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Be Your Own Bae
A dozen short stories from the singular mind behind Lovelier, Lonelier and Kappa Quartet.
Being your best, most authentic self can be a somewhat grievous process. The winner of a beauty pageant bursts into flames the moment she is crowned. A man enters a dream and re-encounters a former lover in Pyongyang, North Korea. A gaggle of hipsters catches news of a secret Bon Iver concert playing somewhere on Dempsey Hill, only to risk the survival of their friendship.
Daryl Qilin Yam’s long-awaited first collection of short fiction combines magical realism, speculative autobiography and ekphrasis to weave illusory figures out of gung-ho millennials and the well-meaning mentor figures who fail them, and unveils the strange quests queer folk must embark on in order to keep a hold on love.
Being your best, most authentic self can be a somewhat grievous process. The winner of a beauty pageant bursts into flames the moment she is crowned. A man enters a dream and re-encounters a former lover in Pyongyang, North Korea. A gaggle of hipsters catches news of a secret Bon Iver concert playing somewhere on Dempsey Hill, only to risk the survival of their friendship.
Daryl Qilin Yam’s long-awaited first collection of short fiction combines magical realism, speculative autobiography and ekphrasis to weave illusory figures out of gung-ho millennials and the well-meaning mentor figures who fail them, and unveils the strange quests queer folk must embark on in order to keep a hold on love.
- GenresShort StoriesQueer
234 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2024
4 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Daryl Qilin Yam
18 books44 followersDaryl Qilin Yam (b. 1991) is a writer, editor and arts organiser from Singapore. Shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize and nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, he is the author of two novels, a novella and the bestselling short story collection Be Your Own Bae (2024). He co-founded the literary charity Sing Lit Station, where he presently serves as the managing editor of its publishing arm AFTERIMAGE.
His writing has appeared in periodicals and publications such as the Berlin Quarterly, the Sewanee Review, The Straits Times and The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singapore Short Stories anthology series. His first novel, Kappa Quartet (2016), was selected by The Business Times as one of the best novels of the year, and was described by QLRS as “[breaking] new ground in Singaporean writing… an immensely sympathetic and humane exploration of our existential condition.”
His writing has appeared in periodicals and publications such as the Berlin Quarterly, the Sewanee Review, The Straits Times and The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singapore Short Stories anthology series. His first novel, Kappa Quartet (2016), was selected by The Business Times as one of the best novels of the year, and was described by QLRS as “[breaking] new ground in Singaporean writing… an immensely sympathetic and humane exploration of our existential condition.”
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 27, 2024
Some thoughts/observations on these stories:
Ba-doom - Captures the effervescent, sparkling feeling of falling in love for the first time, even though love is mysterious and, as the protagonist describes, initially shapeless. (This story brings back some characters from Lovelier, Lonelier.) 🔥
The Wolves, or Have You Ever Read Tao Lin? - As cryptic and mysterious as its title, this story hints at the disintegration of a friendship group amidst a secret Bon Iver concert at Dempsey Hill. 🎫
Some Place/Some Time - The dimensions of place and time serve as the backdrop for the relationship between two people, who fall out of and back into each other’s lives as spontaneously as the decisions of a freewheeling globetrotter. 🌏
Thing Language - Reading this feels as cryptic and unique as spending time at an art exhibition. Sometimes you don’t know what the hell is going on. Faced with bizarre art pieces, you just try your best to make sense of them. 🤮
Jiro - A cigarette is a sexy thing in this story of a man and his friend who rolls his own cigarettes. 🚬
A Dream in Pyongchon - A love story^ set in Pyongyang, North Korea, that ends up with one lover disappearing and the other left grieving. 🇰🇵
^of two men,
Painful - A story of grief, and of overcoming the loss of a loved one. 💔
just the green bit - It’s sad and tragic when heartbreak causes someone to take their own life. I guess that’s why we should all learn to be our own bae. 🧽
A Film by Hong Sang-soo - In Seoul, the Singaporean protagonist contemplates how lucky he was to have avoided bullying with regard to his sexuality back when he was in Singapore. But that’s just part of this story. The broader, double-story explores the choices we make in life, and their rights and wrongs (if such things even exist). 🎞️
Speculative Fiction - A personal and intimate journal of past loves and kisses. How much of it is really fiction, I wonder? ❤️
J—, or a Story After a Story by Haruki Murakami - This story borrows the metaphysical elements of Haruki Murakami’s stories to evoke a sense of the unknown, and the unknowable. 🚌
Mangwon-ro - New beginnings always follow endings, as this optimistic and hopeful story shows. 📽️
Daryl Qilin Yam excels at writing about the unseen and unspoken inner worlds of emotion within his characters. In this collection of queer-centric interconnected short stories, he captures the beauty of ephemeral relationships, and the inexplicable feelings of connection, disconnection, reality, and unreality. In an era of distraction and inattention, it is a miracle to witness an author tackle the mysteries of our existence through prose that brims with an earnest yearning for the sublime. Yam's sentences are beautiful, classy, and filled with a certain millennial worldliness that stirs warm feelings in me. He is a Singaporean writer whose books I will always support! 😊
4.25/5
Ba-doom - Captures the effervescent, sparkling feeling of falling in love for the first time, even though love is mysterious and, as the protagonist describes, initially shapeless. (This story brings back some characters from Lovelier, Lonelier.) 🔥
The Wolves, or Have You Ever Read Tao Lin? - As cryptic and mysterious as its title, this story hints at the disintegration of a friendship group amidst a secret Bon Iver concert at Dempsey Hill. 🎫
Some Place/Some Time - The dimensions of place and time serve as the backdrop for the relationship between two people, who fall out of and back into each other’s lives as spontaneously as the decisions of a freewheeling globetrotter. 🌏
Thing Language - Reading this feels as cryptic and unique as spending time at an art exhibition. Sometimes you don’t know what the hell is going on. Faced with bizarre art pieces, you just try your best to make sense of them. 🤮
Jiro - A cigarette is a sexy thing in this story of a man and his friend who rolls his own cigarettes. 🚬
A Dream in Pyongchon - A love story^ set in Pyongyang, North Korea, that ends up with one lover disappearing and the other left grieving. 🇰🇵
^of two men,
Painful - A story of grief, and of overcoming the loss of a loved one. 💔
just the green bit - It’s sad and tragic when heartbreak causes someone to take their own life. I guess that’s why we should all learn to be our own bae. 🧽
A Film by Hong Sang-soo - In Seoul, the Singaporean protagonist contemplates how lucky he was to have avoided bullying with regard to his sexuality back when he was in Singapore. But that’s just part of this story. The broader, double-story explores the choices we make in life, and their rights and wrongs (if such things even exist). 🎞️
Speculative Fiction - A personal and intimate journal of past loves and kisses. How much of it is really fiction, I wonder? ❤️
J—, or a Story After a Story by Haruki Murakami - This story borrows the metaphysical elements of Haruki Murakami’s stories to evoke a sense of the unknown, and the unknowable. 🚌
Mangwon-ro - New beginnings always follow endings, as this optimistic and hopeful story shows. 📽️
Daryl Qilin Yam excels at writing about the unseen and unspoken inner worlds of emotion within his characters. In this collection of queer-centric interconnected short stories, he captures the beauty of ephemeral relationships, and the inexplicable feelings of connection, disconnection, reality, and unreality. In an era of distraction and inattention, it is a miracle to witness an author tackle the mysteries of our existence through prose that brims with an earnest yearning for the sublime. Yam's sentences are beautiful, classy, and filled with a certain millennial worldliness that stirs warm feelings in me. He is a Singaporean writer whose books I will always support! 😊
4.25/5
June 3, 2025
a fantastic collection of short stories. I was so delighted to see neighbourhoods and places I know rendered in fiction... what a thrill! Loved the interconnectedness of this collection, and the stories that were set both in Singapore and with Singaporeans overseas. Need to read more !!
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December 24, 2024gorgeous and indelible
October 29, 2024
a beautiful collection of stories revolving around queer individuals and their relationships with one another. the collection deals with themes such as loneliness, love and friendship. every story sucked me in and in usual daryl qilin lam fashion, i love how the lives of each character overlap and intersect with one another across chapters. each character is wonderfully written and developed through their interactions with one another. each story is written so intimately and some so bittersweet, it tugs at my heart strings. if you haven't started reading daryl qilin lam's books, i highly recommend with this book.
November 19, 2024
finished this book with a big smile on my face! such a good collection of queer short stories :”) loved how most of the stories held little threads that connected them all to each other!! will definitely have to re-read it sometime, i loved how i could really *feel* and understand the essence of each character and it really is just a testament to how good daryl qilin yam’s writing is!!!!
November 23, 2024
Peak fiction
January 23, 2025
Enjoyed the collection more than I thought I would. Definitely going to check out his novels!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews