Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora

“Soil,” “Estuary,” “Bedrock,” “Roots,” and “Air” are the five sections that ground this ambitious anthology of stories, poems, and drawings, which dig into the anger, complications of assimilation, and racist stereotypes from which the volume’s Asian folk horror is unearthed. Each section begins with a poem by a foundational author. The stories that follow take readers on an unsettling journey where trigger warnings abound. As readers make their way through, tales of ghosts, shape-shifters, and family dynamics morph into sinister nightmares of violence, body horror, cannibalism, and more. For example, Nadia Bulkin’s “Things To Know Before You Go” directly confronts the horror inherent in the question “Where are you really from?,” while Rowan Cardosa’s “In Twain” pulls no punches addressing the common inquiries into what Asian people eat. Hammering its message home, this resolute volume delivers a reading experience that will terrify readers of all identities.