Happy Halloween! Bring On the Chills With 'Joss Paper'

It’s almost Halloween! This is the perfect time to read Joss Paper, my collection of chilling ghost stories based on Southeast Asian folklore and folk practices. 

The best way to read the stories is at night, in bed, with no lights on except for one bedside lamp. Even better if rain is tapping on the roof and windows. Bwahahahaha ... 

Joss Paper is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Click here to check out the book.

An Excerpt

The buildings fell away; the road winding between the green slopes grew narrower and narrower. Trees crowded overhead, their immense trunks and spreading limbs festooned with ferns and orchids. Night descended abruptly, as is its habit in the tropics. 

Jackson, born and raised in San Francisco, wasn't used to such total darkness. He couldn't see anything at all, except the road in the headlights of his cousin's Suzuki hatchback and the occasional passing car. Insects flew at them. The thuds of their tiny bodies hitting the windshield was loud even against the hissing of the car’s air conditioning. The jungle was a forbidding black wall on either side of the road.

After 40 minutes of driving in the hills, Jackson saw lights in the distance. When they drew nearer, he saw it was a Chinese temple, brightly lit. There were red paper lanterns strung on the temple's metal fence and along its eaves. Harsh florescent light spilled out of the temple’s gaping red and gold doors.

Boon Meng drove onto an adjoining field, where vehicles were parked haphazardly. They weren't the only late ones. Groups of people were trotting from the field to the temple.

“Where are we?” Jackson asked as Boon Meng maneuvered the hatchback into an empty spot between an ancient motorcycle and a mud-splattered delivery van. 

“This temple holds a special ceremony every Wednesday night,” Boon Meng said. 

“What kind of ceremony?”

His cousin smiled mysteriously. “You’ll see.”