ABOUT THE BOOK/
BLURB
**The Beating & Other Stories has been shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize (2012) - English Category, and longlisted for the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize**
Category: Fiction, Short stories
A mysterious tiger roams in the shadows of an apartment block. A security guard comes to terms with a past scarred by his father’s attachment to violence. A woman traces her family’s path of gradual change that began with her teenage pregnancy. A massacre on an island prison brings to life a forgotten strand of an island nation’s history.
The Beating and Other Stories is a long-awaited collection of short stories by award-winning writer Dave Chua, author of the novel Gone Case. The book frequently crosses genres and styles, spinning from historical fiction to magical realism, and takes us on adventures with a distinct melancholic undertone. Sparse but emotional, these stories continue to demonstrate Chua’s talent in exploring the intense inner environments of hyper-urban Singapore.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Chua was born in Malaysia and came to Singapore at
the age of ten. He was educated at Dunman High School
and Victoria Junior College and studied electrical engineering
and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.
His short story, "Father’s Gift", won a Singapore Press
Holdings-National Arts Council Golden Point Award in 1995.
His first novel, Gone Case, was given a Singapore Literature Prize
Commendation Award in 1996 and was published the same year.
Chua was involved in the production of the Mediacorp
sitcom, Achar!, and PeachBlossom Media’s animated children’s
show, Tomato Twins. He writes for various publications such as
The Straits Times, BigO, and The Edge and is the Vice Chairman
of the Singapore Film Society. For his feature-length scripts, he
was awarded a second prize at the Singapore Screenplay Awards
in 2001. He has recently completed a graphic novel adaptation
of Gone Case with the artist Koh Hong Teng.
REVIEW
"Like Raymond Carver, Dave writes with a raw honesty, clarity and brutality that few authors can muster, and even fewer can perfect. Whether about the violence of longing, or the quiet burden of indecision, Dave conveys, in this much-anticipated collection, stories from the bedrooms, living rooms and corridors of the human heart. A rare voice in Singapore writing today. Masterful."
- Daren Shiau, author of Heartland, Peninsular: Archipelagos and Other Islands, Velouria and editor of Coast: A Mono-titular Anthology
"With this collection, Dave Chua firmly establishes himself as one of Singapore's finest short story writers."
- Gilbert Koh, author of Two Baby Hands and the 2005 winner of the Golden Point Award for Poetry
BOOK CONTENTS
Foreword by Gwee Li Sui - Alienation: Dave Chua’s Singapore
The Beating
Chute
The Drowning
The Tiger of 142B
The Vanishing
36
The Man Who Came Alone to Eat
The Piano Player
Senang
Fireworks
Taxi Driver
On Being an Artist
About the Author
SAMPLE PAGES
