LONTAR #3

LONTAR #3

by Jason Erik Lundberg (Founding Editor), Kristine Ong Muslim (Poetry Editor), Anne Carly Abad (Contributor)

This third issue of LONTAR presents speculative writing from and about Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia and Taiwan.

Inside these pages, you’ll find: the evocation of an alternate ancient Cambodia from multiple award-winner Geoff Ryman; an investigative automotive revenge tale from Palanca Grand Prize winner Dean Francis Alfar; the mystery of magically appearing furniture from Taiwanese short fiction wunderkind Sabrina Huang (deftly translated by PEN/Heim grant recipient Jeremy Tiang); an uneasy exploration of marital discord on the road from Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award winner Nikki Alfar; a quasi-Ballardian take on beach resort culture from Ben Slater; the uniquely Singaporean response to a viral outbreak from JY Yang; and speculative poetry from Anne Carly Abad, Arlene Ang, Tse Hao Guang, Cyril Wong, David Wong Hsien Ming and Daryl Yam.

LONTAR is the world’s only biannual literary journal focusing on Southeast Asian speculative fiction. In this issue, six contributors have won major literary awards in Singapore, Taiwan, USA, UK, and the Philippines.

Genres: Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Jason Erik Lundberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has lived in Singapore since 2007. His latest publications are his first novel (and 25th book), A Fickle and Restless Weapon (2020), a related novella, Diary of One Who Disappeared (2019, recipient of a 2013 Creation Grant from Singapore's National Arts Council), and a "greatest hits" short fiction collection, Most Excellent and Lamentable: Selected Stories (2019).

He is also the author of many books for adults—including Red Dot Irreal (2011), The Alchemy of Happiness (2012), Strange Mammals (2013), and Embracing the Strange (2013); books for children—the six-book Bo Bo and Cha Cha picture book series (2012–2015) and Carol the Coral (2016); and more than a hundred short stories, articles, and book reviews. His writing has been translated into half a dozen languages, and seen publication in venues such as Mānoa, the Raleigh News & Observer, Farrago’s Wainscot, Hot Metal Bridge, Strange Horizons, Subterranean Magazine, The Third Alternative, Electric Velocipede, and many other places. His work has also been shortlisted for the SLF Fountain Award, Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction, SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Award, and POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award; he was honourably mentioned twice in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.

Lundberg has been the fiction editor at Epigram Books since 2012, where he jump-started the publisher's fiction line; many of the books he's edited since have won multiple national awards, and made various year’s best lists. He has also served as a prose mentor with Singapore's Creative Arts Programme and Ceriph Mentorship Programme. In addition, he is the founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (2012–2018), series editor for the biennial Best New Singaporean Short Stories anthology series (est. 2013), editor of Fish Eats Lion Redux (2022) and Fish Eats Lion (2012), and co-editor of A Field Guide to Surreal Botany (2008) and Scattered, Covered, Smothered (2004). From 2005–2008, he facilitated an occasional podcast called Lies and Little Deaths: A Virtual Anthology.

An active member in PEN America and a 2002 graduate of the prestigious Clarion Writers Workshop, Lundberg holds a Master's degree in creative writing from North Carolina State University, and was a 2023 International Writer-in-Residence at the Toji Cultural Foundation Residency Program in South Korea.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a captivating read -- however, there is a mixed bag in there. You'll get literary and then you'll get the sensational adventure.

[Sara J. (kefuwa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review lifted from my instagram @kefuwa

So this is LONTAR #3 which is a South-East-Asian journal of speculative fiction & poetry. There a total of 10 of these available out there at this moment (I think 10 was the last issue) & they feature speculative fiction based in South East Asia. I finished issues 1 and 2 last year and I guess will go on to issue 4 after this. Plan to get all issues in ebook form eventually!
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I found myself more engaged with the selections in this volume as opposed to the prev two - there are some really good stories to read here! One even felt like a Black Mirror episode! I can’t comment on the poetry though as I skipped them all (did the same with prev volumes) sorry - speculative poetry is kinda not my thing - maybe some day I’ll give it a whirl.
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Book 4 of 2020 #kefuwa2020
First finished: 25mar2020
Source: weightlessbooks.com