Cirrus@Austlit

'The Dolobs are real. They are a despicable race of unknown origin, whose skin color is 'darker than the Indians and lighter than the Chinese'.

'Tan Sri Ismail Ismail aims to become Malaysia's richest man. Like other locals, he hates the Dolobs.

'One day, he fires his office tea lady, Lani. In revenge, Lani, with the help of a female shaman, places a curse on him. He suffers a stroke but survives only because he is building a dam in the valley where the shaman lives. She wants him to delay the dam's construction. The tycoon agrees, but on one condition: she must kill Lani.

'To ensure he carries out his promise, the shaman secretly lures his jewelry-obsessed wife and two sons to the valley. Accompanying them are her handsome driver, a stockbroker and his spirit girlfriend.

'Last Breath serves alternate history, magic realism and gothic spooks with a healthy dollop of satire.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'7 stories. 7 days.

'Read each tale on its set day …

'And you shall see a ghost.

'Tempted? Slightly scared?

'For it may just be true.

'The human mind works in disturbing ways. These 7 dark stories are born from such a place. They include a smartphone App that's just far too helpful, a shrine no one should visit, a world on the edge of destruction, a were-tiger that seduces a maid, and a woman who doesn't age.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Evil awaits. You see it in your neighbour’s glimmering eyes. You hear it in the footsteps at the dead of night. You smell it in the frangipani blossoms on a wet lonely road.

'It hides in all shapes and guises. The fiendish bomoh ... a murderous Datuk ... a vengeful long-haired spirit ... the psychotic colleague ... and a naked bloody vampire.

'It restlessly awaits in this haunting selection of Tunku Halim’s dark and gripping stories.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Yan is a young girl whose mother has died. She has been invited by her aunt, Mak Ina, to come to live with her in Setang, where she cooks for the territorial chief, Dato Nan. Yan has no marriage prospects because of her club foot and a black birthmark the size of a guava on her cheek. Even the Japanese soldiers she sees on the way leave her alone. She is warned by her aunt not to venture out at night alone. Of course, she needs to and sees a tiger. It seems to disappear and then she sees Dato Nan. Her aunt says to tell no one about it but tells her a story.'

Source: SFRevu (http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=14272). (Sighted: 18/2/2014)

'What choices would you make if you could live your life all over again?

'A young rock star is pursued by a female spectre. He flees to a seaside village where he had once tried to kill himself. Back then an old man had rescued him and taught him the guitar. But now what dark secrets will a repulsive shaman reveal? And does the lovely Juriah mean to haunt him to death?

'Juriah's Song is a horror love story that will grip you to the very end.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'21 Tales of Horror and Imagination.

'Evil waits. In the tangled rows of terrace houses, in the shifting shadows of watching trees, in the gleaming corridors of the shopping mall.

'It hides in all shapes and guises. Meet the lustful seducer... a bloodthirsty vampire... the tongue-ripping cat... a deadly sexy maid... the knife-wielding psychopath.

'It restlessly waits, in this spine-chilling selection of Tunku Halim's very best stories.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A Vietnamese prostitute. A taxi driver. A serial killer. A Sydney pimp's fate is somehow link to the 1957 murders in Malaya. Rake knows that the strange dust storm, which has viciously killed his two friends, is after him. Only Alihuddin, the shaman, can save his life. But can Hazni, the medicine woman, save his soul? Curse upon curse. Murder upon murder. This is a story of lust and revenge. Of love and fear. With a plot that unwinds and strikes like a cobra. A chiller of thriller that will shock you to the bone.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The myths and folklore from the Malay peninsula is not something the Western World has been much exposed to. Tunku Halim now takes us into that dark, superstitious realm.

'This is the tale of Shazral who was terrorised by a demon as a boy, growing up in a small village. After his mother dies mysteriously, Shazral leaves for the city and becomes a lawyer, forsaking his father and his home. When he returns to his dying father, he learn his “inheritance” is to follow his father, to become a shaman, to heal the sick and protect the village from the demon.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.