Insignia: Southeast Asian Fantasy

by Kelly Matsuura (Editor), Eliza Chan, Eve Shi

INSIGNIA Vol.3 includes 7 Southeast Asian fantasy stories with a mix of literary, contemporary, myth-based, and historical fantasy pieces. Countries included are Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

PART I: Adventure / Folktales

‘Horse Feet’ by Celestine Trinidad
‘The Third Eye’ by Sheenah Freitas
‘Interlude’ by Eve Shi
‘The Island’ by Melvin Yong

PART II: Adult / Literary Tales

‘Running from Shadows’ by Joyce Chng
‘Never Seen’ by Kelly Matsuura
‘Spirit of Regret’ by Eliza Chan

Rated 16+

Genres: Fantasy

69 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2016

About the author

Kelly Matsuura grew up in Australia, and graduated from Victoria University with a degree in Asian Studies. She has lived in China and the USA, and now lives permanently in Nagoya, Japan.
Her writing focuses on fantasy and contemporary stories with Asian characters and/or settings, however she enjoys writing western-style stories occasionally as well.
She is the editor and a contributor of 'The Insignia Series' anthologies, now 7 collections featuring Asian fantasy short stories by various indie authors.
Kelly's personal anthologies, 'Whispering Woods', 'Parting Skies'and 'Stirring Winds' are available through Amazon, Smashwords, and affiliate sites.

Reviews

[Anna Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely my favourite of the three.

Part I: Adventure/Folktales began with the impressive Horse Feet by Celestine Trinidad. I loved the Filipino flavour to this - and of course, a new mystical creature (at least to me) is something I cannot dislike. Melvin Yong's The Island was a creepier than I would like, but extremely absorbing.

Part I bulked out most of this anthology - which isn't a bad thing in my opinion. I'm just not a big fan of Part II: Adult/Literary Tales, I guess. The most I'll say about this was Never Seen (Kelly Matsuura) was pretty okay. Everything else was just dark and grim and scary.

[John Rey Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light read. An introduction to the rich myths and folklore of Southeast Asian countries retold and set in the modern world, such as a historian investigating a series of letters and artifacts, a man haunted by a decision, a lady of Arayat investigating a murder, a village haunted by duwendes. Themes differ, too, from the heavily fantastic to the less fantastic (set in the city) but still haunting. And yes, many of the stories are haunting not only for the fantastic elements but also for their possible interpretations as real-life situations.