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Published Apr 2021
336 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
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?
"Kim delivers a suite of stories that is at once lyrical and full of foreboding, keeping dramatic tension tight...Much of the best science fiction today is coming from East Asia, and Kim's work ranks high in that emerging tradition." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This translation will help fill in some of the gaps in the availability of Korean SF in English, as well as please readers who enjoy lyrical, philosophical SF stories." - Booklist
"This is thought-provoking science fiction that will leave readers musing long after the book is finished." - Library Journal
"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 I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories Kim Bo-Young has perfectly captured the longing and isolation of our contemporary moment, but depicted against landscapes and realms that are utterly fresh. With stories that manage to present fantastical realities, ask philosophical questions, and weave exciting plots, Kim Bo-Young has given us a timely reminder that longing and heartbreak can be as infinite as the universe, but also just as lovely." - Micaiah Johnson, author of The Space Between Worlds
This information about I'm Waiting for You was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kim Bo-Young is one of Korea's most unique and important authors. Her first published work of fiction, a novella titled "The Experience of Touch," unanimously won the award for the best novella at the Korean Science & Technology Creative Writing Awards in 2004. In 2010 she published a two-volume collection of short stories, The Story Goes That Far and An Evolutionary Myth. 2013 saw the publication of her first novel, The Seven Executioners, which won the South Korean SF Award. Kim's work enjoys widespread popularity in Korea and has been praised by award-winning film directors Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho. She acted as a script advisor for Bong's 2013 film Snowpiercer.
Sophie Bowman is a PhD student at the University of Toronto where she studies and translates Korean literature. Her research focuses on women authors writing during the post-Korean War dictatorships and her translations of Korean fiction have been published in Clarkesworld, Guernica, Koreana and Korean Literature Now magazines.
Sung Ryu is a translator based in Singapore. Her translations include Shoko's Smile by Choi Eunyoung (2021), Tower by Bae Myung-hoon (2021), and the Korean edition of Grandma Moses: My Life's History (2017) by Anna Mary Robertson Moses. She translated the Jeju myth "Segyeong Bonpuri" (Origins of the Harvest Deities) for her MA thesis.
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