This extraordinary collection of eight speculative fiction short stories is by a writer of exceptional talent.

Chung is a deep thinker with a well-developed social conscience. Her imagination is unable to be constrained by this planet and this time. Each of the narratives is singularly surprising.

The first story, ‘The Center for Immortality Research’, is told from the perspective of a worker who is assigned the job of organising an anniversary celebration. Chung’s humour resonates throughout the story, with interfering bosses and a recalcitrant movie star. And then Chung drops a surprising twist at the end.

‘The End of the Voyage’ is the second and longest piece and details the flight of scientists and engineers away from a pandemic on Earth. When signs of this same disease appear on board, the narrator and his friend plot a way to escape. ‘A Very Ordinary Marriage’ is anything but ordinary. The husband suspects his wife of having an affair. The truth is very different. ‘Maria, Gratia Plena’ tells of using brainwaves in a coma-bound patient to reconstruct her memories.

The titular story is set on a post-human Earth, where a self-drive vehicle navigates around a dystopia, trying to avoid mutant machines. There’s a deep melancholy in ‘A Song for Sleep’, where an interactive elevator watches the decline of an elderly lady. The final story, ‘To Meet Her’ features a magnificently cranky older lady.

Every story stretches the imagination but has foundations in the mundane. Profundities – such as trying to understand God – litter the narrative almost as asides. Each story is as strong as the next. Chung is fully in charge.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

Read a book review of Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

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