If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light

the groundbreaking short story collection and Korean bestseller from superstar Kim Choyeop

By: Kim Choyeop, Anton Hur - translator

Narrated by: Rosa Escoda

"A stunning collection that lingers in the mind and heart" Ruth Ozeki

"I've been yearning for the whole world to read Kim Choyeop and fall in love with her as I did"
Bora Chung, author of Cursed Bunny and The Midnight Timetable

FOR FANS OF DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE AND CURSED BUNNY...

Meet the alien species that put the humanity into human beings
Discover the fate of Slefonia III once warp travel became obsolete
Visit the Mind Library to commune with the dead
Purchase sadness as a stone and anger as a paperweight

Kim Choyeop became an instant literary sensation in Korea with her debut short story collection. Each of these bitesize speculative masterpieces represents a journey into the unknown, guided by a writer blessed with a boundless imagination.

From alternative futures to distant alien planets, in the company of scientists, space explorers and ordinary citizens in extraordinary situations, she revels in making the impossible seem not only possible but somehow inevitable.

Traversing the bounds of imagination with an ethereal incisiveness, her stories dismantle the borders between normal and abnormal, material and abstract, earthly and otherworldly. With unforgettable inventiveness and pathos, If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light heralds the arrival of an essential voice in contemporary fiction.

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur

NETGALLEY READERS ARE LOVING IF WE CANNOT GO AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT:

'I genuinely can't find the words to say how much these stories moved me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'What a strong collection of stories!!! I truly enjoyed every single one of these' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This is the first short story collection I've ever rated five stars' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'An experience that felt, at once, strangely equal parts meditative and cathartic, and I had a wonderful time. I highly recommend it' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'You really need to read these stories. And then you can curl up in quiet contemplation about what you just read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I NEED MORE' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐©2026 Kim Choyeop

Critic reviews

I've been yearning for the whole world to read Kim Choyeop and fall in love with her as I did (Bora Chung, author of Cursed Bunny)

With nuance, delicacy, and psychological depth, Kim Choyeop conjures worlds that are different from ours - at once strange and poignantly recognizable. A stunning collection that lingers in the mind and heart (Ruth Ozeki)

An astonishing and beautiful living thing - a line that I've stolen from this collection that captures it fully. Scientifically precise and endlessly curious, yet bursting with a love for humanity (Silvia Park, author of Luminous)