Prayer of the Oni 6: The Storeroom

It was all behind her and she was back in the courtyard with the shrine gate and compared to the hell beneath the earth, which still clung to her through the stench of the dead on her skin and the blood on her face, it was almost beautiful. She entered it through the hole in...

Prayer of the Oni 5: The Bottom of the Well

Now she found herself in a fully-enclosed corridor with solid wooden walls on both sides, a kind of transitory area that led north and south and east as well. It was sparse in decoration, with only a few lanterns and a window above to let the moonlight in, it was as well thick with dust...

Prayer of the Oni 4: The Tunnels

In her dreams she saw that face from the wooden pendant that was the face of the oni grinning at her with its demonic countenance set in a snarl. It made no sound but watched her in the dark. Its teeth were fangs and its eyes were crimson and it would not let her escape....

Prayer of the Oni 3: The Courtyard

They came to the estate in what she supposed was within the Hour of the Rooster when it was dark but not yet midnight and the streets were quieting and great Heian-kyo was coming to rest with lanterns dimmed and doors closed, all voices behind wood and only the drunk and the dead out in...

Prayer of the Oni 2: Wisteria Tree Lane

2: Wisteria Tree Lane It was the first time that she had ever bathed indoors. She washed herself in a wooden tub with water taken from the hot spring beneath the inn they were staying at, and the water was warm and welcoming and while in the bathroom of the inn the girl did not...

Prayer of the Oni 1: The Market

“The reason why sinners are deceived by their own minds to suffer these cycles in this hell is because of their wrongful passions. The wardens scold the sinners by chanting a verse: ‘’Tis not another who acted evil; ‘tis not another who’ll receive its retribution. One reaps the fruits of one’s one actions; so it...

Jaroslav Kalfar’s Spaceman of Bohemia, A Review- On Visible/Invisible Places, The Czech Republic, And Mo Yan’s Diseased Language

Last year I read the novel Spaceman of Bohemia, a scifi tale of the Czech Republic’s first astronaut venturing into deep space for a dangerous solo mission, a man doing so trying to atone for his family’s communist past, who runs into trouble and meets an alien and thinks a lot about home. It was...

Carrying Pictures of President Sun – Political Ritual, Political Failure, And A Short, Inaccurate History Of The Kuomintang

So there’s this image I really love. It’s a picture taken by an American serviceman in Taipei, Les Duffin, and it depicts a street parade during Taiwan’s National Day back in 1965 – also Double Ten Day, anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution that brought down the Qing Dynasty and begat the Republic of China, whose...

HONG KONG GIANT – EPILOGUE: MY NAME IS ANNA CHEUNG

EPILOGUE: MY NAME IS ANNA CHEUNG “I got a question, sir.” “Oh?” “It, um, might sound stupid.” “Go ahead. “How the hell do you prosecute a learning network?” Han lit up, looking out across the water. “Thing is,” he said, studying the opposite shore. “You don't.” For a few seconds he and Detective Wang, bright-eyed...

HONG KONG GIANT 6B – THE BLACK GOD

6B/THE BLACK GOD They watched the video five times and then watched it one more, Anna in her chair with the laptop in front of her and Wong on the desk staring with a furrowed brow at the screen and saying nothing. Leung and Tseng, the other two guys, were watching too; but really it...