Fiction
May 2019
REVENGE OF THE GENERALISSIMO
by Tang Chen-Wei
* The Weeping Angels of Dr. Who get a Taiwanese facelift, with zombies thrown in for good measure * Adapted into comic book Does the Generalissimo Dine on Human Flesh? President and generalissimo of Taiwan for decades, Chiang Kai-Shek is honored with bronze statues that occupy nearly every school, park, and public square on the island. But when the statues are toppled as a form of protest, the horrifying paranormal creatures that inhabit them are awakened! Recently unemployed, Liu Shih-Yen is convinced by an old colleague to join a metaphysical workshop. Guided by the workshop leader, Liu Shih-Yen has a near-death experience involving a vision of a bronze statue rushing towards him. Watching the news at home after class, he sees an old veteran protesting the removal of a Chiang Kai-shek statue from a park — not on the grounds that the Generalissimo was a great man who should be honored, but due to his belief that something malevolent resides inside the statues. After series of paranormal incidents, Liu Shih-Yen decides he must visit the park from the news story. There, he finally catches a glimpse of the horrific creatures that animate the bronze statues. Fainting in terror, he enters another visionary trance. Now convinced that knowledge of the creatures’ existence is being publicly suppressed, Liu Shih-Yen joins a secret organization that is working to understand and eliminate the paranormal threat. While they succeed in halting the first wave of attacks, a second wave takes them by surprise, unleashing an entire army of Bronze Generalissimos on Taiwan’s unsuspecting population! The author’s inspiration for these unique monsters came from a common legend in Taiwan — that if you watch closely, you can catch the statues of Chiang Kai-shek blinking! Operating on multiple levels, Revenge of the Generalissimo provides thrills and entertainment, while also serving as a vehicle for the complex emotions surrounding one of Taiwan’s most divisive historical figures.
