“Spirits Abroad” by Zen Cho

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

A collection of fantasy tales full of spirit (and spirits) featuring legends and folk tales from Southeast Asia. Those who have grown up hearing tales of ‘pontianak’ and other local spirits may enjoy the modern twist the author has given to them. Others, hearing them for the first time, may be puzzled by how the spirits interact with humans until the context is made clear from the stories.

• The First Witch of Damansara: the death of a grandmother (considered a witch) brings back a granddaughter to Malaysia, where she discovers some strange going-on centred around the funeral arrangements. A visit by the grandmother’s ghost would change things for the better.
• The Guest: a girl picks up a cat for companionship. Only later do we learn the girl can work spells through smells, and she is aware of, and can influence people through their smell.
• The Fish Bowl: a girl being stressed out over studies and exams gets her wishes fulfilled by a koi fish. But each wish leads to the desire for more, only to cause more difficulties until there is only one thing left she can wish for.
• First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia: at a forum about minorities, a little known minority makes its presence known and rekindles a relationship.
• Odette: the niece of a demanding and bullying uncle yearns to be free of him, yet continue to stay at his house, whom she has grown fond of. Little would she know, the house also has plans for her and her uncle.
• The House of Aunts: the usual girl meets boy, and they like each other story. Only here, the girl is a ‘pontianak’ and stays with her dead aunts and grandmas who frown on their relationship, in this tale that has horror, comedy and touching scenes.
• Balik Kampung: a dead woman returns to the world of the living during the Hungry Ghost month. Despite not remembering how she died, she wants to go home. But a chance meeting with a medium who reveal how she died.
• One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland: overseas teenagers in an English boarding school have to fight off a sudden invasion of fairies.
• 起狮, 行礼 (Rising Lion—The Lion Bows): a lion dance troop gives a performance at an English hotel. But they have a sideline business in dealing with ghosts, but this ghost at the hotel is one they have never experienced before.
• 七星鼓 (Seven Star Drum): a boy who sees ghosts and is scared of them gets a revelation about then after an encounter with a lion dance troop and their more than real lion, and realizes he does not have to be scared of them any more.
• The Mystery of the Suet Swain: a Malaysian girl is being courted by a mysterious suitor on campus. It would need some serious investigation by her friend to figure out just who, or what, is interested in her.
• Prudence and the Dragon: a dragon and other magical things appear in London. The dragon is, of course, after a maiden. But the maiden he chooses turns out to be a rather unassuming girl who can’t understand why a dragon would be interested in her, or even why he is her boyfriend.
• The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life: set after the events in “Prudence and the Dragon”, this one has the maiden’s friend being ‘split’ into two: one in the present, one from the past. Resolving and bringing the two back together would require a reckoning with the past self.
• If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again: An interesting story about an imugi, an earth-bound creature who makes several attempts to ascend to heaven and become a dragon. But it is always bought back to earth by humans who see it and proclaim it to be an imugi, not a dragon. When its latest attempt is thwarted by a selfie taking woman, the imugi decides enough is enough and sets out to find the woman and devour her. But at the last moment, the imugi, disguised as a heavenly angel, becomes fascinated by the woman instead and strikes up a long term relationship with her. As time passes, it begins to forget it is an imugi and deepens their relationship. But in the end, it reveals its true self to her, and she urges it to try to become a dragon one last time.
• The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote: an earth spirit needs permission from a forest spirit to stay on its land. But she keeps getting ‘maybe tomorrow’ answers, until one day she decides not to wait any more, setting in motion more spirits and emotions from the forest spirit.
• Monkey King, Faerie Queen: on an adventure the Monkey King world have in the land of the Faerie Queen, as they don’t get along with each other.
• Liyana: a touching story of a girl born from a fruit and who lives a good life with her family. But the day has come when a sacrifice has to be made to give peace to a grandmother also born from a fruit, and it is now time to say goodbye to her.
• The Terra-cotta Bride: in a Chinese afterlife, a young dead girl is ‘married’ to another man. As she adjusts to the household, another bride appears: not a human one, but one made of terra-cotta. Tensions would rise as the purpose of the new bride becomes clearer, and it would involve defying the authorities of Hell and a possible rebirth into a new life.
• The Four Generations of Chang E: a tale of immigrating to a new land, as told in the form of Chang E going to the moon and trying to fit in with life on the moon among the moon rabbits.

Book read from 2022/06/24 to 2022/07/07