Kim Cheong-gyul is a South Korean novelist. She made her debut in 2019 winning the Safehouse Story Contest for her short story, "Seodaejeonnegeoriyeok misemeonji cheongjeongguyeok" (서대전네거리역 미세먼지 청정구역 Seodaejeon Negeori Station Fine Dust-Free Zone). She has published the novella Jaewa mulgeopum (재와 물거품 Ashes and Sea Foam)(2021) and the short story collection Haejeodosi takoyakki (해저도시 타코야끼 Undersea Takoyaki)(2023), as well as contributing to the anthologies Misemeonji (미세먼지 Fine Dust), Gwisini oneun bam (귀신이 오는 밤 Night of the Ghosts), and Mollado doeneun maeum, ttangsogui gwisindeuldo imi, yeoreumui bom (몰라도 되는 마음, 땅속의 귀신들도 이미, 여름의 봄 You Don't Need to Know/Even the Ghosts Underground/Spring in Summer).
2. Writing
Kim's 2021 novella Jaewa mulgeopum follows the love story of Mari, a priestess who prays for the safety of fishermen at sea, and Sua, a mermaid. Their interspecies relationship triumphing over violence and hatred calls to mind the plight of minorities and the disenfranchised in modern society. Written as a fantasy romance, the novel calls attention to the violence directed to minorities in the real world.
Following in the footsteps of Jaewa mulgeopum, Kim's 2023 short story collection Haejeodosi takoyakki also has a seaside SF setting. Kim has stated in an interview that her fondness for the sea has led her to feature it prominently in her work. Furthermore, she also finds inspiration in the peace and mystery of the sea as the birthplace of life and harborer of secrets greater than the universe. Classified as climate fiction, Haejeodosi takoyakki calls attention to the urgent issue of rising sea levels. The six interconnected stories in the collection are set in an Earth where climate change has melted all the glaciers, submerging all land underwater. The stories depict the life of humanity in the aftermath as they eke out a living in undersea cities. As in Jaewa mulgeopum, Haejeodosi takoyakki questions the meaning of what passes as normal in society. The protagonists of the stories form relationships outside of the norm based on cooperation and coexistence that help them survive. In this sense, Kim's fiction is defined by characters that may be called outliers in terms of their stance regarding maternity, blood ties, or heterosexuality.
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