#spirits abroad

[travellingdragon]

Ascension - inspired by If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho

[smokefalls]

Past a certain point, you stop being able to go home. At this point, when you have got this far from where you were from, the thread snaps. The narrative breaks. And you are forced, pastless, motherless, selfless, to invent yourself anew. At a certain point, this stops being sad—but who knows if any human has ever reached that point?

Zen Cho, "The Four Generations of Chang E" from Spirits Abroad

[wizardsvslesbians]

Wizards Vs. Lesbians: SPIRITS ABROAD (JUST THE LESBIAN PARTS)

You already know we love Zen Cho, so we decided to do an easy breezy runthrough of the gayer stories in her ever-expanding short story colle

What more is there to say about Zen Cho? Read this collection and get charmed, get educated, get emotionally compromised.

[thegirlwiththelantern]

Insta: @ littlepiscesdreaming

[themonsterisinlove]

My copy of Zen Cho’s “Spirits Abroad” just arrived. :)))

“Prudence and the Dragon” was my introduction to Cho’s writing and it was so goddamn charming I’ve reread it several times since. Then I realized it was part of a collection of Zen Cho’s short stories, I listened to the audiobook on Libby (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller who did an AMAZING job), and I loved it so much I immediately ordered the above print copy. (And now I’m branching out into Cho’s full length novels, just started reading “Sorcerer to the Crown” this week.)

Now I’m going to sing it’s praises while keeping in the theme of this blog. Do you like monster romance? Do you like monster boyfriends, monster girlfriends, nonbinary monster datefriends? Queer monster romance? Do you want to read about non-western monsters/spirits/myths? READ SPIRITS ABROAD. Not every story in the collection has romance, but they all feature spirits/monsters from or inspired by Malaysian and Chinese stories/myth/folklore. Many of them also touch on immigration, diaspora, generational memory.

You can also find a lot of the stories from the collection online, free and legal! I’ll link to some below:

Prudence and the Dragon - near and dear to my heart. Monster romance, features Prudence, one of my favorite protagonists ever

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again - queer monster romance! This one made me a little weepy, but in a good way

Monkey King, Faerie Queen - not romance but IT’S SO GOOD PLEASE READ IT. One of my faves from the collection, it’s just a really good time from start to finish.

The First Witch of Damansara - not romance. A story about family drama, and an undead grandma!

The House of the Aunts - teen monster romance. another one of my faves, this one is SO fun and charming and heart-wrenching please read it!!! (tw for mentions of pregnancy and death during childbirth)

The Four Generations of Chang E - the only sci-fi in the collection, I think. Features alien romance, kind of?

起狮，行礼 (RISING LION — THE LION BOWS) - not romance. A sweet ghost story.

Okay, this has been my ramble about how much I love this collection of short stories. Please check it out and come scream about it with me.

[ireadiguess]

I just love the way Zen Cho writes about magic. It's so unique and creative and you can tell how much love she has for it.

[tanda-soal]

Shelf-Confidence BPC | December 22: Unprecedented Times

What better way to deal with these unprecedented times than to wash all your worries away

[smokefalls]

“It’s already suffering enough to be a woman,” Ah Lee recited. “Don’t need people to eat you some more.”

Zen Cho, "The House of Aunts" from Spirits Abroad