Book fog.
Those were the two words I uttered to my co-worker when she cast me a sideways glance when she poked her head into my classroom.
“Book fog. Y’know, like when you just finish a book and it felt like a punch in the gut but you want to re-read it to feel it all over again?”
This was Red Sword by Bora Chung. (Okay, I admit, I re-read the stories in Chung’s Your Utopia as well.)
For the characters of Red Sword, the fog is both physical and mental. Prisoners, whose names we don’t know, are thrown upon a planet filled with “white monsters” and forced by their captors, the gray-uniformed Imperials, to fight for their freedom. But whose freedom, exactly?
The first several chapters are a soft-landing into the milky sand of an alien world for the prisoners, which is a nice break from the sometimes intense initial world-building that can turn off those who aren’t into science-fiction.
In a departure from more classic science-fiction, names are sparse in the book. There are less than ten names given in the entire book. Instead, characters are named by defining colors, of which there are also few of in the book. The protagonist, the eponymous Red Sword, is only named later in the book.
The last quarter of the book was some of the most enjoyable writing that I’ve read in a while. However, I feel like getting there was a little rocky, as I was initially unable to suspend my disbelief when the background of the story–involving giant birds, transmutation of memories, and rebellion–was being laid into place. All this said, getting there was a thrilling ride, one I will go on again.
Bora Chung and Anton Hur, the translator of Red Sword (and a few of Chung’s other books, including Cursed Bunny–which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, and Your Utopia–shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award in 2025), who is also a talented author, recently held a launch party in Seoul for Red Sword, in collaboration with Honford Star, DB Books, and the Seoul Silent Book Club.
The event, held at Platform P in Mapo, seems to have had a much higher turn-out than expected, as additional chairs had to be brought into the event space and people were still standing at the back.
Chung talked a bit about how “the novel draws inspiration from the 17th-century Sino-Russian border conflicts” but later also admitted, “I just wanted to write about sword fights,” Chung said. (This is not a verbatim quote.)
When asked about their literary evolution, there was a long pause followed by, “…I have an evolution?” (This was verbatim.)
Hur touched upon whether translating or writing was more difficult (translating) and what the experience was like translating said sword fight scenes. Hur’s book “Toward Eternity” is set to be released in Korean soon, translated by… get this… none other than Bora Chung!
Chung and Hur are a superhero literary duo, and I am forever grateful that I had the chance to meet them.
Many thanks to Anthony at Honford Star for the advance copy and all the people who made the launch party such a success. Special thanks to Bora Chung and Anton Hur themselves, who stayed long after the talk to sign books. And thanks to my friend Nicole who attended the launch party with me and thoroughly embarrassed me in front of my favorite author. (If you hadn’t, though, I’m sure I would’ve embarrassed myself.)
Koffee & Kpop 
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