Singaporean literature has begun experiencing a sea change, with the short story form enjoying a renaissance. As a result, an explosion of short fiction with a Singaporean flavour has been produced to incredible effect, both by emerging and established writers. For the prose enthusiast, it is a very exciting time.

The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume One curates the finest short fiction from Singaporean writers published in 2011 and 2012. This ground-breaking and unique anthology showcases stories that examine various facets of the human condition and the truths that we tell ourselves in order to exist in the everyday. The styles are as varied as the authors, and no two pieces are alike. Here are twenty unique and breathtaking literary insights into the Singaporean psyche, which examine what it means to live in this particular part of the world at this particular time.

Contents:

Introduction | Jason Erik Lundberg
The Tiger of 142B | Dave Chua
The Hearing Aid | Vinita Ramani Mohan
The Illoi of Kantimeral | Alvin Pang
Lighthouse | Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Seascrapers | Stephanie Ye
Because I Tell | Felix Cheong
Sleeping | O Thiam Chin
Agnes Joaquim, Bioterrorist | Ng Yi-Sheng
The Dispossessed | Karen Kwek
Harmonious Residences | Jeremy Tiang
Randy’s Rotisserie | Amanda Lee Koe
The Protocol Wars of Laundry and Coexistence | Koh Choon Hwee
Zero Hour | Cyril Wong
Walls | Verena Tay
Copies | Eleanor Neo
Welcome to the Pond | Wei Fen Lee
Scared For What | Ann Ang
Joo Chiat and Other Lost Things | Justin Ker
Anniversary | Phan Ming Yen
The Borrowed Boy | Alfian Sa’at

Published: October 2013

Jason Erik Lundberg

Author: Jason Erik Lundberg

Jason Erik Lundberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has lived in Singapore since 2007. His latest publications are his first novel (and 25th book), A Fickle and Restless Weapon (2020), a related novella, Diary of One Who Disappeared (2019, recipient of a 2013 Creation Grant from Singapore’s National Arts Council), and a “greatest hits” short fiction collection, Most Excellent and Lamentable: Selected Stories (2019).

He is also the author of many books for adults—including Red Dot Irreal (2011), The Alchemy of Happiness (2012), Strange Mammals (2013), and Embracing the Strange (2013); books for children—the six-book Bo Bo and Cha Cha picture book series (2012–2015) and Carol the Coral (2016); and more than a hundred short stories, articles, and book reviews. His writing has been translated into half a dozen languages, and seen publication in venues such as Mānoa, the Raleigh News & Observer, Farrago’s Wainscot, Hot Metal Bridge, Strange Horizons, Subterranean Magazine, The Third Alternative, Electric Velocipede, and many other places. His work has also been shortlisted for the SLF Fountain Award, Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction, SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Award, and POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award; he was honourably mentioned twice in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.

Lundberg has been the fiction editor at Epigram Books since 2012, where he jump-started the publisher’s fiction line; many of the books he’s edited since have won multiple national awards, and made various year’s best lists. He has also served as a prose mentor with Singapore’s Creative Arts Programme and Ceriph Mentorship Programme. In addition, he is the founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (2012–2018), series editor for the biennial Best New Singaporean Short Stories anthology series (est. 2013), editor of Fish Eats Lion (2012), and co-editor of A Field Guide to Surreal Botany (2008) and Scattered, Covered, Smothered (2004). From 2005–2008, he facilitated an occasional podcast called Lies and Little Deaths: A Virtual Anthology.

An active member in PEN America and a 2002 graduate of the prestigious Clarion Writers Workshop, Lundberg holds a Master’s degree in creative writing from North Carolina State University.

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