Interview With NFReads.com

-

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. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Jiangshi': the Hopping Vampire in Chinese Folklore

-
Image
My latest book  The Corpse Ritual features a vampire-like Chinese folklore monster that some of you may recognize. It’s a “jiangshi,” which means “stiff corpse” in Mandarin. Those of you who’ve watched the Mr. Vampire Hong Kong comedy movies from the 1980s will be familiar with this creature. It’s basically a reanimated corpse. Its appearance depends on how long it’s been dead. It hops because its limbs are stiff from rigor mortis.  In Chinese popular culture, the jiangshi usually is shown wearing clothes from the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911). Although it’s called a “vampire” in the movies, there are major differences between a jiangshi and a vampire.  A jiangshi— doesn’t drink blood. It sucks a person’s life essence, or qi. isn’t good-looking or suave. behaves more like a zombie. doesn’t turn into a bat. doesn’t command other creatures of the night. doesn’t sparkle in daylight and won’t ever get the girl (or guy). The hopping corpse folklore supposedly dates back to olden t
Read more

Cracow Monsters, Myths and Memories

-
Image
I just watched the first season of Netflix’s Cracow Monsters . It’s been a treat, especially since my husband and I spent a few days in that lovely city in 2018 and I love folklore and mythology. In the series, a medical school student and her classmates investigate strange events involving missing and dead children, resurrected corpses, and ancient Polish gods. While the storyline was pretty run-of-the-mill urban fantasy, there were quite a few suspenseful and hair-raising moments. The acting and the production quality also were good. What I especially liked was how the makers of the series took care to film in many of Krakow’s most iconic landmarks. That includes the city's Main Market Square, which dates back to the 13 th century and is the largest medieval town square in Europe. I loved seeing the square, the Vistula River, Wanda’s Mound and, of course, the Wawel Dragon in the series. The Wawel Dragon You can’t talk about Krakow without touching upon the Wawel Dragon. Acc
Read more

Halloween Countdown: the Story Behind the Jack-o'-Lantern

-
Image
As an author who writes urban fantasy books based on Asian myth and magic, you know I like folktales and mythology. I was delighted to find that October 11 is Myths and Legends Day. What better way to celebrate that, AND the spooky season, than to tell you the Irish folktale behind the jack-o’-lantern? It all starts with a man they called Stingy Jack. Jack invited the Devil to drink with him. He didn’t want to pay for it, so he tricked the Devil into turning himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy the drinks. Before the Devil could turn back, Jack put the coin in his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from transforming back to himself. Jack agreed to release the Devil only if he promised to leave Jack alone for one year. Jack also made the Devil promise not to take his soul should he die within that year. Before the year was up, Jack tricked the Devil again by making him climb a tree to get fruit. Before the Devil could climb down, Jack trapped the D
Read more