April. A month where sakuras blossom all over in Japan and your Instagram feed. A month where your friends have dinner over the sunset on a patio. It’s a month of wanderlust, for sure.
We understand the pains of being at work instead, so to ease the temptation to cash out and fly immediately, why not turn to reading to take you on an imaginary holiday? In a digital age, you don’t need to carry around that load of paper for the best stories anymore. Here are five e-books (some are also available in hard copy) for your next spiritual adventure:
1. The Winter Family by Clifford Jackman
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Leading us to the Old Wild West, Jackman’s thriller is as cinematic as it is brutal. The Winter Family tells of a group of outlaws who run their own blood-soaked yet thriving world with cold-hearted logic. These gleeful mercenaries trek through the American South as rare, feared, classical individuals, while the world moves forward hoping to forget men like them. Not for the faint-hearted, but fans of films like There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men will enjoy this fierce novel by Jackman.
2. Pride v. Prejudice: A Claire Malloy Mystery by Joan Hess
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: April 4, 2015
A light-hearted, all-American counterpart, Pride v. Prejudice is the 20th installment to the Malloy series. The series follows a widowed bookstore owner with a teenage daughter who unintentionally becomes the Nancy Drew of her town. In Pride v. Prejudice, Malloy is called for jury duty, but ends up seeking revenge herself. Despite the whimsicality of the book, Hess’ writing is just as witty and humorous.
3. Djeri and Other Stories by Sandra M Mallia
Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
Release Date: March 18, 2015
Author Sandra M Mallia writes from her own experience living in an Australian suburb and around an indigenous community. The stories are touching tales of rediscovering one’s culture that once brought isolation and unfairness, amidst an artificial peace that blankets the community. It’s also about gaining confidence through a tradition that once brought shame. In a multicultural Singapore where our personal heritage is slowly lost to a crowd of glass walls and concrete buildings, the stories remind us of reassessing who we are behind the suits and ties.
4. The Scarlet Macaw by SP Hozy
Publisher: Monsoon Books
Release Date: November 2014
Canadian author S.P. Hozy transposes the nostalgia for a pre-colonial Singapore into lush prose and enigma. The Scarlet Macaw follows artist Maris Cousins on her journey back to Singapore years ago, to delve into the circumstances behind her mentor’s death. The novel goes back and forth between present-day Singapore and the country as a British colony in the 1920s. A romanticised observation of Singapore is rare, and this suspenseful mystery novel is a fitting read during this reflective time in our country.
5. Dark Screams: Volume Two edited by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar
Publisher: Hydra
Release Date: 3 March 2015
E-book only
The first Dark Screams series included works by Stephen King and Kelley Armstrong, and its popularity and good reviews have spawned three more volumes — volume three will be out in May, with volume four coming in August. The stories within the anthology are all frightening and worthy of a horror TV series.
Volume Two includes grim tales about a ’70s rock ‘n’ roll band that may have never existed — only in minds, as well as a twist on C.S. Lewis’ classic “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. While it might not be as enchanting as the vacation photos you’ve seen, horror fans will be quickly hooked. Here’s looking forward to the next couple of series.