In This Desert, There Were Seeds
Endangered tigers connecting telepathically through time-travel; a guard’s ethical dilemma at a history museum; a slaughterhouse worker’s memories of his dead wife; a monochrome town upended by a wild watermelon…
In This Desert, There Were Seeds is an intimate collection of past and future dreams, featuring exciting new and established literary voices from Western Australia and Singapore. From our shifting sense of community and identity, to our frustrations with existing political, social and economic structures—this anthology transcends boundaries and captures the persistence of ordinary lives in deserts literal and metaphorical.
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
Reviews
“Like a figure stepping bravely into the light, the stories in this collection capture a moment in time already in its twilight: unsure of what lies next for all of us, and yet altogether certain in the strength of our stories and the hard truths our writers continue to share.” —Daryl Yam, author of Kappa Quartet
“These tales unfold in the wake of disaster, personal and planetary: a cancer diagnosis, colonial pillage and displacement, a divorce, complete ecological collapse. Their characters are atomised, scattered across space and time, cut off from the communities that would nourish them. Yet these are not tales of despair. These are tales of survival.” —Ng Yi-Sheng, poet, playwright, fictionist, researcher and LGBT+ activist
“A beautiful and poignant collection of short stories that articulate with accuracy, compassion and empathy the anxieties of a generation in early 21st century. But beyond being at once a mirror and voice of a generation, these stories are engaging for their ingenious use of history and varying cultural and spiritual practices as a backdrop and device to drive the various plots forward. Above all however, that which strikes one most are the common themes in the stories. While no doubt some stories are distinctive in their settings, after a while, one forgets that this story is from Australia or that other story is from Singapore. That which is left behind is the sense that there are no boundaries when it comes to emotions, hopes, aspirations, dreams and tragedy. A truly universal collection that is a must read if you want to understand the minds and hearts of the generation that will see us through the 21st century.” —Phan Ming Yen, author and director of Global Cultural Alliance
Recommended Books
Fiction
Paperback
$12.00 SGD
E-book
$12.00 SGD
NAME//SAKE conversation cards set
$10.00 SGD
What Gives Us Our Names
Paperback
$24.00 SGD
E-book
$24.00 SGD
Delicious Hunger
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
Sister Snake
Paperback
$24.00 SGD
E-Book
$24.00 SGD
Neverness
Self-ends Book
$22.00 SGD
Augustus Romulus
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
Nine Yard Sarees: a short story cycle
Paperback
$24.00 SGD
E-book
$24.00 SGD
catskull
Paperback
$22.94 SGD
The Magical Time Capsule
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
How We Live Now: Stories of Daily Living
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
Potong: To Care/Cut
Reader
$6.00 SGD
Big Book
$35.00 SGD
Mango the Cat
Reader
$7.00 SGD
Big Book
$50.00 SGD
Fried Eggs
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
Heartland
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
E-book
$20.00 SGD
Singa-Pura-Pura: Malay Speculative Fiction from Singapore
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
After the Inquiry
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Shezlez the Self-Proclaimed
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Why Our Great Leader was Not So Great and Not Much of a Leader
E-book
$0.00 SGD
The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Singapura
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Found Texts of the AAI Anon, Circa 3119: Eight Lyric Essays
E-book
$0.00 SGD
2719
Paperback
$32.71 SGD
E-book
$32.71 SGD
Memorandum
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
In This Desert, There Were Seeds
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Collected Plays Three
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
Interpreter of Winds
Paperback
$12.00 SGD
E-book
$12.00 SGD
Giving Alms
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
The Gods Will Hear Us Eventually
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Hook and Eye: Stories from the Margins
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
The First Five: A New Collection of Southeast Asian Writing
Out of print
Paperback
$15.00 SGD
E-book
$15.00 SGD
Payoh
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Dream Storeys
Board Book
$18.30 SGD
Afternoon Tea at Raffles Hotel
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Belfast
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
The Cuckoo Conundrum
Gift Box Set
$25.00 SGD
The NTU-NAC Writing Residencies Chapbooks (Gift Box Set)
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
3
E-book (PDF format)
$20.00 SGD
Tales of Two Cities
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Blood Collected Stories
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
These Foolish Things & Other Stories
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Cherry Days
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
First Fires
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
When a Flower Dies
Reader
$12.00 SGD
My New Monster Truck
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
Lost Nostalgia
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.25 SGD
Afternoon Tea at Raffles Hotel Singapore: A Fun Activity Book
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.56 SGD
this is how you walk on the moon: an anthology of anti-realist fiction
Out of stock
Paperback
$40.00 SGD
Singapore Siu Dai Box Set
Out of stock
Paperback
$13.00 SGD
Singapore Siu Dai 3: The SG Conversation Dabao!
Out of stock
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Saint
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
A Family Portrait
Out of stock
Out of print
Default Title
$9.90 SGD
Eye/Feel/Write For You
Out of stock
Attunement
Is life hustling you out of tune? As the week roars by, we invite you to a slice of attunement penned lovingly by our authors, friends, and yours truly. Freshly delivered weekly with care. Intimacy guaranteed. Read selected letters below.
Practising Listening
Aug 14, 2025
Our language grows, and with it, new connections to things and creatures around us.
Read more
We Rise and Fall into Spring Blossoms
Jul 23, 2025
For years, pouring myself into this collection was an outlet to make peace with my past and also,...
Read more
Touch Some Grass
May 7, 2025
We’ve traded that sense of freefall for control, but maybe in the process, we’ve lost the autonom...
Read more