Roadkill

Amil, Archana Madhavan

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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Korean

Harvill
26 August 2025

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Science fiction; Short stories; Fiction in translation; Gender studies: women; Science Fiction

An exhilarating speculative short story collection from South Korean author Amil, transporting readers to new worlds

We had always been rare and mysterious creatures. We'd been taught this ever since we were children.

With strong roots in feminist science fiction and fantasy, Roadkill's exhilarating stories transport us to strange new worlds.

In a near future where women are an endangered minority, two young friends try to break free from a facility designed for those few who can still give birth. Every year in a secluded seaside village, a maiden is sacrificed to a divine sea serpent. In a daring thriller about a woman's fragmentation of her self, a writer in an abusive marriage becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman in a purple dress. The last female shaman of an indigenous tribe tells her stories to a visiting research team. And in South Korea's Alps Grand Park, the residents exist in an exclusive world dominated by giant air purifier towers as others are left to live in the shade.

The women in these stories find themselves trapped - by circumstance, society or tradition - as they fight for a means of escape. This sweeping and subversive collection celebrates their strength and their courage, their desire for independence and self-expression.

Translated by Archana Madhavan

By: Amil
Translated by: Archana Madhavan
Imprint: Harvill
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 214mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 257g
ISBN: 9781787304857
ISBN 10: 178730485X
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 26 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Amil is a South Korean writer and translator. She has won numerous awards for her short stories, including the SF Award in the Short-Mid Novel category for 'Roadkill' and the SF Award Grand Prize for 'Rabbi'. Under her name, Jihyun Kim, Amil has translated works by authors including James Baldwin, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeanette Winterson, R.O. Kwon and Lucas Rijneveld into Korean. Roadkill is her debut in English, with her novel, The Forest Called You, forthcoming in 2026.

Reviews for Roadkill

I loved how unsettled each of these stories made me feel, and how Amil never neatly tidies away that unease, choosing instead to leave readers with plenty to contemplate, and plenty to keep them up at night. I loved, too, the eerie beauty of the worlds she creates, the complicated women at the stories’ hearts, and the often surprising way each story explores and explodes conventional ideas of entrapment and escape -- Naomi Ishiguro, author of COMMON GROUND