The Ayam Curtain

Kong jiao wei, in Hokkien, means “speaking bird language.” It is a cock-and-bull story, a flight of fancy and, incidentally, the perfect phrase to describe this collection of microfiction with a quintessentially Singaporean flavour. The reader steps into a technological dystopia one moment and wakes up a crow in the next story, all within the space of a hundred words.Expect a spirit war in underground tunnels, genetically-modified babies and a Singapore overrun by anti-government spies in these short stories. Be entertained by a motley gang of characters both strange and the deranged, uber-rational and supernatural, feathered or plucked in The Ayam Curtain.Table Of ContentsSpeaking Bird LanguageTales from the Lonely Tree by Vanessa Ni Qiu RuiBy Wing and Talon by Jonathan JieAn Urban Bestiary by Dave ChuaArk by Joyce ChngJumping Ship by Lim Ming JieThe Heart of the Rain Tree by Geraldine ChooKY USB by Lucas HoVernacular by Andrea AngInterview by JY YangSparrows over Trees by Anders BrinkUnwanted Utopia I by Joelyn AlexandraWorld-hopping on Wings by Ang Si MinThe Gilded Cage by Cherie TanTwo Frames in Between by Geraldine KangThey Called Me The Hyacinth Girl by Victor Fernando R. OcampoThey come from faraway places by Carrick AngTiong 2040 by Yasser SuratmanComing Home by Yasser SuratmanSingapore Rock by Cai LixianSpeaking Bird Language by Jerrold YamThe Ayam CurtainThe Heartland by Eleanor NeoBattery by Gwyneth TeoThe War Going On Beneath Us by JY YangGarisan Kuning by Michelle TanHer Name Was Jane by Joses HoDayuhans by Nicholas DerooseHalcyon Days by Yuen Xiang HaoTuan Garuda by Ivan KwanThe Privilege by Anders BrinkArtifact #1N-327 by Lina SallehIncubation by Xie Shi MinHidden In The Leaves by Jason Erik LundbergWoodwind by Clara Yeo Zhe XuanThe Goldfish Bowl by Liana GurungThe City by Judith HuangSalt by Tse Hao GuangA Better Place by Alvin Pang