#The House of Aunts

[keystonepublishing]

The House of Aunts by Zen Cho

Well, it's been a while since I updated, and not for nothing. The fasting month has arrived and much of my weekend energy is preoccupied elsewhere. Also, there are several longfics that are currently WIP, full completion uncertain.

So imagine my feelings as they got slammed against the wall by this: The House of Aunts by the Malaysian-born Zen Cho. An original vampire fiction that is set in Malaysia, uses traditional Malaysian monsters die Dracula, and deals with issues that hit close to home for anyone living in this part of the world, such as overbearing parental figures, unspoken religious and ethnic boundaries, and familial shame.

Since the story is Malaysian at heart, I decided to use Malaysian pictures and themes.

The book cover is actually made from drawing paper, printed with the image of a rubber plantation to evoke the story's setting. The front side has a glued-on image of a frangipani flower - the flower of the undead in Malaysian stories — surrounded by Baba Nyonya tilework — the Baba being Chinese Malaysians who settled and intermarried with locals.

The printed endapapers threw me off. I wanted to have a tilework or frangipani motif, but none of the free internet sources came up with anything distinctive. I did eventually find a peculiar color gradient that reminds me of twilight, considered the time when Malaysian monsters strike the most.

The Malaysian motifs continue at the title page, where I used Baba Nyonya tilework and Malay woodcraft motifs to frame the title. Same thing too with the copyright page — believe it or not, I actually intended that part to be minimalist! But one curious placement of images led to another and soon, I was looking up different websites to find the right Malaysian decorative features to bedight the logos!

The story is divided into three parts, and I also wanted the headers to be minimalist. Something of that won out here more, as I decided to use plumerias to highlight the 'undead' parts of the story and the greyscale tilework/woodwork to highlight the human connections of the main character, whether they were broken or not.

This bind took me less than a week and it was actually refreshing to get my hands busy again. Full rights to the story goes to Zen Cho, who really deserves all the awards for writing a monster tale that hits at so many themes, it's quintessentially Malaysian!

#bookbinding #fanbinding #my bookbinds #Zen Cho #The House of Aunts #Vampires #Vampirism #ghost story #horror story #Asian authors #Malaysian stories #original fiction

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

[Original date: 8 June 2022]

Until today, grad school had pretty much killed my ability to read fiction for pleasure, except for a very few old favorites. But I managed to read something new to me today and thoroughly enjoyed it, which was a lovely experience to have again.

The story in question was Zen Cho's "The House of Aunts," which I found via an essay on Tor. I really liked the structure, development, characters, and escalating tension, and the ultimate resolution was really charming. It's here.

#isabel talks #isabel recommends #artist: zen cho #text: the house of aunts #sff chatter #zen cho #the house of aunts #sff recs

[libraryleopard]

periodic reminder that everyone should read the house of aunts by zen cho because it’s one of my favorite vampire stories ever. it’s inspired by malaysian folklore and follows a teenage vampire who lives with her six vampire aunts and how she ends up in some trouble when she takes an interest in a human boy. 

(besides the expected vampires stuff like killing and eating humans, content warning for death in childbirth and discussions of domestic abuse)

#i love zen cho's writing and this is one of my fave stories by her #zen cho #vampires #the house of aunts #lulu speaks

[hellenhighwater]

Do you just do a ton of, like, scouring buy/sell groups, online marketplaces (ebay? craigslist? FB marketplace?), and online or in-person antique shops?

I'm in the process of buying a house and know I have, like, no furnishings for when/if I manage to pull that off. I really love the idea of reusing older furniture (both for sustainability reasons and because anything "new" in my budget would be, like, prefab stuff that's usually more on the minimalism-side aesthetic-wise), but outside of what's listed above, I'm not even sure to how to start! (Also totally fine if you prefer to keep how you find stuff secret, thanks for reading either way. :) )

Yeah it's like 90% just Facebook marketplace. I have luck at thrift stores for decor items but not furniture, and antique stores are mostly not in the budget. Just start trawling Facebook!

And let people know that you're moving and are looking for furniture. They might not have your style, but if it's free it'll give you something to use while you look for the right thing.

Edit: it's also worth investing in moving gear. Ratchet straps, work gloves, furniture sliders, dollies, scooters, moving blankets, a shoulder dolly, etc. If you're disassembling furniture, always bring a zip lock bag to put screws and stuff in so you don't lose them.

Oh yard sales! Also good. They just don't happen in the winter where I am.

#my aunt lives near an auction house in ky that does auctions of aazon returns #she gets INCREDIBLE deals

[thegirlwiththelantern]

#The House of Aunts #Zen Cho #short stories #asian #malaysian #fantasy #contemporary fantasy

[evlqueennicole]

I don’t really know what this is but enjoy

#the owl house #toh fanart #toh #the owl house fanart #eda clawthorne #eda the owl lady #lilith #lilith clawthorne #Eda and Lilith #cool aunt #bad girl coven #I want to be both of them so bad

[puppyeared]

MK learns about silverfish from real life

#I saw a silverfish for the first time on the ceiling at my aunts house and I was so scared I cried #so yeah. im with MK on this one I think I could live without ever seeing another one again #yes this implies macaque is an enderman. purple teleports and would probably meow #I like this brush I think I can make more funny expressions with it. it’s the narinder brush procreate #watch as crow reads that and pogs #narinder from my procreate files no wayyyy #lego monkie kid #lmk #monkie kid #lmk fanart #comics #lmk mk #lmk xiaotian #lmk Mei #lmk xiaojiao #lmk red son #lmk redson #lmk sun wukong #lmk swk #sort of? #doodles

[kylejsugarman]

funniest part of breaking bad is that jesse lived in like three separate places over the course of the show and every single time he moved somewhere new, a character had to come in and look around and reenact this exact panel while jesse just stood there half-asleep in a 3XL t-shirt

#syd squeaks #him just having a literal pile of loose weed on his kitchen counter in aunt ginny's house is the funniest thing ever tbh #breaking bad #jesse pinkman

[rochalil]

-Sure, you’re goth, but are you dejectedly riding the transport worm with her raven Palisman goth?

Goth Lilith is a vibe 🥀

Image description: digital art of Lilith from The Owl House. She appears in her Season 1 design with straight hair and a long black dress, but also wears glasses. She appears in a seated position with a cloak around her shoulders, though the background is empty.

Her white raven palisman is rendered in a fairly realistic style, and sits in her lap as she rubs its neck. End description.

(Thank you for the description @anistarrose !)

#lilith toh #Lily toh #the owl house #toh #toh fanart #toh lilith #lilith clawthorne #cool aunt lilith

[egberts]

lots of criticism for tiktok as a whole but i'm gonna take a moment to appreciate the running "cat distribution system" meme for when random people rescue found cats. it has really helped educate people about cats and strays and opened people's mind to taking in a random stray if it ever happened to them, just happy to be blessed by the cat distribution system

#fun fact but alana got callie via cat distribution when she showed up on the back porch and made herself at home #i got my old cat ivory when her mom abandoned her and her sister under my aunts house #it might be annoying sometimes but lowkey cat distribution system is real

[housewifebuck]

Eddie trying to score pussy while wearing the ultimate dick hunting ensembles: a compilation

#you might as well put a pride flag sticker on your stupid little hydroflask. idiot #he is a walking onion headline #local man sprays self with women repellent every time he leaves house; aunt wonders why he’s single #911 #911edit #911 fox #911verse #eddie diaz #eddiediazedit #my gifs #🪐 #I made this post for myself tbh. sorry everyone

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was at my aunt’s house when a tornado touched down into her backyard. My cousin went out and tried to fistfight it. I had to run out to drag her back into the house. Then I went back outside and pushed the tornado back into the sky where it then vanished.

#dream #text #aunt #house #tornado #cousin #violence tw #queueueueueueueueueueueueueue

[ch1zzie]

The original in the bottom

Plus the picture I mainly drew but decided to draw the rest for funny

#thats not my neighbor #milk man #just tried to draw something in my mind to post along with saying some updates #monday the people are gonna give my grandma the keys to the house! while i have to stay at my aunts place for wifi for school #(online school) #my moms gonna be moving things out of storage into the house! AAAA I CANT WAIT #also little welcome home update #im not sure if i said here? wait nevermind i just remembered while typing (it was that i got barnaby and the pins) AAA silly me #also im making a little julie out of clay (if i wake up and their messed up i am NOT redoing that😭) #the legs are a little messed up because julie was gonna be the size of an hatsune miku figure on accident so i chose to shorten her a bit #only because im not sure if im gonna make the others too AND because theres no way hes gonna be THAT tall😭 #also! im making easter art #yes its barnaby and wally again just for fun! but a few changes like keeping their regular outfits because i cant think of anything else!!! #why not the ones in the old easter drawing? welllll a follower said that wallys outfit looked a bit familiar to another not so good thing #it wasnt on purpose just an accident because i hadn't notice BUT im glad i know now so i can be more careful! #im not sureeee if im gonna finish the easter art OR the julie clay thingy but I'd love too! and honestly HOPE to #high chance i will (well maybe the easter art could be late or not) #maaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAA trying to think if theres anything else but cant! ill try posting this hoping my wifi wont hate me... #also i know i said this account was for welcome home posting but i didnt have any cool welcome homey things to put here gahhhhh #ehehehhe once i get my new room and its allllll just me #imma post like crazy (wellll that IS the plan so i hope) #even if its little dumb posts #by the way this post was gonna say on top “i know i said this account is for welcome home posting but TAKE THIS FOR LITTLE UPDATES” #just removed it because i dunnooooo just didded #hehe didded

[unknownhomosapien]

corprus makes people happier <3

#tes #the elder scrolls #morrowind #oc: Synhyn Hyr #he is an aunt for dragonborn and possibly a reason why he was born with some physical disabilities #still love this wild woman. corprus bride <3 #i know its a rough sketch but im just too weak to do more ughh #sixth house

[sergle]

TWO YEARS OLD!!!!!

#hugo #sergle.txt #sergle's pets #BIRTHDAY AT HIS AUNTS HOUSE #i didn't post this on his actual bday (7/7) but SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[maggot-baggage]

Methinks its time to move back home actually

#i talked to my aunt about it and honestly like. i might as well #im broke im in a bunch of debt i have no access to medical insurance so i cant get therapy im alone depressed and my bills are always late #and ive been stuck in my apartment for months bc of this ridiculous registration shit for my car #so as much as i dont want to sell my car OR move im. thinking about it now #like at least id have the house almost to myself since my sibling moved out #and i could make the upstairs my own pretty much. plus ive been meaning to jelp renovate up there so #why not #plus i can save for tattoo stuff properly #i just feel like im giving up i was trying to prove i could care for myself and #I feel like ive proven km incapable pf being an adult bc of this it sucks #but at least my ma and my aunt are willing to help me as i figure shit out. im lucky to have them #mag.txt