Guest post written by Harbour of Hungry Ghosts author Eliza Chan
Eliza Chan is a Scottish-born speculative fiction author who writes novels and short fiction about East Asian mythology, British folklore and reclaiming the dragon lady. Her debut fantasy novel FATHOMFOLK, published in 2024, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Her latest novel, HARBOUR OF HUNGRY GHOSTS, a historical fantasy set in mid-Opium War era Hong Kong, was released in summer 2026.
About Harbour of Hungry Ghosts: Babel meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer – a family of demon hunters find their hands full when unfamiliar monsters start stalking the streets of Opium War-era Hong Kong, in this historical fantasy adventure from No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Eliza Chan.
It might seem too early to be talking ghosts, but unlike the West when Halloween and the darker evenings are the time for ghost stories, in many parts of Asia and for the Asian diaspora, it’s the long summer nights that are the prime time: telling stories around a campfire, fanning yourself as the old house creaks its bones under you, listening to the incessant thrum of insects outside. It’s also when Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, August 27th this year. This is when the gate between the living and the dead is opened and forgotten ghosts come to sate their appetite. The perfect time to read a creepy book or two about vengeful spirits, the hopping undead and all things the monstrous.
My recently released novel, Harbour of Hungry Ghosts, is about exactly this. Babel meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a historical fantasy adventure filled with action scenes, banter and horror-comedy. Kiamling is a rookie monster hunter in the mid 19th Century, used to dealing with hopping vampires and hungry ghosts. When her grandmother is captured by a mysterious shadow beast, she realises the British may have brought their own monsters across the ocean.
If this sounds like your kind of cuisine, here are some other book recommendations featuring East and Southeast Asian ghosts and monsters.
The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
Dean’s sophomore novel defies classification as it takes the reader on a dizzying rollercoaster of twists as the eponymous girl with a thousand faces stalks protagonist Mercy Chan. It’s simultaneously set in 1940s and 1970s Hong Kong, an urban fantasy and a literary ghost story, about unfinished business, trauma and revenge. Trust me, just read it.
Bat Eater and other names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
Having seen her sister pushed in front of a subway train before her eyes, apparently the only logical profession for Cora Zeng is crime scene cleaner. The novel spirals as the New York Chinatown murders pile up and Cora’s point of view is claustrophobically discomforting as she starts seeing ghosts everywhere. Not for the faint of heart.
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
A gothic haunted house story but make it Vietnamese, queer, diaspora and colonial. Jade is determined to keep her head down whilst visiting her estranged father in Vietnam over summer but the colonial house he is restoring has other ideas…
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Li Lan is offered a way to save her bankrupt family, become the ghost bride of the deceased son of an affluent family. Set in 19th Century Malaysia, The Ghost Bride is filled with real traditions around the dead, lingering ghosts and a young woman finding her own voice. One to savour.
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
Closeted Jessamyn Teoh drifts after graduating from Harvard and finds herself back in Malaysia. Tasked by the rather persistent ghost of her grandmother, she must stop real estate developers demolishing a local temple. It starts with Zen Cho’s trademark lightness but the women of the novel are satisfyingly complex and it takes darker turns than expected.
Prodigal Tiger by Samantha Chong
Catherine Chua, daughter of a prestigious magic family, is living in exile in New York because of something terrible she did in the past. However when her brother is abducted by vengeful ghosts she is summoned home to Penang to help. Action-packed and filled with diaspora feels.
