If you grew up in Singapore or other parts of Southeast Asia in the 90s or 2000s you’ve probably read or encountered the Mr. Midnight series of children’s books. Written by author Jim Aitchison (who uses the pseudonym James Lee), the incredibly successful series deals with low-grade horror and mild morbidity aimed at pre-teens, putting it in the same genre as the iconic Goosebumps series from the US.
The Mr. Midnight series has sold millions of copies in English and other languages (including Burmese, Malay and Indonesian) and even spawned a Netflix TV series.
Aitchison credits Mr. Midnight’s appeal to understanding the sensibilities of Asian children and what shocks them. But now that the series has grown to over 100 titles, we think it’s time for some fresh ideas so that the books can freak out a new generation of jaded Singaporean readers.
To do so, we plumbed the depths of Singapore’s psyche to come up with nightmare scenarios that we know keep people in the Lion City up late into the night.
The results are these pitches for new Mr. Midnight titles that should terrify any true Singaporean.
#1
“Why God, why?”
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#2
“It’s just like that Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho!”
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#3
“If only I was an Olympic gold medalist…”
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#4
“But the portal to the dark dimension actually increases the square footage to 3̵̡̛̲̠̬͓̜̯̩͓̗̫̓̏̈͗5̵̛̯̯̲̜̳̜̥̥͇̪̦͚̗̒̃̋0̴̘̯̳̐͐̈́́̄̇́̆́̋̚͜ ̷̛͖̮̱͓̞͖͗͒͒̀̾̕s̸̳͍̥̟̺̬̩͇͔͆́͆̈́͜q̷̬͗f̷̧̥̭̻̠͚̺̀͂͆͂͊̉̂̾̎̕ͅͅt̶̨̬͎̼͔̰̳͖͚̰̆̆̓̿͝!̵̧͈̝̩̞̭̺̫̩͉͙͕̌̋̃̒”
#5
“I already told you I can’t find my old policy number!”
#6
“You sure that’s not him? Well, maybe he rose from the grave to see how things are going lah!”
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#7
“If you want to eat raw fish, you gotta take the risk.”
#8
“And they still have a paywall!”
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#9
“You think they’re so cute. Have you ever seen them after they raided a koi pond?”
#10
“A.I. revolution my ass…“
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