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Be Real

A Guide to Authenticity

Felix Cheong, Arif Rafhan

$36.95

Paperback

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English
Penguin Random House SEA
17 June 2025
A deadpan zombie graphic novel that rips into our age of curated authenticity

Written in poetic form by Felix Cheong and illustrated by Arif Rafhan, Be Real- A Guide to Authenticity is a graphic novel satirising the hunger for authenticity in an age of curated fakeness.

The story revolves around Q, a successful hack known for his zombie novels. His latest bestseller is met with scathing reviews from critics who accuse him of writing to formula. Fans are also growing tired of his predictable stories.

His problems are compounded when his trophy wife dies from a drug overdose. At her funeral and near the end of his rope, Q meets an old flame, a down-but-not-out writer. As they have bereavement sex, she bites him, saying- 'You got to keep it real. You can't fake it till you make it. Be real.'

He takes these words to heart and, like a method actor, explores what it takes to live like a zombie. He buys viscera from a butcher and eats it raw. He gets into it and suddenly, his words flow powerfully.

This 'method writing' leads him to greater success but also a slow descent into zombiism. At fan meets, he goes around biting each of them, saying 'Be real'. #bereal starts trending and before long, #bereal becomes the tagline we see at bus stops, on TV, on social media.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin Random House SEA
Country of Publication:   Singapore
Dimensions:   Height: 255mm,  Width: 172mm,  Spine: 11mm
Weight:   291g
ISBN:   9789815233032
ISBN 10:   9815233033
Pages:   164
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Felix Cheong is the author of twenty-five books across different genres, from poetry to short stories, from children's picture books to young adult fiction. He has also published four graphic novels, including the noir detective Sprawl series in collaboration with Arif Rafhan. Winner of the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award in 2000, Felix has been invited to writers festival all over the world, including Edinburgh, Austin, Sydney, Brisbane and Christchurch. He holds a masters in Creative Writing and is currently an adjunct lecturer with the National University of Singapore, SIM, Curtin University and Murdoch University. Arif Rafhan bin Othman is a comic artist, a mural artist, an animator, a doodler and a neighborhood art teacher in both digital and analog medium. His work has spanned from paintings, book illustrations (for MPH & Fixi), graphic novels, (MPH & Maple Comics), graphic facilitation (BNM & PruBSN), corporate comics and art installation for corporate offices. He was the Creative Director in his previous e-Learning company for eleven years before embarking into servicing the wider industry and established himself as a true artist. He obtained his Bachelor's Degree in IT (Hons) in 2000 with minor in Multimedia from PPP/UiTM, Shah Alam, Malaysia.

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