I'M WAITING FOR YOU AND OTHER STORIES - Kim Bo-Young
Harper Voyager
ASIN: B08CR6J7XN
ISBN-10: 0-06295-146-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-06295-146-5
April 6, 2021
General Fiction & Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Author Kim Bo Young mixes science with fantasy and mythology to create evocative and very original stories about what might have been, what is, and how time and place can change everything.

The first short story, "I'm Waiting for You," is told through a series of letters. While the characters' names are never given, an engaged young man and woman travel on different ships through space to meet in a church on Earth for their wedding. However, lightspeed and relativity dramatically slow time from Earth time, and during their travels, things go awry. Time changes dramatically for both of them. Can they ever meet up? When will this happen? It is an amazing story of abiding love. At the end of the stories in "On My Way to You," the woman tells her story in letters to her love

In between the two stories "The Prophet of Corruption" tells the story of immortal beings as exposed by the Prophet Naban. The Prophets' separation began the universe. Throughout time each Prophet has divided into more beings, or children, and while it takes energy from their bodies, the Prophets remain as individuals. These children can also separate and merge. The Prophets, and all of their children, periodically go to the Lower Realm, losing all memory in order to live different lives each time. When in the Lower Realm they eventually die and return to the Dark Realm and constantly repeat the process, gaining more knowledge each time once they are back in the Dark Realm. Interestingly, in the Dark Realm, they are not addressed by individual pronouns, but as plurals for all the lives they have lived in the Lower Realm. Sometimes in the Lower Realm, those who are separations of the same being can be a mother, father, sibling, child, or lover to that being. Yet, a question arises if this is a blameless thing to do to all the life on the Lower Realm. Yes, the Lower Realm was made from the immortals' will, but now some think it should remain without interference from the Dark Realm. This belief is considered a perversion and corruption. Naban is one of the original Prophets, the second generation separation of Aisata, who is no more. Naban knows her child, the third generation Aman, is corrupt. What can she do?

Along with these stories are a series of notes by the author and the translator. Reading The Prophet of Corruption Glossary at the back of the book before starting the story can give readers some insights into the names used. For instance, in Korean, the Dark Realm is the world of the dead. The Lower Realm is the world of the living. Knowing some of these meanings helps give the reader a deeper understanding of the story.

Robin Lee