The Speculators & Other Short Stories: A Most Excellent Collection of Supernatural Tales in Chinese Magical Realism (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798195507152)

In these twelve supernatural tales set in the modern day cities of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, we bring the reader on a modern rendition of Chinese magical realism, where stock trades and barters are made, lessons are taught, dreams are found, business agreements are struck, and justice is served.

What happens when the supernatural intrudes on the ordinary, and the magical is entwined with the everyday - in this age of TikTok, stock market volatility, livestreaming, night shifts, and PSLE exams?

Twelve stories. Twelve cities. Twelve encounters with the strange.

Among the highlights:

• In "The Speculators" A young professional chases his dream job at a Shanghai hedge fund, but just how far will he go?
• In "Secrets of the Deep" Everyone in Dalian wants to know, how exactly did Sister Li make her fortune
• In "Master of the Heist" An undercover cop thinks he'd seen it all, until a mission of the type he has never come across
• In "Night Ride" A taxi driver in Hong Kong finds out a dark secret from his passenger
• In "Bunny Rose Cakes" A tech entrepreneur has the trip of a lifetime in Shangri-La
• In "Preferred Vendor" A barbecue shop owner gets an order of a very special kind
• In "Detention" An heir in Taipei gets a lesson he never had growing up
• In "Boy-Boy & Girl-Girl" A pair of twins in Singapore find extra help in the stressful lead-up to their PSLE exams

The uncanny does not announce itself, but often coexist with the mundane on the same plane, in the space defined by both tradition and modernity. Justice is served - though not always by the expected hand. Love is offered - though not always by the person in mind.

Witty, textured with motifs on the intersection of magical realism and modern society, and shot through with fascinating secrets and rich detail, these stories ask what we carry with us across time, across places, across the thin border between the world we can see and the one we cannot.

For explorers of modern Chinese society & that of the Chinese diaspora, and for anyone who has ever felt that a world - just at the edge of perception - was out there.

Author: Arthur Hsiao
ISBN-13: 9798195507152
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 05/04/2026
Pages: 308
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d