Publication Day for Deep Roots!

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“Why has this food-providing human placed this non-edible object between us?”

Today is the official publication day for Deep Roots, my fourth novel. Friends and family have told me they have already received their pre-ordered copies over the weekend, so I guess the publication day is actually kind of useless. But hey, it’s still the official day, and it got me in a thinking mood, or more accurately, a calculating mood:

14 years
4 novels
1,249 pages
360,726 words

That’s my career so far as a novelist, in strictly numerical terms. The word count is suspect, of course, since I used Microsoft Word’s Word Count feature from the final drafts and added them up. But what’s a few hundred words here and there?

A few positive bits worth mentioning:

  1. got nice pre-publication reviews from Shelf Awareness and Booklist
  2. audiobooks will be made of both Deep Roots and Skin Deep

I’m quite excited about #2. The actress Jennifer Sun Bell will be narrating; she read Min Jin Lee’s Free Food for Millionaires, so I’m fortunate to have such a professional lending her voice. The audiobooks will be widely available (via OrangeSky Audio, a subsidiary of Spotify) next month.

Amazon | B&N | Bookshop

My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots

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My second mystery novel is due out in less than a week! To celebrate its publication, I’ll be putting out some content, such as this one.

In case you aren’t familiar with My Book, The Movie, it’s a blog that lets you pretend cast your book if it were made into a movie. Three years ago, I did it for Skin Deep, too. Anyway — enjoy!

My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots

Deep Roots – First Review

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It’s a good one! Check it out.

Sung J. Woo (Love, Love) is one of those agile writers able seamlessly to insert detailed backstories mid-series: reading his second Siobhan O’Brien mystery, Deep Roots, without benefit of the inaugural Skin Deep is no less absorbing.

People often do a double-take when meeting Siobhan in person: “I was adopted by an Irish father and a Norwegian mother,” she’s forced to explain about her ethnic Korean heritage, which strangers have decided doesn’t match her name. Now 40, she finally seems at peace with who she is. She’s settled into running the detective agency she inherited when her boss died suddenly. She’s hired college student Beaker as her intern–and just in time, because she needs someone to check her e-mail while her new assignment takes her to a private island in the Pacific Northwest.

[read the rest of the review at Shelf Awareness]

Airport (1970): An Imperfect Best Picture Nominee for Our Imperfect Times

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The Academy Awards are around the corner, and no doubt the viewers at home are eagerly awaiting which of the presenters will be slapped across their face.

What occurred last year between the right palm of Will Smith and the left cheek of Chris Rock was indeed a tragedy (or twisted comedy?) of manners, but it was not a disaster. For that, we must turn to a film I recently screened in celebration for the upcoming Oscars, a best picture nominee that raked in some serious dough back in its day: Airport, released on March 5, 1970, the second-highest grossing film that year.

Some film critics have labeled it the worst movie ever nominated for Best Picture. Could it be that a movie about a disaster was itself a disaster?

https://sungjwoo.medium.com/airport-1970-an-imperfect-best-picture-nominee-for-our-imperfect-times-9ef19a22365b

What’s the verdict? Read on and find out.

Best Songs of 2022

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Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2022; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

  1. End of the Empire I-III, by Arcade Fire on WE
  2. End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A-), by Arcade Fire on WE
  3. Happy New Year, by Let’s Eat Grandma on Two Ribbons
  4. King, by Florence + The Machine on Dance Fever
  5. American Teenager, by Ethel Cain on Preacher’s Daughter
  6. Beach House, by Carly Rae Jepsen on The Loneliest Time
  7. Mastermind, by Taylor Swift on Midnights
  8. Bostich, by Yello on Musik Music Musique 2.0
  9. Summer, by Emeli Sandé on Let’s Say for Instance
  10. At the Frick Museum, by Aimee Mann on Queens of the Summer Hotel
  11. Easy on Me, by Adele on 30
  12. Chaise Longue, by Wet Leg on Wet Leg
  13. Hold Me, by The Teskey Brothers on Run Home Slow
  14. Angel of Business, by Grace Ives on Janky Star
  15. Cambodia, by Kim Wilde on Musik Music Musique 2.0
  16. Hindsight, by Jake Wesley Rogers on Bros Soundtrack
  17. Home by Now, by MUNA on MUNA
  18. LSD, by Lucius on Second Nature
  19. Rerun, by Mia Wray on Stay Awake
  20. Less Than Zero, by The Weeknd on Dawn FM
  21. You Make the World a Better Place, by Priscilla Ahn on Waiting

The highlight of this year is Grace Ives — there are many more songs on her album Janky Star that could’ve made this list. Also a weird discovery — there’s an Australian record label called Ivy League Records that are featured here, on The Teskey Brothers and Mia Wray. Oh, and the lyrics to Chaise Longue are just hilarious!

Sunday, 12/4/2022 11am: Flash Fiction/NonFiction Writing Workshop on Ekphrasis @ West Windsor Arts (Princeton area)

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For those in the Princeton area, if you have the time and the inclination, please join me as I run a flash writing workshop at the West Windsor Arts Center. Info below!

[info/signup]

Sunday: Flash Fiction/NonFiction Writing Workshop on Ekphrasis [Adult]
12/04/2022 11:00 AM – 01:30 PM ET

Location
West Windsor Arts Center
952 Alexander Rd.
West Windsor, NJ 08540

Description
The definition of ekphrasis is “the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device.” Writers should bring in a meaningful photo of someone they will write about in the workshop. It can be a family member, a historical person, or even a photo of themselves. This is a flash writing workshop, so writers will be creating a 500 word or less piece by the end of the workshop, which will be critiqued and shared in the class.