What do you think?
Rate this book
BNSSS
Best Singaporean Short Stories 1
This volume collects some of the best short fiction written by Singapore’s most imaginative minds, including Balli Kaur Jaswal, Jeremy Tiang, Cyril Wong and more. (Exclusive to the United Kingdom.)
Over the past decade, Singaporean literature has experienced a massive sea change, with the short story form enjoying a powerful renaissance. As a result, an explosion of fiction from the island-nation has erupted onto the literary scene, by both emerging and established writers. This groundbreaking anthology showcases breathtaking literary insights into what it means to live in Singapore at this particular time, and why the country is much more than simply a playground for the crazy rich.
Contents:
Introduction | Jason Erik Lundberg
Everest | Balli Kaur Jaswal
Cinema | Cyril Wong
Seascrapers | Stephanie Ye
The Tigers of Bengal | Manish Melwani
Mudskippers | Philip Holden
The Boy, the Swordfish, the Bleeding Island | Ng Yi-Sheng
Madam Jamilah’s Family Portrait | Nuraliah Norasid
Regrettable Things | Jennani Durai
What They’re Doing Here | Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
The Borrowed Boy | Alfian Sa’at
The Tiger of 142B | Dave Chua
Walking Backwards Up Bukit Timah Hill | Jon Gresham
Thing Language | Daryl Qilin Yam
Foreign and Domestic | Kirstin Chen
National Day | Jeremy Tiang
“A real delight to discover this feast of remarkable Singaporean short stories from well-known established voices as well as fresh new ones, stylishly served up by the admirable Epigram Books.” —Romesh Gunesekera, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Reef and Suncatcher
“You know how it is at your favourite hawker centre: a real rojak of scents, colours, flavours, voices, mixing into uncanny harmony. So it is with this die-die-must-try collection of fifteen short stories, each revealing one of Singapore’s many facets. Someone once said that poetry is a luxury Singapore couldn’t afford; these writers prove that statement wrong in the poetry of their shared experience. The Lion City’s huge history is theirs to unspool—of their city, country, culture: their Singapore, an epic like no other. Read it!” —Miguel Syjuco, Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author of Ilustrado
Over the past decade, Singaporean literature has experienced a massive sea change, with the short story form enjoying a powerful renaissance. As a result, an explosion of fiction from the island-nation has erupted onto the literary scene, by both emerging and established writers. This groundbreaking anthology showcases breathtaking literary insights into what it means to live in Singapore at this particular time, and why the country is much more than simply a playground for the crazy rich.
Contents:
Introduction | Jason Erik Lundberg
Everest | Balli Kaur Jaswal
Cinema | Cyril Wong
Seascrapers | Stephanie Ye
The Tigers of Bengal | Manish Melwani
Mudskippers | Philip Holden
The Boy, the Swordfish, the Bleeding Island | Ng Yi-Sheng
Madam Jamilah’s Family Portrait | Nuraliah Norasid
Regrettable Things | Jennani Durai
What They’re Doing Here | Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
The Borrowed Boy | Alfian Sa’at
The Tiger of 142B | Dave Chua
Walking Backwards Up Bukit Timah Hill | Jon Gresham
Thing Language | Daryl Qilin Yam
Foreign and Domestic | Kirstin Chen
National Day | Jeremy Tiang
“A real delight to discover this feast of remarkable Singaporean short stories from well-known established voices as well as fresh new ones, stylishly served up by the admirable Epigram Books.” —Romesh Gunesekera, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Reef and Suncatcher
“You know how it is at your favourite hawker centre: a real rojak of scents, colours, flavours, voices, mixing into uncanny harmony. So it is with this die-die-must-try collection of fifteen short stories, each revealing one of Singapore’s many facets. Someone once said that poetry is a luxury Singapore couldn’t afford; these writers prove that statement wrong in the poetry of their shared experience. The Lion City’s huge history is theirs to unspool—of their city, country, culture: their Singapore, an epic like no other. Read it!” —Miguel Syjuco, Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author of Ilustrado
288 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2020
About the author
Jason Erik Lundberg
70 books169 followersJason Erik Lundberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has lived in Singapore since 2007. Languishing Under Glass, his new novel, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House (Southeast Asia).
His most recent publications are the novel A Fickle and Restless Weapon (2020), the related novella Diary of One Who Disappeared (2019, recipient of a Creation Grant from the National Arts Council of Singapore), and the "greatest hits" short fiction collection Most Excellent and Lamentable: Selected Stories (2019).
He is also the author of many other 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 bestselling 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: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, 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 won the POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award, has been shortlisted for the SLF Fountain Award, Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction and SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Award, and was honourably mentioned twice in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.
For nearly twelve years, Lundberg was the fiction editor at Epigram Books, where he jump-started the Singaporean publisher's fiction line; many of the over 90 titles he edited there won multiple national awards, and made various year’s best lists. His authors include Boey Kim Cheng, Meihan Boey, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Amanda Lee Koe, Ng Yi-Sheng, Nuraliah Norasid, O Thiam Chin, Jeremy Tiang, Cyril Wong and Daryl Qilin Yam.
In addition, he is the founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (2012–2018), series editor for the award-winning biennial Best New Singaporean Short Stories anthology series (est. 2013), editor of Fish Eats Lion Redux (2022) and 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. Furthermore, he was a 2025 Visiting Writer at the Asia Creative Writing Programme, and a 2023 International Writer-in-Residence at the Toji Cultural Foundation Residency Program in South Korea. He has served as a prose mentor with the Creative Arts Programme and Ceriph Mentorship Programme, and he currently lectures on contemporary publishing, editorial theory & practice, and creative writing at Nanyang Technological University.
His most recent publications are the novel A Fickle and Restless Weapon (2020), the related novella Diary of One Who Disappeared (2019, recipient of a Creation Grant from the National Arts Council of Singapore), and the "greatest hits" short fiction collection Most Excellent and Lamentable: Selected Stories (2019).
He is also the author of many other 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 bestselling 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: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, 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 won the POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award, has been shortlisted for the SLF Fountain Award, Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction and SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Award, and was honourably mentioned twice in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.
For nearly twelve years, Lundberg was the fiction editor at Epigram Books, where he jump-started the Singaporean publisher's fiction line; many of the over 90 titles he edited there won multiple national awards, and made various year’s best lists. His authors include Boey Kim Cheng, Meihan Boey, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Amanda Lee Koe, Ng Yi-Sheng, Nuraliah Norasid, O Thiam Chin, Jeremy Tiang, Cyril Wong and Daryl Qilin Yam.
In addition, he is the founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (2012–2018), series editor for the award-winning biennial Best New Singaporean Short Stories anthology series (est. 2013), editor of Fish Eats Lion Redux (2022) and 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. Furthermore, he was a 2025 Visiting Writer at the Asia Creative Writing Programme, and a 2023 International Writer-in-Residence at the Toji Cultural Foundation Residency Program in South Korea. He has served as a prose mentor with the Creative Arts Programme and Ceriph Mentorship Programme, and he currently lectures on contemporary publishing, editorial theory & practice, and creative writing at Nanyang Technological University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.