Welcome to Week 5 of Horror Matsuri! We'll have another flash story and a poem coming up on Thursday and Friday, plus a blog tour stop on Saturday. Check the calendar here for more details. Today's wonderful contributor, Maggie D. Brace, also had a Persian horror poem published on October 15th. You can check it... Continue Reading →
HORROR MATSURI #7: ‘DECEPTION’ BY THERESE CHOON
It's Week 4 of Horror Matsuri, and this is Therese Choon's second publication in the series! Check out her poem 'Qingming; Clarity' if you haven't already. Today, enjoy a very creepy yōkai story 🙂 DECEPTION Therese Choon Yokohama comes alive at nine PM, thriving on flickering neon signs and the faint buzz from low-lying electric... Continue Reading →
HORROR MATSURI #6: ‘RUBIES & GOLD’ BY KELLY MATSUURA
HORROR MATSURI #6 / INSTINCTS POETRY #13 How is it Week 4 already? Time to crank things up! We have 3 posts this week, and 4 coming next week...Stay tuned! Today I'm sharing my own freestyle poem. I was inspired by the Indian and Persian myths of a creature similar to a sphinx or chimera,... Continue Reading →
FEATURED BOOKS 2020: ‘BLACK CRANES’ ANTHOLOGY
I have the perfect book recommendation for Horror Matsuri - Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, edited by Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn and just released on September 26, 2020. I picked this up yesterday and can't wait to read it! And how awesome is this cover? Blurb: Almond-eyed celestial, the filial daughter, the perfect... Continue Reading →
HORROR MATSURI #5: EYE FOR AN EYE’ BY MAGGIE D. BRACE
HORROR MATSURI #5 / INSTINCTS (POETRY) #12 Welcome to Week 3 at Horror Matsuri! Only 2 posts this week, but we have a lot of content coming from Oct 23rd to 31st. Today's poem introduces a new Insignia Stories contributor, Maggie D. Brace. Maggie tells me that this poem was inspired by an article from... Continue Reading →
HORROR MATSURI #4: ‘House #197, Argyll Road’ by Deborah Wong
I hope you're all enjoying Horror Matsuri so far! Today we have a horror story by Malaysian writer, Deborah Wong. Deborah was featured in our Author Spotlight earlier this week, and is a contributor in the Southeast Asian Fantasy Drabbles anthology (links follow the story). HOUSE #197, ARGYLL ROAD by Deborah Wong Beware of the... Continue Reading →
Horror Matsuri #3: ‘Spooky Yuki-onna‘ John H. Dromey
HORROR MATSURI #1 / INSTINCTS (POETRY) #11 It's Week 2 of Horror Matsuri, and time for more poetry! John H. Dromey is a regular Insignia Stories contributor, with micro-fiction in both Insignia Drabbles volumes and a great Japanese story in our recent Castles & Kimono anthology. He also has another poem scheduled for Horror Matsuri... Continue Reading →
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: DEBORAH WONG
Welcome to Week 2 of Horror Matsuri! Our Author Spotlight this week introduces Malaysian writer, Deborah Wong. Deborah is a new Insignia contributor this year, with her drabble 'Confession of a Part-time Stalker' in Southeast Asian Fantasy Drabbles, and a story featuring here on the Insignia blog this Friday (October 9th) for Horror Matsuri titled,... Continue Reading →
Horror Matsuri #2: ‘One Last Splash’ by Umiyuri Katsuyama & Toshiya Kamei
Welcome to the first week of Horror Matsuri! I hope you enjoyed Therese Choon's poem yesterday. Today I'm sharing the first flash fiction piece. This is an 800-character (in Japanese) story by author Umiyuri Katsuyama, kindly introduced to Insignia by Toshiya Kamei. One Last Splash By Umiyuri Katsuyama Translated by Toshiya Kamei The Li clan... Continue Reading →
HORROR MATSURI #1: ‘QINGMING; CLARITY’ BY THERESE CHOON
HORROR MATSURI #1 / INSTINCTS (POETRY) #10 Kicking of Horror Matsuri, we have a poem by Therese Choon! This poem describes a night on 'Tomb-sweeping Day' which is a Spring Equinox holiday in Asia, but we're happy to share it on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. 🙂 Therese also has a new flash... Continue Reading →