Flux: A Novel
Jinwoo ChongFour days before Christmas, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer. His boss Gil, who he is sleeping with, shares this news along with a severance check. Elsewhere, eight-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, & forty-eight-year-old Blue, an anonymous key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.
So begins FLUX, a dazzling, time-bending debut by rising literary star Jinwoo Chong. When Brandon gets a mysterious new job, he begins to suspect that his employers have inadvertently discovered time travel & are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes. As Brandon’s reality unravels, the lives of Bo, Brandon, & Blue begin to intersect, in turn uncovering a vast network of secrets. Intertwined through it all is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.
Blending elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction, Flux is a haunting & sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of overcoming trauma, & of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America from a powerful new voice in fiction.
Jinwoo Chong received his MFA in fiction at Columbia University this year & is an editorial assistant at One Story. His work has appeared in The Southern Review, The Florida Review, CRAFT, and Salamander. He has received support from Tin House & Zoetrope: All-Story, as well as recognition from Alexander Chee, Téa Obreht, & Elliot Ackerman. He lives in New York.