A wild, sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of
Korea and the traces it leaves on the present--loaded with assassins and
mad poets, RPGs and slasher films, pop bands and the perils of social
media
March, 1919. Far-flung Korean patriots establish the Korean Provisional
Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This
government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, though, and after Japan's
defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts,
resulting in the North-South split that remains today.
But what if the KPG still existed now, today--working toward a unified
Korea, secretly harnessing the might of a giant tech company to further
its aims? That's the outrageous premise of Same Bed Different Dreams,
which weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of
mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope, spinning
Korean history, American pop culture, and our tech-fraught lives into an
extraordinary and unforgettable novel.
Early on we meet Soon Sheen, who works at the sprawling international
technology company GLOAT, and comes into possession of an unfinished
book authored by the KPG. The manuscript is a mysterious, revisionist
history, tying famous names and obscure bit players to the KPG's grand
project. This strange manuscript links together figures from
architect-poet Yi Sang to Jack London to Marilyn Monroe. M*A*S*H is
in here, too, and the Moonies, and a history of violence extending from
the assassination of President McKinley to the Soviet downing of Korean
Air Lines Flight 007.
Just as foreign countries have imposed their desires on Korea, so too
has Park tucked different dreamers into this sprawling bed of a novel.
Among them: Parker Jotter, Korean War vet and appliance-store owner, who
saw *something--*a UFO?--while flying over North Korea; Nora You, nail
salon magnate; and Monk Zingapan, game designer turned writing guru.
Their links are revealed over time, even as the dreamers remain in the
dark as to their own interconnectedness. A thrilling feat of imagination
and a step forward from an award-winning author, Same Bed Different
Dreams begins as a comic novel and gradually pulls readers into another
dimension--one in which utopia is possible.
