So my latest publication is out! Not in the usual sort of place, though!
A City of Han is a collection of short stories set in Seoul, hence the title.1
Anyway, “Sojourn” is a low-key story that’s set in a world of mutants and superheroes and super-powers, but which is really about people trying to live normal lives in such a world—and what a titanic struggle can be for those a little away from the peak of the bellcurve. It’s also very much about the hakwon-teaching experience. I’ve written more about it in my post on the story, along with some snippets from reviews, over here.
(The book is available on Amazon.com, or, in Seoul, from the Fiction Writers in Seoul website.)
It’s a twofold reference: the Korean word for Koreans is “한국사람,” or “the people of the Han country,” and “han” is also a concept for the bearing of unbearable sorrow which has, in modern Korea, been held up as emblematically Korean. Well, threefold, since Seoul is bisected by the Han River. Anyway…↩