centuries on Earth pass and the land and climate change, one thing is constant: the desire of the lovers to be together. In two separate yet linked stories, Kim Bo-Young cleverly demonstrate the idea love that is timeless and hope springs eternal, despite seemingly insurmountable challenges and the deepest despair.In “The Prophet of Corruption” and “That One Life,” humanity is viewed through the eyes of its creators: godlike beings for which everything on Earth — from the richest woman to a speck of dirt — is an extension of their will. When one of the creations questions the righteousness of this arrangement, it is deemed a perversion — a disease — that must be excised and cured. Yet the Prophet Naban, whose “child” is rebelling, isn’t sure the rebellion is bad. What if that which is considered criminal is instead the natural order — and those who condemn it corrupt? Exploring the dichotomy between the philosophical and the corporeal, Kim ponders the fate of free-will, as she considers the most basic of questions: who am I?
20 Mar, 2021
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All Hiroto has ever known is a life on a tiny coastal speck of Japan. Much of the country has been swallowed by Yokohama Station, a mysterious, ever-growing series of buildings that’s been around for as long as anyone can remember. The few who live outside its many entrances have never seen Inside and know only rumors and legends of the station’s interior. That all changes when Hiroto is given an 18 Ticket, a mysterious item that lets him enter the massive complex for five days. The young man has always sought a purpose, but the one he finds may not be the sort he’d hoped for…
13 Mar, 2021
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Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships.With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume — and value — of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species. It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space.All it took, to make her way onto the crew of the Greatship Athens was thousands of hours in simulators, dedication, and pawning or selling every scrap of her old life in order to forge a new one. But though she’s made her way onboard with faked papers, leaving her old life — and scandals — behind isn’t so easy. She may have just combined all the dangers of her former life, with all the perils of the new . .
6 Mar, 2021
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No one knows where it came from. Or why, for that matter. Maybe the Stronghold has always been there. Silent. Foreboding. Expectant. Generations came and went. Wars raged. Kingdoms rose and fell. But the Stronghold stood and observed the history as it was written before it in blood, fire, and tears. Not a single soul has ever made it inside the Stronghold. But some sure tried…A parable of despotism and religious oppression, “Stronghold” was banned in its country of origin. It took Kesha Bakunin years to rewrite the book in English. With censorship on the rise in many parts of the world, it might be the last chance for him to share this cautionary tale about the most insidious kind of tyranny-one which is welcomed by its subjects as virtuous.The secret of the Stronghold awaits its claimant. The question is who will have the courage to peek inside.