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Oct. 12th, 2014 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI took Zen Cho's Spirits Abroad with me as my airplane book for the conference I was at this week. This was a mistake. Never bring a book this good to a conference at which you expect to be busy and without any time to read for a week, because it will present a major and distressing conflict. You are now forewarned.
If you are not right now on your way to a conference or other major conflict, however, you should read Spirits Abroad immediately. Normally when I read a short story anthology I will talk about favorite stories and stories that didn't work for me, but in this case you can pretty much assume that I loved all of them? BASICALLY ALL OF THEM. Often by the time I've finished a single-author collection I'm kind of like, 'OK, I got the patterns here now, I'm ready to be out' by the time it's over, but by the time I hit the end of this collection I was like 'OK, I got the patterns here and I would please like even more of them.' (I've read some of these stories before, but now I get to enthuse about them collectively, so that's also nice!)
HERE:
The First Witch of Damansara: A woman comes home to Malaysia on a visit and has to deal with both her cranky younger sister and her also cranky possibly-undead granny. If you know of Zen Cho at all, you are probably aware that she is excellent at undead relatives, and this story is no exception.
First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia: One of my favorites! A bittersweet supernatural love story set in the middle of a political forum, with all of the background absurdity such events generally entail. I have organized conferences and forums before, so every bit of this rang hilariously true for me. I also have a huge fondness for emotional arcs between two individuals that are narrated by a confused third party and/or infiltrated by enthusiastic and nosy bystanders, and this fulfills my constant craving for that in spades.
The House of Aunts: Speaking of undead relatives! This is maybe Zen Cho's most well-known story -- it's the one about a frustrated teenage vampire (she doesn't like the other word) and her first crush and all of her loving but highly frustrating vampire aunts. It is deservedly beloved, because it's wonderful. The romance is cute and I like it a lot, but what matters most is the love that you take for granted because you can't imagine being without it.
THERE:
One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland: A riff on boarding-school magical hijinks; class of international students collides with British magic. Fun, but not my favorite; it felt a bit slighter than some of the others, and I got distracted by the fact that ALL the teachers ran away.
起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion — The Lion Bows): Another favorite! A ghost-hunting lion dance troupe runs into a ghost they don't necessarily want to hunt. AND IT'S ADORABLE.
七星鼓 (Seven Star Drum): An anecdote about the foundation of the ghost-hunting lion dance troupe. I would happily read a whole novel (or series of novels) about the adventures of the ghost-hunting lion dance troupe.
The Mystery of the Suet Swain: This story does a really good job conveying the skin-crawling creep factor of That Guy. That Guy's supernatural factor is just kind of icing on the creep cake. Also: angry antisocial lesbian protagonist defending her best friend *___*
Prudence and the Dragon: A dragon attempts to romance Prudence. Prudence would prefer to get through med school. I love Prudence, but what impresses me most about this story is the vein of absurd, creepy, delightful city magic that runs through it, because it's the kind of thing I would like to be able to do and am absolutely no good at.
The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life: One of those bits of extraneous magic from the last story starts hanging around Prudence's best friend. A story about coming to terms with yourself. I mean, lots of these stories are really, but this more directly so.
ELSEWHERE:
The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote: An earth spirit immigrates and clashes with its rude forest spirit landlord. Probably another favorite favorite; I love the voice in it enormously, and, again, the effortless, wonderful way in which the story crafts its world.
Liyana: This was good but so sad! :( Women, and roots, and homes, and the way these things are intertwined.
The Four Generations of Chang E: Chang E wins a ticket to the moon. Her daughter lives there, and her daughter's daughter, and her daughter's daughter's daughter after that. An immigration narrative, much more bluntly so than many of the other stories here that are in one way or another immigration narratives, though Zen is careful to say in her notes that it's not the only immigration narrative there is.
GOING BACK:
The Many Deaths of Hang Jebat: A story riffing on a legend I don't know, so mostly I was amiably confused by this.
The Fish Bowl: A student makes dangerous bargains with a fish spirit in order not to disappoint. Very creepy and visceral; I don't know if I'd call it a favorite, exactly, because it felt so true that it was a bit hard to read, but it's extremely good.
Balik Kampung: Ghost stories from the perspective of the ghost is another thing I love! A spirit takes a road trip with her personal demon to visit her living husband, which devolves into a food tour and therapy session. It's not hard to see where this is going, but that doesn't matter so much as how it gets there.
If you are not right now on your way to a conference or other major conflict, however, you should read Spirits Abroad immediately. Normally when I read a short story anthology I will talk about favorite stories and stories that didn't work for me, but in this case you can pretty much assume that I loved all of them? BASICALLY ALL OF THEM. Often by the time I've finished a single-author collection I'm kind of like, 'OK, I got the patterns here now, I'm ready to be out' by the time it's over, but by the time I hit the end of this collection I was like 'OK, I got the patterns here and I would please like even more of them.' (I've read some of these stories before, but now I get to enthuse about them collectively, so that's also nice!)
HERE:
The First Witch of Damansara: A woman comes home to Malaysia on a visit and has to deal with both her cranky younger sister and her also cranky possibly-undead granny. If you know of Zen Cho at all, you are probably aware that she is excellent at undead relatives, and this story is no exception.
First National Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia: One of my favorites! A bittersweet supernatural love story set in the middle of a political forum, with all of the background absurdity such events generally entail. I have organized conferences and forums before, so every bit of this rang hilariously true for me. I also have a huge fondness for emotional arcs between two individuals that are narrated by a confused third party and/or infiltrated by enthusiastic and nosy bystanders, and this fulfills my constant craving for that in spades.
The House of Aunts: Speaking of undead relatives! This is maybe Zen Cho's most well-known story -- it's the one about a frustrated teenage vampire (she doesn't like the other word) and her first crush and all of her loving but highly frustrating vampire aunts. It is deservedly beloved, because it's wonderful. The romance is cute and I like it a lot, but what matters most is the love that you take for granted because you can't imagine being without it.
THERE:
One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland: A riff on boarding-school magical hijinks; class of international students collides with British magic. Fun, but not my favorite; it felt a bit slighter than some of the others, and I got distracted by the fact that ALL the teachers ran away.
起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion — The Lion Bows): Another favorite! A ghost-hunting lion dance troupe runs into a ghost they don't necessarily want to hunt. AND IT'S ADORABLE.
七星鼓 (Seven Star Drum): An anecdote about the foundation of the ghost-hunting lion dance troupe. I would happily read a whole novel (or series of novels) about the adventures of the ghost-hunting lion dance troupe.
The Mystery of the Suet Swain: This story does a really good job conveying the skin-crawling creep factor of That Guy. That Guy's supernatural factor is just kind of icing on the creep cake. Also: angry antisocial lesbian protagonist defending her best friend *___*
Prudence and the Dragon: A dragon attempts to romance Prudence. Prudence would prefer to get through med school. I love Prudence, but what impresses me most about this story is the vein of absurd, creepy, delightful city magic that runs through it, because it's the kind of thing I would like to be able to do and am absolutely no good at.
The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life: One of those bits of extraneous magic from the last story starts hanging around Prudence's best friend. A story about coming to terms with yourself. I mean, lots of these stories are really, but this more directly so.
ELSEWHERE:
The Earth Spirit’s Favorite Anecdote: An earth spirit immigrates and clashes with its rude forest spirit landlord. Probably another favorite favorite; I love the voice in it enormously, and, again, the effortless, wonderful way in which the story crafts its world.
Liyana: This was good but so sad! :( Women, and roots, and homes, and the way these things are intertwined.
The Four Generations of Chang E: Chang E wins a ticket to the moon. Her daughter lives there, and her daughter's daughter, and her daughter's daughter's daughter after that. An immigration narrative, much more bluntly so than many of the other stories here that are in one way or another immigration narratives, though Zen is careful to say in her notes that it's not the only immigration narrative there is.
GOING BACK:
The Many Deaths of Hang Jebat: A story riffing on a legend I don't know, so mostly I was amiably confused by this.
The Fish Bowl: A student makes dangerous bargains with a fish spirit in order not to disappoint. Very creepy and visceral; I don't know if I'd call it a favorite, exactly, because it felt so true that it was a bit hard to read, but it's extremely good.
Balik Kampung: Ghost stories from the perspective of the ghost is another thing I love! A spirit takes a road trip with her personal demon to visit her living husband, which devolves into a food tour and therapy session. It's not hard to see where this is going, but that doesn't matter so much as how it gets there.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-12 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-12 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-13 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-13 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-13 12:19 pm (UTC)10000000% agree.
*rolls around in Zen's writing* She is so damn good.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-13 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-14 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-13 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-14 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-14 09:42 pm (UTC)Fish Bowl was... yeah, visceral is probably a good word for it.