Quick Synopsis – An elderly woman stranded in a defunct space station recounts her life story to a visitor as she waits for a vessel that may never arrive. A man comes across a company called Emotional Solids that sells emotions as material products—love as a piece of chocolate, sadness as a smooth stone, anger as a glass paperweight—and tries to understand why people would want to purchase any negative emotions. When an enigmatic artist reveals long-forgotten messages from beyond through her wildly original paintings portraying a planet from a time long before humanity formed, a team of researchers investigate if this planet truly existed and if so, how did this artist know of it?

After a pregnant woman’s estranged mother dies suddenly, her avatar disappears from the library of lost souls where the digital minds of the deceased are stored—and the woman is forced, for the first time, to endeavor to understand her mother. In a future utopian society where gene selection has been made uniform and all those with imperfections are cast aside, one woman seeks the truth about the history of her isolated world. And when a young woman undertakes a never-before-accomplished journey through a wormhole, she must reckon with the legacy of her aunt, who vanished mysteriously days before she was meant to begin the same pilgrimage.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Ray of Light by Madonna

Publication Date – April 28, 2026

Bookshop Link – If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop

Content Notes – There is some existential dread woven throughout the book. The books has stories that center around grief, loss, familial separation, body modification, bullying due to facial birthmark, and death of a parent.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – This is my first 5 star read this year. I really loved this book. Even though it’s a relatively short collection of short stories, I enjoyed the themes. Each story seems to be set in the same universe but aren’t truly connected. Instead, what truly connected the stories was human emotion. Each story had the bones of a science fiction short. But there was a smattering of deep emotions in each story.

It’s hard to write this review because if I gush too much about one particular aspect, I’ll easily give away the whole story. There is a story about what makes us human and how we learn empathy. There is a story about missing a chance to be reunited with family and using science to be able to wait hundreds of years. All of it felt beautiful and earnest. I think one of my favorite things about science fiction is the connection you can feel to humanity. I know this is a short review, but you really need to read these stories. And then you can curl up in quiet contemplation about what you just read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.