All posts tagged: Horror

Hallaoween Style 2015!

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Halloween is awesome, but it can be tough figuring out an original costume that really brings the scary. Especially one that involves traditional Lao ghosts and monsters. Little Laos On the Prairie’s resident horror expert, Bryan Thao Worra, is one of the first Lao writers to become a professional member of the international Horror Writer’s Association, so it seemed fitting to ask him for ideas. In years past, he discussed some classic phi for consideration, but here are some other great ideas you can try, esepecially if you’re in a time crunch: Put Lao folks in a room long enough under the right conditions, and pretty soon they’ll start to tell ghost stories or tales of the weird, and the unexplainable. Our community has a particular taste for stories of horror and the macabre that goes well with Halloween celebrations, although few of our ghost stories are written down, traditionally. You’ll have to ask your parents and elders for the REALLY scary ones. In the US, there aren’t a lot of costumes for Lao that incorporate …

Lao Science Fiction On the Rise

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Lao science fiction is making its mark! This weekend in Bloomington, award-winning Lao American playwright and poet Saymoukda Vongsay will be one of the guests of honor at the MarsCon convention, presenting “Kung Fu Zombies vs. Shaman Warrior.” In her presentation, she will discuss the often taboo subject of mental illness. She notes that for many communities it is often explained as demonic possession. Beliefs like this stem from centuries of folklore about demons, ghosts, monsters, and witch doctors. “I want to talk specifically about refugee communities and the second installment from my Kung Fu Zombieverse anthology of stage works,” Vongsay said. It’s an important subject. There are reports that for many years, there have been only two psychiatrists in all of Laos. The MarsCon theme this year is Heroes & Wizards & Fae, Oh, My! Vongsay’s work has been published nationwide. Her play, Kung Fu Zombies vs Cannibals, was produced by Mu Performing Arts and named Best Production of 2013 by L’etoile Magazine. She is the inaugural recipient of the 2010 Alfred C. Carey Prize in Spoken Word Poetry, …