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The eight short stories of Dirty Things reflect various time periods and aspects of Taiwan, but share a common focus on the sexual orientation of the gay men illuminated within their refracted images. Notably, the doubts, anxieties, isolation, and queerness that one would rationally assume to belong exclusively to this minority group, with the right perspective, become emblematic of the majority. Chen Po-Ching’s no-holds-barred prose drips with characteristic intransigent wit, his taste for the absurd and daring leaps freeing Dirty Things from the restraints of convention. At the same time, his writing is an astonishing record of the ordinary world and its inhabitants, its puns and earthy jokes melding insight with self-mockery.

Comic-book illustrator Huihui previously demonstrated her finely honed ability to capture in graphic form the rising sense of alienation and changing face of relationships in the twenty-first century in the graphic novel Tender Is the Night. In her most recent collaboration, The Reporter Files 3: Low-Temp Relationships, Huihui invests both her artistic talents and relationship insights to capture in comic-strip form the authentic experiences of people engaged in non-traditional “low temperature” relationships, helping readers better relate and empathize. This book explores why individuals who, while able to make and keep friends and to develop intimate relationships, choose technology rather than face-to-face interactions to sate their need for physical and emotional intimacy.

In the two decades between her first and most-recent trips to Tibet, author Chen Fei-Fei studied extensively the history, heritage and people of this once formidable Himalayan kingdom. This was also a period during which both Tibetans and visitors fell under increasingly onerous restrictions and surveillance imposed by China’s state security apparatus, leaving Tibetans few options outside of self-immolation protests to express their discontent over Chinese government repression and draw international media attention. Nation on Ice crystallizes Chen’s many personal experiences in Tibet, her related studies, and her thoughts on this nation’s past, present and future. Rejecting the modern-day Chinese framing of Tibet as the regional home of one of China’s many “minority” populations, Chen plumbs the historical record and draws on her own lived experiences throughout the Tibetan world to present Tibet in a significantly more authentic and objective light and to document the true fate of Tibet’s culture and people under PRC dominion.

Handbook for Healing touches on something that must be experienced to truly be understood. While we may ponder why someone could take their own life and even look for signs of suicidal ideation in those around us, few consider the state or needs of the survivors of suicide loss. Weighed down by a deeply perceived sense of loss and self-reproach, they are often expected to pick themselves up and proceed with life as normal. In Handbook for Healing, author and suicide loss survivor Chiang Pei-Chin embarks on an empathetic journey with fellow survivors, sharing her own emotional journey out from the shadow of her mother’s suicide and offering many practical suggestions to help others along on their own healing journey.

Words written in the heat of frustration may end up being just a momentary emotional dalliance or may in fact spotlight unanswered emotions roiling in the author’s belly awaiting a fair hearing and resolution. Yang Limin’s Fog Alert bears shades of both. At the surface, the narrative does indeed read like the work of an author venting some much needed emotional steam. However, the story, rather than expressing acrimony, reflects an open and accepting attitude toward life’s absurdities and pitfalls. Yang’s descriptions of the dark corners of everyday existence neither shirk from the ugliness nor turn to self-reprobation; instead, she takes the high road – Darkness exists. Seeing it for what it is makes it much less distressing.

In Overfitting, author Terao Tetsuya challenges the stereotypical view of engineering professionals held by most people and parroted in the media. This “inspired by true life” tale reveals not only the folly in putting engineers on a pedestal but also that life for most engineers with “lucrative” careers in the private sector is far from rosy, with many turning to increasingly perverse acts of excess in hopes of feeling “human” again. Despite the witty prose underpinning the narrative, Overfitting delivers an emotional gut punch that will have readers both heated over the cruelties baked into modern corporate culture and sniggering at the clear absurdity of it all.

Sex Pests and Rapists is the first installment in the “Cardinal Sins” novel series by Taiwan’s “Queen of Horror Fiction” Linea. The fabric of the blood-drenched and bizarre plot is interwoven with threads dyed in the recent worldwide #MeToo movement, giving this work of creative fiction an almost “too close for comfort” air of authenticity and relevance. Although many works of horror fiction have traced the most horrific acts of violence and terror back to the machinations of the human psyche, the focus in this work on sexual abuse and assault gives this conclusion even greater weight.

On the surface, The Inner Voice Shop reads deceptively similarly to a modern Japanese light novel, with the protagonist being granted her wish by the Inner Voice Shop’s proprietor to be able to listen in on the thoughts of others, and that wish subsequently turning into much more of a problem than initially expected. However, the focus of the narrative, rather than on the wish, centers on how actually listening in on the inner voices of others affects her and ultimately changes her attitudes toward family and life for the better. This allows the story to loop back and shine light on the reader’s own unexceptional, everyday experiences and on the issues we all encounter and observe in daily life.

Taro, the Pensive Puss is not your “ordinary” cat story. Eschewing fawning praise over feline ingenuity and charm and sidestepping well-trodden stories of their prideful and mysterious ways, this engaging tale centers on the life and times of Taro, the old and world-weary watch-cat of Heng Chang General Store. As the sixth in a long-line of Taros to stand watch over the comings and goings at his master’s general store, he naturally sees himself to be the sole embodiment of the “prestigious“ Taro franchise. Our Taro is not just intimately familiar with his neighborhood and its myriad details; he is a discerning observer and critic of all that transpires around him and a frequent companion of the cats living up and down his street. Taro, the Pensive Puss was inspired by and pays homage to the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Japanese work I Am a Cat.