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Zen Cho


Black Water Sister

Zen Cho

Her Grandmother may be dead, but she's not done with life... yet.

As Jessamyn packs for Malaysia, it's not a good time to start hearing a bossy voice in her head. Broke, jobless and just graduated, she's abandoning America to return 'home'. But she last saw Malaysia as a toddler - and is completely unprepared for its ghosts, gods and her eccentric family's shenanigans.

Jess soon learns her 'voice' belongs to Ah Ma, her late grandmother. She worshipped the Black Water Sister, a local deity. And when a business magnate dared to offend her goddess, Ah Ma swore revenge. Now she's decided Jess will help, whether she wants to or not.

As Ah Ma blackmails Jess into compliance, Jess fights to retain control. But her irrepressible relative isn't going to let a little thing like death stop her, when she can simply borrow Jess's body to make mischief. As Jess is drawn ever deeper into a world of peril and family secrets, getting a job becomes the least of her worries.

If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again

Zen Cho

Hugo Award-winning Novelette

A hapless imugi is determined to attain the form of a full-fledged dragon and gain entry to the gates of heaven. For a long time, things don't go well. Then, it meets a girl.

This Hugo Award nominated novelette originally appeared on B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, November 29th 2018. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen (2019), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Spirits Abroad

Zen Cho

A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

Table of Contents:

  • Rising Lion--The Lion Bows - short story
  • Liyana - short story
  • One-Day Travelcard for Fairyland - short story
  • Prudence and the Dragon - short story
  • The Earth Spirit's Favourite Anecdote - short story
  • The Four Generations of Chang E - short story
  • The Mystery of the Suet Swain - short story

The First Witch of Damansara

Zen Cho

This short story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 19, November-December 2017.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

Zen Cho

A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.

Sorcerer to the Crown

The Sorcerer Royal: Book 1

Zen Cho

In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England's first African Sorcerer Royal. He leads the eminent Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, but a malicious faction seeks to remove him by fair means or foul. Meanwhile, the Society is failing its vital duty -- to keep stable the levels of magic within His Majesty's lands. The Fairy Court is blocking its supply, straining England's dangerously declining magical stores. And now the government is demanding to use this scarce resource in its war with France.

Ambitious orphan Prunella Gentleman is desperate to escape the school where she's drudged all her life, and a visit by the beleaguered Sorcerer Royal seems the perfect opportunity. For Prunella has just stumbled upon English magic's greatest discovery in centuries -- and she intends to make the most of it.

At his wits' end, the last thing Zachariah needs is a female magical prodigy! But together, they might just change the nature of sorcery, in Britain and beyond.

The True Queen

The Sorcerer Royal: Book 2

Zen Cho

When sisters Muna and Sakti wake up on the peaceful beach of the island of Janda Baik, they can't remember anything, except that they are bound as only sisters can be. They have been cursed by an unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti starts to fade away. The only hope of saving her is to go to distant Britain, where the Sorceress Royal has established an academy to train women in magic.

If Muna is to save her sister, she must learn to navigate high society, and trick the English magicians into believing she is a magical prodigy. As she's drawn into their intrigues, she must uncover the secrets of her past, and journey into a world with more magic than she had ever dreamed.

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