The stories in this collection are works of personal gratification, nostalgia, and reverence and they serve as an homage to the author’s hometown and her favorite horror writers.
They take place in various timelines and are written as stories within stories ranging from a headless ghost that returns as a grim reaper, a bird-like creature on the loose, a were-tiger out to seek vengeance, a vampire that decimated an entire village and other restless paranormal entities that walk among us.
Archives: Books
Horrid High
If eleven-year-old Ferg Gottin had been bought from a store, his parents would have
returned him and demanded a refund. Because, you see, for the Gottins, parenting
is an experiment gone badly wrong. So when they find a school where you can
dump your kids and forget about them, they decide that Horrid High is the perfect
place for Ferg. But there’s nothing perfect about Horrid High—it’s quite unlike the
boarding schools Ferg has read about in storybooks. Ferg soon realizes that this isn’t
just a school for orphans, runaways and rejects. Horrid High is a training ground for
horrid teachers who are being sent out into the world to spread horridness! If that’s
not enough, Principal Perverse has a Grand Plan that he plans to reveal to every
horrid teacher everywhere. Ferg and his friends are the only hope that the children
of the world now have. Will they manage to save the day? Open the gates of Horrid
High and find out!
Life’s Amazing Secrets: How to Find balance and Purpose in your Life
This book is for all those who’ve loved The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari.
Stop going through life, Start growing through life!
While navigating their way through horrendous traffic, Gaur Gopal Das and his wealthy young friend Harry get talking, delving into concepts ranging from the human condition to finding one’s purpose in life and the key to lasting happiness. In his debut book Life’s Amazing Secrets, Gaur Gopal Das takes us on an unforgettable journey with his precious insights on certain areas of life. Whether you are looking at strengthening your relationships, discovering your true potential, understanding how to do well at work or even how you can give back to the world, this thought-provoking and light-hearted book by one of the most popular and sought-after monks will help you align yourself with the life you want to live.
The Penguin Book of 1000 Fun Facts
Which is the most ‘stolen’ book in the world? How can one marry a
dead person? How did the word ‘dude’ originate?
The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human
True stories. Soul-baring moments. No apologies.
Two schoolgirls in Yemen skip class, and wander into a yellow circus tent, empty except for one rusty cage. A Jordanian man spends a maddening summer in his sweaty apartment cursing his loud, ignorant neighbours. A woman in Beirut is heartsick, waiting for her kidnapped parrot to return. A young Bangladeshi-American argues with her father about her choice of boyfriend. A lady discovers the secret about the Pakistani neighbour who had stolen her birthday gifts. And an Iraqi soldier pines for an American journalist obsessed with someone else.
This ambitious collection is a four-year quest to find diverse stories from many Muslim worlds that build bridges between each of us, through intimate, and incredibly human experiences of love, loss, laughter and everything in between.
Renovating Democracy
Thought provoking and persuasive, Renovating Democracy serves as a point of departure that deepens and expands the discourse for positive change in governance. The rise of populism in the West and the rise of China in the East have stirred a rethinking of how democratic systems work—and how they fail. The impact of globalism and digital capitalism is forcing worldwide attention to the starker divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots,’ challenging how we think about the social
contract.
With fierce clarity and conviction, Renovating Democracy tears down our basic structures and challenges us to conceive of an alternative framework for governance. To truly renovate our global systems, the authors argue for empowering participation without populism by integrating social networks and direct democracy into the system with new mediating institutions that complement representative government. They outline steps to reconfigure the social contract to protect workers instead of jobs, shifting from a ‘redistribution’ after wealth to ‘pre-distribution’ with the aim to enhance the skills and assets of those less welloff. Lastly, they argue for harnessing globalization through ‘positive nationalism’ at home while advocating for global cooperation—specifically with a partnership with
China—to create a viable rules-based world order.
Whisper in the Wind
In Whisper in the Wind, a wind wandering through the ruins of an old church blows a letter into the path of a writer in search of a story. Laboriously written, the letter begs Sara to come home to her sister, Alice. Deeply moved, Jai Mehta promises the little orphan girl, Alice, that he will help find her sister, Sara, who has been missing for five years. Jai is a reluctant detective. He has had to hold a knife to his wrist to get his family to allow him one chance at his dream, and all he wants to do is finish writing his
book. But, the story his promise leads him to is darker and more intriguing that any he could have dreamed of writing. Searching for one missing servant girl leads him into a tangled tale of loyalty and deceit. And of a love that has endured beyond the grave. Set in Portuguese-ruled Goa, this haunting tale brings the touch of the Gothic to a mystery that involves a girl with the voice of an angel, a violin that plays the sorrows of the heart, and the bond between two friends who swear that not even death will do them apart.
The Heartsick Diaspora and Other Stories
Acutely observed, wry and playful, her debut collection celebrates people who are torn between cultures and juggling a fragmented sense of self.
Five writers form a writing support group but the dynamics shift when a young, handsome Asian writer joins them; three Singaporean daughters welcome their mother on her first visit to London and quarrel over steamboat; a Chinese woman raps about being a Tiger Mother; an elderly Chinese woman recognizes that it isn’t the race that estranges, but the inability to tell the truth; an ethnic writer takes on Eastern mythology in a metaphoric quest to understand the anxiety of Western literary influence. Filled with humourous and heartening short stories, this anthology is a time capsule of how identities evolve and change with the times and places.
Beauty Queens of Bishan
A light-hearted story, Beauty Queens of Bishan centers around stereotypical rich Indian families in Singapore, yet it does not leave out other parts of the community and how they all come together in the beauty parlours of the average-class heartland of Bishan. In Bishan, the busiest suburb of Singapore, thirteen small beauty parlours co-exist quietly, offering haircuts, bikini waxes and facials at no-nonsense prices. All that changes when a swanky new salon opens. D’Asthetique (Beauty is Skin Deep) is run by April Chua, the stylist to the stars. April’s plan for Bishan includes controlling her competitors through a new society, NAILSO (Neighbourhood Alliance of Independent Lifestyle Service Operators). The only person who dares to protest is the chubby Gurpreet Kaur, owner of Monty Beauty Spa. Both have clients in the upcoming Grand Glam Singapore Beauty contest. Will April’s shoe-in Candy Kang prove yet again why she is Singapore’s sweetheart? Or will Gurpreet’s client, Tara Chopra, prove a star on stage as well as in court?
Cursed and Other Stories
Experience the pain, hope and love in the hearts of Filipinos everywhere, especially those making lives easier for strangers and those seeking greener pastures. They wear their identity with simultaneous pride and shame, knowing that while they may wish to go abroad, they will never leave their home behind completely. These stories explore heart-wrenching emotions from the archipelago, that shares more with the West than we realize.