Chang-Ming Huang Books

“In the phenomenal Organ Meats, two friends are bound by a red string, dog bloodlines, and the violence that is being a girl” (Ms. magazine)—from the National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and author of Gods of Want. “Organ Meats possesses something of the febrile intensity of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, their laser focus on female friendship, but instead of Naples, K-Ming Chang’s wild girls inhabit a magical universe of talking dogs and shape-shifting body parts.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice) LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST • AN AUTOSTRADDLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Best friends Anita and Rainie find refuge by an old sycamore tree with its neighboring lot of stray dogs who have a mysterious ability to communicate with humans. The girls learn that they are preceded by generations of dog-headed women and woman-headed dogs whose bloodlines bind them together. Anita convinces Rainie to become a dog with her, tying a collar of red string around each of their necks to preserve their kinship forever. But when the two girls are separated, Anita sinks into a dreamworld that only Rainie knows how to rescue her from. As Anita’s body begins to rot, it is up to Rainie to rebuild Anita’s body and keep her friend from being lost forever. Filled with ghosts and bodily entrails, this is a story about the horror and beauty of intimacy, written in K-Ming Chang’s signature poetic and visceral lore.

'Hauntingly beautiful' GLAMOUR 'Rowdy and razor-sharp' ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN An erotic, surreal novella about the ecstasies of intense friendships and obsessive love Seven, who works as a cleaner at a chiropractor's office, re-encounters Cecilia, a woman who has obsessed her since their school days. As the two of them board the same bus - each dubiously claiming not to be following the other - their chance meeting spurs a series of intensely vivid and corporeal memories. As past and present bleed together, Seven can feel her desire begin to unmoor her from the flow of time. Smart, subversive and gripping, Cecilia is a winding, misty road trip through bodily transformation, inextricable histories of violence and love, and the ghosts of girlhood friendship. PRAISE FOR K-MING CHANG BESTIARY 'Chang's prose ravishes, ravages, rampages. An absolute lightning strike of a debut' Kelly Link 'To read K-Ming Chang is to see the world in fresh, surreal technicolour... wild and lyrical, visionary and touching' Sharlene Teo 'Fierce and funny, full of magic and grit' Tash Aw GODS OF WANT 'Blisteringly alive and unapologetically queer' Guardian 'Strange, hilarious and unforgettable... a gift and a masterclass' Bryan Washington 'Chang rewrites the world as a place of radical transformation' New York Times Book Review

"An electrifying book of stories by young Taiwanese American writer K-Ming Chang. In Anchor Baby, a girl wrestles with the growing debt that her birth (and US birth certificate) have cost her family. In Xifu (Daughter-in-law), a mother makes it her mission to get her daughter-in-law into trouble in her son's eyes, ludicrously faking her own deaths. In Dykes, a girl falls in love with her co-worker at a Las Vegas sushi restaurant, but fears she has disappeared when the desert city floods. In Aborigines, a daughter is sent to live with her aunts on an island haunted by soldier-ghosts, exploding whales and stray dogs, until her mother calls her back to California again. In the eponymous story Resident Aliens, a girl describes the series of widows who have rented her family's windowless basement, such as the one who taught her how to tie knots and get out of them, or the one she was in love with who left to become a nun. K-Ming contrasts the corporeal and nightmarish, and explores family entanglement, body politics and sexuality with a boundless and dark imagination."--Provided by publisher

"Bestiary" is a captivating debut that follows three generations of Taiwanese American women grappling with their homeland's myths, queer desires, and hidden secrets. As Daughter navigates her family's magical legacy, she uncovers profound truths about identity and belonging. K-Ming Chang's poetic storytelling blends fabulism with rich imagery.