Here’s a short excerpt from my story of a tainted, post-singularity love affair between an American-born Chinese kid and a Filipino-Singaporean ghost. It appears in the second volume of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (Edited by Jason Erik Lundberg and Kristin Ong Muslim for Poetry).
My inspiration for this strange little tale was (indirectly) a 1944 movie by George Cukor called “Gaslight“, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten. The film was the basis for the term “gas-lighting”, a type of mental abuse where false information is given with the intent of making a victim doubt their memory, perception, or sanity.
“Entanglement” is set in the same universe as “Big Enough for the Entire Universe” and takes place a decade or so after a great technological disaster befalls Singapore.
“Did you just transfer recently? I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed you before,” I said carefully, trying not to be distracted by your ethereal form and your beautifully endless eyes. “I’m an American-born Chinese myself. I thought I knew all the Asian kids at school. Dang, I would’ve definitely noticed a fresh freshasaurus like you.”
“Do you like cats?”
“Err… yeah I love cats. I have one at home. Why?” I was amused by your attempt at misdirection.
“Cats dislike change without their consent. I think we end when I follow a cat.”
“So did you have a cat where you’re from, umm… Singapore right? Are you Singaporean Chinese?”
“No, I am Filipino Chinese,” you said unexpectedly, confident of your mythology, “but born in Singapore, raised in Singapore too.”
“So does that make you Singaporean or Filipino?”
“Both and neither, does it matter? I am like Schrödinger’s cat.”
“Yeah, well in these parts your identity’s very important. I mean with the new Immigration laws and everything,” I said. “You are a gorgeous Chinese girl. You’re now American and living in America. Let’s fix on that before someone else is all over you.”
“I am Filipino. I am Singaporean… I am confused,” you told me, as your inner light started to dim. When you looked into my eyes, I knew I had your soul dead to rights. We were now entangled.
“Just listen to my voice,” I repeated gently. Programming deep structures was about repetition, iteration; introjection. “You are a girl, a dang pretty one. You’re also an ABC like me.”
“I… I am a… I am a gorgeous Chinese girl. I am an American in America.”
Truth to tell, I first thought you had Asperger’s or some weird mental wallering going on. To deal with your baggage, the remains of your mind, was challenging. Yeah, you were quite the cattywhompus, playing your shattered angel bit very, very well. I guess it was your way to firewall me, to resist me, a smoke screen to keep your pretense of identity.
Too bad for you, I knew you were a blank slate and I was El Hacedor, The Maker.
For the entire story, as well as other Southeast Asian speculative fiction by E.C. Myers, Tiffany Tsao, Jerrold Yam, Tse Hao Guang, Ang Si Min, Shelly Bryant, Daryl Yam, Eliza Chan and John Burdett, please check out the E-book at Weightless Books.
n.b. Lontar Issue #2 was mentioned recently by Boing Boing.
The Infinite Library and Other Stories 