O Thiam Chin ... Under the Sun (MPH Publishing, September 2010)

FROM THE AUTHOR OF Never Been Better and Free-Falling Man comes a new collection of flash fiction that brings to life a world of secrets, joy, grief and longing that lie beneath the ordinary and mundane. Under the Sun offers unflinching snapshots of everyday life, encapsulating the gritty and real, the subtle and extreme in fifty stories that surprise, reveal and evoke the strange and familiar, whether on the fringes or in the mainstream.

From murders to mysterious disappearances, from distorted childhood memories to unfulfilled desires, from flights of fantasy to brutal ruptures of reality, Under the Sun delivers more of O Thiam Chin’s keen and honest observations of human flaws and foibles, and imbues the fleeting and revelatory moments of life with mystery and unembellished truths.

Praise for NEVER BEEN BETTER
“O Thiam Chin is certainly an author to watch.” World Literature Today

“O takes us into the lives of people who might never speak to one another but might spend years shopping in the same market, buying the same brand of oranges—who might even be lost in the same dreams.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal

“O Thiam Chin’s stock as one of Singapore’s best young writers has risen with this superb anthology of shorts. Within this, you’ll find the full gamut of human experiences distilled with a distinct Singaporean flavour—ranging from familial woe and teenage hopelessness to loss and displacement.” I-S Magazine

“With nerve-tingling sensitivity, [O Thiam Chin] weaves vignettes about loss and love—never sliding into mawkish territory.” Lifestyle

O THIAM CHIN is a Singapore-born writer whose stories have appeared in several literary journals and anthologies, including Asia Literary Review, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Best of Singapore Erotica, Silverfish New Writing 6 and Body2Body. His début collection of stories, Free-Falling Man, was published in 2006, followed by a second collection, Never Been Better, in 2009, which was longlisted for the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.

SEPTEMBER 2010 / 5.15 x 7.75 / 216pp / Original Paperback / 978-967-5222-77-1