Gods of Want

A New York Times Notable Book of 2022.

Surreal and seductive, Gods of Want is a startling first collection from a rising talent - one of the '5 Under 35' National Book Award honorees and author of Bestiary.

These original stories brim with moths, myths, memories and mothers, nine-headed birds, ghost cousins and storm-chasers - and delve into corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian, with boundless imagination. K-Ming Chang's storytelling is fierce, fabulist and feminist.

In 'Auntland', a stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking kisses from women at temple and buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prep for citizenship tests. In 'The Chorus of Dead Cousins', ghost cousins cross space, seas and skies to haunt their living cousin. In 'Xífù', a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to oust her. In 'Mariela', two girls explore each other's bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark. And in 'Resident Aliens', a series of mysterious widows, each harbouring a calamitous secret, make their home in a former slaughterhouse.

An electrifying and singular new voice in fiction, K-Ming Chang has been heralded by writers including Raven Leilani, Danez Smith, Kirsty Logan, Kelly Link, Julia Philips, Tash Aw, Elaine Castello, Jennifer Tseng And Justin Torres.

'Wild and lyrical, visionary and touching. Read her!'

- Sharlene Teo

'Stunning and moving... One of our most brilliant authors'

- Bryan Washington

'These stories glitter and pulse'

- Dantiel W. Montiz

'A voracious, probing collection, proof of how exhilarating the short story can be'

- New York Times