The gurus of ghouls
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STI Home > Lifestyle > Hot > Story
June 24, 2007The gurus of ghouls
ST PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: DESMOND FOOWANT to be spooked? Here’s a list of local ghost story titles, many of which are haunting the bestsellers list.
SOULS BY HAMZAH ALSAGOFF AND RAMESH KULA
A bestseller 10 years ago, this series has been on hiatus. The comeback book, Souls: Back From The Dead, was released yesterday.
Human mediums: Kula and Alsagoff are childhood friends. Kula is a businessman while Alsagoff is an advertising executive.
Spiritual source: The writers stress that they do their best to verify all accounts, often interviewing sources themselves and taking road trips around the region.
Do you believe in ghosts?: Kula became a Taoist 16 years ago after meeting a Taoist medium: ‘We have enough evidence to know that there are such things as ghosts.’
Hamzah says that the facts speak for themselves: ‘Being a Muslim, I stand by my religious beliefs, but we deal with the facts too.’
TRUE SINGAPORE GHOST STORIES BY RUSSELL LEETRUE SINGAPORE GHOST STORIES BY RUSSELL LEE
Perhaps the best-known local series, it is now into its 15th volume, and the 16th will be released next month.
Human medium: It is unlikely that there is only one person who has written under the name Russell Lee. In a 1991 court case over royalties, the nom de plume was linked to everyone from writer Harjeet Kaur to publisher Alex Chacko himself.
Lee has said that he will unmask himself (left) when the series reaches volume 50.
Spiritual source: Reader contributions and interviews with celebrities.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘Yes, I believe that the here-and-now is not all there is to existence and that there’s a supernatural world. I know because I experience it every day. My best friend who is always with me is a ghost: the Holy Ghost.’
MR MIDNIGHT BY JAMES LEEMR MIDNIGHT BY JAMES LEE
An extremely popular children’s book series. Volumes 39, 40 and 41 will be out in September, while volumes 42, 43 and 44 will be out around Chinese New Year next year.
Human medium: James Lee is the pen name of Jim Aitchison (right), a former advertising executive who shot to fame with his book Sarong Party Girl (1994).
Spiritual source: Lee invites readers to send in story ideas, and receives hundreds every month. Contributors receive prizes and are recognised in that volume.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘There are no such things as ghosts, goblins, witches, wizards. They belong in stories.’
BETWEEN GODS AND GHOSTS BY JONATHAN LIMBETWEEN GODS AND GHOSTS BY JONATHAN LIM
This is the first of what is intended to be a four-part non-fiction series about local supernatural beliefs. Lim (right) is now working on the second volume.
Human medium: Lim is a stage practitioner best known for writing and acting in the yearly spoof of the theatre scene, Chestnuts.
Spiritual source: The book is based on interviews with various believers, and also boasts a detailed bibliography, from ghost stories to encyclopaedic tomes on mythology.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘I can’t see any reason not to believe. I believe that these things exist, and that they affect people in different ways.’
CLASSIC SINGAPORE HORROR STORIES BY DAMIEN SIN
The most gothic of the bunch. A story titled One Last Cold Kiss, which appeared in volume 2, was the inspiration for Eric Khoo’s movie Mee Pok Man (1995). Sin is now working on volume 5.
Human medium: A former drug addict, Sin is now a full-time writer and poet.
Spiritual source: He says that he does not set out to write generic ghost or horror stories: ‘It’s just that the stuff I write just happens to turn out all ghostly and horrific. Maybe my laptop is possessed?’
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘Yes, absolutely. As much as I believe in this material world.’
SINGAPORE URBAN LEGENDS BY THE STRAITS TIMES, LIFE! SINGAPORE URBAN LEGENDS BY THE STRAITS TIMES, LIFE!
Based on a nine-part series called Urban Legends that ran in February 2005, the book was published in December that year.
Human mediums: Life! journalists Frankie Chee, Lee Sze Yong, Sandra Leong, Mak Mun San, Benjamin Tan, Tee Hun Ching, Teo Cheng Wee, Sujin Thomas and Janice Wong.
Spiritual source: Interviews with everyone from medical experts and eyewitnesses to paranormal experts.
Do you believe in ghosts?: The book’s editor Tee Hun Ching says: ‘No, because I’m Christian. But the imagination is very fertile, and for people who are open to the possibility of ghosts, even if there is a rational reason or explanation, they will tend to believe in the supernatural.’
Stephanie Yap
Read the Singapore Urban Legends Book review here.
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STI Home > Lifestyle > Hot > Story
June 24, 2007The gurus of ghouls
ST PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: DESMOND FOOWANT to be spooked? Here’s a list of local ghost story titles, many of which are haunting the bestsellers list.
SOULS BY HAMZAH ALSAGOFF AND RAMESH KULA
A bestseller 10 years ago, this series has been on hiatus. The comeback book, Souls: Back From The Dead, was released yesterday.
Human mediums: Kula and Alsagoff are childhood friends. Kula is a businessman while Alsagoff is an advertising executive.
Spiritual source: The writers stress that they do their best to verify all accounts, often interviewing sources themselves and taking road trips around the region.
Do you believe in ghosts?: Kula became a Taoist 16 years ago after meeting a Taoist medium: ‘We have enough evidence to know that there are such things as ghosts.’
Hamzah says that the facts speak for themselves: ‘Being a Muslim, I stand by my religious beliefs, but we deal with the facts too.’
TRUE SINGAPORE GHOST STORIES BY RUSSELL LEETRUE SINGAPORE GHOST STORIES BY RUSSELL LEE
Perhaps the best-known local series, it is now into its 15th volume, and the 16th will be released next month.
Human medium: It is unlikely that there is only one person who has written under the name Russell Lee. In a 1991 court case over royalties, the nom de plume was linked to everyone from writer Harjeet Kaur to publisher Alex Chacko himself.
Lee has said that he will unmask himself (left) when the series reaches volume 50.
Spiritual source: Reader contributions and interviews with celebrities.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘Yes, I believe that the here-and-now is not all there is to existence and that there’s a supernatural world. I know because I experience it every day. My best friend who is always with me is a ghost: the Holy Ghost.’
MR MIDNIGHT BY JAMES LEEMR MIDNIGHT BY JAMES LEE
An extremely popular children’s book series. Volumes 39, 40 and 41 will be out in September, while volumes 42, 43 and 44 will be out around Chinese New Year next year.
Human medium: James Lee is the pen name of Jim Aitchison (right), a former advertising executive who shot to fame with his book Sarong Party Girl (1994).
Spiritual source: Lee invites readers to send in story ideas, and receives hundreds every month. Contributors receive prizes and are recognised in that volume.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘There are no such things as ghosts, goblins, witches, wizards. They belong in stories.’
BETWEEN GODS AND GHOSTS BY JONATHAN LIMBETWEEN GODS AND GHOSTS BY JONATHAN LIM
This is the first of what is intended to be a four-part non-fiction series about local supernatural beliefs. Lim (right) is now working on the second volume.
Human medium: Lim is a stage practitioner best known for writing and acting in the yearly spoof of the theatre scene, Chestnuts.
Spiritual source: The book is based on interviews with various believers, and also boasts a detailed bibliography, from ghost stories to encyclopaedic tomes on mythology.
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘I can’t see any reason not to believe. I believe that these things exist, and that they affect people in different ways.’
CLASSIC SINGAPORE HORROR STORIES BY DAMIEN SIN
The most gothic of the bunch. A story titled One Last Cold Kiss, which appeared in volume 2, was the inspiration for Eric Khoo’s movie Mee Pok Man (1995). Sin is now working on volume 5.
Human medium: A former drug addict, Sin is now a full-time writer and poet.
Spiritual source: He says that he does not set out to write generic ghost or horror stories: ‘It’s just that the stuff I write just happens to turn out all ghostly and horrific. Maybe my laptop is possessed?’
Do you believe in ghosts?: ‘Yes, absolutely. As much as I believe in this material world.’
SINGAPORE URBAN LEGENDS BY THE STRAITS TIMES, LIFE! SINGAPORE URBAN LEGENDS BY THE STRAITS TIMES, LIFE!
Based on a nine-part series called Urban Legends that ran in February 2005, the book was published in December that year.
Human mediums: Life! journalists Frankie Chee, Lee Sze Yong, Sandra Leong, Mak Mun San, Benjamin Tan, Tee Hun Ching, Teo Cheng Wee, Sujin Thomas and Janice Wong.
Spiritual source: Interviews with everyone from medical experts and eyewitnesses to paranormal experts.
Do you believe in ghosts?: The book’s editor Tee Hun Ching says: ‘No, because I’m Christian. But the imagination is very fertile, and for people who are open to the possibility of ghosts, even if there is a rational reason or explanation, they will tend to believe in the supernatural.’
Stephanie Yap
Read the Singapore Urban Legends Book review here.
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