Ninetails

ΓÇ£A sumptuous and lively collection,leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does ΓÇö surprisinglygracefullyand with impressive aim. I loved this book.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇô Kelly LinkPulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love ΓÇ£What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kindsits careful and myriad empathy for its charactersbut also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇöOcean VuongNew York Times-bestselling author of On EarthWe’re Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother A ΓÇ£lyrical and virtuosicΓÇ¥ fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Gina Chung). A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhilean assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as ΓÇ£paper childrenΓÇ¥ in America find their pastsΓÇöand their hopes for the futureΓÇöembodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetailsacclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folkloreΓÇöa shapeshiftershamanand seductressΓÇöas an icon of vengeancesolidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are variedΓÇöfrom silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purposeto women whose crushes manifest as stonesΓÇöbut they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien. With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machadothe sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemiand the sensuous feminist rage of Han KangNinetails is both timelessΓÇöunearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand yearsΓÇöand timely in its contemporary political urgency.