Friday, June 6, 2025

Nobody's Park

(Sung to the tune of Nobody's Child)

As I was slowly passing
A busy town one day
I lingered for a moment
To watch people on their way

Alone, in eerie silence
Sat a park under the sky
The lonely weeds, they spoke to me
With words that made me cry

I'm nobody's park, I'm nobody's park
Just like the rain clouds, I'm growing dark
My bridge is broken, my neglect is stark
Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's park . . .

Nobody's Park
by Harold Huang
2025-06-06 00:31 hrs GMT+8
#sightsandsounds #heartfelt

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Mermaid with a lion head

I wrote this poem after I came across a photo of visitors to Merlion Park Singapore trying to position themselves to appear to be drinking from the fountain of water spouting from the Merlion statue.

A mermaid with a lion head
Much water doth it spout
A thirsty man looked up to wait
His body fat and stout

Into the river, water sprayed
So deep down did it sink
Alas! In vain did Thirsty wait
No water did he drink

Mermaid with a lion head
By Harold Huang
Tue 2025-01-28 1150 hrs GMT+8
#sightsandsounds #daydreams

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Vibrations of the soul

GETARAN JIWA 1958 — VIBRATIONS OF THE SOUL

Singable English lyrics,
my version . . .

VERSE 1:
Getaran jiwa, melanda hatiku
Vibrations of the soul, they flood into my heart

Tersusun nada, irama dan lagu
The tones, the me-lody, the song so well arranged

CHORUS:
Walau hanya sederhana
Although it's only a sim-ple tune
Tetapi tak mengapa
It doesn't matter to me
Moga dapat membangkitkan
May/(it) bring about an awakening
Sedarlah kamu wahai insan
Will you wake up, my dearest friend

VERSE 2:
Tak mungkin hilang, Irama dan lagu
They — won't go away, Those melody and songs

Bagaikan kembang, Sentiasa bermadu
Like blooming flowers, Always flowing with honey

ENDING:
Andai dipisah lagu dan irama
If song and melody, are sadly torn apart
Lemah tiada berjiwa, hampa
I'll be weak and lifeless, emp—ty . . .

Vibrations of the soul
English lyrics by Harold Huang
27Aug24 1848 hrs GMT+8
#song #daydreams #heartfelt

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Two hands

— in conjunction with Teachers' Day.

It takes two hands to keep in step,
the hands of teacher and child.
They move in tune, one with the other,
in a lesson made worthwhile.

The teacher speaks
the child will listen
The teacher shows
the child pays attention

The teacher asks
the child will answer
The teacher explains
the child will ponder.

The teacher leads
the child will follow
In teacher's steps
the child will shadow

The teacher prompts
questions to bring
The teacher helps
the child to think

Teacher's hand begins to slow
when child's hand begins to grow
Teacher's hand will move along
when child's hand is big and strong.

Two Hands
by Harold Huang
Thu 16May24 1122 hrs GMT+8
Upd. Fri 17May24 0630 hrs
#heartfelt #journeyinlife

Monday, April 22, 2024

Fond memories . . .

— in remembrance of a dearly beloved classmate who passed away this morning.

You left us with fond memories
through the years we've been apart
of enduring sincere friendship
and the kindness of your heart

You left us with fond memories
of good things you could do
from making pin-hole cameras
to calligraphy writing too

You left us with fond memories
of warm and friendly words
in your soft-spoken demeanour
not a slander have we heard

You left us with fond memories
that time can never erase
memories strong and vivid
we shall cherish all our days

Today you left us all for good
never to return again
in our remaining years on earth
our hearts will feel the pain.

Fond Memories
by Harold Huang
Mon 22Apr2024 1512 hrs GMT+8
#heartfelt #journeyinlife

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

A gust of grief

A gust of grief,
A storm of sorrow,
A hail of heartbreak,
swept through relentlessly.

All that I have stood upon,
believed in,
and held on to,
vanished suddenly,
leaving behind
bare bones of betrayal
in a dark dungeon of deceit
with crooked corridors of craftiness

I asked myself,
Why?
There was no answer.

A Gust of Grief
by Harold B Huang
#journeyinlife
Wed 27Mar24 0747hrs GMT+8

Thursday, November 16, 2023

A Spoonful of Malaysian Magic

An Anthology —

A burong descends from Tansang Kenyalang in the midst of a dire catastrophe.
A shapeshifter frees Kedah from the dreaded Raja Bersiong only to uncover a darker secret.
A woman learns to channel her family’s food magic.
A young huntress of supernatural creatures charts her own path of love . . .

This anthology of short stories offers fresh takes on Malaysian folklore and fairy tales, adds enchantment to the ordinary, and bursts with new, wonderful flavours. Stir a little spoonful of magic into your tea, whether you’re from these shores or from far away.


Stories by

Collin Yeoh • Hamizah Adzmi • Ilnaz A. Faizal • Ismim Putera • Joni Chng • Joshua Lim • Julia Alba • Rowan C • Sharmilla Ganesan • Stuart Danker • Syazwani Jefferdin • Zufar Zeid


Cover Art and Design:Amita Sevellaraja (amitaseve.com)
Illustrations:Yura (yura-w.carrd.co)
Postcard Design:Chew Yuin-Y (instagram.com/elvenstar/)

Release date:23 November 2023
Published by:Teaspoon Publishing
Print ISBN:978-967-19634-6-3
Ebook ISBN:978-967-19634-7-0
Add the book to GoodReads:Click here
Amazon Pre-order link:Click here
Other retailers:Click here
Ebook Pre-order Price:$2.99 / RM14 | Full Price: $4.99 / RM20
Teaspoon Publishing store:Click here
Paperback Pre-order Price:RM50 | Full Price: RM60

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Collin Yeoh has wanted to be a writer all his life, and indeed has been writing professionally for 17 years. At some point, he remembered that advertising copy wasn’t what he wanted to write growing up as a lonely bookworm kid. He now finds writing things that have plots, characters, themes, genres, and that won’t be subject to notes like “please include more product benefits” a lot more fun. He lives in Kuala Lumpur.

Hamizah Adzmi is a storyteller and currently works as the Knowledge Mobilization Programme Officer for Musawah, an international women’s rights NGO. She pursued a MA in Creative Writing under the Chevening scholarship in 2016/2017, where she focused on writing fiction revolving around Malaysian women. Previously, she was in the media industry and taught Creative Writing in universities. Her interests include books, writing, and feminism.
Link : https://www.twitter.com/omgthisbook

Ilnaz A. Faizal enjoys writing stories that cross between the genres of horror, fantasy, and romance. She also writes poetry and screenplays. Her favourite authors are Sarah Dessen and R.L Stine. When she’s not writing, she can either be found reading, embroidering cartoon characters, or sleeping.
Link : https://twitter.com/Ilnaz_Faizal

Ismim Putera (he/him) is a poet and writer from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. His works can be found in online journals as well as anthologised in To Let the Light In Anthology of Life and Death, Instinct: Asian Speculative Poetry 2021, Colours of Tapestry 2: Stories from Asia, Unsaid: An Asian Anthology, and recently in The Big Book of Malaysian Horror. His poem “Durian Blossoms” won third place in the 7th Singapore Poetry Contest (2021) and “Jantina” was longlisted for the Malaysian Poetry Competition (2021).
Link : https://twitter.com/ismimputera

Joni Chng is a writer and photographer based in Malaysia, born and raised in Kedah. She draws a lot of inspiration from diverse cultures around the world, particularly from the Far East and Southeast Asia, with speculative elements of her own invention thrown in for good measure. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and magazines, including The Big Book of Malaysian Horror Stories (Fixi Novo, 2022), Night Terrors: Vol. 21 (Scare Street, 2022), Tainted Love: Women in Horror (Twisted Wing productions, 2021), and NANG 3: Fiction (2017).
Link : https://twitter.com/jonichng | https://www.instagram.com/jonichng/

Joshua Lim writes stories that reimagine the world around him. His fantasy short story “Generation Game Night” was shortlisted for the Malaysian Short Story Writing Competition 2022, and his other works have appeared in Fixi Novo’s anthologies KL Noir: Magic (2021) and The Big Book of Malaysian Horror Stories (2022). He is currently a medical student who finds time in between classes to write fiction and overthink his future.

A medical officer and quality manager by profession, Julia Alba has been writing fiction since she was a teenager. She loves a great story no matter the genre or the medium, whether it’s a book, a video game, an anime or a movie. Her bad habit is her inability to resist buying too much Harry Potter merchandise. She lives in Perak with her husband and daughter.
Link : https://twitter.com/joo_leeyah

Rowan C is 22 years old and currently studying accounting, which inspired the title of this work. They’re also heavily inspired by the D&D games they play, and they’ve always looked up to Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett. They hope, through their work, these interests of theirs can be shared with all of you.

Sharmilla Ganesan is a radio presenter, writer, and culture critic based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was with The Star newspaper for over a decade; currently, she is attached to BFM 89.9, where she hosts shows on current affairs, the arts, books, and film. She has also written for The Atlantic, South China Morning Post, NewNaratif, and ArtsEquator.
Link : https://twitter.com/sharmillag | https://www.instagram.com/sharmillag/

Stuart Danker is a Malaysian author who’s spent a decade writing across multiple genres and mediums, and that’s after plying his trade in various industries such as hairdressing and accounting. His first novel, Tinhead City, KL, debuted in 2021. Find him at www.stuartdanker.com.
Link: https://twitter.com/stuartdanker | https://www.instagram.com/storystuey/

Syazwani Jefferdin is currently a 24-year-old PhD in English student at Nottingham University Malaysia. She has been writing since she was 9 and has been writing fantasy fiction since high school. Currently, she’s working on her PhD creative work titled God’s Eyes, a novel that will explore the Fantasy genre with Malaysian elements imbedded alongside classic western Fantasy elements.

Zufar Zeid lives in the morgue and tries to give a voice to the dead. In his free time, he pretends to write but is actually just daydreaming his life away.
Link: https://twitter.com/Lv80Necromancer | https://www.instagram.com/zufzeid/



ABOUT THE EDITOR

Anna Tan writes fantasy stories and fairy tales, and helps people publish books at Teaspoon Publishing. She also wrangles writers and deadlines for the Malaysian Writers Society (MYWriters) and Penang Art District.

Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the current President of MYWriters. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Links :
https://facebook.com/annatansp | https://twitter.com/natzers | https://instagram.com/annatsp



ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Just as a teaspoon of sugar sweetens your tea, Teaspoon Publishing adds a dash of something special to your words. Whether it’s getting a dose of magic in your fiction, working magic with your words, or helping you find that magical balance of trad/indie/ hybrid publishing, we hope you’ll find what you’re looking for here!

It’s as simple as a TSP —

  • Traditional: where we source and publish fantasy works as a micro-press
  • Services: where we provide writing-related freelance services such as editing, proofreading, and copywriting.
  • Publishing Hub: where we hold your hand(s) and let you decide how we can help you fulfil your publishing dreams.

Talk to us at info@teaspoonpublishing.com.my or check out our website at teaspoonpublishing.com.my.

We can also be found at:
https://facebook.com/teaspoonpublishing | https://twitter.com/teaspoonpub | https://instagram.com/teaspoonpublishing

Nobody's Park

(Sung to the tune of Nobody's Child) As I was slowly passing A busy town one day I lingered for a moment To watch people on...