About the book: 1989 / Collection of prose by English-language authors, dedicated to modern Singapore....There is no need to comment on the stories in the collection - they are understandable without any comments. Each line reveals pain for the present and anxiety for the future of the City, sympathy for the disadvantaged, sarcasm towards ordinary people living in a world of imaginary (material and intangible) values. From the upper floors of Singapore's skyscrapers, local writers, like Vladimir Vysotsky's giraffe, can see more clearly the scale of the disaster that "industrialism" brings to the peoples of the East. Their prose and poems alert readers to this danger, in which, according to the observation of one of the local critics, there is surprisingly little true love poetry. Their bitter truth destroys the last illusions about the fabulous port “east of Suez”, but inspires hope for a better future, which can only be approached with open eyes and a pure heart..