Freebourne, Salman Shaheen (Collective Ink, October 2025)

After learning of his wife’s affair with his best friend and business partner, divorced and unemployed MindTech entrepreneur Dr Harry Coulson arrives in the idyllic English town of Freebourne, looking to start a new life. But any hopes of quietly picking up the pieces of his broken world are shattered when he steps off the train to discover the body of a young woman lying in the snow. It’s almost as if she’d been left there for him to find.

China Running Dog, Mark Kitto (Plum Rain Press, March 2025)

Shanghai in the year 2000 was a cauldron of opportunity and danger. Navigating their way through this chaotic, booming city are two young English expats: Johnny Trent, a small-time entrepreneur from the wrong side of the tracks, and upper-class Felix Fawcett-Smith. An unlikely friendship begins—and is sorely tested—as Felix becomes entangled in shady business dealings and government corruption. Johnny tries to save Felix, as well as a young woman for whom they share an interest.

Sunset At Lion Rock: A Novel, Matthew Wong Foreman (Proverse, November 2024)
Sunset At Lion Rock: A Novel, Matthew Wong Foreman (Proverse, November 2024)

A letter from a nephew to his uncle who died before he was born. It serves as a window into parts of a Eurasian child’s life which his family can never know, documenting his attempt to navigate racial confusion, religious trauma, the meaning of friendship, and the struggle for self-discovery in a shifting culture on the eve of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.

My Name Is Gucci: A Dog’s Story, Sun Jung (Transit Lounge, November 2024)
My Name Is Gucci: A Dog’s Story, Sun Jung (Transit Lounge, November 2024)

After living in a Singapore dog shelter for five years, Gucci—a vaguely Dalmatian-like crossbred—is losing hope of ever being rescued. One day to his surprise he is adopted by her, a writer, and moves to inner city Sydney. On arrival, however, an anti-dog war breaks out in their apartment block; Gucci’s adopter receives a letter threatening the possibility of “euthanasia”. The incident triggers nightmares in her and brings back distressing childhood memories.