Dolki Min

Victoria Caudle

Squid Game meets The Left Hand of Darkness meets Under the Skin in this radical literary sensation from South Korea about an alien's hunt for food that transforms into an existential crisis about what it means to be human.

After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, a shapeshifting alien find themself stranded on an unfamiliar planet and disabled by Earth’s gravity. To survive, they will need to practice walking. And what better way than to hunt for food? As they discover, humans are delicious.

Intelligent, clever, and adaptable, the alien shift their gender, appearance, and conduct to suit a prey’s sexual preference, then attack at the pivotal moment of their encounter. They use a variety of hunting tools, including a popular dating app, to target the juiciest prey and carry a backpack filled with torturous instruments and cleaning equipment. But the alien’s existence begins to unravel one night when they fail to kill their latest meal.

Thrust into an ill-fated chase across the city, the alien is confronted with the psychological and physical tolls their experience on Earth has taken. Questioning what they must do to sustain their own survival, they begin to understand why humans also fight to live. But their hunger is insatiable, and the alien once again targets a new prey, not knowing what awaits. . . .

Dolki Min’s haunting debut novel is part psychological thriller, part searing critique of the social structures that marginalize those who are different—the disabled, queer, and nonconformist. “Walking Practice” uncovers humanity in who we consider to be alien, and illuminates how alienation can shape the human experience.

A Novel

Walking Practice

Sabrina D. 

You, dear reader, earnestly play all your parts. The roles that were assigned to you without your consent are stuck to your body like a label: A label that you can’t remove before death. A label that can’t be removed even after death. The labels are invisible. They’re not really there, you know. They’ve melted into your flesh. They may have even made their home in a deeper, more abstract part of you. You won’t be able to fish them out even if you’re sliced up to the point that your bones are exposed and your guts are spilling out of your carcass. Really does your head in, doesn’t it?

Marz 

They can't wait to ogle a monster, Without monsters, how would they withstand the unrelenting futility of their days? 

To act the part of a woman, you've got to memorize a hefty script. Men should do the opposite. Just don't act like a woman. 

lily lily 

Am I wrong? It would be great if I was. I understand their hearts, a hundred, a thousand times over. For them, life is so boring that if someone doesn’t walk with ease, taking steady steps on two healthy legs of the same length, they violently overreact as if they were waiting for it. I think their bar for reactions is pretty low. They can’t wait to ogle a monster. Without monsters, how would they withstand the unrelenting futility of their days?

I’m so happy that it strikes me I’d still be happy if the Earth turned to dust this very minute. I wish it would, so this moment would be preserved forever.

If sometime, somewhere, I could forget—if only for a second—that cameras are following me, then I could close the gap between myself and the part I am playing. It might just disappear

Erica England 

A beautiful body is more than worth its weight in gold. Like a cake, it is worth slicing into eight and wolfing it down as foamy blood builds up at the corners of your mouth with every greedy swallow.

You, dear reader, are an old hand at the gender-matching game. No doubt about it! From a tender age you have guessed the gender of countless humans whose bodies are covered by clothes, coming to conclusions based on the gender you believe corresponds to the shape of genitals you believe match up with the remaining exposed parts of their bodies, and you have lived your lives in certainty, believing the result of your deductions to be true. The problem is, however, that you do not acknowledge the mistakes you have made and will continue to make. No one knows that the game itself is a mistake.

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