Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality

From the bestselling, Canada Reads-shortlisted author of The Woo-Woo comes a wild, darkly hilarious, and poignant collection of immigrant horror stories. They'll haunt and consume you--in strange and unsettling ways.Living forever isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Hearts can still break, looks can still fade, and money still matters, even in eternity. The ghosts, zombies, and demons in this collection are all shockingly human, and they're ready to spill their guts. Vanity, love, and tragedy are all candidly explored as the unfulfilled desires of the dead are echoed in the lives of modern-day immigrants. Story-by-story, the line between ghost and human, life and death, becomes increasingly blurred. There's a courtesan from 17th century China who, try as she might, just can't manage to die. Grandmama Wu, who returns from the dead to protect her grandchildren from bullies. Not to mention an Internet-order bride who inadvertently brings the apocalypse to Nebraska City. From Shanghai to Vancouver, the women in this collection haunt and are haunted--by first loves, troublesome family members, and traumatic memories. Intertwining horror, the supernatural, and mythology, Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality riotously critiques contemporary life and fearlessly illuminates the ways in which the past can devour us. A collection about transformation and what makes us human, it solidifies Lindsay Wong as one of the most vital and electrifying voices in Canadian literature today.



Genre: Horror

"In this exhilarating collection, characters seek exuberance in hardship; they struggle to make the most of life, death, and everything in between. Wong writes against Asian immigrant stereotypes with a singular voice, seemingly freewheeling and maximalist but always in tight, expert control. Utterly unforgettable!" - YZ Chin

"From a hair-chomping grandma ghost to nine-tail fox demons who snack on frat boys, the women of Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality are moody, sharp-tongued, and subversive. With humour and mischief, Lindsay Wong spins horrifying tales across continents and centuries. These stories slither through uncanny worlds and dredge up deep feelings of alienation, longing, and shame. Eccentric and unforgettable." - Pik-Shuen Fung

"Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality is a truly original collection of short stories, a book that brims over with otherworldly creatures, disaster, humour, and the unassailable bonds of familial love and hate. Lindsay Wong asks us to accompany her characters as they fight, dream, and survive in worlds that are on the verge of collapsing. It's a wild ride and I loved every second of it." - Jen Sookfong Lee