The Shadow Book of Ji Yun: The Chinese Classic of Weird True Tales, Horror Stories, and Occult Knowledge

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"A new and wholly fresh mother lode of 'true weird tales,' ... the only real comparisons to Shadow Book's treasure trove of bizarre stories, full of humour, horror, suspense, magic and mystery, are Japan's Kwaidan, the Thousand and One Nights, and most certainly Pu Sung-ling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." ―Fortean Times

"Written more than two centuries ago, Ji Yun's 'true weird stories' prove that humanity's greatest fears are timeless."
—Rue Morgue

Imagine if H.P. Lovecraft were Chinese and his tales were true. Or if a national, political figure like Benjamin Franklin was also a paranormal investigator—one who wrote up his investigations with a chilling, story-telling flair that reads like a combination of Italo Calvino, Lafcadio Hearn, and Zhuangzi. In China, at roughly the same time that Franklin was filling the sky with electrified kites, a figure existed who was a little bit of both these things. He was Special Advisor to the emperor of China, Imperial Librarian, and one of the most celebrated scholars and poets of his time. His name was Ji Yun.

Beginning in 1789, Ji Yun published five volumes of weird tales and ghost stories that combined supernatural autobiographical accounts with early speculative fictions. Combining insights into Chinese magic and metaphysics with tales of cannibal villages, sentient fogs, alien encounters, and fox spirits; as well as accounts of soul swapping, haunted cities, and the "jiangshi" , there is no literary work quite like that of Ji Yun.

Awards and Honors of Individual Pieces

*Finalist for the 2020 [Gabriel García Márquez] “Gabo” Award for Literature in Translation
*Selected for New England Review’s 2020 Haunting and Haunted Issue
*Selected for Strange Horizons’ Samovar Quarterly Special Issue
*Nominated as “Best Microfiction” by Cincinnati Review
*Nominated as “Best of the Net” by Passages North
*Nominated as “Best of the Net” by Cincinnati Review