The Princeton High School alum discusses "Flux," his acclaimed debut novel, with Laura Spence-Ash, in this Friends and Foundation fundraising event. Tickets are $30; $75 including a copy of "Flux."
From the Publisher
A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his employers have inadvertently discovered time travel and are covering up a string of violent crimes.
Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.
So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending and surreal literary debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic 80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.
"Flux" is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.
About the Author
Jinwoo Chong is the author of the novel "Flux," a New York Times Editor’s Choice that was named a best book of 2023 by Esquire, Apple Books, HuffPost, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Goodreads, Debutiful and optioned for television by Sony Pictures Television.
His short stories and other work have appeared or are forthcoming in Guernica, The Southern Review, The Rumpus, LitHub, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Electric Literature.
His second novel, I Leave It Up To You, is forthcoming spring 2025 in the US from Ballantine and the UK & Commonwealth from Scribe.
About Laura Spence-Ash
Laura Spence-Ash’s debut novel, ”Beyond That, the Sea,” was published by Celadon Books in March 2023. The novel has garnered praise from Meg Wolitzer, Ann Napolitano, and Claire Messud, among others. The New York Times said, "The plot of Laura Spence-Ash’s Beyond That, the Sea is rooted in the home-front upheavals of World War II, but it’s also a timeless exploration of what it means to create a family, of how dreams can die and be reborn in surprising ways." Laura was named one of the 10 Writers to Watch in Spring 2023 by Publishers Weekly. The novel was chosen as a GMA Buzz Pick, an Indie Next Pick for April 2023, and it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Laura’s short fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere. She was the founding editor of CRAFT, an online literary journal, and she has taught for Rutgers University, the Princeton Adult School, and One Story. She has received fellowships and support from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Sewanee Writers’ Conference. In December 2023, she will be a fellow at MacDowell in Peterborough, NH. She earned her MFA in Fiction from Rutgers-Newark, where she received the Presidential Fellowship, and she lives in New Jersey.
