Favourite Korean-American Fiction Read of 2023: (and some family history) 

Man oh man! This video deserves an award. The connections, amazing. Thanks.

I went to StokerCon last year and I went to this panel of 5 Asian women horror writers and the moderator was also Asian. They were from all over. I have been to bad panels where you wonder if the moderator knew they were moderating this before they got there. But the woman in this panel-every time she asked a question she led off with a quote from the book or an interview they had done of the panelist she was asking the question to. She had done her work. The panelists were surprised and delighted. I was impressed. All the questions were relevant to the quote she read from. She was a star in my eyes. There was another panel about cryptids where even if the guests were no energy (honestly it was just one out of the five panelists who was low energy) he brought the juice. He weaved seamlessly between topics and segued between guests like a pro. I felt like I was listening to a well seasoned, make sure the air is full at all times, radio DJ. You’ll do great!

😮 what an interessting family history. Thanks for sharing🙏

I am so excited to get to this one. Thanks for this fantastic video!

Your description of Same Bed Different Dreams has prompted me to add it to my TBR. Even better was hearing more about your parents’ history. What happened to the orphan your mom travelled with to Sweden? I read a memoir by a Korean Swedish adoptee that questions the assumption that transnational adoptions are humanitarian acts: Palimpsest by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjoblom. Your uncle’s brief reunion with your mother reminds me of another book: The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, which is about sisters separated by the Korean border. So many ways to look at history.

I put the book on hold at my library :). Thanks for sharing some of your family history... very interesting indeed!

Good luck with the author panel!

So interesting you mention your parents being tight lipped about their pasts. My dad was a medic in Korea. He also was very tight lipped about that time … just a few moments ever mentioned.

Thank you for sharing your family history, I love hearing about where people come from. This book is going on the tbr for sure.

I loved this video, thank you for sharing. History (and its mutability) is one of my main preoccupations in both writing and in life, so hearing your own stories was so fascinating to me. Weirdly enough your Buffalo TV nostalgia stirred up similar Buffalo TV nostalgia in me even though I'm a bit younger than you. I look forward to your FOLD panel and good luck with moderating! I did it once and it was quite nerve-wracking but the authors I talked with were wonderful and open, which helped a lot. I find that talking about process/inspiration always leads to great discussion and is interesting for the audience as well. Jael Richardson was one of my moderating inspirations, and there are a couple of videos on the FOLD's RU-vid channel of panels she's moderated. Oh, also - prepare more questions than you think you'll need!

You threw me into the way-back machine talking about Buffalo Saturday morning kids programming. I too watched Commander Tom along with Rocketship 7.

The more I hear about this book the more curious I get but also think it should come with an introduction of Korean history roundup for dummys, to better understand and enjoy the book.

I haven’t read much Korean-American fiction. I guess Richard E. Kim qualifies and I’ve enjoyed all three of his English books, especially his second novel, which something you said made me think of. But I wonder if you’ve read _Meeting My Brother_ by Yi Mun-yol. It’s a novella and I liked it a lot. Good luck on your moderating. I’ve heard that if you wear a big chicken suit it makes everything go smoothly but I couldn’t vouch for the veracity of that. 🤔

❤❤

Okay, you need to write that book about your family's saga, whether you fictionalize it or not.