Chlorine: A Novel

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Yes! I have a themed speculative short story collection finished, with some of the stories published already in various literary magazines like The Missouri Review and Salamander Magazine . I’m currently revising a new novel manuscript centered around grief and friend-love and work and precarity in New York City. Chlorine came from a place of anger, while this new novel comes from a place of love. I’m excited to grow as an artist and try something new. Chlorine is a sapphic literary horror that I couldn't look away from. Even weeks upon finishing, I still constantly think about Ren — her yearning for becoming a mermaid, her transformation — and Song's prose. The novel follows Ren Yu, the daughter of Chinese immigrant parents, through her adolescence as she trains to become a competitive swimmer. Ren never feels like she fits in amongst her American peers, their music tastes are not hers, she doesn’t look like they do, but their life seems mundane from her perspective. The only place Ren ever finds sanctuary is when she’s in the water, where her body can finally be free and weightless. Ren goes through ordinary teenage experiences such as her first period, her first friend, her first boyfriend and exploring her sexuality. Yet Ren knows deep in her soul that she is far from ordinary, she knows she’s not even human, she’s destined to transcend into a mermaid. Ren Yu is a fierce young woman who’s dreamed of mermaids ever since she can remember-dreams so vivid that the first touch of water in a swimming pool alters her life forever, sending her down a path that’s both beautiful and frightening. Chlorine isn’t just a coming of age story. It’s the tale of transformation from human to something wilder and more transcendent. It’s about love and longing and the willingness to do anything to become who you truly are‘– Richard Kadrey, New York Times-bestselling author of the SANDMAN SLIM series The evolution of Ren’s characterization is satisfying to read from start to end. Song’s ability to write Ren’s logic is incredibly immersive as it is equally disturbing and awe striking how it all made sense even though deep inside it is unhinged. I would like to dissect Song’s writing process because through reading the book I am just so immersed and engaged word for word. I liked what Song was selling and I completely bought it. Seeing the final form of Ren’s characterization being shaped as each monumental moment moulded her thinking and the identity that she wants blew me away. It is a display of Song’s ability as a writer to craft a story that is high quality. It’s been a while since a book drowned me in the fantasy that I could not look away.

In Song’s disturbing and visionary debut, a child pushed too hard to succeed becomes a monster of her own making… The body horror is striking, as is Song’s prose, in which she riffs on the various ways the team members are “mutilated” (“We mutilated our beauty, though this sense of beauty was an outdated version defined by narrow wrists and bird bones”). It’s a singular coming-of-age.” — Publishers Weekly and the endless emotional anxieties associated with trying to measure up to ridiculously high standards. That said, I’m not sure it’s even supposed to be “real,” because, in my opinion, Ren’s story reads as mentally ill daughter of immigrant parents displays side effects of being a mentally ill daughter of immigrant parents. If mermaids are supposed to be real, more attention should have been given to developing that than Ren’s life as a contemporary high school human. There’s a scene in this book of the first time Ren gets her period. Apparently it took Ren and her mother, working together, 7 hours to insert a tampon into Ren. That seems overdramatic. I have never met anyone with such an experience as this.Chlorine” follows Ren Yu, a competitive high school swimmer, who pushes her body to the limits every day in pursuit of an athletic scholarship. Ren must simultaneously navigate puberty, adolescent sexuality, and a complex relationship with her Chinese immigrant mother. In a fantastical twist, the mermaid fairytales from Ren’s childhood begin to infuse into her present thought, pulling her toward the freedom of their underwater lives.

I’m very thankful to Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown for their book The Penguin Book of Mermaids ! I loved the story of the Chinese mermaid whose body was covered with fine hair of many beautiful colors—I like to imagine it’s the mermaid version of rainbow armor. An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored. This book was viscerally unnerving and I could not put it down." — Sarah Gailey, author of The Echo WifeFierce... so vivi d... both b eautif ul and frightening. Chlorine isn’t just a coming of age story. It’s the tale of transformation from human to something wilder and more transcendent. It’s about lov e and longing and the willingness to do anything to become who you truly are." An aching siren song, one that points us towards those uncharted dimensions of desire and identity that swim and shimmer, in and out of being." GO GO GO JIAO YOU JIAO YOU JIAO YOU ADD OIL ADD OIL ADD OIL" this is not a complaint i actually think it's very funny the translation is included bc no other pinyin (afaict) is translated throughout. spread that culture. EDIT: my friend pointed out to my extremely sleep-deprived brain that the correct pinyin is "JIA YOU" (from the other available pinyin, the text does seem to use standard mandarin) and at first i thought i'd made a typo but actually it says "JIAO YOU" in the text. so actually now i do have a problem which is echoing my earlier point Who At HarperCollins Copyedited This I hope any lonely reader who has ever dreamed of transcendence reads Ren Yu’s story and knows they are not alone. Chlorine might focus on one girl, one athlete, at one point of time, but this novel is for anyone dreaming of freedom. Which is what we all long for, right? To be true and to be free to ourselves, our real selves, not whatever selves other people think we are or should be. Like Ren Yu, craving mermaidhood, so she can swim away from all the petty human standards that plague her.