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In “Our Toes Are Alike ” (Balgaragi dalmattda, 1932), Kim deploys his skills as a satirist and sardonic social commentator within a framework of literary naturalism. Here the first-person narrator contemplates the life of his friend “M,” whose debauched sexual adventuring has likely left him sterile. Though the text provides a window into the underlying patriarchal misogyny of the period, the narrator’s incisive portrait of the self-deception that M experiences when his wife unexpectedly becomes pregnant have a larger human resonance. The work also leaves an interesting footnote in Korean literary history: it created a rift between Kim and noted fellow author Yŏm Sang-seop, who believed that the plot had been based upon rumors about his own life.

In “Tale of a Mad Painter” (1935), Kim’s aestheticist tendencies are on full display. The protagonist Solgeo serves as an embodiment of the frequently expressed remark that “evil too can be a form of beauty.” Through him Kim explores an obsessive longing for the beautiful that is akin to madness. Solgeo is both the ugliest creature under the heavens and a painter of genius. His abnormal behavior and desperate final act to complete a work of art can be said to express Kim’s aestheticism.

In “Clear Commandments” (Myeongmun, 1925), a free play of imagination is on display in a story that in fact introduces God as an important character. The text begins in a realistic mode, as it explores familial strife between a son and his parents as a result of his conversion to Christianity. After death, however, the protagonist finds himself in a heavenly court, where he must justify a life based on self-righteous and self-serving interpretation of doctrine to a harshly critical and mocking Jehovah. In depicting a society in the midst of social ferment and intergenerational conflict, the story in many ways predicts Kim Dong-ni’s renowned “Portrait of a Shaman”, written a decade later, which also treats the collision of worldviews between a shaman mother and her Christian son.

Kim Tongin (1900-1951) is one of Korea’s earliest and most respected modern writers whose naturalist fiction brilliantly depicts Korean life during a period of profound social change. Namesake of the prestigious Dong-in Literary Award, Kim Tongin’s succinct writing style can still inspire readers and provide insight into early 20th century Korea over 60 years after his death. Finally, a volume of Kim Tongin’s short stories, most of them previously untranslated, is available to readers of English.

Ripped from the pages of Empire magazine, the first collection of film critic, film historian and novelist Kim Newman’s reviews of the best and worst B movies. Some of the cheapest, trashiest, goriest and, occasionally, unexpectedly good films from the past 25 years are here, torn apart and stitched back together again in Kim’s unique style. Everything you want to know about DTV hell is here. Enter if you dare.

Ripped from the pages of Empire magazine, the first collection of film critic, film historian and novelist Kim Newman’s reviews of the best and worst B movies. Some of the cheapest, trashiest, goriest and, occasionally, unexpectedly good films from the past 25 years are here, torn apart and stitched back together again in Kim’s unique style. Everything you want to know about DTV hell is here. Enter if you dare.

This fiction is based on the writer's personal experiences of traveling and flamenco, and his view of literature and art. An image leaflet has been laid on the bookshelf in the author’s study since he got it free in the year of 2000 in an art gallery located in the downtown of Portland. The image, which is on the front cover of this book, reminds him of Portland, a city of light and shade, where he happened to see a street flamenco show for the first time in his life. Had he not seen it in Portland, he would not have written this autobiographic story. At that time a flamenco dancer named ‘Helena’ loving Korean paintings was there in the city. Therefore now a literary work on flamenco, art and traveling titled ‘Landscapes Invisible’ is here.