Here Be Monsters is a show that invites you to explore fear and the unknown.

I saw her face change. I saw her see where I'd pulled my hair out.

Psychological warfare was always considered kind of an oddity. Something done by freaks.

On the count of three, we're literally going to step out of our body. Step out.

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Boots.

Where would we be without boos?

Where would we be without good-nosed into bird?

It's a rhetorical question, sir.

But where would we need without books?

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today, my guest is Chris Lee.

She was on the show with her book of short stories, Drifting House, and now she's written her first novel, How I Became a North Korean.

I think it's a book that presents a lot of political questions about the boundaries between North Korea, China, South Korea, but about

boundaries in general and maps in general, first of all, because I assume that many of my listeners will not know.

Where do people escaping from North Korea go?

That's a great question, Michael.

First, thanks for having me on your show.

It's a pleasure.

The North Koreans generally have to escape through the Chinese

border because if they head south, they meet up against the DMC, the 38th parallel to South

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