History Literature / ClassicSingaporeHorrorStories

* ArtImitatesLife: ''The Artist Arcane Tao'' features the titular artist's [[spoiler: painting of demons coming to life in the end]].

* CloningBlues: The main theme of the future-set story, ''Down On The Farm''.

** Jimmy, the sex-obsessed main character in ''One Night In Bangkok'' who [[spoiler: thinks he's contracted AIDS, and subsequently tried to spread the disease all throughout Singapore, going as far as sexually assaulting his sister to pass her the disease, eventually discovered he ''didn't'' have AIDS after all... and has pretty much ruined his entire life because his actions made him a total outcast of society]]. [[spoiler: For good measure, he even [[KickTheSonOfABitch gets the snot beaten out of him]] by his taller and stronger brother-in-law]].

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The native Indonesian safari guide from ''The White Tiger of Kalimantaro'' is explicitly described as preferring to go barefoot everywhere, even in the jungle.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Jimmy from ''One Night In Bangkok'' would play with himself while listening to his sister having sex with her boyfriend in her room.

** Moses Neo from ''China Bride'', [[spoiler: who boiled his sex slave bride and her lover into a vat of molten soap]], ends up [[spoiler: getting boiled alive by his own shower system which mysteriously gets stuck and overheated while he's in middle of a bath]].
** In ''Hangman'', the titular hangman who delights in abusing animals and takes his job as an excuse to bully those below him, [[spoiler: ends up getting his neck broken when accidentally stuck on a loose hangman's noose]].
** The Japanese Admiral VillainProtagonist of ''Message In A Bottle'', who ordered his crew to destroy an American warship and personally sank several lifeboats, ends up [[spoiler: being the last to die when his submarine gets flooded by the Sea Hag]].
** The Administrator from ''Down on the Farm'' delights in torturing clones, and sending multiple clones which he declared defective into the incinerator. [[spoiler: He ends up getting shoved into the incinerator himself by a horde of vengeful clones]].
** John Law from ''Once Upon A Swine'', after gaining the favor of Kuan Kong the Ancient War Deity, treats the deity as his lackey to dispose of his unfaithful wife, his informant, and anyone else that gets on his bad side. He ends up getting [[spoiler: decapitated by Kuan Kong after pissing him off the wrong way]].

* KillEmAll: Damien Sin really doesn't like leaving behind any survivors as he moves from one story to another. We has the [[spoiler: entire biker gang save for the main character]] in ''Ghost Riders'', the [[spoiler: crew of a Japanese submarine]] in ''Message In A Bottle'', [[spoiler: an entire city following the clone uprising]] in ''Down on the Farm'', among others.

** ''Great Pig Mother'' ends with [[AssholeVictim Diamond Dave]], the GoldDigger who conned a widow of her pig farm and all her belongings [[spoiler: until [[DrivenToSuicide she hangs herself]] to death]], being [[spoiler: mauled and ''sexually violated'' by the titular giant sow, which can talk with the widow's voice. Implied that the widow's soul is now one with the sow's...]]

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: In ''Paint It Black''. Jessica, a con artist and GoldDigger, tricks old Indian millionaire Gopal into taking her as his third wife, and then [[spoiler:arranged to have the first two wives killed before killing Gopal personally while he is vulnerable]]. Unfortunately for Jessica, she forgot to check her facts; [[spoiler: Gopal's native Indian family still believes in the act of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice) Satti]], or ritualistic burning, where the wife is cremated ''with'' the deceased husband]]. Sweet dreams!

* NeverBareheaded: Kermit Singh from ''Checkmate'' is NEVER seen without his turban, which covers most of the upper part of his head and described by the text as "it's as large as half his head". The final scene where [[spoiler: the enraged Professor Narul hacks Kermit to death, ripping off the turban in the process, reveals that Kermit is actually TwoFaced, with a smaller, shriveled head underneath]], quite possibly a ShoutOut to Professor Quirrell's fate from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' (the novel, the movie doesn't exist at that point).

* AdultFear: Children aren't exactly safe in this series, and don't expect every child character to be spared from the horrors that await.

* OutnumberedSibling:
** Moses Neo from ''China Bride'' is described to be the only male in a large family of sisters.
** Implied for the Japanese Admiral from ''Message In A Bottle'', his [[spoiler: final moments in life is a flashback dream to his old hometown in Tokyo. While he mentions his mother and sisters, he does not mention anything about having a brother]].
** Katherine from ''Stepchild'' is the only girl among her siblings, and has to contend with two older brothers and the titular stepchild.

* CriticalResearchFailure: An in-universe example. In ''Paint It Black''. Jessica, a con artist and GoldDigger, tricks old Indian millionaire Gopal into taking her as his third wife, and then [[spoiler:arranged to have the first two wives killed before crossing the MoralEventHorizon and killing Gopal personally while he is vulnerable]]. Unfortunately for Jessica, she forgot to check her facts; [[spoiler: Gopal's native Indian family still believes in the act of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice) Satti]], or ritualistic burning, where the wife is cremated ''with'' the deceased husband]]. Sweet dreams!

The first book was published in 1992, with each subsequent installment released between regular intervals; the fourth and last were published in 2003. Damien Sin cites lack of ideas and personal issues as reasons for the delays of a possible fifth book, but still reveals that he does have interest to continue writing the long-gestating fifth installment. Unfortunately, AuthorExistenceFailure pretty much ensures the series would stop at its fourth.

Take ''Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'', set it exclusively in Singapore, put it through a set of [[RealityEnsues realism filter]], with a dose of [[BlackComedy twisted humor]], a blend of macabre imagination, some [[BloodierAndGorier excessive blood and gore]], some [[DarkerAndEdgier adult themes]], and... voila! Welcome to the macabre mind of Damien Sin, into the deep, dark Singaporean underworld.

* FatBastard: Moses Neo from ''China Bride''. The ''first'' paragraph of the story even directly describes him as an overweight bastard!

* InfantImmortality: Averted constantly, sometimes children who did nothing wrong would end up getting the short end of the stick. Expect multiple KillTheCutie moments.
** The younger sister from ''Suffer the Children'' [[spoiler: gets her skull cracked open by her own aunt in an AccidentalMurder moment. Said aunt then tries to convince the neighbors that the child accidentally fell down a flight of stairs and died as a result]].
** ''Devil Child'': [[spoiler: One of the titular devil child's victims is Ian's baby son, barely a year old]]. At least it happened [[CensoredChildDeath off-screen/off-page]].