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Description 작품 소개
A cold-blooded yet warm touch extended to all emotions left neglected
Cocktail, Love, Zombie is a collection of short stories by Cho Yae-eun, and the second installment of Safehouse Short. After delivering a tightly constructed horror thriller in New Seoul Park Jelly Vendor Massacre, the first book in the Safehouse Original Series, the author’s ability to direct the story shines through in an all the more colorful way in this collection of short stories.
Four tales are included in this collection: Invitation, which depicts the birth of a female villain who had to endure subtle yet obvious violence; Wetland Love, which tells the story of a loving attraction between a water monster and a forest monster; Cocktail, Love, Zombie, an occult zombie story that looks at the other side of patriarchy through black humor; and Overlap Knife, Knife, which won the excellence award at the second Golden Bough Time Leap Contest.
The darkness, ever so vivid
Some emotions are often left neglected – especially the dark and clammy sentiments that one may experience because they cannot fit in with others, or because they are female, children, or not wealthy. Expressing one’s pains would only result in criticisms that they are simply being too sensitive. People would often say that those matters are irrelevant – and rising in revolt against that is Cho Yae-eun, who vividly brings out those neglected sentiments in all of her works in Cocktail, Love, Zombie. Such emotions are clearly substantial, delivering specific and detailed pains to their owners.
The words not spoken to the boyfriend, who is quick to criticize the narrator’s long waist, narrow forehead, or the last outfit that the narrator had worn, become thorns that aim for the throat (Invitation). The wife who had spent decades devoting herself to taking care of her husband cries as she watches her husband turn into a zombie, saying she is afraid of “living without that bastard” (Cocktail, Love, Zombie). Deposited pains turn into seeds of tragedy. When the father who had been violent towards his family stabs the mother, the son who witnesses it takes the knife to stab the father (Overlap Knife, Knife). The darkness left untended in life would not go away in death – thus, souls that pass away in loneliness remain in their place in the form of ghosts, still left unwelcomed (Wetland Love).
The warmth within cruelty
Unable to find sufficient solace in their prolonged suffering, Cho Yae-eun’s characters take up arms at some point. They are seeking ways to break free from those who trapped them, and the world that created them. In the quest for the final goodbye, they cross the line set forth by the moral code of the world. This is where the genre of thriller and horror complete the story in perfect sync.
There is irony in that the more a reader reflects on the brutality of a scene, the more they would feel an odd sense of kindness. It is similar to how when a friend curses at those who bully you, the harshness of their words would be outweighed by the kindness of their heart. This warmth is what readers would find beyond the guns, knives, gore, and screams in Cocktail, Love, Zombie. No one deserves to suffer in any way – we are allowed to be angry. We do not point fingers at those who have blood on their hands – instead, we take their bloodied hands in our own as we step forward, hand in hand. This is the kind of empathy that is fitting for genre fiction, something that is possible because this is genre fiction.
Reference: Safehouse. "Cocktail, Love, Zombie", https://safehouse.kr/books/clz#d7f3b8f0-4386-4ed8-a21b-7f804fe5580a. accessed 24 July 2023.
Author Bio 작가 소개
Cho Yeeun won the Excellence Prize at the 2nd Goldenbough Time Leap Fiction Contest with the short story “Overlapped Knife, Knife,” and the Grand Prize at the 4th Kyobo Story Contest with the novel Shift. She is the author of New Seoul Park Jelly Vendor Massacre, Cocktails, Love and Zombies, and Snowball Drive.
There are no expectations.