Spirits Abroad {original edition}

Spirits Abroad is a delightful collection of short stories by Zen Cho. I’d previously enjoyed her novel The Sorcerer and the Crown and a couple of her short stories (specifically “Prudence and the Dragon” and “The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life“). Zen Cho is a Malaysian fantasy author who often combines English fantasy tropes with Malaysian life and folklore. While many of her stories deal with serious topics (such as Angela disconnecting herself from her heritage and repressing her bisexuality in “The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Lives”), they are often humorous at the same time. Zen Cho is an immensely talented writer, and I enjoyed this collection to no end.

If you want to get a taste of Zen Cho’s work without show more investing in an entire collection, many of these stories are available for free online. In “Prudence and the Dragon,” a Dragon visits London and becomes enamored with Prudence, an ordinary med student. “The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life” is a sequel story focusing on Prudence’s friend Angela. The only other connected stories in the collection are “起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion–The Lion Bows)“ and “七星鼓 (Seven Star Drum),” which follow a lion dance trope in England which uses their dances to perform exorcisms. “The Four Generations of Chang E” is a science fiction story about immigration and the different generations of one family that immigrates to the moon and assimilates (or tries not to assimilate) with the local lunar people. I’ll admit to being a bit confused by all the women being named “Chang E.” Was each successive daughter given the same name, or was this supposed to be the same woman somehow? Then again, the ambiguity only makes the story more interesting.

The last short story also available online is “The House of Aunts,” the story of Ah Lee, a young Malaysian vampire who lives with her five aunties. When Ah Lee begins to fall in love with a boy at school, the aunties are disapproving and full of dire warnings, but Ah Lee wants a life apart from them. There’s a free audio version available at PodCastle.

Other stories are only available in print, and some are specific to this collection. “The First Witch of Damansara” is the opening story, in which a young woman who’s immigrated to England has to return home for her grandmother’s funeral. Complicating matters, Vivian’s grandmother was a witch and her sister has inherited the power. Oh, and her grandmother’s spirit is hanging around and emotionally blackmailing the family to try and get the burial she wants.

“First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia” might be the funniest story in the collection, despite the title. A forum on minorities in Malaysia is derailed when an orang bunian (a mythological invisible race that lives in the jungle) arrives wanting to discuss invisible people’s rights. Oh, and the failures of the modern education system.

Probably my favorite story of the collection is also the darkest: “The Fish Bowl.” Su Yin is a student under intense pressure to perform perfectly. She’s struggling to get by when she encounters a magic koi fish. The fish will grant her wishes, but in return, she’ll have to pay in pain and blood. It’s clearly a story about academic anxiety and self harm, and it’s one I related to a tad too much. My high school could be incredibly intense when it came to academics, and it wasn’t until after graduation that I realized so many of peers were also having mental health trouble. For all its fantastical elements, “The Fish Bowl” was a little too real.

My second favorite story is “The Mystery of the Suet Swain,” which deals with stalking and harassment. Sham and Belinda are both Malaysians attending college in England and are best of friends. When someone named “Suet” begins posting photos of Belinda online, Sham is determined to get to the bottom of it and support her friend.

“Balik Kampung (Going Back)” tells of a hungry ghost returning home to see her husband and finding out why she died. In “The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote,” an earth spirit has a series of exasperating encounters with her landlord. “One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland” takes the English boarding school setting, populates it with international students, and puts them in battle with local fairies. In “Liyana,” a girl is born from a pineapple. “Jebet Dies” is my least favorite story in the collection. I can’t begin to tell you what it’s about; it makes no sense to me. Maybe I just don’t have the cultural background to understand it?

Cho uses content warnings on all her stories with options to skip to the next one if you so choose. I decided to read them all, but I appreciated the warning. It might have been useful if I was having a bad anxiety day. Anyway, this was a fantastic collection that I highly recommend.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. show less

This is a collection of Urban Fantasy stories – “Urban Fantasy” in the more traditional (think Charles de Lint etc.) sense of magic spilling into everyday life rather than the more recent (think Charlaine Harris) of sexy vampires and werewolves. It also is a collection of stories by a Malaysian author, and the tales are deeply steeped not only in Malaysian folklore but also in the languages of Malaysia – a very distinctive way of using English which is generously peppered with (presumably) Malaysian terms, not to mention all kinds of exotic foodstuffs. I was glad to be reading this on a Kindle, as that way I could at least easily look up the latter, but of course I did not get very far with the words from Malay that way; so be show more prepared to be puzzled a lot or have frequent recourse to the internet search engine of your choice.

This might have come across as an affectation, the real world equivalent of third-rate Fantasy authors splashing made-up words all over their texts to make them look more exotic, but you never get that feeling reading Spirits Abroad: For one thing, Zen Cho is emphatically not a third-rate writer, but emphatically first-rate and her generous use of Malayan terms is actually a case on point – even if you do not the meaning of the words she uses (and I admit to having often been too lazy to look them up), there is a rhythm to her sentences, a rhythm that is slow and easy but none the less compelling for that, and a melody to her sounds, a melody made of vivid and intense tone colours (and on a side note, the cover of the e-book version of this collection really fits the stories perfectly).

It all combines to a very distinct, unique narrative voice that remains identifiable and close to itself even through various narrators. In fact that is the single small niggle I have towards this collection – the narrators, in particular those in first person, always seem in danger of becoming indistinguishable, of running together in the larger auctorial voice. It never quite happens (hence this is a really minor thing) but I at least felt there was a potential problem here. In any case, if one was to describe Zen Cho’s narrative voice, I think the term that will most likely come first to one’s mind is “charming” – there is such an obvious delight the narratives take in themselves, in the sheer act of their telling, the spinning out of their tales in this colourful, highly rhythmical manner that it seems impossible for any reader to not become enchanted by that voice and then enthuse about it in turn.

So far so remarkable – but what I think makes this collection really stand out and lifts it from the merely very good to the truly excellent, is that Zen Cho somehow manages to use that charming voice – which seems made for cute, lovely stories – to tell some very dark and occasionally even gruesome tales, the apparent innocence of the narrator’s tone heightening the haunting effect these stories have on the reader. While there are several quite wonderful stories in Spirits Abroad that are funny and heartwarming, the one that tend to stick in the reader’s memory (this reader’s, anyway) are the ones where the charm is layered over or shot through with a darker tone, like “The First Witch of Damansara” or “The House of Aunts”. The latter one in particular (according to the author, her take on Twilight – and in retrospect, you can see where she is coming from there, although I never would have noticed just from the story, it is just so different) has a huge emotional impact and I can understand why that is apparently the most popular of her stories.

This was a really enjoyable collection, and I’m eager to read more by Zen Cho – she has a novel coming out in September, described by Naomi Novik as “An enchanting cross between Georgette Heyer and Susanna Clarke, full of delights and surprises.” Needless to say, it went on my preorder list straight away. show less

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho is a collection of short fiction by the author of Sorcerer to the Crown and several other works of fiction that I've enjoyed. I bought the book some time ago, when I read Cho's other work, but only just got around to reading it, mostly thanks to challenging myself to read more short stories. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for putting it off for so long.

Overall, I loved this book. Of course, I didn't love every single story, but I thought most of them were great and there were only a few stories that didn't click with me. The collection is divided into three sections: Here, There, Elsewhere, and Going Back, which is an interesting thematic grouping of stories. The "Here" stories were mostly set in Malaysia, show more the "There" stories were mostly set in the UK, the "Elsewhere" stories were either set in non-Earthly or non-specific locations, and the "Going Back" stories were mostly set in Malaysia but perhaps not quite. All the stories had some sort of fantasy element to them. For the most part this structure worked well. Out of fifteen stories, there were only four I didn't love, which is a pretty good hit rate. I also liked how the stories had author's notes which could be read after the story or skipped entirely and the ebook was set up with handy links to take you between story and notes and back to the next story with minimal effort.

The stories all (I think?) have some Malaysian elements to them, which Cho does not shy away from. We are treated to Manglish and mythology/folklore and a good dose of humour (although I should note that not all of the stories are funny — some are a bit depressing). There were a few stories that were linked by being about some of the same people, including two set in a contemporary version of the Sorcerer to the Crown world, which I would love to read more of.

If you've been following my short story reading challenge, you will have seen some of my comments on the individual stories in this collection. I am still including my usual story-by-story commentary, but it might feel a bit repetitive. Sorry about that.

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Here

The First Witch of Damansara — A delightful story about a Malaysian woman living in the West who goes home to KL for her grandmother’s funeral. An excellent and very entertaining read that reminded me how much I love Cho’s writing.

First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia — This story had a bit of a slow start before the spec fic element came to the fore. It was interesting, but it was a bit sad and less inherently amusing by its nature.

House of Aunts — a longer story about a teenage girl with a surfeit of aunts, all of them undead. Being sixteen and undead is not so bad when you have so many aunts looking after you, but not being allowed to have friends at your new school is a bit harder. An excellent story on the longer side (novelette range by Hugo definitions) that’s slightly gory (people are eaten) but otherwise a fun read.

There

One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland — Malaysian (and other nationalities) girls at an English boarding school in the present-day countryside come up against fairies, the malicious kind. An amusing and quick read.

起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion — The Lion Bows) — A lovely story about a lion dance troupe and the ghost they’re paid to get rid of.

七星鼓 (Seven Star Drum) — Another lion dance story which, I was delighted to learn, has some crossover characters with the previous story. It also conveyed the main character’s love for the lion very well.

The Mystery of the Suet Swain — A story about boys being creepy and a stalker and female friendship, set at university.

Prudence and the Dragon — A hilarious story set in a present day version of the Sorcerer to the Crown London. I think the most I’ve laughed in this collection so far and there were heaps of delightful background/worldbuilding details that really made the story.

The Perseverance of Angela's Past Life — Sort of a sequel/companion story to the previous, focussing on Prudence’s best friend Angela. Unlike Prudence, Angela is very sensitive to magic and close proximity to a dragon caused some of her issues to physically manifest. Another amusing story. I would be more than happy to read a novel set in this time period of this world.

Elsewhere

The Earth Spirit’s Favourite Anecdote — the story of finding a hole in the forest and dealing with a forest spirit, told by an earth spirit. Not my favourite story in this collection.

Liyana — a depressing but really fascinating story. A class of folklore idea that I don’t think I’ve come across before. But also, more than metaphorically about women’s sacrifice for the family.

The Four Generations of Chang E — A story about being the child of immigrants and fitting in or not. Also aliens on the moon. And from the authors notes, some mythological subtext that went over my head.

Going Back

The Many Deaths is Hang Jebat — was a bit confusing and I was a bit lost as to where it was going until I read the author’s notes and saw that it was based on mythology I had no knowledge of. The summary in the author’s notes made yet a bit clearer and I can now see what the author was trying to do, but the story doesn’t work that well on its own.

The Fish Bowl — a dawning horror story about the pressure to do well in school and a concerning bargain with a magic fish. Harrowing. I quite liked the story, but I wanted a bit more from the end than we got, I think.

Balik Kampung — a story about a ghost returning to earth for the Hungry Ghost Festival and, in the course of events, finding out how she died. A good story to end the collection on. Some humour, some sadness.
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In general, I want to read more of Cho's writing and look forward to getting my hands on the short stories not included in Spirits Abroad while I wait for the sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown to come out. I highly recommend Spirits Abroad to fans of short fiction and spec fic. There's a lot to like about this collection and I think more people should experience it.

5 / 5 stars

You can read more reviews on my blog. show less

This collection of short stories from young Malaysian author Zen Cho (full disclosure: a friend of a friend) is absolutely delightful.

Zen Cho has a light touch that takes the sting out of her sometimes spiky tales of ghosts and spirits. There's a sense of humour and a fearsome resilience in her characters - both her heroines and their 'aunties' - that utterly endeared them to me. The tales are from a Malay tradition of spirits and the author takes no prisoners here - the prose is peppered with Hokkien phrases, with no glossary provided. You work it out from context, and it never gets in the way.

Most of the tales are set in Malaysia, with a couple set in the UK, one in Japan and one on the Moon. Those in the UK were two of my favourites: show more a group of Malay teenagers at an English boarding school unexpectedly fending off an attack by an army of enraged faeries, the teachers having decamped over night; and a visit from a dragon come to claim his traditional due, resulting in a massive upsurge of magical activity that turns the city on its head as he tries to woo his preferred bride.

The stories tackle topics ranging from self harm, self knowledge, family honour, interracial relationships and immigration. All share a warm core, and there are repeated themes of the importance of family, friendship, respect and compassion.

Highly recommended. Unexpectedly comforting reading for a collection of ghost and spirit stories. show less

I finally came back to reading Zen Cho's collected short stories, which I'd started in 2014. After reading Sorcerer to the Crown and feeling somewhat disappointed that the voice I'd loved so much in her other work felt buried in Heyerese, I went back to the earlier stories to see if I was remembering correctly. And I was. I'd read The House of Aunts years ago (there is also an excellent audio version of it at Podcastle), but it still packed a punch. No wonder it's one of her most read and commented-on stories. It combines coming-of-age, fantasy, and family, and it's embedded in a culture that is both foreign to me and familiar (a culture without Aunties must be a barren one indeed).

The stories are set "here," "there," and "elsewhere," show more with here being Malaysia and there being primarily the UK. Cho draws on her own experiences as a college student and then immigrant in Britain, and some of the stories are linked together.

There are lots of words and expressions, mostly Malay ones, which I didn't understand, but it didn't matter. Cho has author's notes for each story, placing it in a context, and I enjoyed reading those after I'd read the story itself (or sets of stories when they were clearly linked). But I didn't need them. The stories do just fine on their own. They blend communities, insider-outsider status, friendship, a hint of romance, boarding-school tropes, and many other features. Some of them are reimaginings and extensions of familiar works of fiction, but everything feels fresh and original. College, school, and early adulthood are recurring themes, and so is making a familiar community in a new setting.

Cho's voice in these stories is the voice in The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, if you've read that. It's also the voice in Sorcerer, but more rooted in her Malay side. One of the stories, which features a dragon in London and an understated romance, feels like a precursor to Sorcerer (in mood and voice, not in plot), and it was delightful.

Highly recommended. show less

All of these stories are good, and some are excellent. Mixtures of family, spirits, ghosts, tumbled with wry humor and spread across the various landscapes to which those who have lived in Malaysia may have moved, at least temporarily - or in the case of hell, more or less forever until reincarnation.

I keep thinking I don't like anthologies as much as novels, but maybe it's just that I don't like multi-author anthologies as much as novels because they can be hit and miss as regards my personal taste; whereas Zen Cho's stories are pretty universally spot on regardless of the variety of characters and settings. Her voice very quickly 'infected' my mental voice, a disconcerting but fun effect.