Like all short stories, I consider this one something of a mixed bag. It starts off strong with a poignant piece about technology and memory. There are interesting stories about puberty and wings, a toy store and a creepy house full of insects that stands in for domestic violence. ( )

Super fun! ( )

Sometimes, in my fantasies, I just disappear. Not in any way that I could—I don’t get in our car and drive away, I don’t follow a stranger into a club bathroom, I don’t abandon my children in the grocery store. I sing a grand finale song-and-dance number, the audience hidden past the footlights. The timpani drum rolls, deep but buoyant, as ten thousand sequins sewn by hand glitter across my corseted bodice and mermaid skirt, as we belt out goodbyes the night before the theater becomes a parking lot. I journey through the stars, fingers trailing through cosmic dust, the unfeeling desolation of space. I sink through a fizzing, golden ocean, bubbles drifting past, gently dissolving my skin. I lie on clean, crisp sheets in a comfortable set of pajamas, buttons and drawstring, as a reassuring weight bears down on both of my shoulders and forces them apart, spreads and flattens my body out like dough, thinner and thinner, into a dun-colored sheet of pastry, into a single-layer matrix of atoms, and finally into the infinitely small that is indistinguishable from nothingness.

I think it's hard for me to pinpoint what I found so incredible and special and touching about these short stories. There are a couple which are merely "pretty good" but there's not a bad one. And the ones that hit... Admittedly I'm a major sucker for anything that's vaguely "magical realism" (I have no idea how appropriate that term is) - here slightly to very unrealistic things happen but in a perfectly normal matter of fact way that illuminates very commonplace issues.

My favourite was #ClimbingNation, which has nothing unrealistic as such and makes great use of the idea of how much we really know each other, tying it in with social media in a way that feels very natural and unlike a lot of very bad portrayals of social media in fiction. The way that the question of what we know about someone - and how can we judge if someone else knows someone in ways we don't - is bounced around constantly and played with in a few ways with multiple characters playing the part of "the one who knows him" until it all gets resolved in an incredibly clever way. It's really hard to talk about the details without spoiling it when the dénouement is so perfectly done and is worth experiencing after the buildup. It's definitely my fav short story I've read in a long time.

In general the author is very good about endings in a way that's not a "twist" or anything cheap but where you suddenly see and understand the rest in a way that elevates it. In June Bugs a woman moves into a place with suffocating amounts of harmless bugs and the story is told in parallel with that of the relationship she left. And then at the end the two intertwine and the connection is made clear in an explanation but a beautifully written one that suddenly illuminates the whole story and which makes the ending perfectly satisfying and also says a lot about bad relationships.

I'm never sure when reviewing fiction if I'm only liking it cause it somehow hit me at the exact right moment and maybe other people will find the more average stories less appealing (The only one that I was a little less enthused by was Scissors - I get what was going on it just didn't quite reach me). But I think at least #ClimbingNation is brilliant and the others just really hit me emotionally. So hopefully it's good. and I know, objectively I cried a lot. if that counts for anything
( )

3.5/5 rounded down

Short story collections are always a mixed bag. The themes in this collection vary between realistic, satirical, fantastical , futuristic and dystopian with touches of magical realism and revolve around themes of coming of age, loneliness, grief, mortality, relationships, regret and so much more. One of my personal favorites is the first story, "Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867" which is about a client in discussion with a simulator operator describing the specific requirements desired in recreating a day spent with said client's late mother in a controlled simulated environment. The story "Twenty Hours" featuring a married couple taking turns killing each other only to be recreated in original form by a special printer was quite unique. I also enjoyed “Do You Remember Candy?” which revolves around a world where people lose their sense of taste and how one person profits from her creative ways to relive the memories of their favorite foods. In "Time Cubes" we meet a young woman who befriends a salesman who deals in special cubes designed to control and regulate the aging cycle of living things.

In “Liddy, First to Fly” a young girl sprouts wings from her ankles and with the help of her friends tries to learn how to use them. We see the distrustful and revengeful side in people who are known to be intimate friends in “#ClimbingNation”.In another story, an insomniac can enjoy a deep sleep only after submitting to the “Sandman”. A creepy doll discovered by neighborhood kids on the grounds of a home of a family, members of which have recently perished causes haunting dreams and strange experiences in "The Doll". "In This Fantasy” is centered around a woman who spends time fantasizing about alternative lives she could be leading. In “Scissors” the author explores the themes of sexual control and dominance. “June Bugs” tell the tale of a woman who walks away from a troubled relationship and ends up in a home infested with beetles. “Bridezilla” revolves around a bride not sure of herself or what she wants.

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu is a collection of twelve short stories that revolve around human nature in its complexity . Kim Fu knows how to weave a tale. The sheer versatility in theme and tone in these stories is a testimonial to the author’s creative imagination and skillful storytelling. One common thread that defines these stories is that these “monsters” are not those that hide under our beds, lurk in the shadows or are results of human experimentation gone wrong. The monsters that plague life in the 21st century are within people themselves- their inner darkness that is often manifested in self-serving behavior characterized by lack of inhibition, self-obsession, lack of accountability, a tendency towards escapism and obsession with social media and technology.

I have always been a fan of magical realism and, in principle have no objection to dystopian themes but I felt Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century suffers from excessive use of metaphors and the author relies too heavily upon the readers to interpret the abrupt endings/outcome of the stories as they perceive it. While there is nothing wrong with ambiguous endings, had this been the case for a few of the stories I would not have a problem. In some of the stories the ambiguity felt forced and that is why my rating is not as high as it could have been. The stories are original and unique and though some of them were a bit too dark for my taste, I did not dislike the collection in its totality. However, this is not a book I would recommend to everyone. Having said that, I am sure many readers will appreciate this book more than I have.

I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this unique collection of stories.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own. ( )

This is a collection of speculative fiction, or perhaps magical realism, or even straight up science fiction. The pleasure in reading this collection of short stories is that you can't directly define what it is. It's too easy to call this a series of Twilight Zone stories, that's the same mislabeling as calling any unsettling story Kafkaesque. All in all a wonderful collection of refreshing tales. Granted, the quality is a bit uneven but it's a pleasure reading all of them. I would highly recommend reconsidering a re-issue in a few years with perhaps a few stories swapped out with more recent ones. It would be worth it. ( )