{"id":16654,"date":"2026-04-09T14:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/?p=16654"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:26:42","slug":"review-if-we-cannot-go-at-the-speed-of-light-by-kim-choyeop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/?p=16654","title":{"rendered":"Review: If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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translated from the Korean by Anton Hur<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

original publication (in Korean): 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

first English edition: Saga Press, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

192 pages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

grab a copy here<\/a> or through your local independent bookstore or library<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Symbiosis Theory” [originally published in English <\/a>in Clarkesworld<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Spectrum”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Materiality of Emotions”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Archival Loss”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Pilgrims”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My Space Hero”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In introducing Kim Choyeop’s first collection in English, translator Anton Hur explains what it is about Korean science fiction that distinguishes it from others, especially the Anglophone variety: “Korean science fiction, like much of Korean fiction as a whole, is about the forgotten margins of existence, the little corners of our universe that exist for only a moment–and yet contain entire worlds.” Kim is a master at illuminating these worlds, bringing us fascinating stories that include cryogenics, space travel, first contact, and mind uploads. According to Hur, “[t]hrough the smallest of things–like a village hidden in the stars, emotions turned into fragrances, or our most obscure memories lost in oceans of data–Kim tells the tale of the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the painted-over, bringing them back into startling, epic life.” Indeed, Kim has created beautiful, sophisticated worlds in this collection, all brought to life in English by Hur, a master of Korean-to-English translation, responsible for so much of the Korean speculative fiction that Anglophone readers have been able to enjoy for the past decade. In fact, Hur has two more translations coming out this year: The Heart of the Nhaga<\/a><\/em> and Blood to the True Crown<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I started reading the first story in this collection, “Symbiosis Theory,” I was transported back to the time six years ago when I read it for the first time in Clarkesworld<\/em>. It made such an impression on me, apparently, that it fixed in my mind exactly where I was when I read it. I started the story (again) a couple of weeks ago and it all came back: the artist who drew and painted innumerable pictures of an alien planet that most people thought was a fantasy; and the discovery by scientists that not only did Ludmilla’s planet exist, but that the intelligences from that planet had found a way to inhabit the minds of Earth’s babies and instill in humanity a sense of morality. Kim tells the story with a light touch, presenting the facts of Ludmilla’s quiet but determined efforts to recreate as best she could that other civilization so as not to feel so lonely. Perhaps what makes this story so powerful, then, is that the narrative tone is so in keeping with Ludmilla’s efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the stories in this collection revolve around determined, intelligent women. Some are astronauts, some artists, some daughters trying to understand their mothers. “Spectrum,” which follows “Symbiosis Theory,” takes the idea of alien civilizations to the next level as the narrator tells us about her grandmother, who actually made first contact with an alien species. Though very different in most ways, it reminded me of Memory<\/a><\/em> by Teresa P. Mira de Echeverr\u00eda (tr. from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel), about love developing on another planet between two very different people. After setting off with other astronauts on a ship powered by ultralight photon-based propulsion, Heejin disappears for forty years, only to be found orbiting Pluto after a catastrophic failure had sent her ship crashing into an alien planet. Heejin spends the rest of her life following her rescue trying to explain to humanity what these aliens she met were like, especially the succession of “Loueys” who took good care of her. They were sentient, curious creatures who communicated through color, the varieties of which were so diverse and nuanced that humans can’t distinguish between them with the naked eye. We find ourselves squarely in Heejin’s mind, trying to push her fear of the radically unknown aside in order to document everything she can about this alien species. And yet, when she returns to Earth, she refuses to tell anyone the coordinates of the planet, perhaps because she is worried that humans will try to find it and ultimately ruin it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title story, “Pilgrims,” and “My Space Hero” also involve space travel, but in very different ways. “If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light” is ultimately an old woman’s regret about giving up her chance to live with her family on a distant planet in order to finish her cryogenics research. Kim uses this story to think through the ramifications of technological evolution and how quickly it can change what humans value and are willing to subsidize. “Pilgrims” asks us to imagine an initiation rite that sends people off-planet to Earth to let them decide whether or not they want to return to their Eden-like village or remain on the gritty, grimy, violent Earth of the distant future. In “My Space Hero,” a young astronaut tries to make sense of her chosen aunt’s decision to turn away from entering a mysterious space tunnel near Mars and instead jump into the ocean (after being turned into a cyborg for the journey). Though people all over the world try to saddle Gayun with her aunt’s decision, the young astronaut persists and succeeds, with two crew members, in traveling through the Tunnel and seeing the stars on the other side of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only “The Materiality of Emotions” and “Archival Loss” have nothing to do with space travel, taking up other questions about sophisticated technology and humanity’s ability (or lack thereof) to deal with the consequences. The only male narrator of the collection appears in “Materiality,” trying to understand why these small, colorful stone-like objects have taken the world by storm. One can buy any emotion in the form of these stones, though a worrying sign is that so many wind up buying “hate” and “depression.” The narrator’s girlfriend explains to him later that, having already been driven into a depression by her dysfunctional family, she wanted to hold that feeling in her hands and feel its materiality–it soothed her in some way. As in many of the other stories in the collection, Kim sketches a picture of the mass of humanity swayed by one emotion or another. Here, it’s the unsurprising reality of fads and their potential destructive effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Archival Loss” takes up the old sf theme of efforts to upload the mind, but this time, they’re the minds of the dead that are archived in a library. A young woman who is anticipating the birth of a child finds herself wanting to understand her mother, who made her life so miserable that the daughter cut off ties years before. When she finds that her mother’s mind is missing, she embarks on an emotional journey that brings her to her father’s attic, where she learns about what her mother’s life was like before she had children and suffered from serious postpartum depression. One doesn’t read about postpartum depression very often in science fiction, so thank you to Kim for not shying away from a subject that people often don’t want to talk about but that affects so many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best stories in any genre make us think about our assumptions and unexamined beliefs and then encourage us to decide what we want to do with that information. Kim, in this collection, has given this reviewer what she so often wants to read but rarely receives–not just hard science fiction, but the kind that considers how technology present and future affects the way we humans think and live. What would we do if we discovered a space tunnel? It has taken us so many years to return to the Moon, which is right there<\/em>, relatively speaking. Would we really make the effort to explore a Tunnel near Mars? What would first contact look like? Could humanity handle a library filled with uploaded minds? Kim’s trying to offer us a vision of a humanity that isn’t so insular and inward-looking. She has a positive vision, and hopefully we can read so much more of her writing in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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translated from the Korean by Anton Hur original publication (in Korean): 2019 first English edition: Saga Press, 2026 192 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library Contents: “Symbiosis Theory” [originally published in English in Clarkesworld] “Spectrum” “If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light” “The Materiality of Emotions”<\/p>\n

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