Kim Bo-young

I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories

“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?

And Other Stories

I'm Waiting for You

In this mind-expanding work of speculative fiction, now available in English for the first time, one of South Korea's most treasured writers explores love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence in two pairs of interconnected stories. 'Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in The 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 Two worlds, four stories, infinite possibilities. In 'I'm Waiting for You' and 'On My Way' (translated by Sophie Bowman), 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 demonstrates 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' (translated by Sung Ryu), 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?

Ken Liu

Aliette de Bodard

Tade Thompson

Indrapramit Das

Vandana Singh

Rich Larson

Karl Schroeder

Hao Jingfang

Neil Clarke

Robert Reed

Hannu Rajaniemi

Anil Menon

Suzanne Palmer

Meg Elison

Octavia Cade

Mary Anne Mohanraj

Regina Kanyu Wang

José Pablo Iriarte

Gregory Norman Bossert

Grace Chan

An Owomoyela

Shiv Ramdas

Cooper Shrivastava

Ray Nayler

R.S.A. Garcia

Alice Towey

Shauna O'Meara

Erin Barbeau

S. Qiouyi Liu

A remote village is determined to keep their robot teacher from being fired. A poetry-loving AI controls the wastewater treatment facility, but a series of malfunctions are beginning to cause concern. The biggest pop idol of the twenty-second century is trapped on Enceladus, and deeply alone. Latchko can talk to the banned AIs and now that his secret is out things are about to get complicated. A former child soldier is raised by a plant-like species but struggles to understand them. Ice fishing on Europa just keeps turning up rocks and things just got worse ... something is changing the world, making it better, but for whom? Short fiction is the heart of science fiction, introducing new voices, experimenting with ideas and technique, and paving the way for the future of the field. Thousands of stories are published every year in the many genre magazines, anthologies, collections, podcasts, and websites, as well as other less common venues. Each year, Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor Neil Clarke sifts through the myriad of offerings to select works that represent the best and the brightest, report on the state of the field, and recommend additional stories for further reading. In this volume, covering 2021, you'll find works by Aliette de Bodard, Meg Elison, Rich Larson, Ken Liu, Ray Nayler, Suzanne Palmer, Hannu Rajaniemi, Robert Reed, Karl Schroeder, Vandana Singh, Tade Thompson, and many more.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 7

Kim Bo-young

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