Description

Journey through enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers, drawn from East Asian and Malaysian myth and folklore, in Zen Cho’s magical Spirits Abroad . . .

‘A joy to read’ – Veronica Roth, author of Divergent

We meet an elderly ex-member of parliament who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian, forbidden not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. A teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunts, first love . . . and eating people. A mischievous matriarch returns from the dead to disrupt her own funeral rites, pitting granddaughter against granddaughter. An earth spirit becomes entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord. And Chang E, the Chinese moon goddess, spins off into outer space – the ultimate metaphor for diaspora.

Spirits Abroad won the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction, and contains the Hugo Award winner ‘If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again’

‘Absolutely fantastic . . . A wonderfully satisfying and immersive reading experience. Get it, stat’ – KJ Charles, author of The Magpie Lord

‘This collection is a delight . . . Just as I’d decided on a favourite, along came ANOTHER FAVOURITE, and ANOTHER’ – Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light

Publisher Review

Among the best short fiction I’ve encountered . . . This collection was a joy to read — Veronica Roth author of Divergent Absolutely fantastic . . . A wonderfully satisfying and immersive reading experience. Get it, stat — KJ Charles, author of The Magpie Lord This collection is a delight . . . Just as I’d decided on a favourite, along came ANOTHER FAVOURITE, and ANOTHER — Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light Spirits Abroad is a fantastic and fun exploration of the borders between human and spirit and life and death, by one of the best fantasy writers working today — Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries By turns hilarious and heartbreaking – and always sharply smart — Aliette de Bodard, author of The Red Scholar’s Wake Spirits Abroad is speculative fiction at its best! Zen Cho has created a collection of modern-day classics . . . Charming, warm and heartbreakingly relatable, Spirits Abroad is pure magic! — Vanessa Len, author of Only a Monster Spirits Abroad is deliciously fun, dazzlingly clever, and my favourite-ever short story collection, bar none. Read it now!’ — Stephanie Burgis, author of Snowspelled Zen Cho’s stories manage the rare and precious feat of being smart, witty, wise, horrific, and comforting all at once — Kate Elliott, author of The Sun Chronicles Series Absolutely gorgeous . . . Just as with her novels, Cho merges humor and relatable characters with delightful prose and engaging storylines — Buzzfeed A swath of delightful and intricate stories from a wildly inventive storyteller — Kirkus Reviews