Kampung Kreepy

Photo: Netflix.com Anyone who has caught Kingdom , the Netflix South Korean television horror series, knows it is addictive. It’s also a must for any fan of the zombie subgenre. The series features fast-paced action and on-the-edge-of-your-seat tension. It has palace intrigue, beautiful and lush settings, good fight scenes, and some amazing costumes. It’s set in the Kingdom of Joseon, Korea’s last dynastic kingdom, which lasted from 1392 to 1897. It’s a turbulent period. The Japanese are a constant threat, while villages at the kingdom’s borders have to make peace with the warring tribes. The best part, of course, are the zombies. These aren’t George Romero’s shambling automatons. The Kingdom zombies are quick, nimble, nasty, single-minded, and very, very hungry. The makeup is superb, and their movements when they awake is creepy as hell. If you’ve seen Train to Busan   (2016), you know Koreans know how to do zombies. Photo: Netflix.com For fans (including myself) eagerly awaitin

How do you like your horror movies? With lots of slicing and dicing, and blood splatter everywhere? Or do you prefer jump scares and edge-of-the-seat tension? How about a mounting sense of dread? The slow burn toward terror? I’m generally not big on serial killer/slasher flicks. I couldn’t finish watching The Midnight Meat Train (2008), for example. It's way too gory and violent for me. I also haven’t seen any of the Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. I prefer dread and atmosphere. I want chills that send cold fingers down your back, that will stay with you for days. I like the sort of movie that—when you think you’ve forgotten all about it—suddenly plays back in your mind at 3 in the morning when you’re alone and you just heard a weird sound in the next room. The movie also gets bonus points if it has a strong female protagonist. Below are 10 movies that I particularly liked. They aren’t big box-office hits and they haven’t been shown widely in theaters nationwide. Two

Have you ever stumbled across a reference to “qi” in a book about feng shui? Ever wondered what the five feng shui elements are? These are some pretty cool notions, let me tell you. They’re perfect for a magic system in an urban fantasy novel. This is the second in a series of posts in which I discuss the ideas and concepts behind my novel The Geomancer’s Apprentice . The book is—you guessed it!—an urban fantasy adventure that is loosely based on Chinese culture and mythology. It revolves around superheroes known as Dragon warriors who can manipulate qi, the life force that underpins the universe. (Click here if you want to read the first post, in which I provide a guide to the terms, objects and monsters that appear in the book.) Junie Soong, my main character, is in her early 20s and stuck in a series of dead-end jobs. Her mother talks Joe Tham, a relative who runs a struggling feng shui business in Washington, D.C.,’s Chinatown, into hiring Junie. She discovers her Dragon power

There are other ways to celebrate the Fourth of July if barbecue and fireworks aren’t your thing. How about some horror movies? Better yet, how about horror movies set during Independence Day itself so you can get into the spirit of the holiday without the family dynamics or the crowds or the loud noises? These four are my personal favorites: 1. Independence Day (1996) Are you ready to be patriotic, not just for the United States but for the entire human race? If you are, this is the movie for you. Aliens attack Earth on July 2. Humans all over the world join forces and take back Earth two days later. This Hollywood blockbuster is large on every scale: budget, visuals, special effects, cast, and box office receipts. It’s also nice to be able to cheer during a movie and know most of your fellow man will feel the same way. This movie is a uniter, not a divider. 2. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Four teens run over a man while driving on a deserted coastal road. They dump

Please check out my recent interview with NFReads.com :  https://www.nfreads.com/interview-with-author-yin-leong/ I discuss why I decided to write fiction full-time, the real-life stories behind my book The Geomancer's Apprentice , and what inspires my writing.