Bang My Car
Ann Ang
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810733711

Uncle: we all know him. This is the man who picks his nose on the bus, who will fight for his country and fight you to do it his way. He will shout you into submission while astounding you with his tenderness towards his wife. His standard answer to all your questions is "nothing." Singaporean to the core, Bang My Car is a volume of short stories narrated in a mixture of colloquial Singlish and standard English that reinvents classic prose forms from the ghost story ro the university admissions essay through the figure of Uncle.

Fish Eats Lion
Jason Erik Lundberg (ed.)
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810731939

Fish Eats Lion collects the best original speculative fiction being written in Singapore today, a home-grown anthology featuring a refreshing variety of voices and perspectives. Here are tales that are recognizably science fiction and fantasy, and others that blend genres and tropes, including absurdism, police procedural, fairy tales, steampunk, pre- and post-apocalypse, political satire, and alien first contact. These twenty-two stories—from emerging writers publishing their first work to winners of the Singapore Literature Prize and the Cultural Medallion -- explore the fundamental singularity of the Lion City.

This book is a celebration of the vibrant creative power underlying Singapore's inventive prose stylists, where what is considered normal and what is strange are blended in fantastic new ways.

Ayam Curtain
June Yang & Joyce Chng (eds.)
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810740085

Kong jiao wei, in Hokkien, means “speaking bird language.” It is a cock-and-bull story, a flight of fancy and, incidentally, the perfect phrase to describe this collection of microfiction with a quintessentially Singaporean flavour. The reader steps into a technological dystopia one moment and wakes up a crow in the next story, all within the space of a hundred words.

Expect a spirit war in underground tunnels, genetically-modified babies and a Singapore overrun by anti-government spies in these short stories. Be entertained by a motley gang of characters both strange and the deranged, uber-rational and supernatural, feathered or plucked in Ayam Curtain.

A Clean Breast
Theresa Tan
Singapore: Write Editions, 2012
ISBN: 9789810739294

The morning she woke up with a pain in her right breast, Theresa Tan knew her life would never be the same again. In this deeply personal book, Theresa shares her horrific discovery of breast cancer and the painful loss of her breast to the disease. Journey with her as she emerges through the darkest period of her life to be stronger and fitter than ever, filled with a purpose to help and encourage other women experiencing cancer. Written in an intimate style, speckled with humour, A Clean Breast is the story of a woman who decided to kill cancer before it killed her.

Ask the Foodie: Kitchen Knowhow Explained
Chris Tan
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789814342261

In 2006, Chris Tan began a conversation with readers and home cooks in The Sunday Times. It went on for five years. He encountered Singaporeans obsessed with eating, and with some things in particular – firm prawns, steamed egg, soups, deep-fried anything…

Forgotten dishes: Some questions were nostalgic. How do I recreate my grandma's kueh, where can I find this long-forgotten dish?

Distress calls: Some were distress calls over repeated recipe failures, like cakes that ended up with the wrong texture, curries that didn't make the cut.

Tricky recipes: Many focused on just how tricky apparently simple recipes could be – why braised peanuts stayed hard, for example.

Ask the Foodie: Kitchen Knowhow Explained is for all the faithful followers of Chris Tan's column. This compilation includes the most frequently asked questions, and answers that have been reinforced by further experiments. It covers a wide range of topics: Asian snacks & desserts; Beverages; Cakes & puddings; Curries & sambals; Eggs & dairy; Frying; Herbs & spices; Ingredients & additives; Meat & poultry; Noodles & pasta; Nuts, beans, seeds & grains; Pastries & bread; Pickles & preserves; Rice; Sauces, stocks & stocks; Seafood; Vegetables & fruits.

Vanishing Point
Felix Cheong
Singapore Ethos Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810733865

3,000 people go missing every year in Singapore. Why do they disappear?

Felix Cheong's Vanishing Point is the first work of fiction by a Singapore writer to be inspired by real-life cases of missing persons. These stories do not speculate where these people have gone to but as a creative leap-off to explore the theme of absences and obsessions.

In 'In the Dark', a man who is obsessive-compulsive about white cleans his wife - literally - out of his life. In 'Remember the Wormhole of 2030', the prime minister of a small island nation abducts her ex-lover to prevent a scandal from exploding. In 'The 10th Floor', a crooked accountant has to deal nightly with strangers coming to his flat asking for a floor that doesn't exist.

These are stories suffused with a sharp sense of the surreal and the satirical, compared by writers like Daren Shiau and Boey Kim Cheng to Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. Weaving in poetic turns of phrase for which he is known for, Cheong shows us how we often reach the vanishing point in the horizon even if we may not have physically vanished.

Scene Gapore
Miel
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810731076

A character who looks suspiciously like the author takes a walk through time, visiting the key milestones of Singapore's history -- from the time Sang Nila Utama spotted the Merlion, through the streets of newly-founded Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles, up to the present day. Join in this humorous jalan-jalan which offers a unique perspective on a range of topics, from education, health and food to politics, National Service, public transport, foreign talent, technology and other subjects close to the Singaporean heart.

Singapore's Lost Son: How I Made It From Dropout to Millionaire Princeton PhD
Kaiwen Leong
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2012
ISBN: 9789814382687

This is the true story of a boy with a simple dream -- to become a man. But he fell and became a dropout of school, friends, life, himself. But with the helping hand of a teacher, he turned his life around, found friends and love, and fulfilled his dream. This is the story of how that boy went from dropout to millionaire Princeton PhD. Expelled from four junior colleges (he was labelled ‘subnormal’ and not academically inclined), Kaiwen Leong sat for the A level examinations as a private candidate while experimenting with Internet websites to try his hand at entrepreneurship. He studied hard and did well enough to be admitted to Boston University in the US where he graduated with two bachelors and two masters degrees in economics and mathematics in four years. And then he went on to obtain postgraduate degrees at Princeton University. He is a member of America’s most prestigious academic societies and has published research papers on economics, mathematics and physics. Today he lectures at Nanyang Techonological University and is an economist at Spring Singapore. Find out how Dr Leong picked up his life.

Jolene's Story
Jolene Goh
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2012
ISBN: 9789814398114

Jolene is only 22 years old, but her unspoken story will make you think twice about the big picture in life. Does coming from a broken family mean you have to stay broken all your life?

Born illegitimate, abandoned by her father, sexually abused by her stepfather, and called a liar by her mother, Jolene never had a carefree childhood nor a warm loving family that is the right of every child. She lived in constant fear of her stepfather, never knowing when he would impose himself on her. She was angry, depressed and miserable. She rebelled, sniffed glue, took drugs, joined gangs, and ended up in the Singapore Girls' Home.

Today, Jolene holds a secure job and is helping her family pay off their debts. This is the story of how that girl picked herself up and made a better life for herself and her mother. With piercing honesty, Jolene's Story is about a girl trying to make sense of her life and change it for the better.

But that is not all. She has her reasons for opening up her life to the public for full scrutiny and for all to judge. She wants her biological father to realize that without him all these years, without any love, care and concern for her, she is doing well, published a book and is successful. For the sake of her stepbrothers, she didn't want to have her stepfather charged in court. But she wants her stepbrothers and the public to know the cold truth of what he had done to her and the nightmare he put her through. She also wants to show the world that not every break-up leads to slitting of your wrists, not every failure leads to a hopeless future, and not every mistake will cause you to be condemned forever. She has been through so much more than most of us and has come out a stronger person.

Lee Kuan Yew's Strategic Thought
Ang Cheng Guan
London: Routledge, 2012
ISBN: 9780415658553

Lee Kuan Yew, as the founding father of independent Singapore, has had an enormous impact on the development of Singapore and of Southeast Asia more generally. Even in his 80s he is a key figure who continues to exert considerable influence from behind the scenes. This book presents a comprehensive overview of Lee Kuan Yew’s strategic thought. It charts the development of Singapore over the last six decades, showing how Lee Kuan Yew has steered Singapore to prosperity and success through changing times. It analyses the factors underlying Lee Kuan Yew’s thinking, discusses his own writings and speeches, and shows how his thinking on foreign policy, security and international relations has evolved over time.

A Sociolinguistic History of Early Identities in Singapore: From Colonialism to Nationalism
Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew
UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012
ISBN: 9781137012333

'Pulau Panjan', 'Po Luo Chung', 'Pulau Ujong', 'Lung –ya-men', 'Temasek', 'Singapura' are all former names of Singapore and belie its colourful history as the El-Dorado and nexus of Southeast Asia. Who were Singapore's previous multilingual inhabitants? What were the pidgins, creoles and languages that thronged its market places and created its forgotten identities? How did polyglot migrants caught in the throes of an earlier globalization organize their respective identities? What hybrid identities arose from such cross-cultural interactions? This book presents a fascinating history of early identities in Singapore as examined through the retrospective lens of language. A long view has been chosen for its advantage in providing unexpected socio-political and linguistic insights into the long term effects of change and continuity.

Monsters, Miracles & Mayonnaise
Drewscape
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810731090

What would you do if a tiny monster slipped out from your sleeve on your way to work one day? Or if the water in your water bottle suddenly turned into grape juice? What if you found you could not move no matter how hard you tried? Monsters, Miracles & Mayonnaise is a collection of short comic stories where tales of unexpected encounters with strange beings from another world sit alongside amusing anecdotes based on bewildering real-life encounters and childhood memories. Imaginative and whimsical, this collection will surprise and amuse even the most cynical reader.

Ten Sticks and One Rice
Ong Yong Hwee & Koh Hong Teng
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810731083

Illegal bookie. Secret society member. Street hawker. Neo Hock Seng is all of these, and more. As Singapore transforms from a kampong town to a cosmopolitan city, Neo struggles to make sense of life and eke out a living, even as he finds his old ways and values increasingly challenged.

My Burning Hill
Rosaly Puthucheary
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810741426

My Burning Hill is a long poem in fifty-six sections. Dr Rosaly Puthucheary wrote this long poem while taking on the perspective of her late brother, Dr James Puthucheary, who played a major role in Singapore's fight for independence from the British. Dr Rosaly puts into lyrical form, the motivation and actions of the towering figure of a man driven by a great purpose.

In this reflective and retrospective musing, the writer moves from one pertinent moment in the political history of Singapore since 1942 to another. By interlacing these political events with the depth of memory, the writer exalts the significance of each moment, both pleasant and unpleasant. The reader will also understand the sacrifices and struggles that are expected from individuals who have dedicated their lives to a great purpose.

Queer Singapore: Illiberal Citizenship and Mediated Cultures
Audrey Yue, and Jun Zubillaga-Pow (eds.)
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789888139347

Singapore remains one of the few countries in Asia that has yet to decriminalize homosexuality. Yet it has also been hailed by many as one of the emerging gay capitals of Asia. This book accounts for the rise of mediated queer cultures in Singapore's current milieu of illiberal citizenship.

This collection analyses how contemporary queer Singapore has emerged against a contradictory backdrop of sexual repression and cultural liberalisation. Using the innovative framework of illiberal pragmatism, established and emergent local scholars and activists provide expansive coverage of the impact of homosexuality on Singapore's media cultures and political economy, including law, religion, the military, literature, theatre, photography, cinema, social media and queer commerce. It shows how new LGBT subjectivities have been fashioned through the governance of illiberal pragmatism, how pragmatism is appropriated as a form of social and critical democratic action, and how cultural citizenship is forged through a logic of queer complicity that complicates the flows of oppositional resistance and grassroots appropriation.

Unrest
Yeng Pway Ngon
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810738020

In 1987, a middle-aged man and woman share a night of passion, returning to their respective spouses the next day. They will not see each other again, but each is profoundly shaken by the consummation of a relationship that began thirty years previously. We discover this couple first met in the 1950s when they were both student revolutionaries in Singapore, ardently striving to bring about a socialist paradise in Asia. How did they go from the high-minded ideals of Communism to empty marriages and sordid adultery? A study in the decline of idealism and the ultimate failure of the Communist project, Unrest is also a bittersweet love story that takes place across Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.

Clear Brightness: New Poems
Boey Kim Cheng
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810741822

In poems that shuttle between Singapore and Australia, award-winning poet Boey Kim Cheng seeks to establish a new sense of self and home on the shifting ground between memory and imagination. A noodle-maker in Melbourne triggers connective threads to the poet's birthplace. A train crossing over the Johor-Singapore Causeway evokes the dislocating experience of interstitial existence. After six long years, one of Singapore's greatest modern voices returns with a work of profound insight and erudition.

The Singapore Decalogue: Episodes in the Life of a Foreign Talent
Zafar Anjum
Singapore: Red Wheelbarrow Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810740320

In these beautifully-crafted and interconnected stories, Zafar Anjum presents two commonplaces about fast-changing Singapore: one, that it is an island of immigrants; and two, that it is a nation still looking to sketch out the parameters and contours of its own soul. Through Asif Basheer, a newly-arrived 'foreign talent' from India, Anjum takes us on an unforgettable odyssey of love, lust, hope and despair. Written with acuity and grace, the stories in this collection are sensuous, tender, funny, charming, heartbreaking and tragic.

Spectre: Stories
Verena Tay
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810738037

Spectre: Stories is Verena Tay’s first collection of short stories. A spectrum of tales ranging from the supernatural to magic realism, from fantasy to reworkings of folktales, this anthology seeks to terrify and inspire and encourages the reader to find darkness in the ordinary things in life and light in the depths of the soul.

The Invisible Manuscript
Alfian Sa'at
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810739492

The Invisible Manuscript is Alfian Sa'at's first unpublished collection of writings composed when he was 22. It was first distributed unofficially to selected friends and colleagues. Bearing passionate testimony to private and public memories, this gathering of poems and prose fragments documenting the intimate challenges of homosexual longing gives voice to an invisible minority still struggling to be recognised today. Now published at last, this book, full of fierce confessions, ambivalences and flinty epiphanies, will shock and devastate.

Here is an uncompromising confluence of unfulfilled desires wrought through language by one of Singapore's most outspoken and critical voices.

Balik Kampung
Verena Tay (ed.)
Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012
ISBN: 9789810738044

8 established and upcoming writers. 8 experiences of living in different parts of Singapore for at least 10 years. 8 new tales written based on those impressions of life.

Welcome to the world of Balik Kampung where we invite you to read our stories, return in your imagination to the village that you call 'home' and explore your sense of who you truly are.