All the upheavals of 2020 perhaps make now the perfect time to read Yun Ko-eun’s latest novel, The Disaster Tourist. This slim work centers around Jungle, a Korean travel company that caters to people’s love of gawking at accidents. Jungle coldly quantifies natural catastrophes and human suffering into tourist dollars, designing tour packages that tug at people’s heart and purse strings.
One of my first fiction publications was in the west coast lit journal ZYZZYVA a few years ago. That story’s included in my novel-in-stories Cake Time published a few months ago, and a few days ago, ZZYZZYVA reviewed Cake Time so I feel like the world’s come full circle:
For Siel Ju’s narrator, there are no easy answers or tidy morals to unpack after a relationship fizzles—that’s just life…. Cake Time is a great story collection for our present moment; an exploration of love, morality, and contentment that proves such concepts can be as murky and uncertain as a wisp of cigarette smoke outside a chic bar.
I love this review partly because I love ZZYZZYVA but mostly because I’ve always wanted to be mentioned in the same piece as Lorrie Moore and Mary Gaitskill and now I have! Read the full review on ZYZZYVA.
Then come hang with me in person this Halloween month. I’ll be in costume in some or all of the events and would love to see you there —
First up, a reading for literary journal The Los Angeles Review, with John Brantingham, Brittany Ackerman, Emma Trelles, and L.A. Times book reporter Agatha French. I am told there will be free booze at this one —
Then celebrate National Reading Group Month with the L.A. chapter of Women’s National Book Association who’ll be hosting an author panel with me, plus Abbi Waxman (The Garden of Small Beginnings) and Gabrielle Zevin (Young Jane Young) — both of whom I’m excited to meet —
Mid-month, news site The LA Lit Review will host Indie Author Day with a host of local readers giving short readings. I’ll be one of them — plus there’ll be refreshments, a short film screening, a comedy skit, and an acoustic musical performance.
Indie Author Day
Saturday, October 14, 2017, 3 pm – 5 pm
Junipero Serra branch library, 4607 S Main St, Los Angeles
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Then I’ll be playing host myself, leading a discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale at Pen Center USA’s Edison Book Club. I first read the book back in college; I’m now in the middle of the Hulu series as part of my preparations for this evening. Come for the specialty cocktails!
Near the end of the month, Lit Crawl LA will return to North Hollywood. I’ll be at a Red Hen reading event there — but the schedule still isn’t up so I don’t know when and where it’ll be! For now, just block out the night for the crawl —
Lit Crawl L.A.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017, time TBD
NoHo Arts District, North Hollywood
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And lastly, if you’ve ever wanted to attend a posh literary salon in a private home in North Hollywood, here’s your chance. I’ll be reading with Maggie Smith — Get in touch with me for a private invite.
Los Angeles Review Salon
(Private event — Email me for an invite)
Sunday, October 29, 2017, 2 pm
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It’ll be a busy month and I hope you’ll make time to see me! Come in costume or as yourself and if I don’t see you before then, happy Halloween —
The very last print issue of The Los Angeles Review came in the mail a few weeks ago — and in the back pages is a book review of Nadine Darling’s She Came From Beyond! written by yours truly —
I’m so glad that The Los Angeles Review has now gone all digital (there’ll still be a best-of print annual), because that means the reviews get published in a more timely manner. Seriously — I turned in this review for LAR back in April 2016!
More than a year later, it’s finally made its way into print — along with some other great reviews plus fiction and poetry. My favorite piece in this issue was a short fiction piece called “Stories About Men” by Rhian Sasseen:
I shouldn’t have strayed–but then again, what is literature beyond the stories of cheating wives? When that man standing beside me at the birthday party shrugged and confided, “I don’t really understand what women see in men,” I had to show him.
You can buy the last print issue of The Los Angeles Review online — and read and submit your work for future issues online.
Wendy Fontaine writes that “Ju’s writing is witty, blunt and entirely unsentimental, which makes this book a lot of fun to read.” Thanks Wendy! I’m honored to be in such great company — with Edan Lepucki (who blurbed Cake Time!), Elizabeth Strout, and George Saunders!
If you add Cake Time to your own summer reading list, I’d love it if you reviewed it on Goodreads or on your own blog, like my friend Zandria did. Thanks Zandria!
Although the teens in The Most Dangerous Place on Earth never grow up enough to contend with a world beyond their own lives, the novel effectively highlights the perils of sharing anything personal or meaningful today. Anything you say or do can be uploaded onto Instagram, dissected on Twitter, ridiculed on Facebook — the private has become public in a very different way.
It’s almost Cake Time — and my forthcoming novel-in-stories received a Kirkus starred review!
“A promising start for a brave and unapologetically bold new writer,” ends the review. You can read the rest at Kirkus.
Early copies of Cake Time will be available at AWP in Washington DC in February — and I’ll be going on a west coast book tour around the book launch on April 6, followed by an east coast book tour in June. The itinerary is still being worked out, but some readings are already listed on my events page, with more to be added soon. Hope to see you your town!
Near the end of the month, 
It’s almost Cake Time — and my forthcoming novel-in-stories received a Kirkus starred review!