I Am the Ghost Here: Stories

Kim Samek's debut collection blends subversive humor with the absurd across a range of interconnected stories. The Los Angeles Times included it in their 20 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2026. The collection features scenarios where contemporary crises take surreal forms: a woman's limbs vanish into "the cloud" during power outages caused by wildfires; a DoorDasher becomes an unwilling reality TV star forced to reconcile with her immigrant mother for the narrative; a gymnastics coach carries her heart in a Mason jar after a widely denied pandemic and uses her disability to become an influencer; two chronically single, chronically ill people discover their connection was engineered by ad tech algorithms. Other stories depict icebergs melting and island-sized trash heaps burning. Throughout, the collection examines how human connection is shaped by technology, social media, and reality television. The stories combine dark and hopeful humor to reframe familiar contemporary crises in unexpected ways, exploring shared humanity as reality destabilizes.