Mythology

This book elegantly bridges the gap between the ancient and the contemporary, shedding light on the often-overlooked narratives of queerness present in Hindu mythology. Devdutt Pattanaik's storytelling charms you into rethinking conventional gender norms and opens a window into the profound ways queerness has been a part of Indian culture for millennia. It's a thought-provoking read that's sure to enrich your perspective on gender and mythology.

Kate Tempest, winner of the Ted Hughes Prize for Brand New Ancients and widely regarded as the UK's leading spoken word poet, has produced a new poem-sequence of electrifying power. Based on the myth of the blind prophet Tiresias, Hold Your Own is a riveting tale of youth and experience, sex and love, wealth and poverty, community and alienation. Walking in the forest one morning, a young man disturbs two copulating snakes - and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns him into a woman. This is only the beginning of his journey . . . Weaving elements of classical myth, autobiography and social commentary, Tempest uses the story of the gender-switching, clairvoyant Tiresias to create four sequences of poems: 'childhood', 'manhood', 'womanhood' and 'blind profit'. The result is a rhythmically hypnotic tour de force - and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the UK's most talented and compelling young writers.

Girl meets boy. It's a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances?Ali Smith's re-mix of Ovid's most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can't be bottled and sold.It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations.Funny and fresh, poetic and political, Girl Meets Boy is a myth of metamorphosis for the modern world.

This second issue of LONTAR presents speculative writing from and about Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.Inside these pages, you’ll find: a metamorphic love story near the Korean DMZ from award-winner E.C. Myers; a brand new supernatural crime tale from bestselling author John Burdett; a cautionary tale about Singaporean elitism from Tiffany Tsao; an examination of the illusory facets of love from Victor Fernando R. Ocampo; a haunting and beautiful evocation of a fantastical Vietnamese floating market from Eliza Chan; and speculative poetry from Jerrold Yam, Tse Hao Guang, Ang Si Min, Shelly Bryant and Daryl Yam.

Girl meets boy. It's a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances?Ali Smith's re-mix of Ovid's most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can't be bottled and sold.It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations.Funny and fresh, poetic and political, Girl Meets Boy is a myth of metamorphosis for the modern world.

This fifth issue of LONTAR presents speculative writing from and about Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.Inside these pages, you’ll find: an ancient and fatal karmic reunion in Jakarta by award-winner Gord Sellar; the true origin of the Merlion by Singapore Literature Prize winner Amanda Lee Koe; a young man's literal transformation into an island by award-winner Ng Yi-Sheng; a far-future Malaysian fairy tale by Kawika Guillermo; a gentle aquatic apocalypse from novelist Erica Verrillo; an enlightening visit with a forest monk in northern Thailand by Italian journalist Massimo Morello; a comic on the price of technological hubris by Benjamin Chee; and speculative poetry from Tania De Rozario, Joel Donato Jacob, Lee Jing-Jing, Daryl WJ Lim, Christina Sng and Sokunthary Svay.LONTAR is the world’s only biannual literary journal focusing on Southeast Asian speculative fiction.