A collection of science fiction that borders on science possible, Virtual Center and Other stories brings to you some brilliant, adventurous possibilities of our tech-dominant lives.
Virtual Center is the first in this collection and is the 2002 Palanca Awards first-prize winner for Futuristic Fiction. It tells the story of rich people who have chosen to live the rest of their lives virtually while poor people care for them–until a young anarchist attempts to disrupt the system. Hatchling refers to the monster tiyanak of Philippine supernatural lore. The Creator Defends His Creation is the testimony of a man standing trial for fraud for building an android and getting him elected as president. By the Light of the Moon introduces an alien figure from Venus who revels in being hailed as the goddess Haliya, protector of the timid moon god. The Sincerest Form of Flattery is the story of a girl who maintains a lifelong resentment against her younger sister, a clone of her grandmother. The Beautiful and the Whole is a post-apocalyptic story in which a nation, in an attempt to rejuvenate its population after a devastating world war, has instituted restrictive laws regarding marriage and reproduction.
Archives: Books
Riverrun, A Novel
Riverrun is a rite-of-passage novel on the life of Danilo Cruz, a young gay man who
grows up in a colourful and chaotic military dictatorship in the Philippines. Shaped
like a memoir, it glides from childhood to young adulthood in chapters written like
flash fiction and vignettes, along with a recipe for shark meat, a feature article,
extracts from a poem and vivid songs. It can be classified as literary fiction, that is
nevertheless accessible to the general reader.
Don’t mess with my Professionalism
Questioning others’ professionalism is an immediate negative reaction that many international executives have when they are facing a behavior, which is culturally different from theirs and which they don’t understand in the workplace. ‘Professionalism’ becomes the alibi for ethnocentrism, which in turn, jeopardizes relationships at work and reduces chances of success in the evergrowing multicultural business world.
In this book, Vanessa Barros goes beyond individual views of ‘professionalism’ to provide effective strategies to resolve intercultural conflict.
Young Mongols
In 1990, Mongolia’s youth-led revolution threw off the Soviet yoke, ushering in multi¬party democracy. Thirty years later, the country’s youth are still leading Mongolia’s democratic development.
This powerful, inclusive book introduces readers to modern Mongolia through the stories of young leaders fighting to make their country a better, more democratic place. Its intersectional perspective explores the complexity of Mongolia today: the urban planning and pollution issues that plague the capital city of Ulaanbaatar; the struggles of women, the LGBTQIA+ population, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities to claim their equitable places in society; the challenge of providing education in the world’s least densely populated country to prepare the workforce of tomorrow; and how to fairly divide the spoils of the country’s vast mineral resource wealth.
This rising generation of Mongolians is already wielding real power and shaping their country’s future. Their work will determine whether the country is able to overcome its development and democratization challenges, its relationship to the world, and who the winners (and losers) will be in Mongolian society.
Born To Die
This is a key text to understand the processes of urban violence in Colombia. It reveals the world of the young people who formed gangs and shook up Colombia with their recklessness. The book also explores the cultural and historical roots of a generation that got caught up in the drug-trafficking phenomenon and created a subculture with odd forms of religiousness, irreverent languages and a defiant attitude towards death. This book is short and entertaining, yet hard to swallow, as the reader is thrust into realities that only a few people live and understand, and many of us want to change.
Raffles Readers
Raffles Hotel is the best-known, oldest and most elegant hotel in Singapore. When it was first built in 1887, it stood on Beach Road, overlooking the sea. Presently, Beach Road is in the middle of a thriving, modern city. There are many tales of the weird and wonderful happenings at this beautiful hotel-hundreds of famous people have also stayed there.
This book holds the secrets to a century of adventures, including monsters, missing silver, spies, ghost brides and zombies. Spanning the 1920s to 2000s, these imaginative tales will draw readers into the wondrous world of the iconic Raffles Hotel and the escapades of its young guests.
Everyday Ninja
When Kareem and Raffi see an awesome ninja at the park, they go back again and again, wondering if they’ve got what it takes to be super ninjas too. But the boys are in for a big surprise when the ninja does a perfect arabesque.
Horrid High: Back to School
When Granny Grit is called away on a most mysterious mission, twelve-year-old Ferg and his friends are left at the mercy of Cook Fracas’s frenzied food fights, Colonel Craven’s manic panics and Miss Nottynuf’s nervous nail-biting. To make matters worse, the Grand Plan is still missing and the kids must find it before someone truly awful does.
Can Ferg and his friends survive another term at the world’s most horrid school? Return to Horrid High and find out!
Our Sands
No subject, we’re all starting to admit, is as relevant as climate change. Our Sands is set in and around one of the least sustainable projects on the planet-the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. They inspire increasingly militant ‘ecoteurs’ who feel that one big dose of poison is the only way to stop the poisoning of land, water and First Nations peoples.
Seventeen year-old Ocean Janak has grown up the privileged daughter of Blake, a geologist turned oil executive. When she falls for Rory McAllister, a bike courier who secretly scans many of the oil contracts he’s paid to deliver, she finds a lover and comrade-in-green-arms. Together, they say No to help the planet say Yes.
Like Margaret Atwood, Our Sands knows that climate change is in fact ‘everything change’.
The Gurkhas
The Gurkhas – A True Story is a complete book for, to and by a Gurkha. It covers their story from the start to the very present. The book not only documents the Gurkhas’ history but also their influence in the community and the nation as a whole.
Immersed in a 200-year-old history, the Gurkhas is an institution and are known to be the bravest of the braves.
The Gurkhas fought in many countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, East Timor, Hong Kong, Cyprus, the Falklands, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo for the British. Their famous kukri had no peers in both WWI and WWII, and they are probably the only such force in the world that had won wars by name alone.
An institution that lasted for more than two centuries cannot survive by bravery alone. Outside factors such as political, social, religious, racial, and traditional affected their community. Their inherited virtues such as loyalty, devotion, tenacity, hardworking, adaptability as well as being able to face difficulty with a smile made them tough from the inside. Above all, their upbringing taught them to respect their elders and their masters who made them into a perfect soldier.