Creative Writing

Green Frog

by Gina Chung

Alum, 2021 - Creative Writing at The New School

Vintage, 2024

From the Publisher

“Glimmering . . . stories imbued with subtle magic, balancing one foot in and one foot out of the ordinary. . . . This longing—to do something about one’s presence, to choose one’s own fate—hangs in the air long after the book has been closed. Green Frog glitters and haunts, remaining with you until, slowly, you start to see yourself and your surroundings differently.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Sprinkled in folkloric wisdom and speculative darkness, Gina Chung’s story collection, Green Frog, humors and haunts with thoughtful precision. The stories within incorporate Korean American women; fox demons; talking dolls; memory-warping AI; and an edible heart to demonstrate not only Chung’s imaginative range, but her ability to cut to the quick no matter the medium.”
—Elle

Equal parts fantastical—a pair of talking dolls help twins escape a stifling home, a heart boils on the stove as part of an elaborate cure for melancholy, a fox demon contemplates avenging her sister’s death—and true to life—a mother and daughter try to heal their rift when the daughter falls unexpectedly pregnant, a woman reexamines her father’s legacy after his death—the stories in this collection are hopeful and heartbreaking, full of danger and full of joy.

Chung is a master at capturing emotion, and her characters—human and otherwise—will claw their way into your heart and make themselves at home.