Hong Kong Writers Circle

When the aeroplane touched down on the runway, for the first time, the little girl that I was heard a collective sigh and a round of applause from those seated around us. Later, when we were in the terminal waiting for a connecting flight, my father explained that we were at Kai Tak International Airport. At the time, it was regarded as an airport with one of the most challenging runways to land an aeroplane. That is the closest I’ve ever stepped onto Hong Kong soil, which is why Holly Sykes’ words in her short story, ‘Storm Chaser’ resonated: ‘Hong Kong was a city from the movies that she had fallen in love with…’

Indeed, it is from movies like ‘Love Is a Many Splendored Thing’ based on Han Su Yin’s best-selling novel that I learnt something more. Then, there are James Clavell’s words in the opening scene of ‘Taipan’: ‘The island was Hong Kong. Thirty square miles of mountainous stone on the north lip of the huge Pearl River in South China. A thousand yards off the mainland. Inhospitable. Unfertile. Uninhabited except for a tiny fishing village on the south side. Squarely in the path of the monstrous storms that yearly exploded from the Pacific.’

In the intervening years, I can count on one hand the people I’ve met who are from Hong Kong. They all struck me as glamourous, business savvy and dynamic with a ‘go-go-go’ attitude. That said, experience has taught me that until one is actually in any given place, one never truly knows the people, its culture or what it’s really like. With that in mind, I was (still am) mighty thrilled to be attending the Hong Kong International Literary Festival in 2025 and even more so when I was offered the chance to read and review ‘Score’.

I must admit that, before I read a single word, I wondered about this monosyllabic title ‘Score’. Keeping in mind what I said above, I allowed my imagination to run wild. Perhaps, the stories were all about school children scoring high marks. Maybe, there’d be stories about drug addicts ‘scoring’ a high. Maybe, there’d be a story about a teenager boasting to his friends that he’d ‘scored’ with a girl. Glancing at the titles of some of the stories in the Contents page, there was indeed a story which seemed to fit one of my assumptions: ‘Toby and the Cat and the High Scores’.

Still, it’s when I read the first sentence of the Introduction by Sam Powney, one of the three editors of this collection, that it clicked that ‘Score’ reflects the twenty years that the Hong Kong Writers Circle has published an annual anthology. It’s certainly a creative title.

At a hefty 400-odd pages, this collection of 31 short stories and poems is divided into four categories. Rather than Part 1, Part 2, etc, these categories have been given imaginative titles, namely, ‘Knives Out,’ ‘Above and Beyond,’ ‘Hook-ups and Heartache,’ and ‘Finding Harmony.’ Having read the entire work, the categories do indeed fulfil the remit set for them. It was precisely why I was amused to read the following sentence: ‘Please take these categories with as much seriousness as the pronouncements of a Hogwarts sorting hat or a high school careers advisor.’

Reading the stories, I became aware that many of the contributors inserted the word ‘score’ somewhere in their story. It made me wonder if they had advance notice of the title of the anthology. If so, I appreciated that they made an effort to include it in their stories proper.

Of varying lengths, the stories were a mix of genres. Naturally, as there were many contributors, there were various writing styles, too. Some stories were plot driven, while others were character driven. A substantial number of the stories was rooted in reality, while some had an other-worldly quality about them. In addition, sometimes, the language used suited the protagonist’s profession or trade. For example, in the first story, ‘The Wrong Done, the Good Lost,’ the style reflected the manner in which a journalist would publish a piece in the papers. Similarly, ‘Love in Abundance’ by Anjali Mittal reflected language used in the courts. This story was particularly interesting because I learnt that Hong Kong follows the same judicial system as Britain. Unlike Malaysia, where an Advocate and a Solicitor can be one and the same person, in Hong Kong, a Barrister and Solicitor are two different people.

Where ‘Snow Globe’ by Julian Lyden, about a Malaysian student who endured a negative experience which stayed with her for life, was gentle and reflective piece, ‘Crash Test’ by Jay Oatway (another editor of this collection) was fast-paced with a brilliant twist at the end. While reading his story, I admired his ability to weave technology into the tale. It all made sense when I read his biographical information: ‘Jay Oatway writes at the collision point of technology and humanity, with stories that reflect the social tensions related to technology’s unexpected consequences.’  

Another stand out piece was Rinkoo Ramchandani’s ‘Dahlia’. The steady pace, the flowers and the descriptions of the places the protagonist visited, intertwined with the mystery was a joy to read. The last sentence – ‘An imposter in their midst, right under their noses,’ – stayed with me long after I finished reading the collection. ‘The Business Trip’ by Nifraz Rifaz, about a businessman’s first trip to Hong Kong gives me a sense of what it’s going to be like when I visit the island. The kindness of strangers and assurances that it’s a safe city offers confidence for a nervous traveller.

My all-time favourite story has to be ‘Confessions of a Trinity’. From experience, success in telling a story using an epistolary exchange is hard to achieve. The points of view alternate every so often and it can be difficult to insert all the other elements of storytelling such as dialogue, plot and theme. The author achieved not only this, but he left me wanting to know, ‘What happened? Did one of the letter writers actually visit Hong Kong? If so, what happened?’ This is a definite, I-want-to-know-more story.

Ultimately, what this collection showed me was that, much like Malaysia, underneath the drama of politics that often plays out in front of the world media, there is a different more ‘real’ world. With ‘Score’ I had the privilege of a closer look at the ever-changing ebb and flow of human dreams, desires, hurts, joys and dramas which only left me more curious than ever about this island of Hong Kong and its people.