Place of Exile

辛白Jun 2026

3.2

Word count: 56K words
Chapters: 61

Summary

Seven short tales of horror and the supernatural. "The Place of Exile": They are exiled by the world, and at the same time fleeing from it. "The Wandering Baleful Star": Headless mourning, life-swapping ropes, corpse-borne sedan chairs—a feast of folk horror. "The Library Ghost": That ghost haunted the library for a year, and I suddenly grew curious about what she had suffered in life. "The Power of a Single Word": Language itself is a curse, sometimes even able to decide a person's life or death. "The Ghost Writer": Would you dare to read a book written by an author after his death? "Growing Up": People often grow up in a single instant, and that instant is called disillusionment. "Out of Control": If you had a child, how would you love him or her?

Editor's review

Xin Bai's The Place of Exile builds, through seven short stories, a gray zone between folk weird tales and psychological horror. The title sets the theme: the characters are both exiled by the world and actively fleeing from it, and this sense of double exile runs through every piece. "The Wandering Baleful Star" densely layers folk elements—headless mourning, life-swapping ropes, corpse-borne sedan chairs—reading like a feast of folk horror; "The Library Ghost" enters from an everyday space and pushes curiosity and unease in layer by layer; "The Power of a Single Word" turns language itself into a curse, a clever conceit; and "The Ghost Writer" creates suspense about the ethics of reading through "a book written after death." The overall pace is brisk, suitable for reading one story at a time in spare moments, and for readers who enjoy folk horror and urban legends seeking a thrill late at night. One caveat: the book emphasizes atmosphere and suspense rather than a tightly closed circle of deduction, so readers expecting fair-play puzzle-solving may find the endings soft.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy folk weird tales and folk-horror elements and want a short-story collection with a strong atmosphere
People who want to read a story or two on a commute or before bed without following a long novel
Readers interested in conceptual horror devices such as language curses and ghost writing
Writing enthusiasts who can observe how short stories use everyday spaces to create unease

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fair-play deduction and require a tightly closed logical circle of cases
Readers sensitive to images of corpses and folk funeral customs, who are easily discomforted
Those hoping for warm, healing, or realistic fiction

Reading tips

Start with "The Wandering Baleful Star" to feel the folk-horror keynote, then skip among the other pieces according to interest.
After each story, pause and note how the title echoes the ending, and savor the variations on the theme of "exile."
When reading at night, control your pace to avoid emotional tension from reading several in a row.
Keep notes on how each story concretely portrays "fleeing from the world," and review them together after finishing.

版权信息
放逐地
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
地走凶星
一无头孝
二鬼麻将
三换命绳
四尸坐轿
五衣留魂
六凶星咒
七真相
尾声
图书馆幽灵
一徘徊图书馆的幽灵
二连环杀人的伪装
三疑云展开
四死前影像再现
五意想不到的人
六许飞的秘密
七真相近在咫尺
尾声
一字决定权
一
二
三
四
尾声
幽灵作家
一作家
二畅销书
三密谋
四质问
五恶鬼
六复仇
长大
一
二
三
四
五
六
尾声
失控
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short-story collection?

It is a short-story collection with seven tales of horror and the supernatural. Each story stands alone, while echoing the theme of "being exiled by the world and fleeing from it"; they need not be read in order.

How scary is it? Is it suitable for reading before bed?

The book leans toward atmospheric horror and folk weird tales, involving images such as headless mourning and corpse-borne sedan chairs, with a strong sense of psychological pressure. Whether it suits bedtime reading varies from person to person; readers sensitive to horror elements are advised to read it during the day.

Are the stories connected? Do they need to be read in order?

The characters and plots are independent, sharing the motif of "exile" thematically. You can read in table-of-contents order or start with whichever pieces interest you; understanding will not be affected.

Comments

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About the author

辛白 Author

Xin Bai is a Chinese author known for social fiction. Public information about this writer is limited: nationality, dates of birth and death, and an English name have not been clearly recorded. Four works are held in the collection—The Dog Spirit Master, The Underground Palace, Place of Exile, and The Temperature of Love. Though modest in number, they reveal a fairly consistent focus: drawing on social reality and attending to the fate and choices of characters in particular circumstances. Judging by the titles, the writing touches on folk belief, subterranean spaces, marginal survival, and emotional warmth—a considerable range of subject matter, yet all within the scope of social fiction. Overall, Xin Bai's style tends toward realism, emphasizing atmosphere and the situations of the characters. No systematic biographical material or author's statement is available, so readers' understanding of the author still rests mainly on these four works themselves.