Asian ghosts and supernatural beings – from India to Sri Lanka, China to Korea, Japan 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.
Featured here are all kinds of stories from across East, South and Southeast Asia: classic weird tales by the likes of Pu Songling, Rabindranath Tagore, S Mukerji, Im Bang and Yi Ruk, Lafcadio Hearn and Yei Theodora Ozaki, are complemented by stories by Asian writers of today. An egui (the Chinese version of a 'hungry ghost') is exorcised, a vicious jiangshi (Chinese zombie-like revenant) is encountered in the night, a Bengali shakchunni (the ghost of an unsatisfied bride) poignantly seeks love with devastating effect, a family is haunted by vengeful Korean gwishin, and the iconic Japanese tragedies of Oiwa and O-Kiku are revisited.
New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Joshua Bartolome, Eliza Chan, the late Eugie Foster, T.M. Hurree, Nur Nasreen Ibrahim, Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito, K.P. Kulski, Monte Lin, Usman T. Malik, Samuel Marzioli, Rena Mason, Lena Ng, Ayida Shonibar, Karen Tay, Emily Teng, Yilin Wang, Alda Yuan, Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum (translating Ji Yun).
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