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Inhospitable
A mysterious windfall upends Lena Haze’s almost-comfortable middle-class American life. Her husband Marcus has inherited some prime Hong Kong real estate, a building in Wan Chai – the bustling, gentrifying heart of the city. It comes with a catch, the building must not be sold. With financing from local investors, Lena begins overseeing renovations to convert it into a premier boutique hotel. Alone in Hong Kong and a recent arrival, Lena struggles with culture shock, business obstacles, and malignant ghosts – a part of her life she thought she’d put behind her. Lena’s previous experiences with the spirit world are of little help because she’s dealing with Chinese ghosts this time. Different rules, rituals, and customs apply, and she has no idea what is coming.
- GenresFiction
302 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2018
19 people want to read
About the author
Marshall Moore
35 books79 followersMarshall Moore is the author of several books: The Concrete Sky (Haworth Press, 2003); Black Shapes in a Darkened Room (Suspect Thoughts Press, 2004); An Ideal for Living (Lethe Press, 2010); The Infernal Republic (Signal 8 Press, 2012); Bitter Orange (Signal 8 Press, 2013); A Garden Fed by Lightning (Signal 8 Press, 2016); Inhospitable (Camphor Press, 2018); and I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing (Rebel Satori Press, 2022). With Xu Xi, Moore is the co-editor of The Queen of Statue Square: New Short Fiction from Hong Kong (Nottingham: Critical, Cultural & Communications Press, 2014). A collection of his short stories (Sagome nere) was published in Italian by 96, rue de-la-Fontaine Edizioni, in 2017. With Sam Meekings, he has coedited two academic books on the subject of creative writing: The Place and the Writer: International Intersections of Teacher Lore and Creative Writing Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Creative Writing Scholars on the Publishing Trade: Practice, Praxis, Print (Routledge, 2021).
Forthcoming:
Blood and Black T-Shirts: Dispatches from Hong Kong's Descent into Hell 2019-2020 (Camphor Press, 2023);
Love Is a Poisonous Color (Rebel Satori Press, 2023), short story collection no. 4;
and a third coedited academic book that will focus on the concept of creative practice.
As of 2020, he lives in Cornwall, England, after more than a decade in Hong Kong and several years in the outskirts of Seoul.
Note from MM 8 Aug 2022: I'm listed as the author of short stories that appear in a few supernatural anthologies, and the links connect to my account. I suspect this is another writer with the same name. No disrespect to whoever this might be, but we're not the same person.
Forthcoming:
Blood and Black T-Shirts: Dispatches from Hong Kong's Descent into Hell 2019-2020 (Camphor Press, 2023);
Love Is a Poisonous Color (Rebel Satori Press, 2023), short story collection no. 4;
and a third coedited academic book that will focus on the concept of creative practice.
As of 2020, he lives in Cornwall, England, after more than a decade in Hong Kong and several years in the outskirts of Seoul.
Note from MM 8 Aug 2022: I'm listed as the author of short stories that appear in a few supernatural anthologies, and the links connect to my account. I suspect this is another writer with the same name. No disrespect to whoever this might be, but we're not the same person.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 4, 2022
I really enjoyed reading this ghost story. I love Marshall Moore’s writing and will continue to read anything he puts out.
June 14, 2019
Inhospitable is a ghost story with a steel magnolia at its center. Lena Haze is in Hong Kong, a city of ghosts, retrofitting the hotel her husband Marcus inherited while he remains back home in North Carolina to sell their home and tie up loose ends. Lena is well-suited for Hong Kong, despite her misgivings, as she has a long history with ghosts, first her sister and then an annoying “Marauder” at a hotel she managed. Seeing a ghost woman ordering at a table near her at a nearby restaurant doesn’t send her screaming for the exits. It helps that her assistant Isaac is also tuned into the ghosts and is willing to guide her in Hong Kong’s ghostly culture.
The book is organized into three parts, Arrival, Restoration, and Occupation. This is Lena’s journey with the hotel, arriving in Hong Kong, restoring the business, and moving it and opening its doors. It is also a good description of the ghosts, the ones she meets early on, the one that seems to want to connect with her, and the one that occupies the hotel. It’s a life or death struggle and ghosts don’t play fair. But then, neither does Lena.
I enjoyed Inhospitable even though I am not fond of ghost stories, a lingering byproduct of a failed Baptist upbringing, I’m sure. The sense of menace built slowly and inexorably, but it created a real sense of jeopardy. What I liked best, though, was Lena. She’s a tough cookie and while she may communicate with ghosts and all, but she’s not into the trappings of the supernatural. She’s a thoroughly modern ghost whisperer without crystal balls and ouija boards. I also love the friendship that developed between Lena and Isaac, the ironical gay son of Lena and Marcus’ big investors.
Marshall Moore writes with colorful and inventive language. I noted his beautiful writing in “Hong Kong Noir“, a short story anthology I read earlier this year. Most of the time this is good. However, sometimes he tries too hard. Let me give one example, “She drank another cup of wakefulness to help her get through this cervix of a day.” A cup of wakefulness instead of a cup of coffee is a brilliant use of metaphor; but cervix of a day is not. In fact, it left me flummoxed, wondering where in the hell that came from. I put he book down and had that question noodling away in the back of my mind all day.
After all, people do use dick as a metaphor. A dick of a day has its own entry in the Urban Dictionary. But cervix of a day is not some feminist analog. Women don’t have cervix measuring contests and get into fistfights about the size of their cervix. No presidential debate has featured a conversation about whether some woman’s cervix is a normal size. You can call a man a dick, but no one calls a woman a cervix. It’s just so weird. Too weird and evidence of trying too hard. Of course, it didn’t ruin the book for me. An entire novel shouldn’t be derailed by one bad metaphor, but it did change how I read the book…so I was more alert to the use of metaphor, a distraction from the plot and character development. Metaphor should make the story richer, but it should never distract and take the focus off the story.
Still, I liked Lena. I liked Isaac. I even liked some of the ghosts, and overall, I liked Inhospitable.
I received an ARC of Inhospitable from the publisher.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
The book is organized into three parts, Arrival, Restoration, and Occupation. This is Lena’s journey with the hotel, arriving in Hong Kong, restoring the business, and moving it and opening its doors. It is also a good description of the ghosts, the ones she meets early on, the one that seems to want to connect with her, and the one that occupies the hotel. It’s a life or death struggle and ghosts don’t play fair. But then, neither does Lena.
I enjoyed Inhospitable even though I am not fond of ghost stories, a lingering byproduct of a failed Baptist upbringing, I’m sure. The sense of menace built slowly and inexorably, but it created a real sense of jeopardy. What I liked best, though, was Lena. She’s a tough cookie and while she may communicate with ghosts and all, but she’s not into the trappings of the supernatural. She’s a thoroughly modern ghost whisperer without crystal balls and ouija boards. I also love the friendship that developed between Lena and Isaac, the ironical gay son of Lena and Marcus’ big investors.
Marshall Moore writes with colorful and inventive language. I noted his beautiful writing in “Hong Kong Noir“, a short story anthology I read earlier this year. Most of the time this is good. However, sometimes he tries too hard. Let me give one example, “She drank another cup of wakefulness to help her get through this cervix of a day.” A cup of wakefulness instead of a cup of coffee is a brilliant use of metaphor; but cervix of a day is not. In fact, it left me flummoxed, wondering where in the hell that came from. I put he book down and had that question noodling away in the back of my mind all day.
After all, people do use dick as a metaphor. A dick of a day has its own entry in the Urban Dictionary. But cervix of a day is not some feminist analog. Women don’t have cervix measuring contests and get into fistfights about the size of their cervix. No presidential debate has featured a conversation about whether some woman’s cervix is a normal size. You can call a man a dick, but no one calls a woman a cervix. It’s just so weird. Too weird and evidence of trying too hard. Of course, it didn’t ruin the book for me. An entire novel shouldn’t be derailed by one bad metaphor, but it did change how I read the book…so I was more alert to the use of metaphor, a distraction from the plot and character development. Metaphor should make the story richer, but it should never distract and take the focus off the story.
Still, I liked Lena. I liked Isaac. I even liked some of the ghosts, and overall, I liked Inhospitable.
I received an ARC of Inhospitable from the publisher.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
May 7, 2019
Inhospitable began life as a component of a PhD in creative writing taken by the author Marshall Moore at Aberystwyth University in Wales. In the UK this has recently become a common way for debut novels to find their way into print. Once in a while such a project hits the top of the bestseller list and the publishing world gets excited; a famous recent example would be Emma Healey’s Elizabeth Is Missing, which is also being filmed for television in the UK. However, these successes are rarely genre-based titles, and horror as a genre is often overlooked in these types of literary and writing university courses. To the best of my knowledge, Leo Hunt’s YA horror 13 Days of Midnight is a rare example of a success from the field of the supernatural. I read elsewhere that Marshall Moore’s PhD also covered the intersection of ghost stories, both Western and Chinese, with horror. On paper this is a potentially fascinating project, but as a supernatural novel Inhospitable fails to click and is an uninspiring read.
You can read Tony's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read Tony's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
October 14, 2018
Mr. Moore has created a delicious novel !
Ghost stories are not my first choice in reading, but this story keeps the reader intent, seeking more, as the plot intensifies.
I have not visited Hong Kong, but I felt a familiarity in the descriptions and locations.
Of particular note were Mrs. Tong Who Swallowed Wrong, Wing, Liang Guo Rong, Mrs. Cheung, and the act of jumping from a high place. Fascinating, to say the least.
A sadness, also for the changes in Hong Kong, the differences, losses, and influence of mainland China. Much has been taken from the Hong Kong of past memories.
However, the story remains well composed, and exciting ! A well rounded group of characters. I adored Isaac. The cat ???? Ha haha ...
Liked the references to a home state, North
Carolina.
Readers will thoroughly enjoy this. Here's to a true Chinese ghost story.
Thank you, Mr Moore.
Ghost stories are not my first choice in reading, but this story keeps the reader intent, seeking more, as the plot intensifies.
I have not visited Hong Kong, but I felt a familiarity in the descriptions and locations.
Of particular note were Mrs. Tong Who Swallowed Wrong, Wing, Liang Guo Rong, Mrs. Cheung, and the act of jumping from a high place. Fascinating, to say the least.
A sadness, also for the changes in Hong Kong, the differences, losses, and influence of mainland China. Much has been taken from the Hong Kong of past memories.
However, the story remains well composed, and exciting ! A well rounded group of characters. I adored Isaac. The cat ???? Ha haha ...
Liked the references to a home state, North
Carolina.
Readers will thoroughly enjoy this. Here's to a true Chinese ghost story.
Thank you, Mr Moore.
September 26, 2018
Magnificent page-turner
Moore writes a magnificent page-turner with Inhospitable. The story captivated this reader, as it led the reader on a haunting and unnerving journey. There was a lot of detail and brought the reader right in the middle of Hong Kong, especially with the culture. Lena is one character that is unforgettable, as she struggles and is far from perfect, but now, she has to deal with Chinese ghosts, which are not the "usual" types of ghosts she is used to. I look forward to reading more work from this author. This book was definitely one of those unforgettable journeys into the spirit world.
Moore writes a magnificent page-turner with Inhospitable. The story captivated this reader, as it led the reader on a haunting and unnerving journey. There was a lot of detail and brought the reader right in the middle of Hong Kong, especially with the culture. Lena is one character that is unforgettable, as she struggles and is far from perfect, but now, she has to deal with Chinese ghosts, which are not the "usual" types of ghosts she is used to. I look forward to reading more work from this author. This book was definitely one of those unforgettable journeys into the spirit world.
July 4, 2020
Inhospitable is a fresh take on a ghost story, deliciously blending two cultures - Hong Kong and the American South - into a tale of perseverance, love, and mystery. The main characters are fully-realized, including Hong Kong itself. It is a great novel for the arm-chair traveler.
Above all else, this is a novel about doing what it takes to survive in a world that would just as soon see you dead--or worse.
Above all else, this is a novel about doing what it takes to survive in a world that would just as soon see you dead--or worse.
September 18, 2024
Funny. Unnerving. Fascinating. Powerful moments of genuinely chilling images. Essential reading for anybody who has set foot in Hong Kong for more than one night. Not just because of the insight into ghosts in Chinese culture, but because it encapsulates, with great hilarity and precision, the unique details of living and experiencing the 'Fragrant Harbour'.
February 18, 2019
A funny, haunting, and bittersweet page-turner. As a hongkonger born and raised local, I love how vivid and authentic the city is depicted in the novel. Mr Moore has done a splendid job and I’m looking forward to more of his work in the future
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews