lesser known monsters of the 21st century review

She also uses and blends genres of fantasy, sci-fi, magical realism, and horror, with moments of (somewhat dark) humor. There were also recurring themes of the struggles of finding connection (“#ClimbingNation”) and morbid curiosity about death (“Time Cubes”, and “Twenty Hours”). Two prime examples of writing that evoke different senses are “Do You Remember Candy?” and “Scissors.” I was also struck with how skillfully character dynamics and interactions were written, even in stories told entirely in dialogue (“Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867”) or stories that focus on group dynamics (“Liddy, First to Fly” and “The Doll”). Kim Fu is a master of descriptive writing in a way that activates all the senses while still driving the plot forward. The 12 stories in this collection are very distinct from one another, and yet they are all incredible in their own way.

Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.ĭescription from StoryGraph Overall Impressions These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll a runaway bride encounters a sea monster a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Representation: Asian-Canadian author, some Asian and queer charactersĬontent warnings are listed for individual stories below Genre: speculative, sci-fi, magical realism, short story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

Lesser known monsters of the 21st century review