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If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light book cover
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light
2019
First Published
4.08
Average Rating
284
Number of Pages

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.

Avg Rating
4.08
Number of Ratings
855
5 STARS
37%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
19%
2 STARS
3%
1 STARS
1%
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Author

Kim Cho-yeop
Kim Cho-yeop
Author · 2 books
Kim Choyeop (b. 1993) holds a BA in chemistry and an MA in biochemistry from Pohang University of Science and Technology. She launched her literary career in 2017 when two of her stories, “Irretrievable” (excerpted in this issue) and “If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light,” won the grand and runner-up prizes respectively at the 2017 Korean SF Awards. She then went on to win the Today’s Writer Award in 2019. Her debut short story collection, If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light (Hubble, 2019), was a record-breaking bestseller in South Korea, and a Japanese translation is set to be released by Hayakawa Publishing. One of the stories from the book, “Symbiosis Theory,” was also published in Clarkesworld magazine.
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