How we worship the god of short things: News in brief, SMSs, 30-second TikTok videos.

Here, in this ground-breaking collection of flash fiction and comics from Asia, you’ll find stories crushed between your palms, squeezed into a micro-narrative that’s tight and sweet.

Brevity is not a sin, but storytelling in its most elemental form, to suggest, tease and worm its way into your imagination.

“It’s as difficult, if not impossible, to characterise the myriad voices and images
collected here as it is to characterize a continent, except to say that there’s
a common richness in these diverse snapshots of humor, love, loss, and the daily battles of life.
The stories, vignettes, and graphics in this slim-but-packed volume might be a
quick read, but I’d advise taking your time with them and allowing them to linger.”
Robin Hemley
The Art and Craft of Asian Stories: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (with Xu Xi)

“There is a hidden realm of the imagination in this very enjoyable collection.
Many of the microfiction are like shallow pools with hidden depth.
These very short stories will leave the reader wishing they were novellas."
Suchen Christine Lim
Award-winning Singapore novelist

Felix Cheong is the author of 25 books across different genres, from poetry to fiction, from children’s picture books to graphic novels. He has also collaborated with singer-songwriters like Jean Tan and classical composers like Chen Zhangyi for the opera, Panic Love. His works have been widely anthologised and nominated for the prestigious Frank O’Connor Award and the Singapore Literature Prize. Conferred the Young Artist Award in 2000 by the National Arts Council, Felix has been invited to writers’ festivals all over the world. He holds a Master’s in creative writing and is currently a university adjunct lecturer. He continues to make a positive impact today – facilitating non-profit medical supplies for hospitals within Ukraine and freelancing as a wartime correspondent reporting on the invasion and shining a light on the plight of those affected by war.

Noelle Q. de Jesus is the author of two short fiction collections: Cursed and Other Stories (2019) and Blood Collected Stories (2015), which won the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Award for the Short Story and which has a French edition. She pioneered and edited the Fast Food Fiction flash series (2003, 2015). She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green University in Ohio, and her work has appeared in fine literary journals and anthologies, local and international. Singapore has been her home since 2000.

Storytelling in its most elemental form, to suggest, tease and worm its way into your imagination.