The Black Book

"The Black Book: Year of the Rat (Red Dragon Edition)" is a compilation of anthologies centered around several families from various walks of life, as their perception of reality becomes challenged to the brink of insanity." Stories focus on ordinary people and families whose grasp on reality fractures under extreme psychological and supernatural pressure.

Series context and folklore roots

The book belongs to Ellis's "The Black Book" series, an ambitious indie horror anthology collection rooted in darker aspects of Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) Chinese folklore. It reinterprets elements such as:

- Zhiguai ("strange tales")

- Shamanism and spirit possession

- Taboos and curses (including the historical Gu/Wugu witchcraft scandals)

- Corrupted versions of the Chinese Zodiac (the 12 Earthly Branches)

Rather than using traditional lunar-calendar warding rituals (firecrackers, dragon dances, etc.) to repel evil, the stories show evil already embedded in everyday modern life. Breaking ancient taboos incurs a supernatural "debt" that warps reality. The series frames the Zodiac as a countdown mechanism for terror and gives the book itself a meta quality-it is presented as a living, potentially dangerous document that can implicate or "choose" the reader.

The overall series is structured around the Zodiac cycle:

- "Moonlight" (Book 1) covers the first six signs (Rat through Snake) with a focus on hidden, internal, nocturnal dread, secrets, shadows, and night-haunting spirits.

- "Sunrise" (Book 2) covers the remaining signs (Horse through Pig) and shifts toward exposure, judgment, and consequences revealed in harsh light.

- "Year of the Rat" functions as a Chronicles-style volume that revisits/expands the Rat (the cunning, survival-at-any-cost first sign of the cycle), potentially looping earlier "debts" and centering family-based stories of crumbling sanity.