In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And so it is with the "Asian Horror Encyclopedia." Flawed? Absolutely. But as the only book of its kind in English, it stands as a useful and interesting reference guide for those interested in Asian horror. The range of creatures, authors, films, manga, folklore and other is truly startling, covering such sub-genres as the Japanese Cthulhu mythos authors, and Chinese skeptic societies.
None of the entries are particularly long, and there are no pictures to accompany the text. It is very much a case of "wide but not deep." The book started as an encyclopedia of Japanese horror only, but the author found he could not separate the roots of Asian horror from only one culture. Due to this, author Laurence Bush exceeded his language abilities, and had to rely solely on the available translations of others, including unreliable resources such as internet websites and film reviews.
However, as stated in the introduction, Bush only intends to introduce the reader to the wide and varied flavors of horror in Asian countries. I have found my interests piqued by more than one of his shallow notations, enough to do my own research and have a wider area opened up for me. On this level the book works very well, and is recommended.
