Canadian Author Lindsay Wong Explores Generational Trauma in Gothic Horror Novel
Lindsay Wong, the acclaimed Canadian author from Coquitlam, British Columbia, has ventured into literary horror with her debut novel Villain Hitting For Vicious Little Nobodies. The book delves into dark themes of curses, corpse brides, and the profound sense of "choicelessness" experienced by generations of Chinese women.
Family Superstitions and Personal Fears
Wong's own upbringing in a deeply superstitious Chinese family significantly influenced her writing. Her family's cultural terrors about ghosts, demons, and ancestral worship provided rich material for her exploration of horror. In an interview from Toronto during her book tour, Wong revealed that her family often warned her about dire consequences when traveling abroad, including the specific fear of being buried alive in a coffin.
"Being a woman of colour, it was said you might end up in a coffin," Wong explained. "For me, it was thinking about what happened if it went wrong: to wake up and you're stuck there. With my luck, I wouldn't die. I would just be there in perpetuity beside a rotting corpse."
From Memoir to Gothic Horror
Following her successful 2018 memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons and My Crazy Chinese Family, which examined how family eccentricities intersected with genuine mental health issues, Wong has now turned to fiction. She applies the "write-what-scares-you" approach to create a narrative that blends satire with literary horror.
The novel follows protagonist Locinda Lo, an MFA dropout buried in overwhelming debt that threatens her family's stability. Wong explores the horrifying concept of modern economic exploitation through the lens of traditional superstitions, asking: "What would happen if someone in modern day had no choice but to sell their body as a corpse bride?"
Contemporary Horrors and Social Commentary
Wong's novel extends beyond traditional ghost stories to address contemporary Canadian realities. After earning her MFA in literary non-fiction at Columbia University, Wong returned to Vancouver and faced the city's affordability crisis firsthand, requiring six roommates to manage living expenses. This experience informed her portrayal of modern economic horrors.
"In the novel, Locinda Lo says, 'I'm worth more dead than I am alive,'" Wong notes. "It really speaks to our capitalist society and how things are going, unfortunately. With the rising costs of inflation, who can afford to live or to write or make art?"
A Multigenerational Gothic Tale
Villain Hitting For Vicious Little Nobodies spans generations and blends genres while tackling significant social issues. The novel weaves together themes of class division, family dysfunction, blind devotion to superstition and tradition, and economic exploitation into what Wong describes as "a funny but unsettling gothic-horror tale."
Through her unique blend of horror and social commentary, Wong creates a powerful exploration of the constraints and challenges faced by Chinese women across generations, examining how cultural traditions intersect with modern economic pressures in contemporary Canadian society.
