The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang
This story of a giant jellyfish wreaking havoc on the residents of a small island in Maine grabbed my attention immediately and didn’t let go. Jo Ness, a jellyfish researcher, is summoned to the island by an old friend to study it. But when Jo arrives, her friend is gone, and strange appearances begin to haunt Jo as she struggles to understand how and why the jellyfish can have such control over the residents. The story is haunting and suspenseful, but not fast-paced action. Spooky, but not scary. I found myself thinking of it all day and couldn’t wait to get back to it!
The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang, (List Price: $30, Berkley, 9780593955826, June 2026)
Reviewed by Amy, The Snail on the Wall in Huntsville, AL
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“I think, like all my projects, it was not just one thing [that started this project]. It was a few things. The obvious one and the fastest answer would be I fell in love with a dog. I have a dog who’s 12 years old now. His name is Oscar. My first dog ever, I never had a dog growing up. I know a lot of people who have animals, and they talk to their dogs. I’ll wake up, and I’ll hear my wife, Laura [van den Berg], talking, and I’ll think she’s on the phone or something. And then I realize she’s just talking to Oscar. But I never talked to him out loud, and I still don’t. Other than basic commands, it’s this silent communication, almost like telepathy or something like that, or imagined telepathy. I spent a lot of time thinking about what his voice would sound like. At the same time, over the past few years as we experience the world, read about the world, open up the newsfeed and all that, there’s been a feeling like I’m exhausted by humanity. Exhausted by humans. I say this a little bit jokingly, but I think I just needed a break from humans.
” 
“Sometimes a story blows through your heart like a strong wind. That’s how it felt writing Habits of the Sea.
It haunted my sleep and prodded at me when I was awake. I had no other choice but to write it. It’s not my story. It belongs to someone else. Someone from long ago. Another timeline. Another life. One, I suspect, I’ll never fully understand.” 
I have had relationships with humans, but I’ve also loved a lot of people in stories. I’ve been told by my doctor not to talk about this too much, but ever since I was a child, I’ve had 30 or 40 imaginary friends who live on a different star or planet with whom I have shared love and sexual experiences. ……Some say that the worlds I write about are dystopian, but a lot of people think that actually reality is worse… I’ve often felt love, obsession, desire, friendship, a kind of faith, or almost a prayer-like relationship with these men – and they’ve always been men, so it’s a heterosexual relationship – who live inside stories. With Vanishing World I was trying to create a place where it might be easier for people who find it difficult to live in this world.
