Real Sugar Is Hard to Find: Stories

"Kern is a master at creating worlds that feel vast and lived-in with very few words, as well as balancing pathos with wry humor. The result is a searing, urgent, but still achingly tender work that will wow any reader of speculative fiction." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the bestselling author of Genocide Bad and The Free People's Village comes a collection of genre-bending short stories, charting a course from bleak dystopian nightmares to wildly liberated futures.

Whether on a far-off planet spiraling out of orbit or in an enchanted forest poisoned by pesticides, the characters inhabiting these mirror-worlds face off against environmental collapse and rising fascism with hope, resistance, and enduring human connection.

Through eleven funny, fast-paced, and closely observed stories, Real Sugar is Hard to Find guides readers from apathy and despair towards radical, revolutionary optimism.

Now with a new afterword by the author, providing a behind-the-scenes look at their creative process.

Author: Sim Kern
Publisher: Interlink Books
Published: 10/20/2026
Pages: 251
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.74lbs
ISBN13: 9781623715472
ISBN10: 1623715474
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Science Fiction | Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic
- Fiction | LGBTQ+ | General
- Fiction | Short Stories (single author)

About the Author
Sim Kern is the New York Times bestselling author of Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation and The Free People's Village, a USA Today bestseller and Indie Next Pick. Their debut horror novella, Depart, Depart!, was selected for the Honor List for the 2020 Otherwise Award. As a journalist, book influencer, and anti-Zionist Jewish activist, Kern has used their social media platform to share educational content about politics and power and has raised more than half a million dollars in direct aid for families in Gaza since 2023.