The Forest Called You

A love letter to K-pop and a queer coming-of-age romance between an idol and her fan, about staying true to our passions in an increasingly artificial world 
 
In a future Korea, the world has been ravaged by dust clouds and the deadly Akanta virus. Rather than live in their nightmarish present, people slip on virtual reality headsets to indulge in nostalgic simulations of the past. 
 
Eighteen-year-old Soop – stigmatised due to her brush with Akanta, which causes VR Rejection – is bullied at school for having to live solely in the real world. Her only solace comes from the K-pop music she listens to on repeat. When a chance encounter brings Soop face-to-face with her idol, Yichae, a super-star whose new music video is being filmed at Soop's high school, she hopes this might be her chance at real connection. 
 
But Yichae has her own troubles. She is one of the few remaining ‘real’ human idols. In a K-pop world where virtual stars dominate, Yichae is forced to live up to unattainable beauty and body standards, under the guise of being celebrated for her supposed authenticity. 
 
The Forest Called You is a love letter to K-pop, romance and high-school politics – a novel about staying true to our passions and loving ourselves and each other in an increasingly artificial world.

Amil (Author) Amil is a South Korean writer and translator. She has won numerous awards for her short stories, including the SF Award in the Short-Mid Novel category for ‘Roadkill’ and the SF Award Grand Prize for ‘Rabbi’, both of which feature in her debut story collection in English, Roadkill. Amil has translated works by authors including James Baldwin, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeanette Winterson, R. O. Kwon and Lucas Rijneveld into Korean. Joheun Lee (Translator) Joheun Lee is a Korean-to-English literary translator from Korea, drawn to stories of desire, relationships and identity by women and queer writers. Her translations include Lee Heejoo’s Holy Boy and Amil’s short story 'A Butch’s Review of a Sex Robot’. She lives in Shanghai with her partner and four cats.

In a future Korea, the world has been ravaged by dust clouds and the deadly Akanta virus. Rather than live in their nightmarish present, people slip on virtual reality headsets to indulge in nostalgic simulations of the past. 
 
Eighteen-year-old Soop - stigmatised due to her brush with Akanta, which causes VR Rejection – is bullied at school for having to live solely in the real world. Her only solace comes from the K-pop music she listens to on repeat. When a chance encounter brings Soop face-to-face with her idol, Yichae, a super-star whose new music video is being filmed at Soop's high school, she hopes this might be her chance at real connection. 
 
But Yichae has her own troubles. She is one of the few remaining ‘real’ human idols. In a K-pop world where virtual stars dominate, Yichae is forced to live up to unattainable beauty and body standards, under the guise of being celebrated for her supposed authenticity. 
 
The Forest Called You is a love letter to K-pop, romance and high school politics – a novel about staying true to our passions and loving ourselves and each other in an increasingly artificial world.

Amil

Archana Madhavan

Roadkill is a radically brilliant collection. These uncanny fables shine a spotlight on the many ways women have been kept down, with nimble sentences that belie the fury thrumming beneath. Reading this book made me want to spark trouble and overthrow the system

I loved how unsettled each of these stories made me feel, and how Amil never neatly tidies away that unease, choosing instead to leave readers with plenty to contemplate, and plenty to keep them up at night. I loved, too, the eerie beauty of the worlds she creates, the complicated women at the stories’ hearts, and the often surprising way each story explores and explodes conventional ideas of entrapment and escape

This thrilling and unsettling story collection pulls no punches. It might introduce us to strange new worlds, but the themes at its heart are disturbingly close to home. I loved this collection

Megan Bradbury, author of EVERYONE IS WATCHING

We had always been rare and mysterious creatures. We’d been taught this ever since we were children. 
 
With strong roots in feminist science fiction and fantasy, Roadkill’s exhilarating stories transport us to strange new worlds. 
 
In a near future where women are an endangered minority, two young friends try to break free from a facility designed for those few who can still give birth. Every year in a secluded seaside village, a maiden is sacrificed to a divine sea serpent. Elsewhere, the last female shaman of an indigenous tribe tells her stories to a visiting research team. And in South Korea’s Alps Grand Park, the residents exist in an exclusive world dominated by giant air purifier towers as others are left to live in the shade. 
 
The women in these stories find themselves trapped – by circumstance, society or tradition – as they fight for a means of escape. This sweeping and subversive collection celebrates their strength and their courage, their desire for independence and self-expression. 
 
Translated by Archana Madhavan

Roadkill

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Praise for Roadkill

Roadkill is a radically brilliant collection. These uncanny fables shine a spotlight on the many ways women have been kept down, with nimble sentences that belie the fury thrumming beneath. Reading ...

I loved how unsettled each of these stories made me feel, and how Amil never neatly tidies away that unease, choosing instead to leave readers with plenty to contemplate, and plenty to keep them up at nigh ...

This thrilling and unsettling story collection pulls no punches. It might introduce us to strange new worlds, but the themes at its heart are disturbingly close to home. I loved this collection

Roadkill is a radically brilliant collection. These uncanny fables shine a spotlight on the many ways women have been kept down, with nimble sentences that belie the fury thrumming beneath. Reading ...

I loved how unsettled each of these stories made me feel, and how Amil never neatly tidies away that unease, choosing instead to leave readers with plenty to contemplate, and plenty to keep them up at nigh ...

This thrilling and unsettling story collection pulls no punches. It might introduce us to strange new worlds, but the themes at its heart are disturbingly close to home. I loved this collection

Roadkill is a radically brilliant collection. These uncanny fables shine a spotlight on the many ways women have been kept down, with nimble sentences that belie the fury thrumming beneath. Reading ...

I loved how unsettled each of these stories made me feel, and how Amil never neatly tidies away that unease, choosing instead to leave readers with plenty to contemplate, and plenty to keep them up at nigh ...

This thrilling and unsettling story collection pulls no punches. It might introduce us to strange new worlds, but the themes at its heart are disturbingly close to home. I loved this collection

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