First the flood

Next the sickness

Last the change

Visionary Korean author Kim Bo-Young unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare of infection, transformation, and abomination.

“[Kim Bo-Young's] fiction is a breathtaking piece of a cinematic art.” —Bong Joon Ho, Academy Award-winning director of Parasite

While waiting for a train to Haewon, an isolated Korean seaside village, bodyguard Mu-young gets a disaster alert on her phone. TVs throughout the station report breaking news of a massive earthquake on the eastern coast. Despite the danger, Mu-young boards the train with her niece: she’d rather face the earthquake than leave the girl in her mother’s care. That choice haunts her for the rest of her life.

Three years later, Haewon Village is home to horrors. The earthquake unleashed an ancient plague that transforms its victims into fishy monsters, and the government’s lockdown has cut off any hope for help. Mu-young’s niece is dead, and all that’s left for her is to hunt villagers who break isolation. When an officious bureaucrat from Seoul arrives in the village, he stirs up even deeper trouble. Will Mu-young survive? Does she even deserve to?

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Praise for this book

Praise for A Plagued Sea

“Fans of eldritch horrors will find much to love in Kim Bo-young's elegantly written A Plagued Sea. At once grimace-inducing and hard to look away from, this story of regret, guilt, and transformation will stay with me a long time. Monstrous and very, very human.” —Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anna Dressed in Blood

“This is a fresh but completely traditional take on the eldritch terror genre, set against a backdrop of fascinatingly detailed plague and human suffering. Beautifully written and translated, and genuinely gripping.” —Mira Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Overgrowth

“By turns existentially bleak, delightfully gross, and morbidly humorous, A Plagued Sea packs a great deal of cosmic horror in a small, effective package. For those of you who have been chasing the putrid high of Junji Ito's Gyo, this is your drug.” —Hiron Ennes, author of Leech

“Profound; modern; and unlike anything else, A Plagued Sea grapples with the current moment and exorcizes the reader. A bit of a masterpiece.” —Paul Cornell, author of the Witches of Lychford series

“A fresh take on Lovecraftian horror. A Plagued Sea is atmospheric and visceral, but with real emotional depth.” —A. C. Wise, author of Out of the Drowning Deep

“Kim Bo-Young’s A Plagued Sea is a smart, gripping variation of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” telling the story of a small town in Korea transformed by ecological disaster.... This one is a real treat. I want to read more of her stories.” —Nathan Ballingrud, author of The Strange and Crypt of the Moon Spider

“There's a shadow over the bookshelves with this gelatinous reimagining of Innsmouth. A Plagued Sea conjures up Lovecraftian coastal horrors while luring in fans of Hailey Piper's own humane monstrosities. There's a lot of heart below this scaly skin, and it pulses with a fresh empathy that really gets under your gills.” —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

Praise for I'm Waiting for You

“A ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful.” —Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite

“Beautiful, dizzying.” —The New York Times

“Much of the best science fiction is coming from East Asia, and Kim’s work ranks high in that emerging tradition.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Bold, inventive, and utterly unforgettable, Bo-Young's stories are designed to take your breath away.” —Popsugar

“This is thought-provoking science fiction that will leave readers musing long after the book is finished.” —Library Journal

“A beautiful, earnest exploration of the mind, body, and spirit across time and space. These stories will break your heart, then lovingly knit it back together again.” —Marina Lostetter, author of the Noumenon trilogy

“Stunning, humbling and utterly beautiful.” —BookPage

“Kim Bo-Young has perfectly captured the longing and isolation of our contemporary moment, but depicted against landscapes and realms that are utterly fresh.” —Micaiah Johnson, author of The Space Between Worlds

“This translation will help fill in some of the gaps in the availability of Korean SF in English, as well as please readers who enjoy lyrical, philosophical SF stories.” —Booklist




About the AuthorKim Bo-Young is one of Korea's most unique and important authors. Her first published work of fiction, a novella titled The Experience of Touch, unanimously won the award for the best novella at the Korean Science & Technology Creative Writing Awards in 2004. In 2010 she published a two-volume collection of short stories, The Story Goes That Far and An Evolutionary Myth. 2013 saw the publication of her first novel, The Seven Executioners, which won the South Korean SF Award. Kim's work enjoys widespread popularity in Korea and has been praised by award-winning film directors Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho. She acted as a script advisor for Bong's 2013 film Snowpiercer
Title: A Plagued Sea
Author(s): Kim Bo-Young, Sophie Bowman
ISBN: 9781250380760
Copyright 2026
Release Date: August 11, 2026
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Countries: United States, Canada | Learn more about available countries
Language: English
Format: None available | Learn More about our supported formats
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