The Best Asian Short Stories 2022

by Darryl Whetter (Editor)

The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 anthology is the 6th volume in the annual TBASS series of anthologies celebrating the Asian short story as a constantly evolving, innovative and vibrant mode of literary expression.

The focus of our 2022 issue is chope, the Singaporean practice of reserving a space, although of course stories on other themes will also be featured. The anthology showcases well-crafted literary fiction from some of the most exciting voices in Asia.

326 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2023

Reviews

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend gave me a copy of The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 edited by Darryl Whetter. I found it to be something of a hit and miss collection for me. Some stories came across as amateurish and juvenile. However, some of the other stories came across as professionally polished and illuminating about the lives of the characters. for the most part, it was the Singapore-based writers that impressed me the most in this collection:"Kochi" by Sahib Nazari, "Pineapple Fengshui" by Sarah Soh, "The Shadow" by Prachi Topiwala-Agarwal, "Mei-Mei" by Joanne Tan, "Transplanted Love" by Vicky Chong, "We Morners" by Nash Coblundalur, and "First Draft: David in Singapore, Maureen in Wales" by Peter Morgan.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: one of my short stories is included in this collection, so I am a bit biased, but I really enjoyed reading the book. Some favorites are "Pineapple Fengshui" by Sarah Soh, which wins for its title alone; "Paris Match" by fellow expat-in-Japan Simon Rowe; "Kochi" by Afghani Sahin Nazari; "We're in This Together" by Kevin Nicholas Wong; "Dean and Gina Go to Cold Storage" by Dawn Lo; "Man of the House" by Ken Lye, which takes place in Singapore during the lockdown; and "First Draft: David in Singapore, Maureen in Wales" by Peter Morgan. Most of the writers are from Singapore, but there are also representatives of India and Hong Kong.