Drawing on dramatic accounts by European colonials, and on detailed studies by folklorists and anthropologists, this work explores intriguing age-old Asian beliefs and claims that man-eating tigers and "little tigers," or leopards alike, were in various ways supernatural. It is a serious work based on extensive research, written in a lively style. Fundamental to the book is the evocation of a long-vanished world. When a man-eater struck in colonial times, people typically said it was a demon sent by a deity, or even the deity itself in animal form, punishing transgressors and being guided by its victims' angry spirits. Colonials typically dismissed this as superstitious nonsense but given traditional ideas about the close links between people, tigers and the spirit world, it is quite understandable. Other man-eaters were said to be shapeshifting black magicians. The result is a rich fund of tales from India and the Malay world in particular, and while some people undoubtedly believed them, others took advantage of man-eaters to persecute minorities as the supposed true culprits. The book explores the prejudices behind these witch-hunts, and also considers Asian weretiger and wereleopard lore in a wider context, finding common features with the more familiar werewolves of medieval Europe in particular.

When werewolves reveal themselves, and start hunting humans, it rekindles an ancient war between werewolf and weretiger, a war that will determine the survival of humanity. Alexander Malkin discovered werewolves were real when they killed his parents. Only the intervention of a weretiger saved Alex from the same fate, but his salvation came with a price. A few months later Alex was shocked and terrified when he morphed into a weretiger for the first time. When he was told that weretigers were created to hunt and kill lycans (werewolves), he was curious, after his first taste of lycan blood, Alex was all in. From then on it was all about killing werewolves before they killed humans, and Alex was a natural at it. When the woman he loved was killed as an act of revenge, he became an unstoppable force vowing to kill every werewolf on earth.

Drawing on dramatic accounts by European colonials, and on detailed studies by folklorists and anthropologists, this work explores intriguing age-old Asian beliefs and claims that man-eating tigers and "little tigers," or leopards alike, were in various ways supernatural. It is a serious work based on extensive research, written in a lively style. Fundamental to the book is the evocation of a long-vanished world. When a man-eater struck in colonial times, people typically said it was a demon sent by a deity, or even the deity itself in animal form, punishing transgressors and being guided by its victims' angry spirits. Colonials typically dismissed this as superstitious nonsense but given traditional ideas about the close links between people, tigers and the spirit world, it is quite understandable. Other man-eaters were said to be shapeshifting black magicians. The result is a rich fund of tales from India and the Malay world in particular, and while some people undoubtedly believed them, others took advantage of man-eaters to persecute minorities as the supposed true culprits. The book explores the prejudices behind these witch-hunts, and also considers Asian weretiger and wereleopard lore in a wider context, finding common features with the more familiar werewolves of medieval Europe in particular.

This collection gathers together oral histories, folklore and urban legends from every part of the contry and explores the many forms of the supernatural; Spirits and Bramhadaityas; dakinis and djinns; reincarnations and possessions and shape changing animals. A young village boy realizes to his horror that a friendly neighbour becomes a tiger at will. A young bride is tormanted by her husband first dead wife. These and other diverse tales of animal and nature spirits, haunted houses and ancient witch doctors are retold with humour and sensitivity to the macabre.

The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world.” —Kirkus (starred review) An utterly transporting novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, perfect for fans of Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever. As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible. "A work of incredible beauty... Astoundingly captivating and striking... A transcendent story of courage and connection." —Booklist (starred review)

From the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author comes this latest Anita Blake novel in which the vampire hunter faces the challenge of her life.

The earliest European account of the existence of the were-tiger comes from the Malacca Portuguese records. British Victorian era explorers to Malaya not only recorded stories about the were-tiger but told of several were-tiger villages hidden deep in the jungles of Malaya. These mythical shapeshifters struck fear in rural Malay society as they were able to kill their unsuspecting victims, usually out of vengeance. The Were-Tiger was written by the renowned Malayan colonial Sir Hugh Clifford and it was originally published in 1916. It is a short story of a village’s experience with a migrant Sumatran trader and a supernatural big cat that occurred in Slim, Pahang. Sir Hugh Clifford served as the British Resident at Pahang and later as British High Commissioner in Malaya.