Showing results by narrator "Benjamin Chow" in All Categories

Kevin is a young man without a soul, holidaying in Tokyo; Mr Five, the enigmatic kappa, is the man he so happens to meet. Little does Kevin know that kappas—the river demons of Japanese folklore—desire nothing more than the souls of other humans. Set between Singapore and Japan, Kappa Quartet is split into eight discrete sections, tracing the rippling effects of this chance encounter across a host of other characters, connected and bound to one another in ways both strange and serendipitous.

In the Nation, citizenship is competitively earned, and the sting of failure strikes swift. The smallest professional blemish may spell demotion or even deportation to offshore labour communities called Depositories, while the affluent are insured against all misfortune and can do no wrong. Santhosh is a Transient student hoping to ace the Civil Primaries and make Citizen the following year, when his father is suddenly deported and State agents murder his guardian's entire family.

A woman learns of a friend's illness and wonders if she ever truly knew him. A boy who sees ghosts heeds the advice of a fortune-teller, with surprising consequences. A girl wakes up and realises everybody in her Bedok neighbourhood has vanished. From Cyril Wong, award-winning author of The Last Lesson of Mrs de Souza, comes another beautiful book about characters in crisis, with two stories crossing intriguingly into creative autobiography.

Born on the night of the nation's independence, Gimme Lao is cheated of the honour of being Singapore's firstborn son by a vindictive nurse. This forms the first of three things Gimme never knows about himself, the second being the circumstances surrounding his parents' marriage, and the third being the profound (but often unintentional) impact he has on other people's lives.

A publishing sensation in the 1970s and 1980s, Son of Singapore traces the extraordinary upbringing of an Everyman. As a Teochew farm boy coming of age during the Japanese Occupation, Tan Kok Seng enters the "university of the world" at only 15, becoming a coolie at the Orchard Road market. On his rounds to the homes of the "Red Hairs", he befriends a group of Chinese dialect-speaking Caucasians who inspire him to improve himself beyond his humble roots.

Sally Bong is the typical do-gooder. But her journey as an exemplary citizen of Singapore is put into question when she meets people on the margins, upending everything she has learned in school. In a follow-up to the hilarious Let's Give It Up for Gimme Lao!, Sebastian Sim delves deeper into a...

Theodora Tuxedo wasn't the only feline to arrive and stay with Eugene's family at Block 223. Firstborn, a son Satu (also a tuxedo but in white mess dress), would plop out with a mewl into Stepdad's pyjama pants one early Sunday morning, with tortoiseshell Dua and calico Tiga to follow. There's...

A mother and son have to deal with the consequences when she makes an embarrassing mistake at the shopping mall one afternoon. Narrator: Benjamin Chow Composer: Tabitha Boon Music Mixed by: Edric Hwang Sound Designer: Yen Yu Ting, Loo Zhen Yang Mixed by: Yen Yu Ting The Sound of Stories...

Raj, a resident at a halfway house, is ready to take his first steps in a new job after months of rehab, but will Life have other plans? Narrator: Benjamin Chow Composer: Gregory Tan Music Mixed by: Edric Hwang Sound Designer: Ming, Loo Zhen Yang Mixed by: Yen Yu Ting The Sound of Stories...

Tales of horror have long been an integral part of Singapore's storytelling culture, and they continue to dominate the imagination in the 21st century. But even as the horror folklore of yesteryear—along with its creatures, the pontianak and the jiangshi—recedes from collective memory, new...

Three friends board an overnight sleeper bus in Japan, little knowing the sinister bus journey they will ensure should they stay awake throughout. Chills and thrills in this short story from the Storytel Epigram Horror Competition...

Newly-wed Sheena gets her new apartment at a steal, only to realize that she has gotten more than she bargained for when she finds a box of strange items hidden under some old toys...

I got myself a Twitter Account to gain supporters. I'm furious that my arch enemy, Michael, is doing the same. Oh man, he's everywhere—Facebook, IM, YouTube, you name it. But what he doesn't realise is how popular I am. My secret weapon? My sister WPI (Whiny, Pesky and Irritating) and her...

Ismael, a transplanted Singaporean, lives on a bucolic suburban Brisbane street. His job is to decide whether asylum-seekers get to stay in the country, a dilemma that never fails to remind him of his own immigrant status. But then his life begins to take on the hue of a nightmare: his neighbour...

Eye on the World is the third and concluding volume of Tan Kok Seng's autobiography, where he and his young family go to bustling Hong Kong. He writes with endearing honesty about a place that seems a lot like home, yet is vastly different in many ways, and this affectionate sense of observation is carried through a round-the-world trip he embarks on.

Enter the world of Holden Heng, the not-so-lucky-in-love protagonist of this comic realist novel that documents social currents transforming the Lion City. Described as the most Singaporean of Singapore writers, Robert Yeo presents an immensely entertaining story of a typical Singaporean man's escapades with three very different women. Will he ever find true love?

I write my diary in the toilet to get away from my troubles, like having to compete with Michael, the bully who's in the swim team with me, and falling out with my best friend, Alvin, over a girl! My diary goes wherever I go as there are those who want to read it. For I know secrets, like how to...

This diary began as Mum's New Year's resolution to get me to write. She told me to write when I am doing my big business. "Five to eight minutes max!" she said. "I don't want you to develop piles!" And so my writing in the bathroom began. My entries started with the boring old stuff…then Mum...

Death of a Perm Sec is a mystery about the demise of the permanent-secretary of the housing ministry, Chow Sze Teck, accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes over his career. Set in 1980's Singapore, the novel examines the civil servant's death, which first appears to be suicide by a cocktail of alcohol, morphine and Valium. But upon investigation by a CID inspector who might not be what he seems, the family discovers there may be far more sinister circumstances behind his death, that reach to the very top of government.