Bitter at Pesta Buku Selangor 2015

My new book Bitter that features a collection of my stories is currently selling at Pesta Buku Selangor till this weekend. I am highlighting a few snippets from my short stories  that  is featured in  Bitter

1)The Ugly Truth about Beauty

My daughter was convinced that I was not her mother. She said: “The doctors and the nurses have given you the wrong baby. I will correct the mistake they had done. I will make sure you get back your daughter and I will finally meet my mother.”

My daughter carried an extensive investigation on the hospital where I had delivered her. But her investigation revealed that on the day she was born, there was only one woman who had given birth. The woman was me and the baby was her. There could not have been any mix up. She was utterly disappointed with the end result. She was in tears.

She said: “How could a beautiful swan like you give birth to an ugly duckling like me? God is playing a sick joke on us.”

I hugged her. But my daughter could not stop crying.

I said: “Looks have never mattered to me. I love you from the moment you were born. I have always wanted to be a mother. But I could not become one. The doctor could not figure out what was wrong with me. The doctors had given up. I prayed for a miracle. God had listened to my prayers. I became pregnant. You came into my life. You have brought so much joy to my life. ”

My daughter answered: “Looks may not matter to you, mother. But the world will never let us to forget that you are beautiful and I am ugly.”.... To read more  Grab a copy of Bitter 

2) Born To Laugh

“Mother, I never see you laugh. Why is that?”

My daughter was 10 when she asked me this question. Kissing

my daughter’s forehead, I answered: “Some people are born not to laugh.”

I lied. In the past, I loved to laugh. Even the lamest joke could

make me laugh my head off. I have always been attracted to men who can make me laugh. I got married to a stand-up comedian. I laughed the loudest at his jokes.

The moment my daughter was born, laughter just disappeared from my life. Motherhood has robbed me of my laughter. I could not give any rational explanation for the loss of laughter in me. No matter how hard I try, I could not bring myself to laugh. I could not even fake a laugh. I find nothing funny anymore.

My husband said: “Your laughter was vibrant and full of life. I love the sound of your laughter. Why have you stopped laughing? I am the most unluckiest comedian alive. I can make the whole world laugh but not my wife.”

I did not have any answers for him. I could only stare at my

husband blankly. Out of frustration, one night, my husband walked towards the ocean. He took off his clothes and walked into the sea.

He left behind a suicide letter. All he wrote:” I do not want to be the unluckiest comedian alive anymore.”

I never told my daughter the truth behind her father’s death. I cannot have my daughter hating me for driving the man she loved and called father to death. I told her that her father had drowned.

“It was unfortunate accident,” I lied.

My daughter believed every word I told her. My daughter should have known that there are some mothers you cannot trust. ( To read more, grab a copy of Bitter) 

3) My Government, My Enemy 

I am taking my government to court. I want my government to lift the ban preventing me from marrying the man I love.

“What do you hope to achieve from this trial?” my mother asked.

I answered: “I want justice. I want to have the freedom to marry whoever my heart desires. I want my love story to have a happy ending.”

Laughing sarcastically, my mother said: “You will not get a fair trial in this country. The government has the judges in their pockets. The judges will do whatever the government wants them to do. You cannot have the government as your enemy. Some love stories are not meant to have a happy ending.” ( To read more, grab a copy of Bitter) 

4)  Mothers & Crocodiles 

I accidentally killed a stranger. In panic, I chucked the dead body in the boot of my car. Once I reached home, I told my mother what had happened. Furious, my mother shouted: “Some women shouldn’t be behind the wheels. I will clean the mess that you have created.”

My mother cut the dead body that I brought home into tiny

pieces and fed them to the crocodiles. My mother and I have been running a crocodile farm ever since my father died 10 years ago.

“Nobody will ever find the body,” my mother said.

****

A few days later, on television, I saw on old woman speaking to a reporter about her missing daughter. The old woman was waving the photo of her missing daughter. I took one look at the photo and knew straightaway that the stranger I had killed was her daughter, Malena.

****

Ever since the crocodiles ate Malena, they have not been the

same. The crocodiles refused to touch their food. All the meat I had given them rots in the pond. The crocodiles had become more ferocious, more savage and more restless. The colour of their eyes had also changed. The colour of their eyes began to resemble Malena’s.

****

I became obsessed with the woman I had killed. I wanted to know everything about Malena. I read everything that was that written about her.

“Malena is a vegetarian and her favourite vegetable is cauliflower,” her mother said in one of the interviews.

My instinct told me that I should buy several dozens of cauliflowers and throw them into the crocodile’s pond. I followed my instincts.

I could not believe what I was seeing in front of my eyes. The

crocodiles were rushing to eat the cauliflower. These crocodiles chose cauliflowers over red meat. These crocodiles had become vegetarian.

I have no doubt that the soul of the woman I had killed was living inside these crocodiles. ( to read more grab a copy of Bitter) 

Promoting Bitter

Bitter, my new book under Merpati Jingga features a collection of  my stories. My publisher, Faisal Mustaffa informs me that Bitter 
is currently selling  at the Pesta Buku Selangor at Pusat 
Konvensyen SACC Shah Alam, Selangor Malaysia from now till Feb 8 ( this weekend)... To promote my book, I will be showcasing a snippet from one of the stories that is featured in Bitter. 


All About My Mother 
By Bissme S

“You are too beautiful to belong to one man.You should become a  prostitute.”

The first time I heard those words, I was only thirteen.I was  having a dinner with my parents in a restaurant. A tall man in a blue jacket sat at the table next to us.The tall man in the blue jacket had been staring at my mother from the moment we entered the restaurant. 
When we finished our dinner, the tall man in the blue jacket stood up and approached our table. Looking at my mother, he said: “You are too beautiful to belong to one man. You should become a prostitute.”
There was complete silence at our table. None of us knew what to say to him. We just stared at him.
The man in the blue jacket had big smile on his face. Slowly, he
turned around and walked out of the restaurant, laughing loudly.
After the strange incident in the restaurant, our lives were never the same again. My mother stopped being a wife. My mother stopped being a mother. My mother abandoned us. My mother became a prostitute....... to read more, grab a copy of Bitter 

25 Quotes From Bitter

My publisher Merpati Jingga has done their job - publishing my book, Bitter. Now it is my job to promote the book Bitter. So I am highlighting 25 quotes from my book Bitter. Currently, my book Bitter is selling at Pesta Buku Selangor, till February 8. Grab a copy of Bitter at Rm 21. Enjoy these quotes.  

1) We are not meant to love one person for the rest of our lives.

2) It is not every day you get a chance to paint a man who hanged himself.

3) Some people will see what I have done as cruel and utterly mad.But most people don’t understand that every great art must have a touch of cruelty and madness.

4) Tragedies have shaped some of the best artists in
the world. You should make good use of your tragedy.

5) I was depressed. I missed my husband. I missed my friends. I
wanted to kill myself. But killing yourself is not easy. You need tremendous strength to end your life

6) Give a man a fish and you will feed him a day but give him religion and he will starve to death while praying for a fish

7) Save your tears, Madam. This is only the beginning of your tragedy. You have more tears to shed.

8) She should understand nobody should be put on the pedestal of perfection. Not even God.

9) You are too beautiful to belong to one man. You should become a prostitute.

10) I learned that there are some enemies you cannot defeat in fairness. You have to stab their back

11) When you have no friends, you must have books to keep you company.

12) Never underestimate anyone. Everyone has the potential to be a vicious murderer, including your own mother.

13) I always tell the truth even when I lie.

14) Why are you so obsessed with the truth? My darling, the truth is overrated. The truth is not important

15) Slowly, I was beginning to hate the woman I love. What do you do when you hate the woman you love?

16) It is a job of every son to make his father happy.

17) I told you that the Devil will not let us down.

18) I should have known there are some mothers you cannot trust.

19) My parents soon learned a bitter lesson that kindness is not always rewarded with kindness.

20) God is my enemy. If you love God, then you are my enemy, too. And my enemies are not welcome in my house.

21) They saw what they wanted to see. They heard what they wanted to hear. They smelt what they wanted to smell. They believed what they wanted to believe. The bitter truth was not important to them.

22) Madness is necessary when you cannot handle the truth.

23) We could have been happy. Why did you choose sadness?

24) Sometimes, to be truly happy, one needs to be a little selfish.

25) She taught me what love is. After her, I cannot bring myself to love anyone else. Love begins and ends with her.

BITTER

Bitter, my new book publish under Merpati Jingga features a collection of  my short stories. My publisher, Faisal Mustaffa informs me that Bitter will be a selling  at the Pesta Buku Selangor at Pusat Konvensyen SACC Shah Alam, Selangor Malaysia from Friday January 30 to Feb 8... To promote my book, I will be showcasing a snippet from one of the stories that is featured in Bitter. 

1) Breakfast in Bed 
By Bissme S

My father used every trick in the book to save his marriage, from tears to begging. But he failed miserably. 

“We are not meant to love one person for the rest of our lives,” my mother said. 

Carrying only her handbag, my mother walked out of our house, to a waiting car. The driver of the car was a young man clad in a yellow T-shirt. He was my mother’s new lover. As soon as my mother got into the car, the young mandrove away quickly. My mother did not look back. My father, meanwhile, locked himself in his bedroom. 

I said: “Father, please open the door. In times like this, we should be together. You can always talk to me.” 

My father answered: “For now, I want to be alone in my sadness. I want to grieve in peace.We can talk tomorrow. We can have breakfast together.”

The next morning, I entered my father’s room with a tray of toasted bread, two half boiled eggs and a cup of coffee. I wanted to surprise my father. I wanted my father to have breakfast in bed.

But the tray did not reach my father’s bed. I dropped it on the floor. My father had hanged himself. Tears streamed from my eyes. 

"Do not call the police yet, Malena," my sister said.

My sister took an empty canvas and started painting my dad. 

“It is not every day you get a chance to paint a man who hanged himself,” my sister said.  

I was speechless. I did not know to how to react to what was happening infront of my eyes. My mother has just abandoned my father for her young lover, my father had just killed himself, and my sister was calmly painting him hanging from the ceiling. I felt as if I was in a surrealistic movie which had no head or 
tail.After two hours, my sister had completed her task.

“Now, you can call the police,” she said. 
“Some people will see what I have done as cruel and utterly mad. But most people don’t understand that every great art must have a touch of cruelty and madness.” ......

( To read the rest of the story please get my book Bitter at Pesta Buku Selangor....)