This is a companion list for the two-part Booklaban Halloween episode of the Teka Teka podcast by Pumapodcast. Click the player below to listen to the episodes.
Note: Some of the recorded recommendations had to be cut out; those stories are still linked here but highlighted in pink to indicate that they were mentioned in the recording but not in the final published episode. A brief description of these stories are included below.
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with Body Horror, Possession or Gore
Dwellers by Eliza Victoria
“Thumbs” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
“Stars” by Yvette Tan. Waking the Dead
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with Filipino Supernatural Creatures
“Blessed are Those Who Suffer” by Eliza Victoria
“Delubyo” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
“All the Birds” by Yvette Tan. The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Vol. 1 (Also published in the anthology All the Darkness Allows, currently out-of-print)
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with Ghost/s of Murder Victims
“Deliver Us” by Eliza Victoria. Philippine Speculative Fiction, Volume 9
Two friends bury someone whose death they are involved in but the person comes back to life. The two friends try to figure out how much the victim remembers.
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with Childhood Trauma
“Kulog” by Yvette Tan. Waking the Dead
A Kapre befriends a child who lives in the house beside his tree and realizes that her childhood is not a happy one.
Never Have I Ever Written a Story about Religion or Cults
Wounded Little Gods by Eliza Victoria
“A Prayer to the Many-Eyed Mother” by Eliza Victoria
“The Bountiful” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
“Demon Summoning Made Easy” by Yvette Tan
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with Filipino Food
Never Have I Ever Written a Story with a Haunted Appliance (Robots Count)
“The Mechanic” by Eliza Victoria
A mechanic tries to figure out how to fix a suicidal robot.
“Fumes” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
Civilians take refuge in a Betamax rental shop during the 1987 coup d’etat in Manila. They find a Betamax tape made by conspiracy theorists attempting to explain the situation in Manila at the time.
Never Have I Ever Written a Historical Horror Story
“Reunion” by Eliza Victoria
“Angels in the Mud” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
“The Opthalmogist’s Case” by Wincy Ong. Tales for a Rainy Season
“The Bridge” by Yvette Tan. Waking the Dead
Check out more stories from Eliza Victoria on her website.
Wincy Ong’s Tales for a Rainy Season is also available on Kindle (ebook).
Check out more stories from Yvette Tan on her website.