Asian Shorts came about because of a sequence of events on one weekend in May 2015. A friend was telling me that he had several short stories with Asia as a backdrop, I was saying that I had a few as well, another friend sent me an email that he wanted to write a short on Pattaya, and one of my Thai cousins sent me her latest photo, the one on the cover of this book.
It was like somebody was trying to tell me something, or several were anyway.
The nineteen stories by nine authors in this anthology were sent to me in one month, but are as varied as their writers. The stipulation was that Asia or an Asian had to feature strongly in the story. We have stories featuring Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam, by Asian and non-Asian authors who live in or come from Britain, Malaysia, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam.
Some of these writers are well-known as writers, some are better known in other spheres, some have written a lot before and been published in the traditional sense, others are travelling the Indie Publishing path and for yet others this is the very first time they or you will have seen their stories in print of any kind.
You can read more about each author by visiting the web sites that they have given after their stories. I thoroughly recommend that you do this as what you will find out about the authors will surprise you, I guarantee it.
Finally, my thanks go out to all the authors who have made this book possible, we hope that you will enjoy it and give each writer your feedback about their stories or write to me at the publisher’s about the book as a whole.
Sales are steady although getting reviews is difficult, possibly because of the varying quality of the writing and stories. I am hopeful that the anthology will sell well in other languages.
Paper Son
by Jennifer J. Chow
I headed towards the harbor, wringing my hands. For eighteen years, I’d heard the roar of those waves, tasted the tang of salt in the air, and watched the fishermen spreading their nets. I smiled when I spotted the shirtless muscled man with the green dragon rippling across his back.
“Fung,” I called out.
He turned towards me, his hand shading his eyes. “Well, if it isn’t the little adventurer? Are you ready?”
I shook my head and watched the waves foam up in the distance.
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You know, this water stretches all the way to America,” he said.
America. The “Gold Mountain,” a land of uncountable wealth. I was sure I would make riches there to send back home to Ma and Ba, more than enough to repay their investment in me a hundred times over.
The recent devastating San Francisco earthquake had destroyed public records, and my family had arranged the appropriate documents for my paper son existence in America. I had studied the facts and information regarding my new “father” for weeks because I knew I would be interrogated on the tiniest of details.
* * *
I arrived on Angel Island and was greeted by foreign devils. They towered above me as though they floated in the sky, but their ghost-white fingers were solid and rough, probing me for disease or inferiority. Beyond the standard questions of village name and lineage, they asked things like,
“What picture is hanging on the west wall of your dining room?”
| Language | Status |
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Afrikaans
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Already translated.
Translated by Marlette Taljaard and Annemi Huygen
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Author review: Marlette has created a wonderful translation, and was a pleasure to work with. |
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Alice Magi
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Author review: Alice did a marvellous job and was a pleasure to work with. |
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Ana Figueiredo
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Author review: Ana has made an excellent translation and formatted it perfectly. She was a joy to work with. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Bruno Ánimas
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Author review: Bruno was very easy to work with. He produced an accurate, well-formatted translation. |
