Quick Review - LONTAR #4: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction
Memory Streaming, and a story of Malay-Chinese immigrant in future Bangkok.
Here comes the 4th issue of the LONTAR collection of speculative fiction in Southeast Asia. As always, a mix of poetry, science fiction, and fantasy fiction. This issue features familiar writers from past issues, and after reading several of their pieces, I feel I am beginning to understand their stories more deeply. Here are my quick thoughts on Sci-fi-ish stories that I like.
The Tango by Kate Osias
I notice the resemblance to her story from LONTAR #1, which explores deep longing emotions through speculative settings such as the afterlife and the future. This story is set in the future, where the affordable leisure experience comes from accessing others’ memories. This process, called memory streaming, allows you to purchase these memories and overlay your and your friends’ faces onto the individuals in the memory, enabling you to share the experience with friends or loved ones. This can go so far as a wedding, a vacation and even sex. It’s a beautiful story of a lower-class couple who only managed to find leisure through memory streaming. However, one day, one of them begins to desire the experience of the real and tangible. I’m really touched by this one.
Yellow Card Man by Paolo Bacigalupi
This one needs no introduction. The background of Hock Seng, a character from the acclaimed novel The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. This novelette is dense. The worldbuilding of a future Bangkok, the life of a Malay-Chinese immigrant, and Hock Seng's backstory are seamlessly woven together in this short story. One thing I dislike about his story is how he attempts to use Thai and foreign words. It feels as though he uses them solely for an exotic appeal, without providing any real benefit to the storytelling or world-building.
You can buy this issue e-book here.
A bit about LONTAR.
LONTAR is the world’s only biannual literary journal focusing on Southeast Asian speculative fiction. The journal was founded in 2012, in order to spread awareness of this literature to readers who might not normally be exposed to it, and to celebrate its existence and diversity within the region. Issue #10, published in May 2018, is the final issue.