Asian Ghost Short Stories

Description

Another deluxe edition of new writing and neglected perspectives. Asian ghosts, from India to China, Japan to Thailand, Korea to the Philippines, can be both terrifying and comforting. Underpinned by strong cultural beliefs in the cycles of life and ancestor worship, the nature of Asian spirits differs from that of their counterparts in other areas of the world. The possibility is more instinctually accepted that ghosts remain with us, as part of the world, whether we can see them or not. In Saigon The Daughter of Hui Bi Hua roams the corridors of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Art, in Japan the Kappa displays an insatiable appetite for cucumbers, in Indonesia the Kuntilanak is a wicked spirit, feared by all, and in Thailand the Preta is a disgusting, hungry ghost. AUTHORS: K. Hari Kumar, a.k.a. 'Horror Kumar' (Foreword), is an Indian screenwriter and bestselling author of horror novels. Hari is the first Indian writer to be listed on Amazon.com's top 50 bestsellers in the horror category. He has also written 50 horror short stories that were published in his 2019 book India's Most Haunted (HarperCollins India), which The Times of India deemed a must-read horror book and which was listed among HarperCollins India's 100 best books written by Indian writers. His 2018 psychological thriller, The Other Side of Her, spawned the acclaimed Hindi language web series Bhram (2019). Currently, he is producing a series of Hindi-language short horror films based on Indian myths and folktales. Dr Luo Hui (Introduction) is a senior lecturer in the School of Languages & Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington. His PhD thesis from the University of Toronto delved into the strange and slippery realm of Pu Songling's ghost stories, and it has been a topic of personal and academic fascination ever since. He recorded an episode on Chinese ghost tales for the BBC Radio 4 series, A History of Ghosts, in 2020. His creative nonfiction, 'Ghost Records', appeared in A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2021.

Dr Luo Hui (Introduction) is a senior lecturer in the School of Languages & Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington. His PhD thesis from the University of Toronto delved into the strange and slippery realm of Pu Songling's ghost stories, and it has been a topic of personal and academic fascination ever since. He recorded an episode on Chinese ghost tales for the BBC Radio 4 series, A History of Ghosts, in 2020. His creative nonfiction, 'Ghost Records', appeared in A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2021. K. Hari Kumar, a.k.a. 'Horror Kumar' (Foreword), is an Indian screenwriter and bestselling author of horror novels. Hari is the first Indian writer to be listed on Amazon.com's top 50 bestsellers in the horror category. He has also written 50 horror short stories that were published in his 2019 book India's Most Haunted (HarperCollins India), which The Times of India deemed a must-read horror book and which was listed among HarperCollins India's 100 best books written by Indian writers. His 2018 psychological thriller, The Other Side of Her, spawned the acclaimed Hindi language web series Bhram (2019). Currently, he is producing a series of Hindi-language short horror films based on Indian myths and folktales. Lee Murray (Associate Editor) is a multi-award-winning author-editor from Aotearoa-New Zealand (Sir Julius Vogel, Australian Shadows awards), and double Bram Stoker Award (R)-winner. Author of the Taine McKenna Adventures, The Path of Ra trilogy (with Dan Rabarts) and Grotesque: Monster Stories, she has edited seventeen volumes of speculative fiction, including Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women. She is co-founder of Young NZ Writers and of the Wright-Murray Residency for Speculative Fiction Writers, HWA Mentor of the Year for 2019, NZSA Honorary Literary Fellow, and the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellow for 2021. Read more at leemurray.info

"[Asian Ghost Stories] is continually creative and absorbing. Highly recommended." -- Black Rose Writing "I will read and re-read again and again. This is a great collection to add to any horror collection and to any reader of great fiction. This is a prize-winning selection." -- The Literary License Podcast