Kampung Kreepy

This traditional festival is also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day. It occurs annually on the 15th day after the spring equinox.  Qingming is a time for Chinese people all over the world to honor and thank their ancestors. They observe the festival by tidying, sweeping and/or weeding the graves of their forefathers. They also burn joss paper and incense, and make food offerings at the gravesite (or columbarium, depending on where their deceased relatives reside). According to the Chinese concept of ancestor worship, it’s important to keep your ancestors happy. The ancestors will reward you by blessing your life.  The festival is referenced in my novella Offerings for the Dead .  Read the book for free by subscribing to my newsletter!

Are you tired of waiting for that sequel, or the third or fourth installment of your favorite book series?  Why wait? The Geomancer’s Apprentice is one of the books in this month-long BookFunnel event that showcases completed urban fantasy series. It’s hours and hours of magical reads and adventures.  Click here to check it out. You may just discover your next favorite author or books!

I love folklore, and I’ve always been fascinated by folk horror. It’s a subgenre of horror that uses folklore, folk beliefs, urban legends and/or paganism to evoke fear and dread. The stories are usually set in rural or isolated areas, and themes include the clash between the old and the modern, and man versus nature.  In terms of fiction, Thomas Tryon’s 1973 novel Harvest Home is a classic. Other examples include Stephen King’s short story “Children of the Corn,” and his novel Pet Sematary . More recent gems are Adam Nevill’s The Ritual , and Andrew Michael Hurley’s Starve Acre .    As to movies, The Wicker Man springs immediately to mind. In the 1973 film (there is a 2006 remake but I prefer the creepier original), a police officer travels to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle to find a missing girl. He discovers, to his mounting horror, that the island residents practice a particular form of Celtic paganism.  More recent folk horror movies include Midsomm...

Five stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I enjoyed reading this, which I picked up because I’m curious about folk horror. The anthology is a nice mix of the old and new. The stories include those written by the old horror masters such as M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood. It also features more modern writers such as Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison.   It’s a good introduction to folk horror. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for something in this horror subgenre. My favorite stories in the anthology are “The Gypsies in the Wood,” “Porson’s Piece,” and “Ancient Lights.”

Did you know today, Jan. 29, is the first day of the Chinese New Year?  Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival, doesn’t start on a set date because it’s based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The New Year begins whenever the new moon rises between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20.  Among other traditional ways to celebrate, families gather together on New Year’s Eve for a reunion feast. Red is considered a lucky color, so people decorate their homes with red items, including lanterns and wall hangings, for the New Year. It is auspicious to wear red clothing on New Year’s Day. People also give red packets (known as “hongbao”) containing money to their kids and younger relatives to wish them luck and good fortune for the year.     2025 is the Year of the Snake, with wood as the element. In Asian belief, the snake isn’t sinister. Rather, it’s associated with beauty, wisdom and introspection. The snake is also associated with yin energy, whi...

Wonka is charming, whimsical, and heartwarming. But it’s hard not to like a movie centered around chocolate. Full confession: I haven’t watched the original 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. I saw the 2005 version, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp in the main role, and thought it was okay.  I enjoyed Wonka so much more. Timothee Chalamet brought a touching innocence to his role as Willy Wonka. The other cast members did a great job as well. I laughed harder at Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa than I thought I would.  I loved the movie’s set designs. The U.K. locations in which Wonka was filmed, including Oxford and Bath, are simply beautiful and added much to the movie’s magic.  An enthusiastic two thumbs-up from me.