There are 14 short stories and one essay about the seedy, the sinister and sometimes the spooky. You will find murder, drug-dealing, kidnapping, sexual depravity, prostitution, celebrity secrets, suicides, academic rivalry, gangsters, police brutality, cannibalism, black magic, creepy rituals, political corruption and even busking. It's all totally fictional. Well, maybe the cannibalism is.Line-Up:INTRO / Amir MuhammadTHE RUNNER / Adib ZainiRUKUN TETANGGA / Preeta SamarasanMAMAK MURDER MYSTERY / Marc de FaoiteASIAN ANGEL / Shaz JoharA GIFT OF FLOWERS / Shih-Li KowKISS FROM A ROSE / Fadzlishah JohanabasAFTER DARK, MY LOVE / Dina ZamanTHE ORACLE OF TRUTH / Eeleen LeeCHASING BUTTERFLIES IN THE NIGHT / Kris WilliamsonTHE DUALIST / Shivani SivagurunathanVANISHED / Khairulnizam BakeriCANNIBAL VS. AH LONG / Megat IshakTHE MACHETE AND ME / Dayang NoorTHE UNBELIEVER / Amir HafiziMUD / Brian GomezBIOS

    The stories began as part of her project she was a masters student at Lancaster University in 1993, inspired by her homesickness, and her longing for the 'Terengganu air'. She explores themes of love, grief, loss and longing, and the magic in our lives. A young boy, grieving for his late father, meets a ghost who tells him that he is the king of the sea. Alia, a missing child, comes back as a chicken to bewildered parents. A daughter witnesses an affair by her unfaithful mother, but she is not sure if she was hallucinating. A young man arrives on an island, and marries a jungle spirit, a bunian. Hell breaks lose in a small village when a brash modern city woman decides to live there. A teacher who longs for a more glamorous life, literally, disappears into a movie screen.Dina Zaman, a survivor from the I Am Muslim tsunami, has been writing in the Malaysian media for over 17 years. Her first book, a collection of short stories, night & day, which was part of the Black & White series, was published by Rhino Press in 1997. She has had her works of fiction, and non-fiction, published in many journals and periodicals, locally and regionally. She is currently studying saints, and other holy men and women, and their impact on Malaysia for her next book Holy Men, Holy Women under the API Fellowship 2012-2013 programme that she has just been awarded.

    Somerset Maugham, and Anthony Burgess have shaped our perceptions of Malaysia. In Tash Aw, we now have an authentic Malaysian voice that remaps this literary landscape.The Harmony Silk Factory traces the story of textile merchant Johnny Lim, a Chinese peasant living in British Malaya in the first half of the twentieth century. Johnny's factory is the most impressive structure in the region, and to the inhabitants of the Kinta Valley Johnny is a hero—a Communist who fought the Japanese when they invaded, ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of his people. But to his son, Jasper, Johnny is a crook and a collaborator who betrayed the very people he pretended to serve, and the Harmony Silk Factory is merely a front for his father's illegal businesses. This debut novel from Tash Aw gives us an exquisitely written look into another culture at a moment of crisis.The Harmony Silk Factory won the 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award and also made it to the 2005 Man Booker longlist.

    I do what is necessary to get what I want.”Born on the night of the nation’s independence, Gimme Lao is cheated of the honour of being Singapore’s firstborn son by a vindictive nurse. This forms the first of three things Gimme never knows about himself, the second being the circumstances surrounding his parents’ marriage, and the third being the profound (but often unintentional) impact he has on other people’s lives.Talented, determined and focused, young Gimme is confident he can sail the seven seas, but he does not anticipate his vessel would have to carry his mother’s ambition, his wife’s guilt and his son’s secret. Tracing social, economic and political issues over the past 50 years, this humorous novel uses Gimme as a hapless centre to expose all of Singapore’s ambitions, dirty linen and secret moments of tender humanity.

    PENINSULA is a personal memoir amounting to a report on the generational changes Malaysia has undergone since Independence, examining their roots in the past and implications for the future, by one who lived through them.The narrative unravels the many strands of Malaysian history and how they braided themselves into this nation as it is in the 21st century, each contributing to the whole while striving to remain true to itself.

    After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child.

    Like her previous books, Lee Su Kim’s stories in this book are laced with humour and occasional gentle satire. All the stories are based on or are inspired by real-life events which Su Kim has collected from her nyonya mother, grandmother, bibiks and nyonyas.This is a first-ever collection of short stories of a unique cultural community, at the crossroads as to its very survival, but presently enjoying a tremendous resurgence. Su Kim’s debut collection of stories are simply stunning and heartwarming, evocative of a bygone era and a cultural community renowned for its unique multicultural legacy. (Description extracted from : http://www.leesukim.net/kebayatales.html)

    A few short weeks before, Aasha’s grandmother Paati passed away under mysterious circumstances and her older sister, Uma, departed for Columbia University--leaving Aasha alone to cope with her mostly absent father, her bitter mother, and her imperturbable older brother.Beginning with Aasha’s grandfather’s ascension from Indian coolie to illustrious resident of the Big House on Kingfisher Lane, and going on to tell the story of how Appa, the family’s Oxford-educated patriarch, courted Amma, the humble girl next door, Evening Is the Whole Day moves gracefully backward and forward in time to answer the many questions that haunt the family: What was Chellam’s unforgivable crime? Why was Uma so intent on leaving? How and why did Paati die? What did Aasha see? And, underscoring all of these mysteries: What ultimately became of Appa’s once-grand dreams for his family and his country? Sweeping in scope, sumptuously lyrical, and masterfully constructed, Evening Is the Whole Day offers an unflinching look at relationships between parents and children, brothers and sisters, the wealthy and the poor, a country and its citizens--and the ways in which each sometimes fails the other. Illuminating in heartbreaking detail one Indian immigrant family’s secrets and lies while exposing the complex underbelly of Malaysia itself, Preeta Samarasan’s debut is a mesmerizing and vital achievement sure to earn her a place alongside Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, and Zadie Smith.

    At fourteen, she finds herself traded in marriage to a stranger across the ocean in the fascinating land of Malaysia. Duped into thinking her new husband is wealthy, she instead finds herself struggling to raise a family with a man too impractical to face reality and a world that is, by turns, unyielding and amazing, brutal and beautiful. Giving birth to a child every year until she is nineteen, Lakshmi becomes a formidable matriarch, determined to wrest from the world a better life for her daughters and sons and to face every new challenge with almost mythic strength.By sheer willpower Lakshmi survives the nightmare of World War II and the Japanese occupation -- but not unscathed. The family bears deep scars on its back and in turn inflicts those wounds on the next generation. But it is not until Lakshmi's great-granddaughter, Nisha, pieces together the mosaic of her family history that the legacy of the Rice Mother bears fruit.

    A classic coming-of-age tale doubled across two vividly individual brothers, who struggle to navigate a complex tangle of relationships and coercive forces, cinematically interwoven with the yearnings and fears of an ensemble of mothers, fathers, cousins, friends and lovers both false and true. This wide-ranging debut beautifully presents the resonances and the ghosts of lost possibilities, as well as a gripping story of hope and betrayal.Praise:"I very much enjoyed A Certain Exposure. An immense achievement, with absolutely beautiful passages of description."— Sarah Howe, T.S. Eliot Prize-winning author of Loop of Jade"A Certain Exposure is a quiet, powerful tale about the dangers of unthinking conformity…[It is rare] in Singapore that we are made to face recognisable portraits of our society and acknowledge the distortions.”—Akshita Nanda, The Straits Times  “One of the best debuts of 2014, this sometimes strident but largely effective novel begins with the suicide of a government scholar and proceeds to dissect elitism, racism, homophobia and other taboo topics in Singapore.”—Helmi Yusof,  The Business Times “One of the best novels I’ve read recently…a haunting story about elitism and prejudice in a society which recites daily pledges to maintain equality for all.”—Balli Kaur Jaswal, author of Inheritance“A Certain Exposure is an intimately layered story about twin brothers forging different paths through the intricacies and prejudices of Singapore society, but will strike a chord wherever the struggle between personal values and social pressures is experienced.”—Ovidia Yu, author of Aunty Lee’s Delights“[A]n exciting debut novel that delves beneath the surface of Singapore society, questioning the dominant value systems and asking if there’s a better way for us to live.”—Jeremy Tiang, writer and translator of  Durians Are Not the Only Fruit: Notes from the Tropics , in “My Book of the Year”,  Singapore Poetry About the Author:Jolene Tan is a writer and activist who lives in Singapore. She has also lived in the UK, the US and Germany. A Certain Exposure is her first novel.

    All of them know they will still be struggling to fit their lives into the new flats years later but no one protests. No one talks about it even as they are slowly being pushed out of their homes. Not Cardboard Lady, an eighty-year-old woman who sells scraps for a living. Not young Alex, who is left homeless after a falling out with Cindy. Not Ah Tee, who has worked at the coffee-shop on the ground floor of Block 204 for much of his adult life, and whose reaction to the move affects his neighbours in different ways.For some, the tragedy that occurs during their last days in Block 204 is a reminder of old violence, aged wounds. For others, new opportunities transpire. If I Could Tell You is about silence, the keeping and breaking of it, and what comes after.

    Bask in the sweetness of young hearts falling in love and cheer them on when circumstances stand in their way. Walk through the pain of broken relationships and rejoice at unexpected reunions. Whether you prefer it happy or bittersweet, straightforward or a little complicated, Love in Penang offers you 18 morsels of love in various forms.

    As she accepts her fate and marries, religious upheaval is splitting the country and forcing her family to find a new home.In 2014, her granddaughter, molecular biologist Nimita Sachdev, escapes India to run away from the prospect of an arranged marriage. Staking out a future in Singapore, she faces rising anger against immigrants and uncertainty about her new home.Two generations apart, these two women walk divergent paths but face the same quandaries: who are we, and what is home?

    Emi, a gifted koto player, cherishes Taku's doting love. But the couple can't conceive, and Taku's work takes him away more and more often. When she finally gives birth to a healthy son, Emi dares hope that the preternaturally intelligent Jun will help mend the rift in her marriage. That is, until she meets Hana, an extraordinarily beautiful and wicked geisha, and discovers a betrayal so devastating it would take the aid of eight million gods and demons-the number of deities in the Japanese pantheon-to overcome.

    When soldiers force the royal family out of the Glass Palace and into exile, Rajkumar befriends Dolly, a young woman in the court of the Burmese Queen, whose love will shape his life. He cannot forget her, and years later, as a rich man, he goes in search of her. The struggles that have made Burma, India, and Malaya the places they are today are illuminated in this wonderful novel by the writer Chitra Divakaruni calls “a master storyteller.”