I would like to thank Tor UK for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Tor

Published – Out Now

Price – £18.99 Hardback £9.99 kindle eBook

Drawing inspiration from Asian myth, folklore and her own queer experience, the award-winning Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho will guide you from the mundane to the magical, to enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers.

We’ll meet an elderly ex-member of parliament, who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian. This was forbidden. Not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. Then a teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, 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.

Across nineteen sparkling stories, this is a journey into magical new worlds of the imagination.

One of the most fascinating things about stories is how they always are talking to us about being human now. That can be even if you’re battling the undead, exploring the far reaches of space or even in a world of magic and wonder. Stories reflect us and can also show us sides to people we’d never expect. I am very delight at the range, quality and power of the stories in Zen Cho’s brilliant short story collection Spirits Abroad. Which play with the worlds of our own and magic to achieve a wonderful and often funny and humane set of tales (often all at the same time).

Cho delights in this collection mixing and sometimes clashing worlds. This can be magic and human; Malaysian and British or often older and younger generations. As a brilliant example of this the starting tale The First Witch of Damansara shows exactly what Cho can do using all three. Vivian returns to her family home in Malaysia as her grandmother the fierce and independent Nai Nai passes away. Vivian now lives abroad has her fiancé and is dreaming of the big white wedding dress but is then getting startled with apparently Nai Nai is becoming a ghost and restless spirit. This tale on a sixpence turns from family drama and conflict especially with Vivian’s angry younger sister. Funny as Nai Nai actually has her own agenda and then just when you think the story is simply for laughs, we get some honest discussion about family dynamics and people talking to one another and how they’re feeling. It’s a wonderful story to read. Another such example is ‘First national Forum on the Position of Minorities in Malaysia’ the title reflects the setting of a small citizen’s assembly, and we have the initial comedy of lots of people from various groups all not quite listening to one another and our young organisers finding out a magical being has arrived. Again, while the humour is funny then we get to the heart of the story as a love story between a human woman and a mysterious spirit is a tale of decades, missed chances and the politics of how women were treated. It ends on a beautiful note of hope for the future.

Another favourite is ‘The House of Aunts’ a tale of a house of vampires and the youngest Ah Lee who is still attending school and finds her first crush. This story captures that annoying feeling when your family knows you’re in love. The off-beat humour of a household where human organs are always in the kitchen and then moves into horror as Ah Lee’s not yet a boyfriend rejects her and finds himself in danger from elderly women who can eat flesh. Then like a storytelling virtuoso the tale subtly shifts into the tale of Ah Lee’s creation of a vampire and the tonal shifts to this story are powerful and delivered with a quiet narration that brings everything we’ve seen so far together.

The fantastical ‘One-day Travelcard for Fairyland’ tells of Malaysian students in an English school now faced with a fairy attack. Thes are not nice fairies they’re vicious. Cho throws in finding friends; the weirdness of posh schools and an interesting approach on fairies that means the story fizzles with energy and speed, and you want to see how they can survive the day. A very impressive story is ‘Rising Lion – The Lion Bows’. A Chinese dancing lion troupe is hired to a new English hotel. But this group has a secret reputation they’re effectively exorcists using the Lion dance to banish spirits. This tale deals with the humour of seeing how western hotels use eastern culture’s history and  décor in mystifying ways. The contrast between our group of young students being ghostbusters and then brilliantly with the reveal that the ghost was a former young slave who had to live in this house the tale talks of Britain’s colonial past and shame. The solution is beautifully heat-warming too.

Some stories are shorter but no less powerful with ‘The Guest’ telling us about a young witch Yiling with magical powers slowly developing a relationship with er cat who may not be human. The bond they share is lovely and is a contrast to the tale of unrequited love that Yiling must unentangle.  Our dancing lion troupe appears again in ‘Seven Star Drum’ with the haunting tale of a young boy who sees ghosts and more alarmingly they see him. How he got into the group and the finale all neatly wrap this tale up.

‘Prudence and the Dragon’ deals with a young woman finding herself the attention of an immortal and powerful dragon spirit and she doesn’t realise this is a romance in the making for quite a while. It’s a tale of relationships; friendships rising and falling and coming back together and accepting people on their own terms. Funny, human and heartwarming all at the same time. Then one of the key characters gets explored in ‘The Perseverance of Angela’s Past Life’ as a young woman finds the ghost of her younger self trying to get her attention. This tale deals with loss of self and realising that her sexuality has been hidden far too long. A beautiful ending to this duo of tales

While others are much darker as in ‘The Fish Bowl’ which deals with teenage pressures and self-harm as Su Yin a student dealing with lots of exam and family pressure; decides to make deals with an apparent benign magical fish in a pond. But blood is the price, and the tale carries a haunting cost that lingers in the memory. More horror but of the quiet powerful kind is ‘Odette’ where a woman finds herself living after her parent’s death with her miserable and controlling Uncle Andrew. He’s a fantastic monster of a human being – cruel and wants everything his way so much so we don’t mind when Odette decides enough is enough, but this tale of revenge has a very sad ghostly reveal to come that suggests nothing will ever change.

‘Balik Kampung’ deals with a recurring theme in the collection of ghosts and Hell in this case the brilliant idea of a time when all ghosts can leave to visit the mortal world and we see the resultant magical traffic jam it creates in hell. Our main character Lydia wants to get away from it all but her personal (and really not that frightening) demon wants food but also think Lydia should pay more attention to how they died. It’s another tale balancing the humour of mediums, a demon who really wants good food and the secret that led to Lydia’s death all cleverly coming together and making you re-appraise the characters relationships. We return to Hell for ‘The Terra-Cotta Bride’ where Siew Tsin is a young woman who has died passing the time before her reincarnation is due and ends up married to a much older man and residing in hell. But she is but one of three wives. The eldest who often dismisses her and a new walking terracotta one who never ages and knows everything. A really powerful story that deals with generational issues; loss of control and adds in hidden love affairs and ultimately is about learning to let go and be ready to start your own life.

As you’ll probably guess I love this collection. Stories that can be magical, funny, dark and explore humanity all at once are the best kind of stories for me to read and reminds me why I often think Zen Cho is perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett as they share the same excellent ability to tell stories that make a reader laugh and also think at the same time. Run and get this – you will not be disappointed. This is strongly recommended!