Asian Short Stories

THIS IS A SHORT STORY It’s 1998 and Bill Jedburgh, formerly of the Royal Hong Kong Police and now a gun for hire is on his way to Hua Hin with his new toy: an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare sniper rifle. All he wants to do is put the weapon through its paces and have a relaxing weekend with his girlfriend, but somehow he ends up in a pistol duel. Without his trusty Glock he has to quickly get familiar with the Ruger Mark II.

THIS IS A SHORT STORY It's 2006 and Bill Jedburgh, formerly of the Royal Hong Kong Police but now a gun for hire, is having dinner by himself in Patpong, Bangkok, when a young lady comes along and makes him an indecent proposal. Will the Reliable Man decline the invitation or will he rise to the occasion?

THIS IS A SHORT STORY It's 1999 and Bill Jedburgh, formerly with the Royal Hong Kong Police but now a gun for hire, has flown up to Shanghai to sort out a tricky problem involving computers. At first it's a bit confusing but eventually Jedburgh gets his man. There are also four women involved but that's the least you expect when it comes to the Reliable Man.

Bill Jedburgh, formerly of the Royal Hong Kong Police but now a gun for hire, is tasked by Brigadier Wee of Singapore's Security & Intelligence Division to work with a man known as the Hairy Filipino. It should have been a simple assassination but, as often happens in life, the best laid plans of mice and spooks go oft awry.

This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So listen on, for after all, magic has no borders.

Christmas has never been more complicated! Goldie Gill works in a recruiting firm in Toronto and has had it with his mother's single-minded desire to see him married off to a nice girl. Goldie has no wish to find himself a nice girl - he is perfectly happy living the life and hanging out with his cat, Billy. It takes a chance encounter with a dusky, doe-eyed, scatter-brained beauty, just before Christmas, for Goldie to seriously reconsider his plans. But then, he learns that his meeting with the girl isn't a happy coincidence - somebody has been meddling. What is the conspiracy and how is ...

When a wealthy politician’s twelve-year-old son disappears, the family’s driver witnesses the aftermath. A field investigator for the World Health Organization travels the globe giving presentations about a biomedical enzyme that will lead to the extinction of the human race. And Father Augusto Saenz, the Jesuit priest and forensic anthropologist from Smaller and Smaller Circles, returns to investigate the murder of a woman whose secretive life holds the key to her death.

★A spine-chilling techno-thriller novella. For those who like their minds bent.★ Five went up the mountains. None returned. And it wasn’t the cold or the climb that killed them. At fifteen thousand feet, an army rescue operation finds buried underneath snow dunes five trekkers, dead in their campsite. One of the dead is Indian movie star Kirti Pandit. Another is her boyfriend, and the rest are her entourage. No one can say how they died. It could’ve been due to intense cold, perhaps the sudden snowstorm, or merely altitude sickness. Only, their symptoms were unusual. The snowfall ...

They say a man without options can be dangerous. In the far flung future of Bangkok, a young man’s every move is dictated by his boss, the evil Minister of Defense. When a terrifying secret is revealed beneath the capital city millions of lives hang in the balance. He must choose between his loyalty to his country and his ideals, with either choice having drastic consequences for those he loves. Don’t miss Rising, by A. L. Lorentz, for the best of science fiction world building in exotic locales right here on Earth. If you enjoy Rising’s ancillary tale be sure to read what happens to ...

Opal Chen reunites with her Chinese sisters after forty years; newly cosmopolitan Lulu Koo wonders why Americans “like to walk around in the woods with the mosquitoes”; Hong Kong parents go to extreme lengths to reestablish contact with their “number-one daughter” in New York; and Betty Koo, brought up on “no politics, just make money,” finds she must reassess her mother’s philosophy. With their profound compassion and equally profound humor, these eleven linked stories trace the intimate ways in which humans make and are made by history.

A long-married couple is forced to confront their friend's painful past when a church revival comes to a nearby town ... A woman in an arranged marriage struggles to connect with the son she hid from her husband for years ... A well-meaning sister unwittingly reunites an abuser with his victims. Through an indelible array of lives, Yoon Choi explores where first and second generations either clash or find common ground,

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish writer known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. His book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, comprises two parts, the first being the "Kwaidan Proper" and the second, "Insect-Studies", which consists of an essay each on ants, butterflies and mosquitos. According to the author, most of the folk tales and ghost stories in the first part were translated from old Japanese texts. The themes encompass resurrection, sacrifice, magic, and the realm of dreams.

The collected fantasy stories of World Fantasy Award winner S.P. Somtow — a half century of his acclaimed work brought together in a single volume. From rural America to exotic Bangkok, from ancient history to contemporary times — and sometimes both within the same story — Somtow's world betray a limitless imagination and the finely honed writing that has brought him numerous awards during his half-century writing career. Beginning with his first fantasy story from the 1970s, Fire from the Wine-dark Sea to his most recent tales, this collection is a a treasure chest.

For Jack Cho, a fortysomething gay man, being able to marry someone he loves is so unfamiliar it’s terrifying. Then a wedding invitation from a college friend brings about a collision with those fears--and his own secret history. Jack and his new boyfriend, Caleb, are attending the wedding of Jack’s estranged straight friend Scott. No sooner do the guests start to mingle than questions arise

Improve your Chinese skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Chinese short stories!

Kirkus Reviews writes: "Two richly textured, captivating tales of inappropriate romance. Young's two tales explore families, school groups, and small towns beset by buried secrets and unspoken desires." Joseph and Mary: A Family Romance is set in Phoenix in 1978 and Rec Park: A Small-Town Romance in a coastal community outside of Los Angeles in the early years of the twenty-first century. These two short novels are by the author of the highly praised Blue and Other Stories.

These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.

Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition—qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California.

Thakur Vijay Singh Rathod was one of the richest political businessmen in Mumbai. He was revered by his wife, Savitri, who wanted to give him a son, the heir to his inheritance. But fate decreed otherwise. This is a story of Thakur Vijay Singh Rathod, a proud and ruthless man, his wife Savitri - religious and completed devoted to him, his offspring, and his abandoned child.

An incident at a TSA security check point sows chaos and rumors, creating a chain of events that impacts twelve young Asian Americans in a crowded and restless airport. As their disrupted journeys crisscross and collide, they encounter fellow travelers—some helpful, some hostile—as they discover the challenges of friendship, the power of courage, the importance of the right word at the right time, and the unexpected significance of a blue Stratocaster electric guitar.