Samuel DenHartog's Blog: The Road to 1,440 - Posts Tagged "asian"

When I began researching Thai folklore, I quickly realized that it is a tapestry woven from many threads: Buddhist tradition, local animist beliefs, heroic epics, and folk stories passed down in villages for centuries. Every temple mural, spirit house, and festival seemed to hold a doorway into another story. I wanted to capture that sense of discovery and share it with readers who may not have encountered these tales before.

The book brings together a wide range of figures, from protective land spirits and rice goddesses to mischievous ghosts and legendary kings. Some stories are tender and filled with devotion, like the tale of a goddess guarding the harvest, while others lean toward the eerie, such as restless spirits who wander when rites are left undone. There are also epic adventures, with heroes facing crocodile demons, princes falling in love with celestial maidens, and even a white-furred monkey warrior whose antics are unlike anything in Western myth.

What fascinated me most while writing was how these stories are not only ancient but also still alive. You can see them in the guardian giants standing watch at temple gates, in the annual fireball phenomenon on the Mekong, and in the offerings left at shrines by people who believe these spirits remain active today. The folklore has a way of shaping everyday life, blurring the line between the sacred and the ordinary.

"Tales from the Thailand Temples" grew from my desire to bring that living world of myth and belief into a collection where readers could experience it for themselves. My hope is that it feels less like reading a book and more like stepping into a temple courtyard at dusk, with the scent of incense in the air and stories waiting to be told under lantern light. Each tale carries with it a sense of wonder, mystery, and the enduring spirit of Thai culture.

When I began working on this book, I wanted to bring readers directly into the vibrant world of one of India’s greatest epics. The Ramayana is not just a single story but a vast collection of adventures, lessons, and relationships that span from the innocence of Rama’s childhood to the challenges of kingship and destiny. By dividing the narrative into the seven kandas, I was able to explore the epic in a way that honors its traditional flow while also making each episode feel complete on its own.

Readers will find themselves moving from the peaceful beginnings of Ayodhya to the wilderness of the forest where demons and sages share the same space. They will stand at the shores of the ocean as Rama’s army builds the great bridge to Lanka, and they will witness the courage of Hanuman as he leaps across the sea in search of Sita. Each chapter is designed to carry the reader into a world of wonder, where divine intervention and human choices are woven together with unforgettable power.

What excites me most about this retelling is the balance of grandeur and intimacy. The Ramayana is filled with battles, supernatural beings, and epic journeys, yet it is also a story of family bonds, loyalty between friends, and the struggles of love tested by hardship. By following the narrative through carefully chosen moments, I sought to highlight both the sweeping scale and the tender humanity that make this epic endure across centuries.

"Tales from the Ramayana Kandas" is a way to experience the magic of the ancient epic in a fresh form. My hope is that readers will come away with the sense that they have lived alongside Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman, and that these timeless stories still speak to us today with as much strength and beauty as ever.

The story of Abhai Mani is one of the great treasures of Thai literature, alive with adventure, romance, and magic. At its heart is a young prince whose gift is not strength of arms, but the haunting music of his flute. That single talent leads him into encounters with mermaids, spirits, giants, and kings, while also carrying him through moments of love, loss, and destiny. It is a tale where every choice reshapes his path, and where music becomes both a weapon and a prayer.

What makes this epic so remarkable is how it blends the human and the fantastical with such ease. Battles are fought not only with force but with words and melodies, and friendships and rivalries span both mortal and mythical beings. The story ranges from court intrigues to ocean voyages, from deep forests to enchanted isles, offering readers a landscape as vast and unpredictable as the sea itself. Through all of this, Abhai Mani remains a figure of both strength and vulnerability, a hero who must navigate not only external dangers but the longings of his own heart.

The settings themselves feel like characters, each one unforgettable. Readers encounter glittering shores where the horizon seems endless, hidden kingdoms ruled by spirits, and shadowed places where danger waits. Even the sea feels alive, swelling with beauty one moment and threatening destruction the next. These vivid backdrops give the journey its sense of wonder and grandeur, carrying the reader into a world where the line between myth and reality is always shifting.

Writing and publishing "Phra Abhai Mani" has been my way of sharing this extraordinary piece of Thai heritage with new audiences around the world. It is a work that has endured for centuries because it speaks to something timeless: the yearning for love, the courage to face impossible odds, and the belief that art and imagination can shape the world as surely as steel. For anyone who steps into its pages, the song of Abhai Mani will linger long after the last note fades.

I have just released my newest mythology anthology, and this one lives where rivers meet stone. The collection opens with the land itself, because Khmer story begins with place. Fields are watched by neak ta and araks, banyans cradle offerings, and village paths lead toward temples that were planned as working models of the cosmos. From there the book follows the threads that entered the weave over centuries, showing how Indian gods and Buddhist compassion were absorbed into a Cambodian grammar of belief without losing the cadence of local spirits and rites.

The chapters are arranged alphabetically for clarity, but the entries talk to each other so the cosmology feels whole. A reader can move from Agni’s sacrificial fire to the cool arc of Chandra’s light, from Garuda’s hunt to the river coils of Naga, and then arrive at the Churning of the Ocean of Milk where Kurma steadies the mountain, apsaras rise, and Lakshmi returns. The human world is never far away. Guardians at thresholds stare from lintels, Kala devours the minutes that kings pretend to command, and the linga binds deity, sovereignty, and soil. Folktales and place legends keep step, so Vorvong and Sorvong wander beside Preah Ko and Preah Keo, and the mountain of Neang Kong Rey holds its quiet grief above Kampot.

Courtly epics take on a distinctly Cambodian voice. In the Reamker, Hanuman invents solutions that feel like statecraft, Suvannamaccha commands the sea with grace, and Vibhishana’s change of heart reads as conscience with a cost. Angkor’s galleries echo in the pages as more than art history. They become evidence of how myth was enacted in stone and procession. Later, compassion is carved into governance through Lokesvara under Jayavarman VII, while roadside shrines to Yeay Mao and vow scenes of Ta Dambong Kranhoung show how justice and protection are asked for at the very edges of travel.

This volume is a collection of tales told in a clear, story-first voice. I keep Khmer names and terms so the texture feels true, and I let each myth stand on its own without notes or detours. If you are ready for an anthology that treats rivers, rain, stone, vow, and memory as parts of one living system, you will find that spirit inside “Tales from the Cambodian Khmer.”