Spirits Abroad {expanded edition}

I really enjoyed Zen Cho's Hugo-winning novelette "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again," about an imugi trying to become a dragon but instead falling in love with a grad student, so I was delighted when I obtained an advance copy of Spirits Abroad, a collection of her short fiction from the past ten years. (There was an earlier edition a few years ago, but this one adds a few stories.) Cho is a Malaysian-British writer of fantasy, and the stories here are organized into three sections.

The first, Here, is made up of stories set in Malaysia. Many, if not all of them, simply take Malaysian folklore beliefs seriously, and tell stories about them in the modern world. I really enjoyed almost all of them; we have stories about an show more emigrant to America coming home for her grandmother's funeral (but she's a witch), about someone who does smell magic and befriends a cat, about a young girl who gets wishes from a fish pond, about a young vampire. Many are about not fitting in and not meeting expectations because you emigrated, because you're a lesbian, because you can't do as well on tests as your parents would like. They have a certain appeal to the sf&f reader in that the Malaysian "worldbuilding" is pretty immersive, with little explanation of a bunch of terms that I, at least, did not know. But I like that kind of thing in my sf, so why wouldn't I like it when reading about a real culture that is "alien" to me?

The second, There, are stories set in the "West," mostly the UK, but just one in the US, but still largely drawing on Malaysian mythology. "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" is in this section. Other highlights included a story about an awkward girl trying to save her college roommate from a bizarre stalker (who might be a mythological creature) and "Prudence and the Dragon," which is about a dragon coming to London for a sacrifice of a beautiful maiden... but he falls in love with someone who hasn't even noticed he's there. (This story takes place, I think, in the world of Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown novels.) Again, there's a lot of good stuff here; clever twists on mythology, and nice observation of culture clash. I don't think I bounced off a single story in this section.

Lastly comes Elsewhere, stories set in other worlds. This section is the only one where I really bounced off any stories; I didn't care for one told entirely in a sort of mythological register. I like sf&f... which is not quite the same thing as myth, even if they are related. But there are a couple good ones, "The Earth Spirit's Favorite Anecdote" and "The Terra-cotta Bride"-- the latter is about automata in hell! My favorite was "The Four Generations of Chang E," the book's sole science fiction story, about lunar colonists and the way we have expectations for future generations and neglect the lessons of past ones.

I think I can claim this is the best single-author short story collection I've read in the last year (it edges out Exhalation for me), and I wish the short fiction Hugo Award finalists I'm currently working my way through were as consistently good as this is. show less

Zen Cho's Spirits Abroad brings together a gorgeously weird collection of speculative fiction that entrances, touches, and provokes. So many of these stories embrace the best of weird fiction while exploring characters and worlds who feel so real as to be worthy of whole novels, and yet Cho walks a perfect, nuanced line of offering their encapsulated stories in a manner that's simply inspiring. It's also worth noting that while some single-author collections can be one note in style or emotion or theme, this collection is anything but--every story brings new emotion, new themes, and new surprises...and where there are rare connections, they are wonderfully surprising and worthwhile.

Whether you're looking for the dark or the light, the show more weird or the wonderful, this collection offers so much to fans of speculative writing of any sort, and it's made me an absolute fan of the author's for life.

Absolutely recommended. show less

What an exquisite short story collection, one of the best I’ve read in a while. I’ve been meaning to read more by Zen Cho, so I am glad I found this book.

The writing is wonderful, and so is the humour. I know next to nothing about Malaysia, so it was interesting to get glimpses of culture and mythology. I had fun googling the food (which was a big mistake – awwwwwwww). I loved the characters' speech patterns. (Also, I’ve learned an extremely, ahem, impolite Chinese expression.)

“The First Witch of Damansara” – a prodigal daughter returns to Malaysia for a funeral. There is magic, laughs for the reader, and family dynamics. I loved Nai Nai!

“The Guest” – Yiling, a consultant magician of sorts, gets a cat “In this way show more affection returned into her life…” There is the most unexpected and loveliest twist at the end.

“Fish Bowl” – a koi will grant you any wish, but there is a price. An excellent horror story.

“First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia” – I would have loved to go to this conference! Hilarious, romantic, and sad.

"Odette" – a broken and abused child grows into a broken woman. There is a magic house. I did not care much for this one.

"House of Aunts" – a story about a family of pontianaks (these are scary!) and teenage love. It was absolutely adorable (I laughed my head off) and heartbreaking.

"Balik Kampung" – Lydia, a hungry ghost, is planning to see her husband in the world of the living. There is tragedy and some humour. Not a great, but a good story.

"One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland" – a boarding school in England is attacked by fairies. It ends more or less well. I liked how the fairies were depicted here.

"Rising Lion – The Lion Bows" – a lion dance troupe does ghost-hunting jobs on the side. Wonderful, humane, touching story.

"Seven Star Drum" – another lion dance troupe story. Too short, but entertaining.

"The Mystery of the Suet Swain" – there is a creepy stalker at the university. I liked it a lot! There is awesome girl power.

"Prudence and the Dragon" – this one is set in Sorcerer to the Crown universe, but in modern times. A dragon comes to London. Loved it! (Lots of laughs guaranteed.)

"The Perseverance of Angelas’ Past Life" – Prudence’s best friend from the previous story gets a story of her own. It’s a lovely one about the past selves we repress and try to forget for various silly reasons.

"If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again" – an imugi is trying to become a dragon. Another five star story in this collection☺

The Earth’s Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote – An Earth Spirit is just trying to find a home! I liked the narrative voice and the ending is pretty cool.

Monkey King, Faerie Queen – Monkey King goes to Fairyland, with predictable results. Great stuff☺

Liyana – a sad and beautiful magic child story…

Terracotta Bride – I have read this one before, and loved it.

The Four Generations of Chang E – deals with immigration, letting the connection to your roots decay, either through rebellion or the passage of time. There was poignancy there, but the story and the world building felt incomplete. show less

I received a copy of this collection through the LT Early Reviewers program. I had read Zen Cho's novelette "The House of Aunts" back in 2015 and greatly enjoyed it, so I had high expectations for the rest of the stories here. And I think the collection mostly met my expectations.

Overall these are solid short stories and novelettes, mostly set in Malaysia or Malaysian immigrant communities in the UK. All of the stories draw from Malaysian or Chinese folklore and traditions, which made for a refreshing break from the sometimes overused Western fantasy tropes. (Although Western fairies show up, too, in "One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland" and the delightful "Monkey King, Faerie Queen.") That said, all of the cultural references are show more integrated organically into the story, rather than being explicitly detailed for those unfamiliar with the concepts or language. I appreciated this approach (no clumsy infodumps!), but don't go into the book expecting to be spoon-fed information about pontianaks or the Ghost Festival.

All of the stories are well-written, even if I didn't love all of them. My favorites were "Monkey King, Faerie Queen," "The Terra-Cotta Bride," "The Mystery of the Suet Swain," and "The House of Aunts." show less

I really liked the settings and imaginative use of folklore in these tales, and Cho is very good about letting readers pick up terms and ideas from context rather than resorting to info dumps.

I don't think the short story is really Cho's best format, though: I felt the stories tended to wander and not always come to anything. I'm interested enough by Cho's style that I do want to check out her novels.

An eARC from Netgalley.

I liked this anthology very much. It collects Cho's short fiction, which is Malaysian inspired fantasy, both historical and contemporary. The only thing I had a hard time with was the Malay language/dialect; it took a bit of getting used to the cadence and the Malay slang (a glossary might have helped; it seems other editions had this).

The stories themselves reminded me of Roald Dahl, bittersweet, often with a sting in the tail, but great fun. 2 stories I'd encountered before, If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Again, and The Terracotta Bride, but the other stories I'd not read before.

Recommended (although best read in a more traditional format - PDF doesn't play nicely with ereaders).

The original edition of Zen Cho's award-winning short story collection Spirits Abroad has long been on my wishlist, but it is somewhat difficult to come by in the United States. And so I was absolutely thrilled to discover that Small Beer Press would be releasing an expanded edition of Spirits Abroad and even more delighted to receive a review copy of the volume through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. Spirits Abroad is a treasure trove of fantastical and queer stories, a diverse array of tales drawing inspiration from Malaysian folklore, British magic, and more. After reading the collection I immediately sought out everything else written by Zen Cho, the stories were consistently that good. I absolutely loved Spirits Abroad; show more the volume is easily one of the best releases that I read in 2021. show less