An Excess Male

Wei-guo is one of 40 million men in China who cannot find a wife. The One Child Policy and a long preference for sons have left the country with far more men than women, and the State responds with authoritarian controls, revived Communist ideals and social engineering.

Wei-guo believes that if he keeps improving himself, love will come. After years of saving, he has the dowry needed to join matchmaking talks at the lowest rung, as a third husband, the most the law allows. Only one family shows interest: May-ling and her two husbands.

With them, Wei-guo feels seen and heard in a way he never has. But surveillance is everywhere, in walls, streetlights and garbage cans, and the State treats men as dispensable, excess or not. To protect himself and the family he has come to love, he has to test how far his love and his resolve will stretch.

This is dystopian fiction set in a near-future China, following one man's search for a family under a repressive regime. The tone is unsettling and suspenseful, with moments of humour, and the stakes stay personal throughout.