Singapore Gay Literature - Short Stories

Short Stories

LGBT-themed stories are found in different collections of short stories. Examples are:

  • Corridor: 12 Short Stories (1999) by Alfian Sa'at, (Raffles Editions ISBN 981-4032-40-9) contains a several stories with GLBT themes. 'Pillow' looks at a difficult inter-generational relationship. 'Cubicle' is about the physical intimacy two lesbian students often steal in a public toilet. A flamboyant transvestite character appears in 'Bugis'. Finally, 'Disco' deals with an older man who is starting to discover the youth-dominated gay club scene. This book won the 1998 Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award.
  • Cross-straits experiences by Alfian Sa'at, simply titled Bugis in a Singapore-Malaysia collection, The Merlion and the Hibiscus.
  • Worlds Apart, written by J.C. Leahy, found in In the Shadow of the Merlion, an anthology of expatriates' experiences in Singapore
  • Students' collections like Onewinged with stories like The Transformation and Extracts from Fairy Tale by Cheryl Lim and Sim Yee Chiang respectively
  • Pte M, a short story by C.S. Chong in NS: An Air Level Story about an effeminate soldier who tries to be intimate with the protagonist who feels nothing but revulsion, despite not rejecting the unwanted advances until the last possible moment.
  • Drum, a somewhat homophobic short story by David Leo in News at Nine which is modeled after Herman Melville's Billy Budd.
  • Butch and Girl Talk, by Sabariah, a collection of short narrative pieces exclusively about the experiences of young lesbian and bisexual women (and FTM men) in Singapore. It is unclear if the stories are based on the experiences of actual women or primarily fictional. Published by VJ Times, the book is no longer widely available.
  • Let Me Tell You Something About That Night, by Cyril Wong, a collection of surreal, urban to mythical fairy tales dealing with issues of queerness and desire, including a story that puts a gay twist on the Chinese myth about the Dragon King. 2nd Edition published by Ethos Books in 2012.

Read more about this topic:  Singapore Gay Literature

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