Shadow Play: Ten Tales from the In-between - Hardcover

Dahlan, Sarina

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 173291401X ISBN 13: 9781732914018

Publisher: 3 Hapas, 2018

Synopsis

Shadow Play: Ten Tales from the In-between is a collection of fantastical and interconnected stories written by Sarina Dahlan.

At first glance the characters may appear unrelated: A girl living with a silent grandmother in World War II-era Bangkok, a septuagenarian writing his memoir in upstate New York, a kampong witch doctor, the residents of a rundown hotel in the Tenderloin district, lost souls in Central Park. Yet, they are all connected by a karmic web across time.

By turns unexpected, funny, heartbreaking, and horrifying, this debut collection is an excursion into the strange and the magical hidden in the mundane. A fusion of the realistic and the supernatural that explores the concept of self by those stuck in-between.

www.sarinadahlan.com

SHADOW PLAY

A thirteen-year-old girl's anti-coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of WWII Bangkok.

Bangkok, Thailand, 1942

GLIMMER GLASS

A retired war journalist struggles to write a memoir.

Cooperstown, U.S.A., 2001

THE WITCH DOCTOR

A fifteen-year-old girl finds hope through a neighborhood healer during a great flood.

Bangkok, Thailand, 1942

CALL ME BLUE

A young woman from a small California desert town tells a story about her magical grandmother.

California Desert, U.S.A., 1994

LOVE ME, TENDER

Residents of a rundown hotel in the Tenderloin District search for a beloved fortune teller who has mysteriously gone missing.

San Francisco, U.S.A., 1998

GHOST MOON

A woman employs an unorthodox method to find an anchor in the aftermath of loss.

New York City, U.S.A., 2018

DUST BOUND

A man's path to self-discovery through a mysterious handwriting in an old book.

Bangkok, Thailand, 2017

THE WOMAN IN THE GARDEN

A photographer attempts to prove the existence of a woman no one believes is real.

San Diego, U.S.A., 2011

THE BENCH

A bizarre and unexpected gathering of lost souls in Central Park.

New York City, U.S.A., 2026

*Silver Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future, 3rd Quarter 2018

JASMINE WATER

Where it all began.

Bangkok, Siam, 1904

About this title

About the Author

Sarina Dahlan was born into an Indonesian family in Thailand, and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. While children in the west grew up on fairytales, she learned parables through ghost stories, mythologies, and Japanese manga. A graduate of the University of California, San Diego with degrees in Psychology and Visual Arts, she has blended both disciplines in careers as an advertising producer, corporate marketing strategist, small business owner, and a writer. Her supernatural short story, THE BENCH, recently earned a Silver Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future Contest, 3rd quarter 2018. She finds inspiration for her stories in traveling, the people she knows, and the places she has lived. She currently resides in California with her family.

Review

"Finally, a body of work offering an important voice to contemporary Southeast Asian diasporic literature that is also an integral part of the American fabric. As much as these stories hinge on the margins of death, it is also about birth and hope." -- Mary Ann R (Amazon reviewer)

"I particularly like the ones set in Thailand in the 40s, where Dahlan's world building is wonderfully sensual and evocative. She paints a real picture of what life must have been like, and it's so different to anything I've read before. I was very happy to be transported to this colourful yet timeless world."

-Naomi (Goodreads reviewer)

"Very well written with themes exploring grief, loss and even bigotry. This book is great for someone who enjoys a great story but can't commit to a novel. I think it would also be a great gift."

- nmhaccva (Apple iBook reviewer)

"It's difficult not to be enthralled by Sarina Dahlan's short story collection. She's a true world-building genius--- it doesn't matter if she's writing about an Arabian desert or a flooded Thailand in another century, she immerses the reader in the world of the protagonist through her superlative, lyrical prose."

- Anonymous (Barnes & Noble reviewer)

About this edition

• Publisher: 3 Hapas
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 173291401X
• ISBN 13: 9781732914018
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 214
• Editor: Dann David