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Spirits Abroad
Taking us from the mundane to the magical, this award-winning collection will entertain and delight.
Drawing inspiration from Asian myth and folklore, Zen Cho guides the reader through enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers. These nineteen sparkling stories are full of joy, humour and tenderness.
We’ll meet an elderly ex-member of parliament, who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian. This was forbidden. Not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. Then a teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love . . . and eating people. A mischievous matriarch returns from the dead to disrupt her own funeral rites, pitting granddaughter against granddaughter. An earth spirit becomes entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord. And Chang E, the Chinese moon goddess, spins off into outer space – the ultimate metaphor for diaspora.
Enjoy this journey into magical new worlds of the imagination.
Drawing inspiration from Asian myth and folklore, Zen Cho guides the reader through enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers. These nineteen sparkling stories are full of joy, humour and tenderness.
We’ll meet an elderly ex-member of parliament, who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian. This was forbidden. Not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. Then a teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love . . . and eating people. A mischievous matriarch returns from the dead to disrupt her own funeral rites, pitting granddaughter against granddaughter. An earth spirit becomes entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord. And Chang E, the Chinese moon goddess, spins off into outer space – the ultimate metaphor for diaspora.
Enjoy this journey into magical new worlds of the imagination.
349 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 21, 2014
About the author
Zen Cho
60 books2,718 followersI'm a Malaysian fantasy writer based in the UK. Find out more about my work here: http://zencho.org
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 543 reviews
August 15, 2014
I have to admit it was with some trepidation that I received the news that I had won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. I've not had great experiences with works set in South-East Asia (e.g., The Book of Salt, The Harmony Silk Factory). I am happy to say, however, that this work was head and shoulders above them, both as an authentic South-East Asian voice and as an engaging read.
As a Singaporean, I can tell you that her depiction of Malaysia and Malaysians is the real deal, folks. For example, she does not make the egregious mistake of describing the smell of a durian from the POV of a South-East Asian as "the odour of rot and decay". Instead, she describes it as a "creamy rank richness". She does not have uneducated Hokkien hard labourers fling out statements in the images and rhythms of educated Englishmen, saying things like "Will I fight for the liberation of man's soul from the chains of bourgeoisie?". Instead, she captures to a T the rhythms and cadences of English as spoken by Malaysians:
The fantastical elements of her short stories are firmly based on Malaysian / Chinese myths and folklore. Among the mythical creatures she features are:
The Pontianak or female vampire of Malay myth
The toyol, a demon baby of Malay myth
The 殭屍 (kuang shi), the Chinese version of the zombie
Happily, she uses these myths not as exotic appendages but as potent metaphors for issues close to her heart, most notably, inter-ethnic relations and feminist issues. "House of Aunts", for example, which features the Pontianak touches on issues of teenage romance and teenage pregnancy; and "The Mystery of the Suet Swain" a la The X Files touches on stalking. The only clanger for me was "The Earth Spirit's Favourite Anecdote" which flirted dangerously close to ethnic stereotypes notwithstanding its ostensible message of peace.
For all my talk about issues, Zen Cho's stories abound with humour and compassion. The fantasy writer she most reminds me of is Connie Willis, in particular, Willis's short stories, and I hope she regards this as a compliment. If Connie Willis is a writer you've enjoyed, I'd thoroughly recommend this collection. Happily, while I do think this collection is well worth getting, you can sample some of the stories in it (entirely legally) at the links on her site, zencho.org.
As a Singaporean, I can tell you that her depiction of Malaysia and Malaysians is the real deal, folks. For example, she does not make the egregious mistake of describing the smell of a durian from the POV of a South-East Asian as "the odour of rot and decay". Instead, she describes it as a "creamy rank richness". She does not have uneducated Hokkien hard labourers fling out statements in the images and rhythms of educated Englishmen, saying things like "Will I fight for the liberation of man's soul from the chains of bourgeoisie?". Instead, she captures to a T the rhythms and cadences of English as spoken by Malaysians:
“But you, Ah Lee, you have all the opportunities. We have lived so long, we have saved enough money. Maybe if you study hard, if you get a scholarship, you could even go to England like my uncle the doctor, your Tua Tiao Kong. Your English is so good. You have a good chance.”And she even has the quiet confidence to unapologetically use Manglish (i.e., Malaysian English) vocabulary:
"Maybe they didn’t shout, “Oi, macha!” when they saw him, or request that he “relaklah, brother,"…This may not seem like much to readers whose literature's acceptance of the vernacular dates back to Chaucer, but let me tell you, but its authenticity is very grounding to someone like me. So, please Ms Cho, if you ever read this, please please please don't ever sell out to commercial interests by tailoring your representation of Malaysia to suit a Western market.
The fantastical elements of her short stories are firmly based on Malaysian / Chinese myths and folklore. Among the mythical creatures she features are:
The Pontianak or female vampire of Malay myth
The toyol, a demon baby of Malay myth
The 殭屍 (kuang shi), the Chinese version of the zombie
Happily, she uses these myths not as exotic appendages but as potent metaphors for issues close to her heart, most notably, inter-ethnic relations and feminist issues. "House of Aunts", for example, which features the Pontianak touches on issues of teenage romance and teenage pregnancy; and "The Mystery of the Suet Swain" a la The X Files touches on stalking. The only clanger for me was "The Earth Spirit's Favourite Anecdote" which flirted dangerously close to ethnic stereotypes notwithstanding its ostensible message of peace.
For all my talk about issues, Zen Cho's stories abound with humour and compassion. The fantasy writer she most reminds me of is Connie Willis, in particular, Willis's short stories, and I hope she regards this as a compliment. If Connie Willis is a writer you've enjoyed, I'd thoroughly recommend this collection. Happily, while I do think this collection is well worth getting, you can sample some of the stories in it (entirely legally) at the links on her site, zencho.org.
March 9, 2022
Zen Cho is quickly becoming an important author on my speculative-fiction radar, with her lovely whimsical style and her stories that are much deeper than they appear at first sight. I had seen her name on my Goodreads feed for a while, and I took the plunge earlier this year with “Black Water Sister” and now I am hooked!
This collection of short stories and novellas touch on similar themes as the ones explored with “Black Water Sister”: immigration, cultural clash, transformation, self-discovery, family (what it actually means and how generations can’t understand each other), and sexual awakening. Those are all very contemporary topics, but I love that Cho chose to explore them through the lens of folklores and legends from South East Asia – with a few Celtic faeries sprinkled on top for good measure! She also effortlessly draws up characters who are beautifully diverse – it never feels like box-checking, it just is.
Vampires, gods, dragons, ghosts, automata, aliens, sentient plants : I learned a lot about mythology reading this book, but I also got a wonderful glimpse of the inner lives of such creatures, their loves, motivations, desires and fears. I think that Cho’s gift truly lies in opening her readers’ heart with her little fables, and while there are a few weaker stories in this book, none of them are bad, and they are all thought-provoking.
A very charming collection, recommended to fans of Asian mythology and soft sci-fi.
This collection of short stories and novellas touch on similar themes as the ones explored with “Black Water Sister”: immigration, cultural clash, transformation, self-discovery, family (what it actually means and how generations can’t understand each other), and sexual awakening. Those are all very contemporary topics, but I love that Cho chose to explore them through the lens of folklores and legends from South East Asia – with a few Celtic faeries sprinkled on top for good measure! She also effortlessly draws up characters who are beautifully diverse – it never feels like box-checking, it just is.
Vampires, gods, dragons, ghosts, automata, aliens, sentient plants : I learned a lot about mythology reading this book, but I also got a wonderful glimpse of the inner lives of such creatures, their loves, motivations, desires and fears. I think that Cho’s gift truly lies in opening her readers’ heart with her little fables, and while there are a few weaker stories in this book, none of them are bad, and they are all thought-provoking.
A very charming collection, recommended to fans of Asian mythology and soft sci-fi.
October 25, 2022
A delightful and immersive story collection that explores the rich variety of life beyond what we see with the naked eye. Drawing inspiration from myth, legend, and the everyday struggles of contemporary life, Zen Cho creates electric and lovable characters as they navigate eternal life, haunting peers, and instinctual desire. A wonderful mix of reality and the supernatural, filled with humor, love, and loss. Bright, dynamic, and completely wonderful.
November 13, 2020
Delightful. Not all of the stories were equally wonderful, but this was a colorful, funny, heartfelt and imaginative foray into Malaysian mythology and family life. I really enjoyed all of them, especially the story about the Aunts and the Dragon.
I don't even have to add content warnings because the author thoughtfully added them to the beginning of each story!
I don't even have to add content warnings because the author thoughtfully added them to the beginning of each story!
September 12, 2021
Because Laura loved the previous version of this book (her review), I couldn’t wait for this rerelease of Spirits Abroad. Just when I was going to preorder it, I found out that the audiobook is narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. THE Emily Woo Zeller who narrated Last Night at the Telegraph Club (my review). So I had to listen to the audiobook.
And yes, this short story collection is magnificent.
I don’t know how to review this book because there are 19 stories in it, but I’m going to talk about a few of my favorites and their hidden meanings. If you’re here for a review, I’m sorry to say this “review” would probably be more of an analysis.
“The Fish Bowl”
Okay, I admit this is not one of my faves, but it’s about Su Yin, a girl studying for entrance exams, and her three wishes granted by a magical koi. This combination is so clever. In Chinese, 鯉魚躍龍門 (lǐ-yú-yuè-lóng-mén), which directly translates to “koi jumps over the dragon gate,” is an idiom for acing imperial exams and getting job promotions. While set in modern times, Su Yin here is also preparing for exams that are like the historical imperial exams. I think it is safe to say that we can see the connection between Su Yin and the koi from the idiom.
“The Terracotta Bride”
This one is exceptionally clever. Again. At first I didn’t know why the terracotta bride and then the terracotta warriors showed up. For those who don’t know what terracotta warriors are, they are funerary sculptures designed to be buried with Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor of China, around 210 BC. Yes, you read that right, BC. There are thousands of these sculptures (warriors, horses, etc.) in the mausoleum that you can actually still see in Xi’an, Shangxi, China. The terracotta warriors immediately provided context to this mysterious terracotta bride. Also know that this story is originally part of a lesbian steampunk anthology. At the end of the story (I don’t think this is super spoilery), being reincarnated and reborn as a baby is described as literally falling from the sky. In Chinese, 呱呱墜地 (gū-gū-zhuì-dì), literally “waah waah falls to the ground,” is an idiom that means being born. I love how Cho took the phrase literally in this story.
“The Four Generations of Chang E” (you can read it here)
This is a story about immigrant identities in the guise of a sci-fi/fantasy story. We know that Chang E flew to the moon after consuming the elixir of life, and the fact that Chang E immigrated to the moon in this story is a play on the famous folklore. Of course, rabbits are on the moon, too. In this piece, Chang E is more like a race, a human line, than the woman Chang E. We see how the identities of the four generations of immigrants evolve from mothers to daughters.
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” (you can read it here)
I just find this story incredibly adorable. It also made me choke up a little. The main character is a murderous imugi (이무기, a lesser dragon before it becomes a dragon) and the story is sapphic. I loved this one.
“The Guest” (you can read it here)
I listed this story because it’s available online and it’s queer (all links above to the stories are found on Zen Cho’s official website). If you like cats and magic and sapphics, you might like this story.
“The House of Aunts” (you can read it here)
This story has one trans character and it’s so wholesome in an unsettling way. There are Pontianaks, if Southeast Asian vampires are your thing. Note that this was originally published in 2011.
Cho is one of the main reasons why I’m aiming to read more queer Asian literature. I hadn’t known that reading something originally written in English could still make me feel so connected to my experience and language and culture (by “my language,” I mean Mandarin and Hokkien). Like Laura mentioned in her review, the dialect Manglish (thanks to Laura for pointing that out; I didn’t know it was a thing) in the dialogues is so precious! Listening to it narrated by the wonderful Emily Woo Zeller made me feel like those sentences were uttered in Mandarin and I just love it so much! Highly recommend the audiobook so there is no chance of botching the pronunciation of the Mandarin or Hokkien or Malaysian names and phrases.
Anyway, I need this book in print.
Buddy read with lauraღ! Check out her new review here!
And yes, this short story collection is magnificent.
I don’t know how to review this book because there are 19 stories in it, but I’m going to talk about a few of my favorites and their hidden meanings. If you’re here for a review, I’m sorry to say this “review” would probably be more of an analysis.
“The Fish Bowl”
Okay, I admit this is not one of my faves, but it’s about Su Yin, a girl studying for entrance exams, and her three wishes granted by a magical koi. This combination is so clever. In Chinese, 鯉魚躍龍門 (lǐ-yú-yuè-lóng-mén), which directly translates to “koi jumps over the dragon gate,” is an idiom for acing imperial exams and getting job promotions. While set in modern times, Su Yin here is also preparing for exams that are like the historical imperial exams. I think it is safe to say that we can see the connection between Su Yin and the koi from the idiom.
“The Terracotta Bride”
This one is exceptionally clever. Again. At first I didn’t know why the terracotta bride and then the terracotta warriors showed up. For those who don’t know what terracotta warriors are, they are funerary sculptures designed to be buried with Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor of China, around 210 BC. Yes, you read that right, BC. There are thousands of these sculptures (warriors, horses, etc.) in the mausoleum that you can actually still see in Xi’an, Shangxi, China. The terracotta warriors immediately provided context to this mysterious terracotta bride. Also know that this story is originally part of a lesbian steampunk anthology. At the end of the story (I don’t think this is super spoilery), being reincarnated and reborn as a baby is described as literally falling from the sky. In Chinese, 呱呱墜地 (gū-gū-zhuì-dì), literally “waah waah falls to the ground,” is an idiom that means being born. I love how Cho took the phrase literally in this story.
“The Four Generations of Chang E” (you can read it here)
This is a story about immigrant identities in the guise of a sci-fi/fantasy story. We know that Chang E flew to the moon after consuming the elixir of life, and the fact that Chang E immigrated to the moon in this story is a play on the famous folklore. Of course, rabbits are on the moon, too. In this piece, Chang E is more like a race, a human line, than the woman Chang E. We see how the identities of the four generations of immigrants evolve from mothers to daughters.
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” (you can read it here)
I just find this story incredibly adorable. It also made me choke up a little. The main character is a murderous imugi (이무기, a lesser dragon before it becomes a dragon) and the story is sapphic. I loved this one.
“The Guest” (you can read it here)
I listed this story because it’s available online and it’s queer (all links above to the stories are found on Zen Cho’s official website). If you like cats and magic and sapphics, you might like this story.
“The House of Aunts” (you can read it here)
This story has one trans character and it’s so wholesome in an unsettling way. There are Pontianaks, if Southeast Asian vampires are your thing. Note that this was originally published in 2011.
Cho is one of the main reasons why I’m aiming to read more queer Asian literature. I hadn’t known that reading something originally written in English could still make me feel so connected to my experience and language and culture (by “my language,” I mean Mandarin and Hokkien). Like Laura mentioned in her review, the dialect Manglish (thanks to Laura for pointing that out; I didn’t know it was a thing) in the dialogues is so precious! Listening to it narrated by the wonderful Emily Woo Zeller made me feel like those sentences were uttered in Mandarin and I just love it so much! Highly recommend the audiobook so there is no chance of botching the pronunciation of the Mandarin or Hokkien or Malaysian names and phrases.
Anyway, I need this book in print.
Buddy read with lauraღ! Check out her new review here!
March 30, 2023
Spirits Abroad is a deeply moving, occasionally subversive, and at times laugh-out-loud funny collection of SFF short stories inspired by the author's Malaysian culture - full of joy and loss, heartbreak and love. Queer love, in particular, is celebrated, as is the rich storytelling tradition of Malaysia, with deeply relatable characters, complicated family ties, allegories for depression and self-harm, women taking back their power, and so much more through the lens of mythological creatures and fantastical places grounded in some form of reality.
I adored so many of these stories, but my favourites have to include "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Try Again," "The Fish Bowl," and "Prudence and the Dragon."
I would highly recommend this collection to anyone looking for a well-crafted collection of SFF short stories inspired by fairytales and legends!
I’m so glad this was our book club pick for August.
Trigger/Content Warnings: body horror, gore, stalking, emotional abuse, sexual violence, colonization, self-harm, depression
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I adored so many of these stories, but my favourites have to include "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Try Again," "The Fish Bowl," and "Prudence and the Dragon."
I would highly recommend this collection to anyone looking for a well-crafted collection of SFF short stories inspired by fairytales and legends!
I’m so glad this was our book club pick for August.
Trigger/Content Warnings: body horror, gore, stalking, emotional abuse, sexual violence, colonization, self-harm, depression
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter| TikTok
You can join our book club over on Patreon...
PBB Book Club
October 29, 2022
In 2021 I was on the jury for the Ray Bradbury Prize, LA Times' prize for science fiction and fantasy, and this collection of short stories was our winner (no small feat, as the competition was stiff). These stories are an excellent blend of warm and funny, dark and thought-provoking-- among the best short fiction I've encountered, in a genre that is particularly strong in short fiction. This collection was a joy to read.
My personal favorites: "The First Witch of Damansara," and "The House of Aunts"
My personal favorites: "The First Witch of Damansara," and "The House of Aunts"
Read
June 12, 2017This was absolutely fantastic. Funny, sad, deeply anger-inducing, warm and fuzzy by turns. Steeped in Malaysian mythology, which sounds purely amazing, as well as Chinese and some English, and written in switching voices with loads of Malay-English and no concessions to non-speakers so you just have to immerse yourself. This is not a hardship. There is undoubtedly a huge amount I didn't get because I don't know the legends, but I got enough to put this squarely into my fave specfic reads of the year.
Also, these stories are mostly about women--families, female friends--and it's gloriously Bechdel-shattering. Friendship is one of the major themes at work here (depicted unsentimentally and often hilariously) which is I suspect why the overall effect of the book is so engaging and uplifting, even though many of the stories tackle dark and bitter themes. Prudence and the Dragon has to be my favourite: millennia-old dragon in human form falls for plain dumpy girl because she's funny and offers her the world; girl is mostly concerned with getting her university work done and not falling out with her bestie over it. Bestie is stunningly beautiful, doesn't get to be the heroine, and has her own companion story that works out perfectly.
A wonderfully satisfying and immersive reading experience. Get it, stat.
Also, these stories are mostly about women--families, female friends--and it's gloriously Bechdel-shattering. Friendship is one of the major themes at work here (depicted unsentimentally and often hilariously) which is I suspect why the overall effect of the book is so engaging and uplifting, even though many of the stories tackle dark and bitter themes. Prudence and the Dragon has to be my favourite: millennia-old dragon in human form falls for plain dumpy girl because she's funny and offers her the world; girl is mostly concerned with getting her university work done and not falling out with her bestie over it. Bestie is stunningly beautiful, doesn't get to be the heroine, and has her own companion story that works out perfectly.
A wonderfully satisfying and immersive reading experience. Get it, stat.
May 23, 2018
Spectacular. Funny and touching and original (now I know Malay mythology almost as much as I know Bulgarian one ... haha, right ;) and ... see for yourselves below.
I've just found a new favorite author. :)))
You can see why here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
I've just found a new favorite author. :)))
You can see why here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
August 14, 2026
The version I've read is the first edition published by Fixi Novo, a local publisher for me. Unlike the newer edition published by Small Beer Press and Pan Macmillan, it only contains 10 short stories where the newer editions added few more stories and even remove one story I believe. Fixi Novo has a rule that they do not italicized local dialect and terms because they have the local (to me) demography in mind but the newer edition does away with that due to the book being published for the international market.
The stories here reminds me a bit of another short story collection titled Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung in that she combines folktales and fantasy element with contemporary fiction and that gave it this state of limbo where it feels like a magic realism or urban fantasy fictions but neither the fantastical element in the stories were disrupting the normalcy or hidden beside the modern normal world. The stories here are in the same vein.
The element that really stood out to me after finishing this collection is how firmly planted the stories were in modern Malaysian sensibilities even the ones that were set outside of Malaysian soil. The stories here feel like it could've been a modern day folktale without being too bogged down by morality lesson and expositions, in a way where these stories are stories we heard from someone who heard it from someone else who heard it from some other person that has now been written down. I was worried at first that it might be too cutesy wootsy Young Adult in tone but in my opinion, Zen Cho did a good job at balancing fantastical element with witty cultural satire and deep emotional realist fiction without going the Y-A route, fitting with the tone that Fixi Novo is aiming for as a publisher.
The collection is divided into three parts. The first is called Here and features the first three stories. The story here are all set in Malaysia hence why it's called here. The next part is called There with the next four stories being set in England where Zen Cho has been residing ever since university. The final part is called Elsewhere and the settings for the last three were a little out there. Though there is a running thread of female centric POV, family connection, translocation along with Malaysian and pan-Chinese folklore across the stories.
To me, the best of the bunch were the stories set in Here and Elsewhere. Sure, the story "The House of Aunts" is basically Twilight but with a local vampire myth in the Pontianak. It did became it's own thing when the story manage to subvert the Western vampire romance trope by exploring themes of family, cultural identity, and first love as Ah Lee, a teenage pontianak navigates her secondary school life after developing a crush on a human boy, Ridzual that was supposed to be her prey through an Asian lens. "First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia" feels like a story made from an inside joke that Malaysian would gets immediately. Meanwhile in The First Witch of Damansara, Zen Cho explored heritage and cultural identity, something that a lot of the Chinese Malaysian internally experience when they are at a distance with their own culture. This is also something that western Asians would also experience but unlike western Asian where there is this criticism of being too "Westernized" essentially a boogeyman to be blame or a group to be in or a reason for the lost heritage connection, there is no too "Malaysian" since there was no real assimilation in Malaysia and Chinese that just aren't "Chinese" (and there are many different sub-ethnicities) often feel isolated within and outside of their own communities. While it's subtle, there is also an element of criticism regarding Malaysian Mandarin push that were done in SJK schools where Mandarin became the de-facto Chinese language, in the way the granddaughter calling her grandmother Nai Nai instead of Ah Ma as she was of Chinese Hokkien descent. the The best though, have to be The Four Generations of Chang E. It's a science fantasy allegory about immigration and the evolving identities of a family of women across four generations as they move from a dying Earth to a moon colony. Zen Cho uses the Chinese myth of the moon goddess Chang'e as a starting point before going deep into the themes of diaspora, assimilation, the tension between tradition and modernity, and the complex feeling of being unable to truly return "home" after a certain point of transformation and distance.
What surprise me the most though is Zen Cho's prose. There is an aloof-ness to the matter-of-fact style prose that gave emotive to them so it was never flat even if the style of the prose does leans into that. While there are Manglish vocabularies and local terms sprinkled here and there throughout the stories, she was able to capture the local dialect and linguistic tic of Malaysia within the dialogues even without the added Manglish and local terms. Maybe because this was written originally in English impacted that more than it does compared to a translation work where there was something lost in the translation.
Aside from the stories set in England in the "There" part that I thought weren't the best, not necessarily bad, this was a fine piece of short story collection that captured what Fixi Novo tries to aim for in tone as a publisher.
The stories here reminds me a bit of another short story collection titled Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung in that she combines folktales and fantasy element with contemporary fiction and that gave it this state of limbo where it feels like a magic realism or urban fantasy fictions but neither the fantastical element in the stories were disrupting the normalcy or hidden beside the modern normal world. The stories here are in the same vein.
The element that really stood out to me after finishing this collection is how firmly planted the stories were in modern Malaysian sensibilities even the ones that were set outside of Malaysian soil. The stories here feel like it could've been a modern day folktale without being too bogged down by morality lesson and expositions, in a way where these stories are stories we heard from someone who heard it from someone else who heard it from some other person that has now been written down. I was worried at first that it might be too cutesy wootsy Young Adult in tone but in my opinion, Zen Cho did a good job at balancing fantastical element with witty cultural satire and deep emotional realist fiction without going the Y-A route, fitting with the tone that Fixi Novo is aiming for as a publisher.
The collection is divided into three parts. The first is called Here and features the first three stories. The story here are all set in Malaysia hence why it's called here. The next part is called There with the next four stories being set in England where Zen Cho has been residing ever since university. The final part is called Elsewhere and the settings for the last three were a little out there. Though there is a running thread of female centric POV, family connection, translocation along with Malaysian and pan-Chinese folklore across the stories.
To me, the best of the bunch were the stories set in Here and Elsewhere. Sure, the story "The House of Aunts" is basically Twilight but with a local vampire myth in the Pontianak. It did became it's own thing when the story manage to subvert the Western vampire romance trope by exploring themes of family, cultural identity, and first love as Ah Lee, a teenage pontianak navigates her secondary school life after developing a crush on a human boy, Ridzual that was supposed to be her prey through an Asian lens. "First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia" feels like a story made from an inside joke that Malaysian would gets immediately. Meanwhile in The First Witch of Damansara, Zen Cho explored heritage and cultural identity, something that a lot of the Chinese Malaysian internally experience when they are at a distance with their own culture. This is also something that western Asians would also experience but unlike western Asian where there is this criticism of being too "Westernized" essentially a boogeyman to be blame or a group to be in or a reason for the lost heritage connection, there is no too "Malaysian" since there was no real assimilation in Malaysia and Chinese that just aren't "Chinese" (and there are many different sub-ethnicities) often feel isolated within and outside of their own communities. While it's subtle, there is also an element of criticism regarding Malaysian Mandarin push that were done in SJK schools where Mandarin became the de-facto Chinese language, in the way the granddaughter calling her grandmother Nai Nai instead of Ah Ma as she was of Chinese Hokkien descent. the The best though, have to be The Four Generations of Chang E. It's a science fantasy allegory about immigration and the evolving identities of a family of women across four generations as they move from a dying Earth to a moon colony. Zen Cho uses the Chinese myth of the moon goddess Chang'e as a starting point before going deep into the themes of diaspora, assimilation, the tension between tradition and modernity, and the complex feeling of being unable to truly return "home" after a certain point of transformation and distance.
What surprise me the most though is Zen Cho's prose. There is an aloof-ness to the matter-of-fact style prose that gave emotive to them so it was never flat even if the style of the prose does leans into that. While there are Manglish vocabularies and local terms sprinkled here and there throughout the stories, she was able to capture the local dialect and linguistic tic of Malaysia within the dialogues even without the added Manglish and local terms. Maybe because this was written originally in English impacted that more than it does compared to a translation work where there was something lost in the translation.
Aside from the stories set in England in the "There" part that I thought weren't the best, not necessarily bad, this was a fine piece of short story collection that captured what Fixi Novo tries to aim for in tone as a publisher.
October 29, 2020
I am glad my third attempt in reading Zen Cho's work paid off. Maybe because the setting is so familiar to me, but I am just in awe of her ability to weave these local myths and legends into a compelling narrative. I believe my Indonesian buddies would find this enjoyable too ;)
The book was hyped alot during the last few online conventions I attended and I could definitely see why. One interesting thing is the non-italicizing policy of the publisher, Buku Fixi, for non-English words - I am now in total agreement of this.
A perfect read for those who are in the mood to try a different kind of horror fic or just want to try a specfic work from Malaysia/Southeast Asia/Chinese diaspora.
The book was hyped alot during the last few online conventions I attended and I could definitely see why. One interesting thing is the non-italicizing policy of the publisher, Buku Fixi, for non-English words - I am now in total agreement of this.
A perfect read for those who are in the mood to try a different kind of horror fic or just want to try a specfic work from Malaysia/Southeast Asia/Chinese diaspora.
February 22, 2023
Here we are again with a book that I've been reading for a discussion group, and have overthought it to the point that I don't have the energy to write a full review. I'd apologize if I didn't know for a fact it will happen again. :D I tend to think of myself as "not a short story person," and have had a couple false starts with this collection in the past. Once I managed to soldier past the first story, things went smoothly and I enjoyed this book a lot.
My copy was the ebook edition from 2014, and I read the small handful of stories that were included in the 2021 edition, but not this one, online.
If you're interested in getting a "far too detailed for a casual impression" look into what I thought of the individual stories: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
For overall thoughts about the book--shorter than my typical review, and misses a number of aspects that I would have liked to go into in more detail, but is better than nothing, probably: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... (post 7) ETA: I've added the text of this post between spoiler tags.
My copy was the ebook edition from 2014, and I read the small handful of stories that were included in the 2021 edition, but not this one, online.
If you're interested in getting a "far too detailed for a casual impression" look into what I thought of the individual stories: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
For overall thoughts about the book--shorter than my typical review, and misses a number of aspects that I would have liked to go into in more detail, but is better than nothing, probably: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... (post 7) ETA: I've added the text of this post between spoiler tags.
August 30, 2021
I am so glad I read this! All of the stories were good. I love Zen Cho’s tone (mostly practical), and her imagination. I also really enjoyed the Malaysian flavor of all the stories, and by the time I finished it, I found myself thinking in Malaysian rhythms and phrasing. I think I might have missed a teeny bit of some stories on account of not knowing the language and not wanting to stop and look some words or phrases up (maybe on a reread I will), but nothing was severely diminished by being an American reading this collection. Many of the stories have a romance angle; many of the romances lean lesbian. Almost all of the stories have some kind of loss in them, but are melancholy rather than outright sad. Zen Cho is my new author crush!
Quick summaries of my reactions to each story are shown below.
The First Witch of Damansara - Cute, but forgettable (seriously, I can barely remember it)
The Guest - I felt this was a throwaway story immediately upon finishing it, but it’s grittily sweet, and has grown on me in my memory
The Fishbowl - Twilight Zone-y and creepy
First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia - One of my favorites, with a wonderful unexpected twist
Odette - Chilling, but not particularly memorable
The House of Aunts - I loved this. It’s Twilight meets Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef. However, the ending was a tad unsatisfactory; also how did Ah Ma and all the aunts end up where they are?
Balik Kampung - Sad, and very well done - I loved the dead eating the spirit of food; do living people reject those meals complaining that the food has no spirit?
One-Day Travelcard for Fairy Land - Exciting and oddly charming
Rising Lion (The Lion Bows) - Sweet and cute! Another favorite
Seven Star Drum - Meh; there was a nice idea in this but it ended up seeming a little pointless
The Mystery of the Suet Swain - Awesome! This was so ingenious!
Prudence and the Dragon - Also terrific and ingenious
The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life - Sweet; also like Luisa: Now and Then
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again - Started out boring but then turned into a great story and made me cry!
The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote - So funny! I loved this one
Monkey King, Faerie Queen - Clever, and nice combination of Asian and European mythology
Liyana - Went right over my head
The Terra-cotta Bride - Sad, poignant, but with some hope mixed in
The Four Generations of Chang E - Super-short SF immigrant experience
Quick summaries of my reactions to each story are shown below.
The First Witch of Damansara - Cute, but forgettable (seriously, I can barely remember it)
The Guest - I felt this was a throwaway story immediately upon finishing it, but it’s grittily sweet, and has grown on me in my memory
The Fishbowl - Twilight Zone-y and creepy
First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia - One of my favorites, with a wonderful unexpected twist
Odette - Chilling, but not particularly memorable
The House of Aunts - I loved this. It’s Twilight meets Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef. However, the ending was a tad unsatisfactory; also how did Ah Ma and all the aunts end up where they are?
Balik Kampung - Sad, and very well done - I loved the dead eating the spirit of food; do living people reject those meals complaining that the food has no spirit?
One-Day Travelcard for Fairy Land - Exciting and oddly charming
Rising Lion (The Lion Bows) - Sweet and cute! Another favorite
Seven Star Drum - Meh; there was a nice idea in this but it ended up seeming a little pointless
The Mystery of the Suet Swain - Awesome! This was so ingenious!
Prudence and the Dragon - Also terrific and ingenious
The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life - Sweet; also like Luisa: Now and Then
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again - Started out boring but then turned into a great story and made me cry!
The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote - So funny! I loved this one
Monkey King, Faerie Queen - Clever, and nice combination of Asian and European mythology
Liyana - Went right over my head
The Terra-cotta Bride - Sad, poignant, but with some hope mixed in
The Four Generations of Chang E - Super-short SF immigrant experience
December 10, 2020
Woohoo, I finished a short story collection! Something I haven't done in years. Although, Cho made it easy with her dry humour and focus on 5 key F's: friendship, family, food, fun and folklore. A winning combination.
The collection is currently moving to a new publisher, so unavailable for purchase at the moment. In the meantime, some of the stories are available online for free. Here is the first one...
The First Witch of Damansara @Uncanny Magazine
Thanks to my fellow buddy readers at Worlds Beyond the Margins for selecting this and helping to make it one of my favourite BRs of 2020.
artist: Zhou Fan
The collection is currently moving to a new publisher, so unavailable for purchase at the moment. In the meantime, some of the stories are available online for free. Here is the first one...
The First Witch of Damansara @Uncanny Magazine
Thanks to my fellow buddy readers at Worlds Beyond the Margins for selecting this and helping to make it one of my favourite BRs of 2020.
artist: Zhou Fan
August 17, 2023
I’m not actually a fan of short story collections, but this was one of the best I’ve read. I loved Zen Cho’s modern interpretation of Malaysian mythology and spirit world. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
May 27, 2024
I chose to read this book due to reading two great reviews from GR friends, which piqued my curiosity. I chose the audiobook, which was wonderfully narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. I marveled at the variety in the nineteen tales. You may note my favorites from the quotes below:
The First Witch of Damansara - "Even with a cooking appliance mind Vivian understood that magic requires belief to thrive."
The Guest - "Yiling stared at their joined hands. She did magic and she liked girls."
The Fish Bowl - "Her fingers brushed a passing goldfish. It shot off into the depths, a shivering gold droplet of alarm."
Odette - "He replaced the Victorian tiled floor with marble, and brought in white leather sofas and glass coffee tables. The bones of the house shone through these embellishments. Odette loved the graceful shuttered windows, the intricate latticed vents, the pillars topped with carvings of cranes and fruit."
The House of Aunts: dedicated to the women of my family - "He had always looked at her as if she was the sunrise after a long dark night."
Seven Star Drum - "The lion was gold and red and silver; its head was white-furred like the face of a kind grandfather; the bounce of its feet was like the dance of sunlight on water."
The Mystery of the Suet Swain - "She didn't have condensed milk so it wasn't quite as good as home milo, still there was nothing as comforting as milo." Tea made with condensed milk.
Prudence and the Dragon - "Statues all over the city climbed off their pedestals and went walking about. The Winston Churchill from Parliament Square gave an interview to the BBC, still squinting as if the wind were blowing in its eyes. The statue was appropriately witty but did not seem to remember anything about World War II. It did however have a lot to say about pigeons."
If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again - Leslie doesn't get tenure. "Not getting tenure was worse than falling when you were almost at the gates of heaven." Byam "sat down appalled." Then asked, "Would you like me to eat the committee for you?"
The Four Generations of Chang E - "The spirit and its chosen one bind their ankles together with red thread. They may take each other’s hands and smile at each other. When they walk down the bridge into the world of the living, they know it won’t be the last time they see one another. The red thread is better than a promise – it’s a guarantee. It means they’ll meet again in the next life. It means they’ll love each other there, too."
The First Witch of Damansara - "Even with a cooking appliance mind Vivian understood that magic requires belief to thrive."
The Guest - "Yiling stared at their joined hands. She did magic and she liked girls."
The Fish Bowl - "Her fingers brushed a passing goldfish. It shot off into the depths, a shivering gold droplet of alarm."
Odette - "He replaced the Victorian tiled floor with marble, and brought in white leather sofas and glass coffee tables. The bones of the house shone through these embellishments. Odette loved the graceful shuttered windows, the intricate latticed vents, the pillars topped with carvings of cranes and fruit."
The House of Aunts: dedicated to the women of my family - "He had always looked at her as if she was the sunrise after a long dark night."
Seven Star Drum - "The lion was gold and red and silver; its head was white-furred like the face of a kind grandfather; the bounce of its feet was like the dance of sunlight on water."
The Mystery of the Suet Swain - "She didn't have condensed milk so it wasn't quite as good as home milo, still there was nothing as comforting as milo." Tea made with condensed milk.
Prudence and the Dragon - "Statues all over the city climbed off their pedestals and went walking about. The Winston Churchill from Parliament Square gave an interview to the BBC, still squinting as if the wind were blowing in its eyes. The statue was appropriately witty but did not seem to remember anything about World War II. It did however have a lot to say about pigeons."
If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again - Leslie doesn't get tenure. "Not getting tenure was worse than falling when you were almost at the gates of heaven." Byam "sat down appalled." Then asked, "Would you like me to eat the committee for you?"
The Four Generations of Chang E - "The spirit and its chosen one bind their ankles together with red thread. They may take each other’s hands and smile at each other. When they walk down the bridge into the world of the living, they know it won’t be the last time they see one another. The red thread is better than a promise – it’s a guarantee. It means they’ll meet again in the next life. It means they’ll love each other there, too."
February 2, 2022
I listened to this on audio, read by Emily Woo Zeller. Both the stories and Zeller's performances were fantastic. This is one of my all-time favorite short story collections by a single author.
August 16, 2014
Zen Cho utterly charmed me on a Loncon panel about South and Southeast Asian SFF, so of course I bought her book of short stories, which do indeed reflect her boisterous, whimsical personality. As a Chinese Malaysian living in London, she draws from several cultures in her storytelling, and the book is divided into three sections: "Here" (stories set in Malaysia), "There" (stories set in England), and "Elsewhere" (stories set, well, elsewhere). For the non-Malaysian reader, it's a great way to be introduced to various aspects of the culture, including food, language, and folklore, and for the Malaysian reader, it's SFF for YOU.
Every story is good, and one of my very favorites, "One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland," is only available in this collection, which contains seven reprints and three new stories. I love Cho's dry sense of humor. "The House of Aunts" describes eating people in such mundane terms that I regularly burst out laughing, and "Prudence and the Dragon" has such an offbeat wit that I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. But the stories aren't comedic romps; they're character-based with heart. The collection ends on a strong note with "The Four Generations of Chang E," which the blurb helpfully informs the reader is a metaphor for the Chinese diaspora, even though it is fairly clear from the story itself, which packs quite a punch.
I devoured this book in a single day. Zen Cho's voice needs to be heard: it's fun, fresh, and important.
Every story is good, and one of my very favorites, "One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland," is only available in this collection, which contains seven reprints and three new stories. I love Cho's dry sense of humor. "The House of Aunts" describes eating people in such mundane terms that I regularly burst out laughing, and "Prudence and the Dragon" has such an offbeat wit that I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. But the stories aren't comedic romps; they're character-based with heart. The collection ends on a strong note with "The Four Generations of Chang E," which the blurb helpfully informs the reader is a metaphor for the Chinese diaspora, even though it is fairly clear from the story itself, which packs quite a punch.
I devoured this book in a single day. Zen Cho's voice needs to be heard: it's fun, fresh, and important.
December 13, 2024
This is a great short story collection: fun, colorful, and creative, mixing modern Malaysian culture (at home and abroad) with a gamut of supernatural elements. Zen Cho is at her best when she gets to be irreverent and funny, mixing the magical with the modern and mundane, which is why this book and Black Water Sister are my favorites of hers. And this is a well-constructed collection, with enough variation in plot, character and mood that I never felt I was reading the same story twice, but enough consistency in setting, themes and style that the 19 stories hang together well. If there’s any downside, it’s that something about Cho’s writing tends to make me think her books should be deeper than they are, and I have to reset my expectations to lighthearted fun instead—though there are darker elements and a couple of tragic stories here too.
A few standouts for me:
“The First Witch of Damansara”: This is a great start because it’s everything I loved about Black Water Sister, the messy Malaysian family dynamics and matter-of-fact relationship to the spirit world—lots of fun though not especially memorable.
“The House of Aunts”: The longest story in the collection, approaching novella-length, this is a Malaysian answer to Twilight, where the girl is the vampire and she lives with six elder female relatives, all of them undead busybodies. There are serious and horror-tinged elements, but ultimately it’s also very fun and sweet. Loved it.
“One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland”: Malaysian students in England accidentally disrupt the local fae and must battle for their lives. A fun and inventive cultural mashup. I was excited to see a comment from the author online that she’s interested in revisiting this setting.
“The Mystery of the Suet Swain”: A whip-smart, no-nonsense college student sets out to help her pretty, people-pleasing friend, who’s being stalked in impossible ways. I just loved the characters in this story.
“If At First You Don’t Succeed”: An imugi really wants to become a dragon. This one is a tearjerker and while I’m not sure it entirely earned that, I’m not mad about it either. Also contains one of the book’s funniest and truest passages: “‘I told you, I can’t actually talk to the cat,’ said Leslie. (Which was a blatant lie, because she did it all the time, though it was true they had strange conversations, generally at cross-purposes.)”
“Monkey King, Faerie Queen”: Sun Wukong winds up “under the hill” in the British Isles. Another zany cultural mashup that I was totally here for.
“Liyana”: This one is a gut punch: the story of a family that sacrifices its youngest daughter for the sake of an elder, with a lot of thematic resonance when you look past the fantasy conceit.
Meanwhile, there weren’t any stories that I outright disliked, though the second through fifth fell slightly flat for me (to fully enjoy “First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia” I think you had to be there), and I was disappointed in “The Terra-cotta Bride.” Perhaps just because from its own Goodreads page I expected it to be among the best, but the pivot in focus didn’t work for me and I didn’t understand why anyone was so drawn to the eponymous bride. Still, the underworld setting is fun and reminded me of The Ghost Bride, which I also enjoyed.
Overall, I definitely had fun with and appreciated this collection and would recommend it to others, especially those interested in non-western fantasy. I look forward to more from this author.
A few standouts for me:
“The First Witch of Damansara”: This is a great start because it’s everything I loved about Black Water Sister, the messy Malaysian family dynamics and matter-of-fact relationship to the spirit world—lots of fun though not especially memorable.
“The House of Aunts”: The longest story in the collection, approaching novella-length, this is a Malaysian answer to Twilight, where the girl is the vampire and she lives with six elder female relatives, all of them undead busybodies. There are serious and horror-tinged elements, but ultimately it’s also very fun and sweet. Loved it.
“One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland”: Malaysian students in England accidentally disrupt the local fae and must battle for their lives. A fun and inventive cultural mashup. I was excited to see a comment from the author online that she’s interested in revisiting this setting.
“The Mystery of the Suet Swain”: A whip-smart, no-nonsense college student sets out to help her pretty, people-pleasing friend, who’s being stalked in impossible ways. I just loved the characters in this story.
“If At First You Don’t Succeed”: An imugi really wants to become a dragon. This one is a tearjerker and while I’m not sure it entirely earned that, I’m not mad about it either. Also contains one of the book’s funniest and truest passages: “‘I told you, I can’t actually talk to the cat,’ said Leslie. (Which was a blatant lie, because she did it all the time, though it was true they had strange conversations, generally at cross-purposes.)”
“Monkey King, Faerie Queen”: Sun Wukong winds up “under the hill” in the British Isles. Another zany cultural mashup that I was totally here for.
“Liyana”: This one is a gut punch: the story of a family that sacrifices its youngest daughter for the sake of an elder, with a lot of thematic resonance when you look past the fantasy conceit.
Meanwhile, there weren’t any stories that I outright disliked, though the second through fifth fell slightly flat for me (to fully enjoy “First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia” I think you had to be there), and I was disappointed in “The Terra-cotta Bride.” Perhaps just because from its own Goodreads page I expected it to be among the best, but the pivot in focus didn’t work for me and I didn’t understand why anyone was so drawn to the eponymous bride. Still, the underworld setting is fun and reminded me of The Ghost Bride, which I also enjoyed.
Overall, I definitely had fun with and appreciated this collection and would recommend it to others, especially those interested in non-western fantasy. I look forward to more from this author.
April 14, 2018
I'm not a regular reader of short stories, but sometimes I come across collections that make me want to do nothing but read them for the rest of my life. Or possibly just beg Zen Cho to write short stories for the rest of HER life, which would be a terrible idea because I do, also, require the other two noves in her magical Regency series to exist.
This collection is a delight. I zoomed through the first half of it with increasing incredulity that just as I'd decided on a favourite, along came ANOTHER FAVOURITE, and ANOTHER--and then had to force myself to slow down and ladle out the latter half story-by-story to make it last longer. The prose is chatty and clever, strong and transparent like good glass, and I recognised parts of the characters in myself. I didn't recognise a lot of their specific experiences, but I felt like I was being carried confidently through them in a way that was generous and illuminating. The various Malaysian ghosts and monsters were interesting or exasperating or creepy as hell, and I loved how unapologetically and casually romantic a lot of the stories were.
I CAN'T PICK A FAVOURITE, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME, but gun to my head I think my top three were The House of Aunts, The Mystery of the Suet Swain, and The Earth Spirit's Favourite Anecdote.
This collection is a delight. I zoomed through the first half of it with increasing incredulity that just as I'd decided on a favourite, along came ANOTHER FAVOURITE, and ANOTHER--and then had to force myself to slow down and ladle out the latter half story-by-story to make it last longer. The prose is chatty and clever, strong and transparent like good glass, and I recognised parts of the characters in myself. I didn't recognise a lot of their specific experiences, but I felt like I was being carried confidently through them in a way that was generous and illuminating. The various Malaysian ghosts and monsters were interesting or exasperating or creepy as hell, and I loved how unapologetically and casually romantic a lot of the stories were.
I CAN'T PICK A FAVOURITE, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME, but gun to my head I think my top three were The House of Aunts, The Mystery of the Suet Swain, and The Earth Spirit's Favourite Anecdote.
February 4, 2023
4.5 Stars, extremely good for a short story collection that inevitably will have one or two lesser entries.
19 very good stories about spirits, dragons, space and sentient plants. I found some extra enjoyment by catching one of the obscure references to a Chinese phrase I learned while living there for 3 months. The Taiwanese students I was living with would say this phrase over and over until I started muttering it under my breath. The phrase translated is koi jumps over the dragon gate and is used sort of like knock on wood. The Fishbowl is one of the stories which is about a girl headed for final exams which is exactly when you want that koi jumping. The review below sums it and several other references that I did not get much, much better.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My favorites were The House of Aunts, Prudence and the Dragon and Lianna
19 very good stories about spirits, dragons, space and sentient plants. I found some extra enjoyment by catching one of the obscure references to a Chinese phrase I learned while living there for 3 months. The Taiwanese students I was living with would say this phrase over and over until I started muttering it under my breath. The phrase translated is koi jumps over the dragon gate and is used sort of like knock on wood. The Fishbowl is one of the stories which is about a girl headed for final exams which is exactly when you want that koi jumping. The review below sums it and several other references that I did not get much, much better.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My favorites were The House of Aunts, Prudence and the Dragon and Lianna
July 6, 2022
"Here is a secret Chang E knew, though her mother didn't. Past a certain point, you stop being able to go home. At this point, when you have got this far from where you were from, the thread snaps. The narrative breaks. And you are forced, pastless, motherless, selfless, to invent yourself anew. At a certain point, this stops being sad—but who knows if any human has ever reached that point?"
July is a delight because I'm getting to read full collections by many writers whose few stories I have read online in the past and Zen Cho is one of them. Spirits Abroad is a stellar, spectacular, sumptuous gathering of speculative fiction that has a distinct culture-specific flavour. Cho puts her Chinese Malaysian roots front and center; it isn't altered to suit a Global, Western, audience. The stories are grounded in Malaysian legends, beliefs, mythologies, and landscapes. Everyone talks according to their backgrounds with Cho's use of Manglish producing realness. The prose is gloriously bursting with Malay's vernaculars.
Many of these stories are effortlessly queer as well and I must applaud Cho's character writing which works wonders to make all these stories compelling and engaging—an absolute delight to read. My favourite stories: "The Fish Bowl", "Prudence and the Dragon", "Rising Lion—The Lion Bows", "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again", The Terra-cotta Bride", and "The House of Aunts". I can't help but favourably compare this to another SFF collection by a Southeast Asian writer I read this January, Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap, also published by Small Beer Press. Both of them are excellent, I recommend them.
May 2, 2025
I unfortunately read this one during a very busy work month and didn't make detailed notes at the time, but I wanted to capture some high-level impressions before this goes back to the library.
First: I love the organization of the stories, which are broken into the three major sections of Here, There, and Elsewhere. The Here section is set in Malaysia, the There section is set in the UK, and the Elsewhere section has a wide variety of folkloric or historical settings. Arranging the stories this way lets you really soak in the speech patterns and some cultural notes in settings where everyone is on the same page, explore the immigrant/ diaspora experience, and then range more widely away from present-day Earth. Some collections feel thrown together at random, but the thoughtful organization makes this one greater than the sum of its parts.
More generally, I just think it's a cool collection and that the strongest pieces are often the longest, the ones more in the novelette range (7500-17500 words). "The House of Aunts" and "If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again" are the real standouts to me. They strike a great balance between funny details and deeper emotional struggles in a way makes me interested to seek out more of the author's long-form work.
I'd recommend this collection to anyone with an interest in Malaysian folklore or in short fiction collections covering a wide range of moods and emotional experiences.
//
First impressions: this was a great book-club pick for discussion. There's a great emotional range, from light comedy to horror and tragedy, and a good length range from short stories to bigger novelette pieces. The organization of stories (Here, There, and Elsewhere) allows for a slow easing-in to this world and the people in it, moving from Malaysia to immigrants in England to magical realms. I love the rich view of Malaysian speech and culture. RTC.
First: I love the organization of the stories, which are broken into the three major sections of Here, There, and Elsewhere. The Here section is set in Malaysia, the There section is set in the UK, and the Elsewhere section has a wide variety of folkloric or historical settings. Arranging the stories this way lets you really soak in the speech patterns and some cultural notes in settings where everyone is on the same page, explore the immigrant/ diaspora experience, and then range more widely away from present-day Earth. Some collections feel thrown together at random, but the thoughtful organization makes this one greater than the sum of its parts.
More generally, I just think it's a cool collection and that the strongest pieces are often the longest, the ones more in the novelette range (7500-17500 words). "The House of Aunts" and "If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again" are the real standouts to me. They strike a great balance between funny details and deeper emotional struggles in a way makes me interested to seek out more of the author's long-form work.
I'd recommend this collection to anyone with an interest in Malaysian folklore or in short fiction collections covering a wide range of moods and emotional experiences.
//
First impressions: this was a great book-club pick for discussion. There's a great emotional range, from light comedy to horror and tragedy, and a good length range from short stories to bigger novelette pieces. The organization of stories (Here, There, and Elsewhere) allows for a slow easing-in to this world and the people in it, moving from Malaysia to immigrants in England to magical realms. I love the rich view of Malaysian speech and culture. RTC.
February 15, 2023
Here I am- odd man out again. This rating isn’t really reflective of the book I think, again it’s me.
For starters I think fantasy is becoming less my thing and more magical realism, and this ends on a very hard fantasy note.
The other thing is that this feels very long for a short story collection? I skipped two stories: The House of Aunts which my kindle told me would take over an hour to read and the House of Terra-cotta Bride which is 36 minutes and already in the section of the book I liked least called “Elsewhere.”
My favorite story far and away was “First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia”. I loved both the humor and the message of the story.
Other stand outs for me: “Odette” a story about a woman and revenge and getting what she wants which is always a favorite theme of mine and “The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life” which I think was about self acceptance. ETA: “The Mystery of Suet Swain” - this has more of a horror feel that I enjoyed.
I also enjoyed the settings of most of the stories- Cho sets a scene very well. And I liked that there are definite common threads and themes running through the stories tying them all together.
Otherwise I think mostly I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t have the patience for it right now- again, not the books fault, my own. I picked it up because I thought it was going to be a quick read and it just wasn’t.
For starters I think fantasy is becoming less my thing and more magical realism, and this ends on a very hard fantasy note.
The other thing is that this feels very long for a short story collection? I skipped two stories: The House of Aunts which my kindle told me would take over an hour to read and the House of Terra-cotta Bride which is 36 minutes and already in the section of the book I liked least called “Elsewhere.”
My favorite story far and away was “First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia”. I loved both the humor and the message of the story.
Other stand outs for me: “Odette” a story about a woman and revenge and getting what she wants which is always a favorite theme of mine and “The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life” which I think was about self acceptance. ETA: “The Mystery of Suet Swain” - this has more of a horror feel that I enjoyed.
I also enjoyed the settings of most of the stories- Cho sets a scene very well. And I liked that there are definite common threads and themes running through the stories tying them all together.
Otherwise I think mostly I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t have the patience for it right now- again, not the books fault, my own. I picked it up because I thought it was going to be a quick read and it just wasn’t.
January 20, 2023
Ich dachte immer, ich mag keine Kurzgeschichten. Stellt sich raus, ich mag nur keine Kurzgeschichten, in denen Leute unglücklich verheiratet sind und die Handlung darin besteht, dass es draußen regnet oder jemand Bus fährt. Kurzgeschichten mit Drachen und Gespenstern, kein Problem.
September 7, 2016
This Malaysian and Malaysian-diaspora fantasy shorts collection brings extremely intimate and personal concepts into the sphere of fantasy fiction--like unexpected difficulty in schoolwork or performing arts after being at the top of your class, or blooming into your suppressed bisexuality. Far from being the fantasy of broad, sweeping, epic stories about clashes between dynasties or magical orders, this is the fantasy about household magic, about supernatural creatures that have the same feelings and hopes and family structures we mortals do, and about one-on-one friendships and relationships. They even enjoy the simple, hedonic pleasure of food.
Other key themes of the book's fifteen stories include Malaysia's multiculturalism, with Chinese traditions coexisting alongside Christianity and Islam plus all the legends and fantasy creatures that are uniquely Malaysian, and women, both mortal and supernatural, interacting with their female family members, especially across the generations. I was fascinated, incidentally, by the variety of undead within Malaysian mythology, with the type of ghost varying by gender, manner of death, etc.
Some of my favorite moments:
The House of Aunts, which is available to read for free here, is a sweet YA paranormal romance starring a teenage vampire who lives with all the protective, overbearing yet nurturing female relatives of her family who share her condition while posing as a living student at school. At one point in the story she won't let the Muslim boy she has a crush on share her lunch, telling him that it's pork. (Readers: it's not pork.) This is just so goddamn cute and grisly at the same time that it made me smile, and also is a model way to recognize ethnoreligious diversity in a spec fic setting.
"The Perseverance of Angela's Past Life", also available free, is about a young woman who suddenly acquires a supernatural shadow: her own self, as a teenager. Through a series of amusing or poignant moments she interacts with her old self as she travels to Japan to teach English and learn Japanese, until finally the two selves merge again and she becomes the whole person she was meant to be from the beginning. This is one of the anthology's two stories about women who like women. The other one is:
"The Mystery of the Suet Swain", in which a lesbian fights a demon Nice Guy. I mean all of that literally, including the demon part! The story leaves it unclear whether or not she and the "I said no to the last eleven guys who asked me out" best friend will date after the main character rescues her, but I think it's a good story either way (and I say yes, sure, they date.)
This one is a darker moment, but there's a part in the self-harm/self-destructive metaphor story "The Fish Bowl" where the MC is struggling with performing music she hasn't practiced, so as a price for the magic to make her get through the piece, the titular magic fish drains blood from her in a way that shows up as four angry red streaks down her arm representing the four strings running down our fingerboards. As a violinist, this is a sharp and accurate piece of imagery. In fact when I read that line I immediately fired off a tweet to the author saying "you get us."
There are so many other creative ideas in this book that I could go on and on -- including the old favorite fantasy setting of an English boarding school but still populated by Malaysian diaspora characters, and another one where a troupe of Chinese dancers in England are secretly ghostbusters also, but hopefully by now I've convinced whoever's reading this to give the book a whirl. Every once in a while I add a line to my reviews to the effect of "if you like my books, try--" and this is one of them.
I advise buying the eBook so that you can stay abreast of trigger warnings without my help, since the author has commendably included a lot of warnings and clicky-things that go to her notes and "skip this story if you don't want to read about X" and other helpful tidbits. Obviously stay out of "House of Aunts" if cannibalism is a major squick, although I found myself craving gribenes (chicken skin fried in chicken fat) after I read it because I am, truly, a trash can. :P
Other key themes of the book's fifteen stories include Malaysia's multiculturalism, with Chinese traditions coexisting alongside Christianity and Islam plus all the legends and fantasy creatures that are uniquely Malaysian, and women, both mortal and supernatural, interacting with their female family members, especially across the generations. I was fascinated, incidentally, by the variety of undead within Malaysian mythology, with the type of ghost varying by gender, manner of death, etc.
Some of my favorite moments:
The House of Aunts, which is available to read for free here, is a sweet YA paranormal romance starring a teenage vampire who lives with all the protective, overbearing yet nurturing female relatives of her family who share her condition while posing as a living student at school. At one point in the story she won't let the Muslim boy she has a crush on share her lunch, telling him that it's pork. (Readers: it's not pork.) This is just so goddamn cute and grisly at the same time that it made me smile, and also is a model way to recognize ethnoreligious diversity in a spec fic setting.
"The Perseverance of Angela's Past Life", also available free, is about a young woman who suddenly acquires a supernatural shadow: her own self, as a teenager. Through a series of amusing or poignant moments she interacts with her old self as she travels to Japan to teach English and learn Japanese, until finally the two selves merge again and she becomes the whole person she was meant to be from the beginning. This is one of the anthology's two stories about women who like women. The other one is:
"The Mystery of the Suet Swain", in which a lesbian fights a demon Nice Guy. I mean all of that literally, including the demon part! The story leaves it unclear whether or not she and the "I said no to the last eleven guys who asked me out" best friend will date after the main character rescues her, but I think it's a good story either way (and I say yes, sure, they date.)
This one is a darker moment, but there's a part in the self-harm/self-destructive metaphor story "The Fish Bowl" where the MC is struggling with performing music she hasn't practiced, so as a price for the magic to make her get through the piece, the titular magic fish drains blood from her in a way that shows up as four angry red streaks down her arm representing the four strings running down our fingerboards. As a violinist, this is a sharp and accurate piece of imagery. In fact when I read that line I immediately fired off a tweet to the author saying "you get us."
There are so many other creative ideas in this book that I could go on and on -- including the old favorite fantasy setting of an English boarding school but still populated by Malaysian diaspora characters, and another one where a troupe of Chinese dancers in England are secretly ghostbusters also, but hopefully by now I've convinced whoever's reading this to give the book a whirl. Every once in a while I add a line to my reviews to the effect of "if you like my books, try--" and this is one of them.
I advise buying the eBook so that you can stay abreast of trigger warnings without my help, since the author has commendably included a lot of warnings and clicky-things that go to her notes and "skip this story if you don't want to read about X" and other helpful tidbits. Obviously stay out of "House of Aunts" if cannibalism is a major squick, although I found myself craving gribenes (chicken skin fried in chicken fat) after I read it because I am, truly, a trash can. :P
November 10, 2021
I must admit I ended up enjoying this book far more than I had expected! The very first story was full of many unfamiliar words like kerongsang, kuang shi, nyonya, pantang, cheongsam, kaya, kebaya, sibuk, baju, qun ku, hau plus others. I had no idea what these terms meant in English and so I had some nervousness about reading the book. I mean it was a lot of unfamiliar words in just the very first short story and these words were not explained so it made reading the story difficult. Because I kept asking myself "what does this word mean?" And it can affect the story. Or your understanding of the story. Of course there is Google to look up terms but I don't want to be running to google numerous times just to read 1 page. The author should have included a glossary at the end of the book!
But the first story was the "worst" in this regard. It is NOT a bad story at all. Don't get me wrong. I very much enjoyed reading it and it certainly introduced some unique ideas from the culture of Asia. Like of burning paper houses, money and clothes to send to deceased relatives in the underworld. This book is just bursting at the seams with this sort of interesting things! Its a great way to learn about their cultural ideas and beliefs. And their creatures too.
There is a creature in every story. There are witches, vampires, ghosts, an invisible man & dragons to name a few that western cultures are familiar with. There are also many other unique ones like the nuguo that look like pineapples or the imugi. Oh and faeries! They are in here too. Plus a fake lion that comes to life during a lion dance and the famous Monkey King makes an appearance too!
Some of the tales take place in Asia, some in the UK plus the ones at the end of the book go to more exotic locations like the Moon or even to the underworld. They are all character driven tales. And that made them very fun and entertaining to read.
The character I had liked the most was Prudence from "Prudence and the Dragon" as many of her characteristics seemed autistic and I have autism so I could relate to her ways. My favorite story in here was "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" and that one was about the wonderful imugi who dreams of being a dragon. There was just something charming and very caring about this tale that touched me. I guess it was the ending that was so emotional as well? Its just very "feel good".
Of course I had a least favorite too. That would be the one set in the underworld: "The Terra-cotta Bride". There was just too much politic type stuff in here to keep my interest and so I found it very dull. But the author's idea of what the underworld is like was interesting...but the story moved too slow for me.
And the cover image is beautiful! So colorful and pretty! But I don't know if it is the dragon or the imugi or perhaps even the lion? It would be nice to know for sure.
But this is a very thick book with many stories - 19 to be exact - and a great pleasure to read.
But the first story was the "worst" in this regard. It is NOT a bad story at all. Don't get me wrong. I very much enjoyed reading it and it certainly introduced some unique ideas from the culture of Asia. Like of burning paper houses, money and clothes to send to deceased relatives in the underworld. This book is just bursting at the seams with this sort of interesting things! Its a great way to learn about their cultural ideas and beliefs. And their creatures too.
There is a creature in every story. There are witches, vampires, ghosts, an invisible man & dragons to name a few that western cultures are familiar with. There are also many other unique ones like the nuguo that look like pineapples or the imugi. Oh and faeries! They are in here too. Plus a fake lion that comes to life during a lion dance and the famous Monkey King makes an appearance too!
Some of the tales take place in Asia, some in the UK plus the ones at the end of the book go to more exotic locations like the Moon or even to the underworld. They are all character driven tales. And that made them very fun and entertaining to read.
The character I had liked the most was Prudence from "Prudence and the Dragon" as many of her characteristics seemed autistic and I have autism so I could relate to her ways. My favorite story in here was "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" and that one was about the wonderful imugi who dreams of being a dragon. There was just something charming and very caring about this tale that touched me. I guess it was the ending that was so emotional as well? Its just very "feel good".
Of course I had a least favorite too. That would be the one set in the underworld: "The Terra-cotta Bride". There was just too much politic type stuff in here to keep my interest and so I found it very dull. But the author's idea of what the underworld is like was interesting...but the story moved too slow for me.
And the cover image is beautiful! So colorful and pretty! But I don't know if it is the dragon or the imugi or perhaps even the lion? It would be nice to know for sure.
But this is a very thick book with many stories - 19 to be exact - and a great pleasure to read.
December 19, 2021
What a fragile, necessary thing love was.
When I read the previous version of this collection last year, it was my favourite of the year. I loved this version just as much, and what's more, I'm super glad that I got to experience both versions. This collection was missing a few of the original stories, but there were some additions that I really really liked (including some short stories of Cho's that I'd read and enjoyed on their own). Everything I loved about the collection still stands: Zen Cho's creativity, the melding of fantasy with real life concerns, particularly in the way she integrates it with culture, language, dialect (💖) issues of immigration, queerness, life and death. Something about her writing just always really speaks to me, no matter what she's talking about. My favourites remain pretty much the same as before: "The Fish Bowl", "The House of Aunts", "The Mystery of the Suet Swain". Of the new stories, I really liked "The Guest".
Listened to the audiobook as read by Emily Woo Zeller, who's become one of my favourite narrators over the past year, and this only cemented that further. I love the emotion and genuine feeling she puts into every single character, how she translates humour and romance. Really great.
Thanks to Hsinju for buddy reading this with me! <3
October 31, 2018
I love reading mythology,folktales and fables that are unique to regions across the world .Every community and group has loads of stories that have been handed down across generations. These are the stories we are told as children by our grandparents and any recollection of them however old we become brings nostalgia.
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
I have wanted to read Malaysian writer ,Zen Cho for quite some time now and I was overjoyed when her short story compilation "Spirits Abroad",was available in Kindle print for RS 210. This was a delightful read .I enjoyed all the stories especially ,"The House of Aunts " and "Prudence's Dragon".Zen Cho has woven these stories using creatures like orang minyak,toyals and other hantus that exist in Malaysian mythology among the Malaysian and Chinese communities .The stories also talk of problems that many teenagers face -peer pressure ,first love ,the need to live up to expectations ,fear of dark corners ,the fear of rejection and so much more .I had to look up Google for some of the local dialect terms ,but it was worth it.
All in all ,a very enjoyable read ❤️
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
I have wanted to read Malaysian writer ,Zen Cho for quite some time now and I was overjoyed when her short story compilation "Spirits Abroad",was available in Kindle print for RS 210. This was a delightful read .I enjoyed all the stories especially ,"The House of Aunts " and "Prudence's Dragon".Zen Cho has woven these stories using creatures like orang minyak,toyals and other hantus that exist in Malaysian mythology among the Malaysian and Chinese communities .The stories also talk of problems that many teenagers face -peer pressure ,first love ,the need to live up to expectations ,fear of dark corners ,the fear of rejection and so much more .I had to look up Google for some of the local dialect terms ,but it was worth it.
All in all ,a very enjoyable read ❤️
March 25, 2015
One of the best speculative fiction collections I have ever read! Loved.
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