There's something about the supernatural that’s endlessly fascinating to most, encouraging them to gather around and share their own experiences or those heard through the grapevine.
SW Jaafar’s chilling debut novel The Shaman’s Circle taps into this morbid curiosity with an unsettling tale featuring a slew of supernatural beings you’ve probably only heard about in hushed conversations or viral social media posts.
The story kicks off in the late 19th century on a stormy night in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, where a group of mysterious shamans from across South-East Asia make a dangerous pact with a powerful jinn in return for their deepest desires and extended lifespans. Among them is Minah, an orphaned shaman who promises to sacrifice someone she loves in return for everlasting beauty.
Almost a century later, we meet Julia, a successful woman desperate to conceive whose longing leads her to Minah, who is now a formidable shaman. Driven by love, greed and obsession, the book’s cast of characters are tempted into tampering with dark magic – resulting in devastating consequences.
Macabre inspiration
The book’s author Sariah (real name Wan Sariah Wan Jaafar) is actually a Malaysian film and TV producer who gained recognition in the horror genre with the 2017 film, Aku Haus Darah Mu (I Thirst For Your Blood). It was while working on a macabre travel show in 2016 that she gained inspiration for the story that would become The Shaman’s Circle.
“My husband, who was part of the production crew, encountered a shaman at Tana Toraja, which is located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. What’s fascinating about the culture there is that funerals are so elaborate that they are very expensive. So even after someone’s death, the family will keep the body in the home while they save up money for the funeral,” said Sariah, 45, in a recent interview in Kuala Lumpur.
“The production crew visited one such house, where they kept their deceased grandmother. A local shaman was asked to get the grandmother’s body to move – and he did! Her leg moved, even when there was nobody or nothing touching her. However, right after, the shaman’s nose started to bleed. It was then that he explained to us that if you ask for something, then something else will be taken away from you. So this formed a major plot point in the book,” she added.
The Shaman’s Circle actually began as a screenplay, due to Sariah’s experience as a producer, but it kept getting passed over, so she decided to take her chances and turn it into a book.
As it was her first time writing a novel, however, it took her five years and 10 drafts to complete the book, in between her day job of working on TV and movie projects.
“It was more challenging than I expected, to be honest, because writing a novel and writing a screenplay are two completely different things. With a screenplay, you don’t have to be as descriptive as with a book, because you rely a lot on the director’s creative vision. Whereas in a book, you have to describe it how you want readers to imagine it, so it was a lot more involved,” said the Petaling Jaya-born Sariah.
Supernatural encounters
While The Shaman’s Circle is purely a work of fiction, Sariah says that she spent a lot of time gathering information through desk research and oral interviews to ensure that the book was as accurate as possible in depicting the region’s rich culture of folklore and mystical rituals.
“I didn’t want to make it just a Malaysian story, I wanted to make it a South-East Asian story. Our cultures are so interconnected, even our ghosts have a lot of similarities,” said Sariah.
“There were some Western writers during British colonial times, such as W.W. Skeat, who wrote the book Malay Magic about Malay beliefs, folklore and customs. But as the story is set across various countries in South-East Asia, I also wanted to get as many personal accounts from locals as I could, because there aren’t a lot of reliable or detailed resources out there about South-East Asian ghosts and creatures,” she added.
Has she ever had any personal encounters with the supernatural?
“Plenty! As someone who often works on projects involving horror, when you’re working on such projects, it tends to attract the supernatural. Perhaps they’re curious or want to make sure we get it right!” she said with a laugh.
In one chapter of The Shaman’s Circle, the “toyol” (a mischievous imp with a penchant for stealing valuables) makes an appearance, which was partly inspired by an incident during Sariah’s college days in Petaling Jaya.
“I was living in a house with several other girls. One night, we were all hit by sleep paralysis. My roommate and I couldn’t move at all. I saw a shadowy figure flee from the room. The morning after, we all realised that all our money had been stolen! We called the police, but there was no sign of a break-in, so they thought it was one of us. It remains a mystery to this day,” she said.
Sariah is currently in talks with studios to co-produce a TV or movie adaption of the book, and while she’s open to global talents being casted for the project, she does have one particular star in mind for the role of Minah.
“If I could choose, I would love to have (Indonesia pop star) Anggun play Minah,” she said.
Sariah added that she also doesn’t rule out working on another book set in the same world.
“Several readers have expressed an interest in either a prequel, which would look at Minah’s mentor Purawita and the other shamans in the Shaman’s Circle, or a sequel, which would explore what happens after the events of the book,” she said.
“But basically, what I’m trying to say through this story is don’t dabble in black magic – it will definitely come back to bite you,” she concluded.
The Shaman’s Circle, published by Penguin Random House SEA, is available in all good bookstores.
