A novella by K-Ming Chang

May 21, 2024 • 4.5 x 7 • 144 Pages • 9781566897075

An erotic, surreal novella from the author of Organ Meats and Bestiary.

Seven, who works as a cleaner at a chiropractor’s office, reencounters Cecilia, a woman who has obsessed her since their school days. As the two of them board the same bus—each dubiously claiming not to be following the other—their chance meeting spurs a series of intensely vivid and corporeal memories. As past and present bleed together, Seven can feel her desire begin to unmoor her from the flow of time.

Smart, subversive, and gripping, Cecilia is a winding, misty road trip through bodily transformation, the inextricable histories of violence and love, and the ghosts of girlhood friendship.

About the Author

K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award winner, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and an O. Henry Prize winner. She is the author of Bestiary (One World/Random House, 2020), Bone House (Bull City Press, 2021), Gods of Want (One World, 2022), and Organ Meats (One World, 2023). Her books have been New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice selections, included on the New York Times Notable Books list, and considered for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She can be found at kmingchang.com.

Praise for Cecilia

A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Books of 2024
A Bookshop.org Most Anticipated Book of 2024
An Autostraddle Most Anticipated Queer Book of Spring 2024
A Bustle Most Anticipated Book of Spring 2024
A Millions Most Anticipated Book of Spring 2024

“Chang explores the ways in which the body can elicit both desire and disgust, and offers an original look at the volatility of a teen friendship. It’s another high-water mark from a prolific and provocative author.” —Publishers Weekly starred review

"The work of reading this book leaves the reader with the same feeling one has after eating a particularly indulgent meal—satiation, with the knowledge of more hunger to come." —Kirkus Reviews

“The erotic, surreal tale promises to encapsulate the reader in a state of poetic realism amidst unifying experiences.” —Hunar Bhatia, Harper’s Bazaar India

"Chang pollutes the girls’ innocence with stories and images both repulsive and creative, frightening and empowering.” —Emily Rhodes, The Guardian

"A surreal cascade of girlhood memories about desire, queerness, and obsession. Cecilia is at once erotic and repulsive, carnal and tasty. In a word: delicious." —McKayla Coyle, Literary Hub

"Bound to be surreal and sexy like all of Chang’s work." —Autostraddle

“Erotic and strange, captivating and twisted: This one’s for the freaks (complimentary).” —Bustle

"Resplendent with ripe imagery and provocative sensuality, Cecilia is a striking, singular novella that explores pure, pungent desire." —Joe Hoeffner, BookBrowse

"Cecilia appeals not only to lovers of the strange, but to anyone who’s had the impulse to quietly stalk their high school crush online." —David Lewis, The Masters Review

“The novel's focus never wavers under the urgent verve of Chang's prose. Her sentences are packed with internal rhyme and assonance, her metaphors drawn on corporeal imagery.” —Cory Oldweiler, The Star Tribune

“A novel that reveals the power—and dangers—of women’s friendships through evocative, uncanny prose.” —Jenna Lefkowitz, Foreword Reviews

“The fantastic and the mundane marry each other like crows on the phantasmagoric pages of Cecilia. K-Ming Chang’s work is bioluminescent and breathtaking. Sharply written and ecologically aware, Cecilia is a magnificent, magical work that will redefine speculative writing for years to come.” —Vi Khi Nao

“An incendiary look at desire's ability to bind and destroy. Fierce, erotic, devastating: Cecilia is a work of genius.” —Brynne Rebele-Henry 

“K-Ming Chang’s spell-binding tale of queer desire moved me to tears by the end. Seven’s obsession with Cecilia is rendered through lyrical prose that startled and disarmed me, reminding me of how vulnerable and frightening it is to want someone you are destined to lose. The narrative voice got under my skin and I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters’ fierce hunger for the freedom to be themselves.” —Nghiem Tran

“Cecilia is one of those rare reads bursting with staggering imagination and poetry that makes you feel you're having an out-of-body experience with the turn of every page. Not only that, it's also incredibly profound, often disturbing and funny.” —Fernando A. Flores

“Rowdy and razor-sharp, luminescent and enchanting, K-Ming Chang is an utter master of the strange intimacies of the body. To read her work feels like shining a flashlight, finally, on the secret desires and aches that you've always wanted to glimpse.” —Alexandra Kleeman

Praise for Bestiary

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award
Longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

“Full of magic realism that reaches down your throat, grabs hold of your guts and forces a slow reckoning with what it means to be a foreigner, a native, a mother, a daughter—and all the things in between.” —The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Gods of Want

Winner of the Lambda Literary Award

“In the genre of feminine madness, these stories are to be worshiped. They are fearless, hysterical, violent yet full of grace. Each sentence escalates toward devastating, poetic insight about our bodies, about cultural demands both treasured and feared, and about what makes being alive a terror and a joy.” —Venita Blackburn