Susan Barker Libros

Malaya 1951, a jungle resettlement camp: young colonial adventurer Christopher Milnar falls passionately in love with a Chinese nurse Evangeline - a fierce flame that ends in tragedy when their camp is attacked by Communist guerrillas and Christopher is violently beaten up.

I dream of us across the centuries, my love ... I dream of Sorceress Wu splattering the walls with your blood. I dream of Genghis Khan and his Mongols, driving us with whips across the desert. I dream of the sickly Emperor Jiajing and our fellow tortured concubines. I dream of you kneeling before your captors in the Opium Wars, ready for death. I dream of you and me as Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution, our banners held high. The times we were friends, the times we were lovers and the times we wanted to kill each other.... Now I dream of you again, Driver Wang. You don't know it yet, but soon I will make you dream of me.

Mary, a blond graduate from England, has drifted into a job in a hostess lounge in Osaka. She and other 'economy gelshas' are employed by the enigmatic Mama san to spend their evenings flirting with rich Japanese salarymen, playing drinking games and taking turns in the karaoke booth. Mary is in love with Yuji, Mama san's handsome son. But Yuji's loyalty is to the petty Yakuza gangster for whom he works. Watanabe, the introverted cook, watches Mary from the Sayonara Bar's kitchen. He exists in his own manga-fuelled fantasy of the fourth dimension, and believes he can see into other people's souls, as well as into the gurgling viscera of their bodies. When he perceives the danger of Mary's growing obsession with Yuji, he resolves to protect her whatever the cost. Mr Sato works for the Daiwa Trading Corporation. Obsessive overwork cannot cover the emptiness of his solitary life. Lured against his will to the Sayonara Bar by his boss, he finds himself returning there to escape his dead wife's ghost. Edgy, sly, and often very funny, Sayonara Bar spins a kaleidoscopic, genre-crossing tale of people cut adrift in a shrinking, globalized world.

The narrative follows two grieving individuals, Jake and Mariko, who uncover a chilling connection between their loved ones' mysterious deaths linked to an enigmatic woman who never ages or stays in one place. As they delve into a haunting investigation that spans continents and centuries, they confront the unsettling truths surrounding the woman's dark influence. With each revelation, the story explores themes of loss, guilt, and the nature of the supernatural, leading to a gripping quest to uncover her true identity and purpose.

'Outstandingly weird and memorable' GUARDIAN 'Deliciously creepy' NEW SCIENTIST Fear never dies... Featuring stories from Susan Barker, J K Chukwu, Bridget Collins, Mariana Enríquez, Michel Faber, Lewis Hancox, Emilia Hart, Ainslie Hogarth, Robert Lautner, Adorah Nworah, Irenosen Okojie, Lucy Rose, Lionel Shriver, James Smythe, Lavie Tidhar, Francine Toon, Evie Wyld and Louisa Young. These stories from eighteen master storytellers will curdle your blood, haunt your dreams and redefine terror. From a hungry young woman who is not what she seems, to a boy who has taken his mother's advice a little too seriously; from disfigured girls willing to pay any price to fit in, to an immigrant who cannot escape his tormentor in his new home country; from a new home with a sinister secret, to the discovery that a long-dead parent's corpse is perfectly preserved decades later; this collection plumbs the depths of the psyche and dredges up some very modern horrors. READERS ARE OBSESSED 'Stunning' 'Well-plotted and horrifying' 'Visceral, creepy, gory... stays in your head long after reading them' 'It's so satisfying to turn to the next story in an anthology like this and be pretty confident it's going to be a banger... bravo' 'Spine-tingling... I was gripped and it kept me up at night as I just wanted to read one more story' 'Often unusual, always unique... a wildly eclectic cornucopia of horror'