Popular Asian Horror Books
Find horror books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (33)
1.
Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha EN
IndonesiaDescription:
**A The White Review Book of the Year** A dazzling and provocative debut story collection from celebrated Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha, putting fierce and fabulous female characters centre stage in brilliantly funny and sharp twists on fairy tale. Inspired by horror fiction, myths and fairy tales, Apple and Knife is an unsettling ride that swerves into the supernatural to explore the dangers and power of occupying a female body in today's world. These stories set in the Indonesian everyday - in corporate boardrooms, shanty towns, on dangdut stages - reveal a soupy otherworld stewing jus... continue
2.
Astral Season, Beastly Season by Tahi Saihate EN
JapanDescription:
Astral Season, Beastly Season is the debut novel by Japanese writer Tahi Saihate. The story follows Morishita and Yamashiro, two high-school boys approaching the age in life when they must choose what kind of people they want to be. When their favourite J-pop idol kills and dismembers her boyfriend, Morishita and Yamashiro unite to convince the police that their idol's act was in fact by them. This thrilling novel is a meditation on belonging, the objectification of young popstars, and teenage alienation.
3.
Bluebeard's First Wife by Seong-nan Ha EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Ha looks closely at the sordid underbelly of suburbia in Bluebeard's First Wife, the latest from one of Korea's preeminent authors.
4.
Build Your House Around My Body : A Novel by Violet Kupersmith EN
VietnamDescription:
Part puzzle, part revenge tale, part ghost story, this ingenious novel spins half a century of Vietnamese history and folklore into “a thrilling read, acrobatic and filled with verve” (The New York Times Editors’ Choice). FINALIST FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION’S FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Good Housekeeping, Kirkus Reviews “Fiction as daring and accomplished as Violet Kupersmith’s first novel reignites my love of the form and its kaleidoscopic possibilities.”—David Mitchell, author of Cl... continue
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6.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata EN
Description:
From the beloved author of cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, which has now sold more than one million copies worldwide and has been translated into thirty-three languages, comes a spellbinding and otherworldly novel about a woman who believes she is an alien Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman was one of the most unusual and refreshing bestsellers of recent years, depicting the life of a thirty-six-year-old clerk in a Tokyo convenience store. Now, in Earthlings, Sayaka Murata pushes at the boundaries of our ideas of social conformity in this brilliantly imaginative, intense, and abso... continue
7.
Flowers of Mold : Stories by Ha Seong-nan EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Unsettling, haunting short stories in the vein of Yoko Ogawa and Brian Evenson.
8.
Formosan Vampire : From the Chronicles of Seth Ardelean the Cro-magnon Vampire by Amadeus Rockefeller EN
Description:
The Award Winning epic novel about the life of a 42,000 year old Cro-Magnon man who became a vampire king and ruled the most fearsome empire in history. In the shadowy depths of Taiwan's infamous Lyudao Island Prison, a figure shrouded in enigma and terror awaits his fate on death row. Known to a few as Seth, the formidable leader of the Dark Order, a clandestine legion of vampires, this entity's true identity remains a mystery. Why would a being of such power and darkness willingly surrender to mortal chains? It isn't until Eunice Wang, a tenacious young paralegal, steps into the cell of this... continue
9.
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi EN
IraqDescription:
*Man Booker International Prize finalist* “Brave and ingenious.” —The New York Times “Gripping, darkly humorous . . . profound.” —Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for Redeployment “Extraordinary . . . A devastating but essential read.” —Kevin Powers, bestselling author and National Book Award finalist for The Yellow Birds From the rubble-strewn streets of U.S.-occupied Baghdad, Hadi—a scavenger and an oddball fixture at a local café—collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the pa... continue
10.
Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw EN
MalaysiaDescription:
Cassandra Khaw bursts onto the scene with Hammers on Bone, a hard-boiled horror show that Charles Stross calls "possibly the most promising horror debut of 2016." A finalist for the British Fantasy award and the Locus Award for Best Novella! John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable. He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and... continue