13 MOONS will provide you with instant chills. Office workers discover the gruesome secret behind the puppets used as workplace décor. A man tries to help the ghost of a murdered child haunting a playground. An abandoned well and a banana tree in a village garden conceal a decades-old crime. A couple struggles to keep their family together when their son becomes a zombie. And a nightclub with a supernatural door policy — depending on when you choose to go. These stories reveal the darkness that threatens to seep through the veneer of day-to-day life.
Many stories are set in present days, not too dark and grisly, there're chilling stories and entertaining reads throughout,
My favorites are -
Red Balloon, glad this is my first read, a ghost girl who asking help from the residents or passersby near a playground. The story unfolds disturbing.
The Specialist's Cat, a little girl who made a deal with a devil she met during an exhibition.
Joe Moth, I'd read this twice, I liked it because I could feel the surrealism in the story, a protagonist being disturbed by the chats of two kids in the plane.
Triumvirate, a protagonist who had just started to work in an unknown nightclub, only later to find out the gruesome secrets behind it.
Batik Weaver, a contemporary tale of murders that took place at Kelantan village.
In the Dark of the Matinee, a guy who was a big fan of Hong Kong film star. Entertaining of reading this too.
I am glad to give this book 5 stars. To be honest, I DID NOT expect much at all from a Malaysian author writing horror, because let's face it, most local horror writing tends to be deriviative. Long-haired girls crawling up or down basement stairs, toyols, haunted phones and computers, haunted offices, schools, and toilets etc...
The Malaysian horror staples are present in this book (a well and a banana tree in one tale set in a village in Kelantan) but the stories work best when the settings are modern and contemporary. Such as the sinister story, TEAM MACABRE, which reminded me of the film "Office Space", but with more black magic. Another story JOE MOTH, is set on a plane and manages the difficult achievement of the double-twist ending, and the story about an unusual nightclub, TRIUMVIRATE, reads like something Neil Gaiman would've written during his SANDMAN days.
Had a lot of fun reading these short horror stories. Nothing too grisly thank goodness (I'm a wimp) though definitely some bone chilling moments with murderous puppets and ghostly aborted fetuses. One of my favorite stories was "Joe Moth," though it was a little hard to read what with MH17 happening so recently.
(Side note: Compared to the three other Fixi Novo titles I've read - Love in Penang, Spirits Abroad, KL Noir: Blue - this one was riddled with rather glaring proofreading oversights. Somewhat distracting.)
Why I'm interested in this book at the first place Picking it up from a book exchange corner, to support the #TakeReadReturn movement by Books On The Move.
The fourth book I read for the Merdeka month.
What do I think of this book... now that I've done reading it This is a quite decent short horror stories to spend my time with. Most of it comes from modern settings in Kuala Lumpur, so it feels quite relatable as you read along.
+ 1. My favorite chapters: i. Team Macabre ii. The Specialist's Cat iii. Red Balloons
2. The character name Lars was used alot in these stories. I wonder who is he referring too, hmm?
- 1. Yes, I admitted I skipped some chapters too, because it turned out, some of the short stories are quite long to read... and I have short attention span: i. Bone Torpedoes ii. In The Dark of the Matinee iii. Triumvirate iv. Bougainvilleas v. Brains For Brian
Get this 1. If you also love to read other short horror stories. 2. Also a fan/had watched The Twilight Zone series.
3 stars. I like the originality of ideas used in this collection. I do not find any classical & cliched horror scenes (graveyard, haunted house, mortuary, extreme violence etc) in it. The author explores horror in other aspects of society & rare settings. I like "Bone Torpedoes" the most. I think the story is unique and psychologically suspenseful. Other stories that I enjoyed include "Joe Moth" and "The Team Macabre". The rest of the stories, as terrified as it seems, hardly give me any chills.
No Sleep Every Night ruined it for me. Without it, the book will be better. Why? Because No Sleep Every Night is a collection of stories I've read so many times in so many horror books.
Brain for Brian was different. The father started crying, the mother consoled him and Brian sat beside her eventhough he was devoid any brain matter but I guess his empathy was intact.
The rest was okay in its own way. And congratulation to the writer. It was refreshing.
Due to my past experiences with Buku Fixi books (yes I know this is Fixi Novo but you get what I mean), I tried to lower my expectations to not only low but non-existent so I wouldn't emotionally scar myself again.
And to be honest with you the book was okay for me. The book consists of short stories but none of the stories truly resonated with me. I enjoyed them briefly for what they are but not more.
The stories premise was interesting but unfortunately it lacked substance (?) for it to be truly impactful for me. Although, this might be due to me disliking short stories generally.
Short stories don't express the full story and my curious mind just wants to explore and know more onkh to be left disappointed hence leaving me unable to immerse myself in such stories.
Overall, the book is a good read if you're looking for something easy and light to read.
13 stories. some chilling, some thrilling, and some... weird. Most of the stories would definitely leave the readers feeling intrigued at the end. And I like the zombie story... although it's fake but well I like the message being implied: dadah membahayakan!
P/S: Personally love the last one.. author's unusual experiences. And the way the author illustrates Kota Bharu and Kelantan Chinese... as a few of the stories were set in that town (with the same inspector character appearing at the end). Love the described 'atmosphere'.
These stories succeed on a small scope. Not great literature or anything, but it doesn't want to be. These stories have typos and basic, unruffled narratives, prose that's little better than most creepypasta, but their one ambition is to be scary and unlike a lot of horror fiction Lee actually accomplishes that. "Team Macabre", "Red Balloons", "The Specialist's Cat" and "In the Dark of the Matinee" stood out as particularly effective.
Not all atories give the chills. Only some of it succeed to deliver the chills. i love the last chapter. really, really bring out the goosebumps. Anyway, this os better than Horror Stories by you-know-who.
The author is a good writer and is able to form vivid images through words. However, maybe these kinds of books are not my cup of tea. Perhaps when I was younger, I'd appreciate this more.