My Dear You: A playful, tender and profound new collection from the bestselling author of Goodbye Vitamin and Real Americans

by Rachel Khong

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling REAL AMERICANS comes a playful, richly inquisitive collection exploring the connections and disruptions which define us.

Throughout MY DEAR YOU, normal people go through extraordinary transformations. A government injects its people with a drug that makes them see everyone else as members of their own race and gender. A factory worker develops an unlikely friendship with the artificially intelligent sex doll she is tasked with training. God decides that humanity is a lost cause and gives each person 24 hours to decide in which animal form they will spend the rest of their days.

Along the way, characters are confronted with supernatural and otherworldly interventions, as well as the earthly, human concerns that shape our daily capitalism and race, intimacy, memory, and mortality.

Playful and tender, dark and witty, each of these stories is infused with a profound sense of compassion. They express a powerful curiosity about the human experience, and the inescapable choices that meet us to have or not have children; to pursue connections with others in spite of life’s impermanence; how to live – and live well.

© Rachel Khong 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary, Adult

Audible Audio

First published April 7, 2026

About the author

RACHEL KHONG is the author of the novels Real Americans, a New York Times bestseller, and Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction. From 2011 to 2016, she was an editor of Lucky Peach, a quarterly magazine of food and culture. In 2018, Rachel founded The Ruby, a work and event space for writers and artists in San Francisco’s Mission District. Her story collection, My Dear You, will be published by Knopf in April 2026. Since 2021, she has mentored emerging writers with the Periplus Mentorship Collective. With friends, she teaches as The Dream Side (www.thedreamside.com).

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"a brilliant short story collection about love, life, and the anguish of becoming oneself in a time when it’s so easy to be someone else"

mini-reviews for every story:


MY DEAR YOU
this is a beautiful and surprising story about heaven that only slightly drove me crazy with its inconsistencies.
rating: 4


THE FRESHENING
what if we all got injected with a drug that made us see everyone like us? makes ya think. i'm not even being sarcastic.
rating: 3.5


SLOW AND STEADY
oh gosh. this one was surprisingly swoony.
rating: 4


TAPETUM LUCIDUM
one of my favorite things is when a short story makes me forget it's not a novel.
rating: 4


THE FAMILY O
damn. what an emotional rollercoaster.
rating: 4


SERENE
the power of female friendship (between an AI-powered sex doll and a saleswoman).
rating: 4


RED SHOES
the whole of this story, i was irritated by its superior-sounding protagonist. but then it ended with "Every day of my life, I wish I knew what to do" and now i think she's just like me.
rating: 4


GOOD SPIRITS
i do believe in ghosts and ghouls but i feel like they're nice.
rating: 4


COLORS FROM ELSEWHERE
each of these stories has more of a cohesive style and riveting plot than most full-length novels i read.
rating: 4


D DAY
touched my heart. and i hate sentient animal stories of all kinds.
rating: 4.5


OVERALL
i have been experiencing miss after miss when i pick up a short story collection. what a hit this was — each story unique and interesting and resonant, and all of it building toward a theme greater than the sum of its parts. i didn't want to stop reading and i didn't want it to end.
rating: 4.5

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typically I am not the biggest fan of short story collections. They tend to leave me wanting more. However, with so many beloved authors releasing short story anthologies, I have given them a second glance. This new collection by Rachel Khong, (author of Goodbye Vitamin and Real Americans) may have completely changed my perspective on short story compilations altogether.

My Dear You contains 10 deeply imaginative stories that center around various types of love. Dreamlike, multifaceted, playful, and, at times, thought-provoking. I really enjoyed this collection but the ones that stood out to me the most were:

• My Dear You
• The Freshening
• The Family O
• Serene
• Good Spirits

Fans of Rachel's prior works as well as fans of literary fiction short stories will absolutely love My Dear You!

My Dear You: Stories by Rachel Khong will be available on April 7. Many thanks to AA Knopf for the gifted copy!

[Debbie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️ This is a great collection of 10 short stories by Rachel Khong. I’m usually not the biggest fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed the variety of topics covered, life and death, friendship, race, capitalism, the planet, and the afterlife. Some were funny, some sad, and some futuristic and unique.

The prose is lovely and each story held my attention from the first, “My Dear You”, where the departed struggled to remember their loved ones in the afterlife, to the last, “D-Day” where God is ending the human race and all humans must choose an animal to become on humanity’s last day. There was not a single one that I did not like!

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review

[Sophie Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was masterful from start to finish. Each short story tackled difficult themes in a playful surrealist way that I really enjoyed. I couldn't stop thinking about the last short story for days. Someone read this so I can talk about it!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one chokes me up every time. It makes a difference when the right people find each other. This is such a beautiful testament to that.

[AndaReadsTooMuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I am not a fan of short story collections. “My Dear You” breaks the mold. All written by Rachel Khong, some of the stories are straight out of sci fi, others a tender love letter to love and self. And some…well, see for yourself.

The opening story, which is also the title of the book, had me in tears by the end. It was a beautiful story of what comes after and remembering to love. A very strong start to this collection of stories! The Freshening was something straight out of a sci-fi flick. What if you had the option to only see people that looked like you in the world? Everyone was still there, but they looked like you but only to you. Would you want it, or not? Slow and Steady felt like it was written from a place of imposter syndrome. What chances don’t we take on ourselves because we are too scared to make the jump? Tapetum Lucidum was tragic in a different way, being haunted by what might have been. (We’ve ALL been there!) The Family O was crazy and made me so very glad to be out of the dating app game. The lesson learned in that one was extremely satisfying! Serene was a surprise! It didn’t end the way I thought it would, and it was completely endearing. (When you read it, you’ll understand why!) Red Shoes was a tough one to read. Most of the stories in this collection are sad but hopeful, Red Shoes was just sad. You can tell it was written from a place of pain, and it comes through in every sentence. It makes me want to hug Rachel Khong. Good Spirits was spooky! (I think I too would choose a tiger over a ghost following me, thank you very much.) Colors From Elsewhere veered back to sci-fi, but be warned it centers around a pregnancy loss. If you’re not in the right headspace for that one, it will leave you completely wrecked. D Day posits what if God hit CTRL+Z on the whole human being idea and had them choose a different species to become. Oh and BTW, he sent the announcement to every phone on Earth, natch. What would you choose, if you had the chance?

My Dear You hits shelves April 7 and I highly recommend picking it up!

Huge huge thank you to Alfred A Knopf and author Rachel Khong for the gifted ARC and the opportunity to review this amazing book. All opinions are my own.

(In case it’s helpful: trigger warnings for pet death in both Tapetum Lucidum and Red Shoes. Colors from Elsewhere opens and pivots on pregnancy loss.)

[nestle • whatnestleread · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what a short story collection from Rachel Khong would look like, but I absolutely adored it.

Unlike Real Americans, which felt more expansive, this collection is more intimate while still exploring big ideas. I’ve always loved Khong’s writing. It’s precise and controlled, yet still comforting.

There is a consistent exploration of identity, relationships, and the complexities of belonging throughout the stories and many of the characters exist in spaces of uncertainty, navigating questions of selfhood and connection in ways that feel both specific and relatable.

As with most collections, certain stories stood out more than others, but the strongest stories are especially memorable.

[Book Riot Community]

Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026:

There is always a remarkable economy of language in Rachel Khong's books. She doesn't waste any time—or any words—getting to the point, but she doesn't sacrifice artistry, either. Khong's generous affection for her characters and ability to capture mundane human moments and anxieties with uncommon grace and humor make her exactly the kind of writer whose novels have made me wonder what she'd do with short stories. I can't wait to find out. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv)]

i'm a simple man... show me a forthcoming release with a pretty cover and it'll probably go on my TBR <3

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️’s

Thanks to Knopf & NetGalley for the ARC

I loved Goodbye Vitamin and went into this excited to see what Khong offers in short stories. After reading this I cannot wait to get to Real Americans.

Khong is the real deal. Her tenderness, her wittiness, her creativity. You are invited into all of it.

I am always blown away when a short story collection holds me all the way through because that is so hard to do. Every story in this collection landed for me. Every single one.
And they all stop at exactly the right moment, which is its own kind of art.

What I keep coming back to is her craft.
Specifically, she trusts her reader. That's rarer than it sounds.
She assumes you're intelligent, that you can feel nuance, that you don't need to be guided.
Most writers don't trust their reader enough and overexplain.
Khong trusts completely, and because of that the stories just feel complete. Like nothing is missing.

Running through all of it is something more subtle, but no less powerful, the quiet cost of being a woman. The layered, often unspoken experience of being an Asian woman. The ways love shapes us, stretches us, asks things of us we don't always have language for. It isn't highlighted or made into a lesson. It simply exists beneath the surface of each story, the way these truths live within us in real life…present, felt, and often unnamed.

I love her as a writer.

[Meg Ermer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely think that if you texted God, he'd reply with brown thumbs up emojis.

Had the privilege to meet Rachel Khong at an author event in LA last week and picked up her new short story collection while there. Each story is a delight - insightful in how it illustrates complex themes against unique and often humorous realities.

My Dear You 4/5 sidenote - Gave a presentation on this story for a college class after finding it on the annals of the internet in 2023. Didn't realize that Rachel Khong was the author until seeing it in this collection!
The Freshening 3.5/5
Slow and Steady 3/5 it's sweet but didn't stick with me
Tapetum Lucidum 4/5 All My Ghosts by Lizzy McAlpine in short story form
The Family O 4/5 Ridiculously silly with a side of sympathy
Serene 4.5/5
Red Shoes 2.5/5
Good Spirits 2.8/5 I don't think a short story is the right media form for this. The plot and themes need more time to develop.
Colors from Elsewhere 3/5 what if Resident Aliens were actual aliens?
D Day 6/5 Perfect ratio of humor and really profound observations on friendship.

[Elizabeth Tuttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically my problem with short stories is there isn't enough character depth for me to latch on to. I'm happy to report there is no such problem in this collection. I found myself emersed in every single story, a collection largely themed around intimacy and the abject. I enjoyed Real Americans but found it a little forgettable; My Dear You made a much stronger impression on me. The light scifi and magical realist elements help to elucidate the incredibly human themes.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t often read or listen to short stories. It’s just not usually my thing. I enjoyed every story in this book and the last story was perfection.
Or at least that story tapped into a dream I never knew I had.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this new short story collection by novelist Khong. They were more speculative and more funny than I was expecting, and I was engrossed the entire time.

[kayli · Rating 4 out of 5]

like with most short story collections, some were hits and some were misses, but i really enjoyed the breadth of topics covered here! rachel khong’s imagination is so interesting to explore and i can’t wait to see what she writes next!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Rachel Khong, I was really excited to see this ARC offered. The stories were reminiscent of Ted Chiang’s sci-fi short stories but from a uniquely Asian female lens. Some of the stories I found so engaging I was disappointed when they ended. Overall, another great read from Rachel Khong. Thank you to the publisher for the ability to read this in advance!!

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY DEAR YOU is a collection of odd, surreal and powerful short stories. Each one masterfully digs into what it means to be human, to love, and to change. I practically inhaled this, and will be thinking about these characters for a long time to come. Another incredible read from the one and only Rachel Khong.

Thank you to Knopf for the ARC!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Copy provided by publisher]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Speculative fiction, magical realism, or the supernatural
• Exploring Asianness and race
• Exploring love both romantic and platonic

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A story collection full of fascinating premises, but not all were fully delivered. A woman discovers heaven is a place where you gradually forget your life. The U.S. government injects everyone with a serum that causes you to see everyone as the same race and gender as you. A group of Asian women take revenge on a serial online dater with an Asian fetish. These are just some of the quirky premises to Khong's stories.

When you present me with a really interesting premise, I go into the story with high expectations. Perhaps that's why I felt like some of the stories in this collection fell flat. In particular, speculative fiction short stories are hard to pull off. You have to build both a plausible proposed reality and a plausible, interesting plot within that reality in a short span of time. What often ends up happening is that one or both of these pieces end up underdeveloped, and that is what happened to some of the stories here. (Of note, though, is one of the premises was so interesting that I wish Khong would write a full novel on it.)

Even among the stories that weren't speculative, there were some that felt more mundane than brilliant. Khong's exploration of Asianness in particular felt tired and tropey, at times. But the stories that I felt were strongest contain lots of fun, nuanced, and incredibly touching moments, and also showcase the best of Khong's writing.

[Scott Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of the Day: My Dear You by Rachel Khong

My Dear You is a collection of stories that focus on identity, particularly Asian American identity and what it means to be human often through a speculative or science fiction lens. Khong is probably best known for her novel Real Americans — a book I have not read, but I would like to now because I enjoyed the stories innMy Dear You.

At least in my opinion, the standout stories in this book are:

“The Family O” about a group of Asian American women who plot their revenge against a white man who only dates Asians in order to pursue his fetish.

“The Freshening” in which a law is passed that requires every American to receive an injection that forces them to see everyone as the same race and gender.

And,

The title story, “My Dear You” in which a woman adjusts to her new life in heaven that starts with selecting a new face. I particularly appreciated this line which I suspect people of color hear often:

“Where are you from?” people sometimes asked me, admiring my face.

“California,” I would say.

“I mean, where are you from originally?” they would ask, and I would think, Come on. Is this really still happening, here? (loc. 152).

At least in my opinion, this is a story collection worth reading.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing a copy; all opinions are my own.

epub. 240 pgs. 7 April 2026

[Natalie Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Thank you to Knopf and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I loved these stories as they encompassed everything we might encounter in life - all sorts of relationships, love, living, death, race, culture and society, intimacy and sex, and many stories centered on being an Asian/Asian American woman. They can be fun, cringy, quirky and profound. I enjoyed every story and plan to go back and read my favorites again. I read that Ali Wong has optioned The Freshening and look forward to seeing it. I highly recommend this collection.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I've read Khong's short fiction--I've read her two previous novels, and this is the first book that's really wowed me. Khong had me from the opening sentence ("I selected fifty-four millimeters for the space between my eyes.").

Four and a half stars

[Kate Whitley · Rating 4 out of 5]

“would you love me if i was a…” personified

[Pari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection of short stories, especially D Day. I thought that many of the stories were about the grief and beauty that come with the finiteness of our choices, and Khong did an amazing job weaving in themes of love, race, and technology to highlight this.

[Kaitlyn Vella · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'll read everything rachel khong writes, forever!!!!

[Ruth Platt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories - some hits, some misses - thus the 3 stars.

[Alecia (aleciareadsitall) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you PRH Audio for the gifted ALC to listen to and review!

I downloaded this short story collection on a whim, and I’m so glad that I did. I was wholly unprepared for the gamut of emotions these stories put me through. They tackle many themes and issues told through the eyes of several thought-provoking characters. A lot of the themes are around being an Asian woman in America. Also explored are the concepts of friendship, love, intimacy, and connection.

There’s humor, tragedy, and moments where you find yourself cringing or confused (not in a bad way). Each story felt separate from the last, but the writing in all of them was similarly reflective. Although I had a few favorites, there weren’t any in the collection that I didn’t like.

Absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this collection. My favorites were:

My Dear You
Tapetum Lucidum
The Family O
Red Shoes

[Sarah Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They told me seventy, meaning that this crocodile outlived me by forty years, which I didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad about.”

I loved this collection.

[b · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genuinely so confused and I really think this book is overhyped

I really liked the synopsis that’s why I picked this book up but the execution fell short of expectations

The premises of all the short stories and interesting and the commonality of the protagonist being an Asian female is relevant but the stories didn’t feel deep enough for me

[Brian N · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Had more fun reading this than just about anything else all year.

[Kiara Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterful short stories that highlight the challenging journey of finding yourself, in a time when it is very easy to not. It was playful and surrealist without skimping on depth. Highly recommend!