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BNSSS #6
Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Six
Winner of the 2024 POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award in the English (Adult) category
The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Six gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2021 and 2022, selected by guest editor Gwee Li Sui from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections.
Contents:
Preface | Gwee Li Sui
Introduction | Jason Erik Lundberg
The Last Diver on Earth | Sofia Mariah Ma
Choral Fantasy | Andrew Kirkrose Devadason
A Malayan Ghost Story | Clara Chow
A Reliable Woman | Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Stay in the Sun | Meihan Boey
The Funnies | Chen Cuifen
Surat Dari Hantu | Lisabelle Tay
Barren Sands | Mohamed Shaker
Jed and Sol | Kevin Nicholas Wong
For Someone Special | Mallika Naguran
Hantu Hijau | Dave Chua
Transgression | Diana Rahim
Kam Jiang Ding, PhD | Yap Swi Neo
Asha Hanar’s Diary | Nuraliah Norasid
A Fearsome Goddess | Warran Kalasegaran
The Walk | Vicky Chong
Before the Valley | Rachel Heng
Slim Jim | Patrick Sagaram
Breakwater | Kelly Leow
The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Six gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2021 and 2022, selected by guest editor Gwee Li Sui from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections.
Contents:
Preface | Gwee Li Sui
Introduction | Jason Erik Lundberg
The Last Diver on Earth | Sofia Mariah Ma
Choral Fantasy | Andrew Kirkrose Devadason
A Malayan Ghost Story | Clara Chow
A Reliable Woman | Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Stay in the Sun | Meihan Boey
The Funnies | Chen Cuifen
Surat Dari Hantu | Lisabelle Tay
Barren Sands | Mohamed Shaker
Jed and Sol | Kevin Nicholas Wong
For Someone Special | Mallika Naguran
Hantu Hijau | Dave Chua
Transgression | Diana Rahim
Kam Jiang Ding, PhD | Yap Swi Neo
Asha Hanar’s Diary | Nuraliah Norasid
A Fearsome Goddess | Warran Kalasegaran
The Walk | Vicky Chong
Before the Valley | Rachel Heng
Slim Jim | Patrick Sagaram
Breakwater | Kelly Leow
352 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2023
3 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Gwee Li Sui
42 books37 followersGWEE LI SUI is a bestselling poet, artist, critic, and translator from Singapore.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 29, 2025
4/5
Shameful, but like most the only Singaporean fiction I've read to date is Crazy Rich Asians, which don't get me wrong I LOVED, but boy was I glad to change that.
Pretty nicely curated selection of short stories. A few weaker ones dragging down the middle, but it mostly kept me gripped. Powerful opening story--'The Last Diver on Earth' by Sofia Maria Ma. Some other notable mentions were 'Stay in the Sun' by Meihan Boey--what can I say, I'm a sucker for dystopian fantasy. 'Transgression' by Diana Rahim was amazing. I ADORE when the title reveals its significance in the last moments. Leaves you sitting there with your jaw dropped. Vicky Chong's 'The Walk' was sweet, silly and moving--maybe the hot Russian piano teacher turns out to be nothing at all, and that's for the better. Pipe dreams are more sparkle than they are substance, and reality maybe isn't so bad. Towards the end, the writing just got better and better. Rachel Heng's 'Before the Valley' was a peek into a mildly dysfunctional retirement home, that place where you go to die... My favourite of them all had to be Yu-Mei Balasingamchow's 'A Reliable Woman'. A simple narrative, but one that clever weaves in ideas about poverty, desperation and marital expectation.
Mature, contemporary themes span this collection--mothers and motherhood, gender and sexuality, toxic families and generational trauma, and so it goes. I loved it. Thoughtful Preface too. Thank you Gwee Li Sui and Jason Erik Lundberg!
Shameful, but like most the only Singaporean fiction I've read to date is Crazy Rich Asians, which don't get me wrong I LOVED, but boy was I glad to change that.
Pretty nicely curated selection of short stories. A few weaker ones dragging down the middle, but it mostly kept me gripped. Powerful opening story--'The Last Diver on Earth' by Sofia Maria Ma. Some other notable mentions were 'Stay in the Sun' by Meihan Boey--what can I say, I'm a sucker for dystopian fantasy. 'Transgression' by Diana Rahim was amazing. I ADORE when the title reveals its significance in the last moments. Leaves you sitting there with your jaw dropped. Vicky Chong's 'The Walk' was sweet, silly and moving--maybe the hot Russian piano teacher turns out to be nothing at all, and that's for the better. Pipe dreams are more sparkle than they are substance, and reality maybe isn't so bad. Towards the end, the writing just got better and better. Rachel Heng's 'Before the Valley' was a peek into a mildly dysfunctional retirement home, that place where you go to die... My favourite of them all had to be Yu-Mei Balasingamchow's 'A Reliable Woman'. A simple narrative, but one that clever weaves in ideas about poverty, desperation and marital expectation.
Mature, contemporary themes span this collection--mothers and motherhood, gender and sexuality, toxic families and generational trauma, and so it goes. I loved it. Thoughtful Preface too. Thank you Gwee Li Sui and Jason Erik Lundberg!
February 18, 2025
Sunrise Valley… The New Yorker writers voice podcast
May 8, 2024
Pretty good collection. My favourite was ‘Surat Dari Hantu’. Great prose and narrative.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews