Malay Sketches, Alfan Sa’atLonglisted for the 2013 Frank O'connor International Short Story Award Malay Sketches is a collection of stories that borrows its name from a book of anecdotes by colonial governor Frank Swettenham, describing Malay life on the Peninsula. In Alfian Saats hands, these sketches are reimagined as flash fictions that record the lives of members of the Malay community in Singapore. With precise and incisive prose, Malay Sketches offers the reader profound

but also for generations of readers who responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style

Raised in California and Hawaii

and achieving the right balance is difficult

The last thing Robertson needs is a messy

he is devastated

this gripping

insufficient space in brain

To enjoy the rain

What will become of Olenin

This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned

the greatest scientific minds of Earth desperately search for a way to avoid the inevitable

And while Red's quest brings her the possibility of great reward