Choo Yi Feng's Debut Collection 'The Waiting Room' Explores Queer Ecologies Through Speculative Fiction
Choo Yi Feng's inaugural collection of short stories, 'The Waiting Room,' presents 13 narratives that intertwine speculative fiction with LGBTQ+ themes set in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Released by Epigram Books for SGD20.90, the book features both character-driven studies and innovative storytelling. In 'Spider Hunters,' a lesbian confronts a Faustian deal, while 'The Waiting Room' narrates the tale of a ghost and his half-brother facing murder charges. 'Paper Beats Stone' delves into queer identity amid a crumbling relationship. Among the experimental pieces are 'Sentosa Forever,' which tells of a survivor fleeing quarantined Singapore, and 'An Investor's Guide to Abyssal Burial,' blending corporate sales with memories of the deep sea. This collection critiques human subjectivity within polluted, dystopian settings, emphasizing the challenges of articulating alien experiences.
Key facts
- Choo Yi Feng's debut short-story collection 'The Waiting Room' contains 13 stories
- Published by Epigram Books at price SGD20.90 (softcover)
- Stories blend speculative fiction with queer themes in Singapore and Southeast Asian settings
- Collection features two modes: character studies in recognizable settings and experimental post-crisis explorations
- Includes stories 'Spider Hunters,' 'The Waiting Room,' 'Paper Beats Stone,' 'Sentosa Forever,' 'An Investor's Guide to Abyssal Burial,' and 'Plastic Bag Girl'
- Characters include a lesbian making Faustian bargain, a ghost accompanying his half-brother, and a mutated survivor in quarantined Singapore
- Engages with weird fiction genre, focusing on desire rather than horror
- Explores themes of pollution, apocalyptic landscapes, and dissolving human-nonhuman boundaries
Entities
Artists
- Choo Yi Feng
Institutions
- Epigram Books
Locations
- Singapore
- Southeast Asia
- Bangkok
- Thailand
- Sentosa