Kampung Kreepy

On a recent road trip to southern Virginia, we stopped by the Union Level ghost town, which touts itself as the state’s most photographed ghost town.  The town of Union Level, like so many other jurisdictions in the South, went through periods of bust and boom. Situated in the heart of Virginia’s tobacco country, Union Level prospered alongside the vast plantations that surrounded it.  The Civil War in the 1860s hit the town hard. In the early 1900s, the Southern Railroad ran a line through Union Level, and it began to thrive again.  Then came the Great Depression in the 1930s, from which the town never recovered. Businesses shuttered and people departed. The final blow was dealt when the rail line left in the 1980s.  Tobacco is still grown in the nearby farms. All that remains of the once-bustling town, however, is a row of derelict storefronts and a church.  As I was photographing the ghost town, I was startled by something moving between the buildings. To my ...

Under a Hunter’s Moon , the second book in my Pearl Dragon series, will be available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle Unlimited starting Aug. 1. If you can't wait, you can pre-order the novella right now!  Blurb A castle in the French Pyrenees. A priceless relic.  Art thief Pearl Tham is presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And the truth is, she can’t afford to pass it up. The underworld art community has shunned her following the disastrous tomb-raiding incident in China a year ago. Pearl has another reason to take the job. She has her eye on something that could secure her reputation with her customers. The assignment, however, isn’t what it seems. An unforeseen complication springs up, the lycanthropic kind. Pearl is forced to fight for survival under the light of the full moon. It helps that she herself is one ornery, tough-to-kill, badass bitch. Pick up this fast-paced adventure if you like strong female antiheroes, Asian magic, and werewolves! Click here to che...

My novella Offerings for the Dead is now available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle Unlimited! The book features Pearl Tham, a grave robber and art thief with magical abilities. She can manipulate qi, the vital essence or life force flowing through living as well as non-living things.  If you’ve read The Geomancer’s Apprentice series, you’ll know that Pearl is geomancer Joe Tham’s half sister, and a thorough badass.  Offerings for the Dead is the first book in the Pearl Dragon novella series, revolving around Pearl’s early adventures in her quest for treasure and relics.  Under a Hunter’s Moon , the second book in the series, is now available through pre-order . The books were previously available only to my newsletter subscribers. I hope you check out the new novellas. I’ll be adding to the stories in time. This series is for you if you want a quick read with fast-paced action. Blurb for Offerings for the Dead A tomb hidden in a remote mountain in China, filled with treasu...

Happy first day of summer! The Geomancer’s Apprentice series is on sale for U.S. and U.K. readers from today until June 24. The first book, The Geomancer’s Apprentice , starts at $0.99. Please check the stores for U.K. prices.  The series features two underdog feng shui consultants who find, to their dismay, that they must save the world (or at least the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area). The magic system is based on feng shui, the monsters are terrifying and straight out of Asian folklore, plus there are ghosts!  These books are for you if you like stories with high stakes, magical bloodlines, monster slaying, fast-paced action, family drama, and redemption and second chances.  What readers are saying ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ~ “Empowering, fun, and excellently written” ~ “non-stop action, that will leave your heart racing” ~ “truly original urban fantasy” ~ “An absolute page turner” ~ “These stories really are some of the most wonderful urban horror I've ever read and the way Taoism i...

If my mother told me ghost stories, it was my father who gave me my love for reading.  My father was a voracious reader. When I think of him, I invariably picture him on his favorite chair in the living room, his face buried behind a newspaper or in a book.  There was always a pile of books by that chair. He read widely, but he especially enjoyed spy thrillers, mysteries, and police procedurals. He got me my first library card, and we went together to the library until I was old enough to travel there on my own.  When my reading improved, I started borrowing his books after he finished them. I was probably too young for some of them, such as Peter Benchley’s Jaws , and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist . I remember not understanding half the words in The Exorcist (which was probably a good thing).  I’m starting to look more and more like my father as I grow older. Like him, I’m often in my favorite chair reading the newspaper on my computer. I’m surrounded by book...

My father was an avid reader and gave me my love for reading, but it was my mother who told me ghost stories. She came from a family and a culture that believed wholeheartedly in ghosts, so she believed in ghosts too. That weird creak from the stairs? Must be a ghost. The strange shadow on the wall when nothing is near? Definitely a ghost. The noise in the middle of the night that almost sounds like someone calling your name? Don’t answer because it is most assuredly a ghost! I will always treasure the memories of me and my mother watching horror movies together on TV. She was of a time that didn’t believe in childhood trauma, so she had no problem letting her five-year-old watch the scariest programs. I will also treasure every ghost story that she told me. All of them were true, she said, and some were so frightening they made my hair stand. I myself am mostly skeptical, but I continue to love ghost stories, so much so that I’m now writing my own. I’ve tried to capture the flavor of ...