The Places You Will Go

A Feast of Ghost Stories

From Tots to Teens, StarMag

IT’S not a Malaysian tradition to tell ghost stories at Christmas, but it used to be quite the done thing in Britain to gather around the fire place at Christmas and swap spooky tales.

I suspect that the practice was greatly encouraged by the cold weather at that time of the year in Britain – ideal for huddling in front of a blazing fire. Christmas is also when the family gets together, so there’s a crowd listening together, and maybe even more than one storyteller. Of course, now that there’s television, and DVDs and such, no one wants to hear grandma tell how she met the devil in the churchyard one freezing winter’s night.

Christmas time also coincides with the Celtic midwinter or winter solstice, supposedly the second most haunted time of the year (the first, for the Celts, is Samhain, celebrated at the end of October to mark the transition from “lighter” summer to “darker” autumn), and that must be another reason why ghost stories are told during the season.

For the Chinese, the most haunted time of the year is during the month of the hungry ghosts. This is when the spirits of those who died hungry, prematurely or unjustly are allowed back into the world of the living. They come seeking revenge and are mollified with offerings of food.

In the small town in Malaysia where I grew up, the hungry ghost festival was marked with displays of food in the marketplace. I loved the spectacle of rows and rows of tables heavily laden with delicious edibles. Most eye-catching were the whole pigs, several in their pink skins, several more roasted a crisp golden brown, all with apples or peaches in their mouths.

Monster Classics

First, the Bennets had to deal with zombies. Now the Dashwoods have to deal with sea monsters.

That's Colonel Brandon on the cover - looking very like Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Carribean movies.

And if you agree Austen's novels need to be livened up with the undead and other beasties, the new sequel to Pride and Prejudice, My Darcy, Vampyre, reveals that Lizzie's dashing new husband has an aversion to garlic and crucifixes.

Hands, Teeth and Disintegrating Noses

By DAPHNE LEE

From Tots to Teens, StarMag

ZOMBIES. Hmmm .... I've never found zombies scary. They're pretty disgusting, but I'd be more likely to laugh at them than run screaming or cower under the bedclothes. I invariably think of zombie movies as comedies. Rotting men and women with bits falling off ... so what? Is it because I used to work in a hospital that bloody putrefecation holds no horror for me?

Perhaps if they moved more quickly ... I mean, sure it's horrible to be eaten alive but if you can outrun those that want to make a three course meal out of you then what's the big deal? Plus, a few whacks with a chair and they fall apart. Of course zombies might be a metaphor for demanding, permanently emotionally-hungry men who fall apart easily. Now, that's something to keep you up nights!

Bright Lights Down Under

Over in Australia, the results of the Aurealis Awards were announced on 26th Jan, around the same time as the ALAs.

The complete list of winners can be found here.

From the website's "about us" page: "The awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis Magazine, to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers."

Amongst those honoured on 26th Jan were Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia (best illustrated book.graphic novel) and Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock (best young adult novel). Marchetta also won the Printz award over at the ALAs.

What a Scream!

This review, in The Guardian, of Ryu Murakami's novel Audition caught my eye - surely it's what that very disturbing film (of the same name) is based on, but there's no mention of it by the reviewer, Irvine "Trainspotting" Welsh.

The English version of the book has been published by Bloomsbury. I think the cover image gives the story away.

This is not a ghost story, but a creepy and rather violent thriller. Welsh says, "Murakami does not spare us the blood and gore, and dog lovers of a squeamish nature might be advised to skip this novel." Indeed. The scene (in the movie) in which the contents of a certain sack suddenly moves is one of the most scream-worthy I've ever witnessed.

Some spooky novels I like:
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Ring by Koji Suzuki (over Christmas I bought Dark Water, a collection of ghost stories by Suzuki. The title story was made into American and Japanese films, as was Ring.)

Hardboiled by Banana Yoshimoto

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I also like the ghost stories of M.R. James. Elizabeth Bowen also has some very good, rather unusual ones.

After Harry

Yes, there is life after Harry Potter ...

Junior Reading Room

The first book in a new trilogy and a ghost story are the two novels featured in today's Junior Reading Room in StarTwo. The other titles are picture books including Barbara Lehman's latest wordless effort and the surreal tale of a dog and his strange encounters of the six-legged kind.

Cut out the coupon (available only in the newspaper) to enjoy 25% discount, on the featured books, at Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Pictures Save the Day

First published on 8th March, 2002 in StarTwo

Review by DAPHNE LEE

ONCE

By James Herbert

Publisher: Macmillan, 400

(ISBN: 978-0333761403)

Scary Stuff

I interviewed Tunku Halim (left) on Friday and felt like a worm when he said that hardly anyone had reviewed his Children's History of Malaya.

(I interviewed him when that book was first published.)

I squeaked: "I mentioned you in my column."

OK, so it was a very, very brief mention ....

No excuses, so let's just look forward to his new book, 44 Cemetery Road, a compilation of his supernatural shorts.

For what it's worth, I still read CHM to my kids and have recommended it to a couple of home-schooling centres (where it is now used). The book makes history interesting for children. History is, of course, interesting anyway, but most textbooks have an uncanny knack of turning bloody battles, scandals and betrayals, turbulent lives, cruel dictators and courageous people into chunks of boring, lifeless facts. Quite a gift, that!

To get your kids interested in Malayan history, get them CHM.

And check out Tunku Halim's blog Write Lah! Writing for Malaysians.

44 Cemetery Road is due out in April.

Dead and Alive

I'm currently biting my nails over Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, which is part-detective, part-horror fiction, about a group of scholars investigating the truth behind the legend of Vlad the Impaler, the cruel medieval ruler whose crimes formed the basis of the myth of Dracula.

Reading this book, prompted me to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula. Coincidentally, two new versions of the classic tale arrived on my desk about a month ago: an illustrated edition, and a graphic novel.