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© 2020 Penguin SEA

Catagory: Fiction

The Summer of Letting Go

“Death blinked into existence when Uncle Drew left. It’s never going to leave me now, and I’m never going to let it.”

When eighteen-year-old Kali’s uncle dies in a car accident on his way to pick her up from school, her world stops. The sudden void where her favourite person used to be leaves her a ghost of what she once was – at least, until she starts seeing Uncle Drew on the corner of Tea For Two where he was supposed to meet her.

When Kali applies for a part-time job in the tea shop to spend every waking hour with the carefree ghost of her Cheeto-loving uncle, she doesn’t expect Luca, the hot but aloof owner behind the counter, to offer her the job – nor does she expect to find him irresistibly cute.

She can’t afford to have Luca’s college-boy charm distract her when the landlord condemns Tea For Two for demolition, because losing Uncle Drew’s haunt might just erase him from her life completely. And she can’t lose him – not again.

But Uncle Drew has his own demons too, and in the midst of messy LEGO bricks, Kali’s best friends going to separate colleges, tearful heartbreaks, and her counting down the final days until her uncle slips from her fingers forever, can Kali truly learn what it means to move on, find love, and let go?

The Power Above Us All

A novel of ordinary decent criminals and extraordinarily brutal cops weaving together and colliding inside the giant slum of ‘Dreamland’, within the megalopolis of Metro Manila, Philippines.

Dreamland’s entrance may smell of soap from the nearby detergent factory, but within the sprawling maze of thousands squeezed into tenements and shanties, there’s only the reek of corruption, crime, and cockroaches—the insect and human kind.

Dodong’s cushy life as a low-level criminal takes a violent turn when his girlfriend Che, a beautiful bar girl, turns up dead. The police officers have tagged Dodong as the primary suspect and he decides to scrub any evidence he and Che were ever lovers to survive.

With the help of his best friend Buldan, Dodong endeavors to investigate who framed him. As they try to elude the villainous police officer Elmer, a manhunt for the serial killer of gay men proceeds with startling incompetence.

This manhunt is also connected, among other things, to part-time mortician Butsok’s increasing purchases of oil and why his sister’s a cripple.

These seemingly disparate stories will unlock the mystery of Che’s death and Dodong’s suffering. As the cordon tightens around them, Dodong and Buldan move towards a furious denouement, encountering unlikely allies and enemies, stumbling on foul truths in their world drenched in perpetual violence and poverty.

When all paths unforgiving are found, the friends will wish they’d never uncovered the power above that rules all and spares none.

Zarra and the Twelve Realms of Kayangan

Forced to work for her aunt like a modern-day Cinderella, twelve-year-old Zarra Nuraman thinks her life is awful until one day her fairy ‘godmother’ turns up and kidnaps Zarra’s baby cousin. Zarra follows her cousin and ends up in Kayangan – a parallel universe filled with the characters of the Malaysian folktales she grew up with. In this land where magic fairy coats and were-crocodiles exist, and where even saying the wrong thing can kill you, Zarra is being hunted by the evil Queen Zamrud. With the help of the Border Guardians, Khai and Amir, and a magic Bidari coat which can transport her anywhere she wants, Zarra has three days to rescue her cousin, and in the process discovers a secret which changes her life.

Tapestry of the Mind and Other Stories

Tapestry of the Mind is best described as the writer’s literary love affair with trying to make sense of the human psyche. It is a collection of seventeen fully-developed short stories that are serious, funny, tender and grounded in Malaysia and, in particular Aneeta Sundararaj’s hometown of Alor Setar in northern Peninsular Malaysia.
The reader moves among a diverse range of protagonists from classical Indian dancers, toddlers engaging with spirits, pet therapy, mothers losing their children because of inequitable laws and the manipulation of the metaverse, men lacking self-worth, and divorcees mulling failed marriages, to probable stigma of homosexuality, narcissism, mean adults, sibling rivalry, bullying, spiritual abuse, clandestine adoptions, autism, environmental disasters, men’s regret from love lost, and the destruction of the mission schools.
Like all love affairs, specific and unique cultural, ethnic and religious differences gave rise to moments of betrayal, poignancy, heartache and, sometimes, much mirth. Ultimately, this haunting collection pieces together an everlasting tapestry of words rooted in brutal honesty. When viewed as a whole, it brings to light issues long avoided, evaded or hidden. With each story prefaced by a quote from an expert in mental health, Tapestry of the Mind is cradled with gravitas.

The Twin Blades of Doom

Julian Kee and his friends have already saved the Underworld twice from destruction and chaos. Can they do it a third time?

In his misguided attempts to harness the power of technology, the children’s erstwhile mentor Wuchiwark has unleashed a blight across the Underworld, causing the plants and animals to mutate into fearsome beasts. Only the legendary Twin Blades of Doom can undo the curse, so off the children are sent on yet another thrilling adventure! However, firmly believing that being a hero should be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and not a permanent job, Julian hatches a daring plot which, if successful, will resolve the Underworld’s problems once and for all.

This third book in the Prophecy of the Underworld series continues to serve up much fun and laughter about adventures, heroes and the crazy world of publishing!

Bleeding Sun

Bleeding Sun is a novel about agrarian reform but it is also the story of Simon, a farmer’s son, who is born in the poorest province. He grows up with no mother, his father dies after he graduates from high school, falls in love with a socialite, runs away from home and returns with a silent vengeance.

Duxton Hill

Set against the backdrop of an aging boutique hotel, once a jewel of elegance in the heart of Singapore’s Duxton Hill, a tropical rain storm brings together two unlikely singles, Clara Tan and Nicholas Tate. Their personalities and cultural backgrounds at first seem at complete odds. Unbeknown to them, their futures are very much aligned. Through the twists and turns of a potential relationship, and the trials and tribulations of sorrow, love, friendship, courage and the Duxton Hotel’s fight for survival, Clara discovers that her tendency to fall in love too fast for every single male she encounters, needs some adjustment.
Her life is about to completely turn upside down when she inherits the hotel from its billionaire owner Mr Chan, but through having to lead and re-brand the hotel towards its new beginning, she inadvertently overcomes a sensitive and socially difficult medical condition. In the meantime, her love for Nicholas develops, deepens and blossoms as a result of her new found confidence, on which a new life and hotel empire begins.

Yangon Days

Yangon, previously known as Rangoon, is the former capital of Myanmar (Burma) and one of the major commercial cities in Southeast Asia. Moreover, it stands out among its neighboring cities, such as Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, and is regarded as a well-structured and booming city. The influx of people is constant, with individuals coming and going through the city. Even famous international literary luminaries, such as Rudyard Kipling, Rabindranath Tagore, George Orwell, Pablo Neruda, and Somerset Maugham, once visited, stayed, and enjoyed Rangoon’s vibrant life.

Yangon has become a home for many people, both locals and expats, who seek jobs, success, a new life, good food, and good housing. While most Yangon residents gain success and prosperity from what the commercial city has to offer, some encounter failures and frustrations. However, a city is a city, amiably welcoming those who seek refuge in its bountifulness.

These twenty-six stories revolve around people, especially ordinary individuals, living in the city of Yangon. They depict their delight, empathy, follies, and humanness through their daily and family lives. “Yangon Days” is about them.

The book is intended for general readers, especially teenagers and adults living in Southeast Asia and beyond. By reading these stories, they will become more familiar with Yangon and its charming people, gaining insights into how the city offers and treats its residents.

Leap of Fate

Singaporeans found themselves having to navigate livelihoods and relationships in unexpected tragicomic ways. Siblings would turn out to be lifelong enemies, money—or rather the lack of it—a crippling nightmare, love an ever posture of deception, wild gossip the coup de grâce. In spite of it all, the unforeseen, even death itself, would every so often become a flint for courage and redemption for some, especially Tin, a brave teenage girl who continued to defy familial odds, and Mona, a widow-turned-prostitute who was forced to thwart her own expectations.
Equal parts inspired by real-life anecdotes and borne of imagination, this story promises to lay bare the struggles and aspirations of those living in an era and a place unwittingly defined by societal taboos and quirky traditions that have long vanished from the face of contemporary Singapore. Ultimately, this is the story of what it means to be human when fate decides to take a leap.

Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing

Singing Chinese antiquities. Ghosts that only one young man could sense. A house with a sentient A.I. that becomes a part of the family. A cricket that acts as a tragic voice of reason. A man born and bred for neural mass surveillance.
This anthology is a collection of unpredictable stories of various genres—fantasy, science fiction, crime, horror and the supernatural—that touch on courage and fear, loss and resolution, denial and honesty, despair and hope…from an author who writes about being human in a world where the unseen is suddenly exposed. Every story is written in versatile language, with characters sure to elicit sympathy, and perhaps even familiarity, from readers who are sure to recognize themselves or those they know in the unique situations of each entertaining tale.