Ted Mahsun

...for 2006! Since I have no internet at home (I'll get to paying the bill, one day), today will be the last post for the year. What has 2006 meant for me? 2006 was to me, the Year of Writing. This year, for the first time in my life, I took my writing very seriously. For the past 5 years or so, my New Year's resolutions had always included one where I resolved to write The Novel. Though I have yet to fulfil that promise, I have at least made huge strides in my writing. This year, I wrote 9 short stories, submitted 6 of them to 11 publications, and have had 2 of them accepted for publication (one of them is included in a book being launched tomorrow ). Compare that to the previous years... all I had written were some story outlines for the games company I work for... and that's it. They were pretty lame outlines too, come to think of it. I joined a writing class, which gave me the confidence to actually keep writing (thanks, Sharon !) and I started a blog about books and ...

Oh, come on... Deathly Hallows ??? Surely you can come up with a better one than that...

There's a cute story in Utusan Malaysia today regarding a certain young girl who has read (drum-roll please) TWO THOUSAND BOOKS! ZOMGWTF!!! For your convenience, I have run the article through a babelfish (not Altavista's Babelfish , but the actual fish you stick in your ear ) and this is what was translated: by ABDUL RAZAK DIN IPOH 21 Dec. - Although only 11 years old, Afiqah Ramatullah Khan, has read 2,200 books including novels that are her faithful companions every day. A Standard 5 student from Sekolah Kebangsaan Raja Perempuan Ipoh, she said that the titles of the books she read had been noted down since she was in Standard 1 and this means that the true total of books read by her would be more. It is routine for her to finish reading one or two books daily, each approximately 70-100 pages long. According to her, this total does not include light reading, such as religious books, newspapers, magazines or comics for children. Among books that she likes are story books, f...

By way of the Underrated Writers of 2006 project at Syntax of Things , I have discovered a wonderful writer which I would like to expose you to. Mohammed Naseehu Ali , a Ghana-born writer living in Brooklyn, writes stories that are full of wit and allegorical complexities, yet are simple to read. The language he employs makes his prose a delight to read and the characters he deploys are a strange oxymoronic combination of unreal and normalcy. Zongo Street, a fictional small African community where his stories usually take place, are described in detail and are steeped in African culture and religion, evoking the smells, the sounds and even the dust, resulting in deeply immersive stories that are rich with atmosphere and humanness. For a taste of what he's capable of, I suggest reading his short stories, " Mallam Sile " in the New Yorker, and " The Manhood Test ", in Gathering of the Tribes. " Mallam Sile " is a story about a tea stall owner who suffers...

I can't believe it! Of the many children's books Roald Dahl has written, only the rare Gremlins remain as the only one I have unread. So when I was reading my feeds for today, it was with surprised delight when I read this in The Guardian : ...the Gremlins Project, has led to a release of the original text by the publishers Dark Horse, and a full marketing campaign is planned for 2007. A series of collectable toys based on the characters have been promised, while the text of an early limited edition with Disney illustrations is available on the internet. Oh Dark Horse! My saviours! I shall purchase your wonderful digitally restored and reissued hardcover book once I find it in stores. For those wondering what the fuss is all about (or you're too damned cheap to buy it yourself), maybe you would like to check out the complete text of The Gremlins at Roald Dahl Fans.com .

Oracle bones, Bollywood gangsters and Chersonese culinary delights grace Time Asia Magazine's 10 Best Asian Books of 2006 list . Apart from the Murakami and the Vikram Chandra, I haven't heard of any of these books before. Props to Time Mag for highlighting them.

From Physorg.com : Professor Neil Roberts, from the University's Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre, (MARIARC), explains: "The effect on the brain is a bit like a magic trick; we know what the trick means but not how it happened. Instead of being confused by this in a negative sense, the brain is positively excited. The brain signature is relatively uneventful when we understand the meaning of a word but when the word changes the grammar of the whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak. The brain is then forced to retrace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word." There you go! Your brain goes all orgasmic when the Bard spouts something indecipherable! Science has proven it!

Haruki Murakami's been in the news a lot lately. He's got a new translation of Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby out in Japan apparently so maybe that's why he's getting all the attention lately. The Japanese daily, Yomiuri Shimbun, interviewed him recently , and Murakami claimed that his encounter with The Great Gatsby was "fate": It's really difficult to explain in words, but it's easier to understand when you think about it as an encounter between two people rather than an encounter between a person and a novel. We meet a lot of people in our lives, and there are fateful encounters among them. Such encounters can sometimes change your life completely. Such encounters can often open up new doors and close others. You sometimes feel your whole being has completely changed from how it was beforehand. My encounter with The Great Gatsby was of that nature. Also in the Yomiuri Shimbun, but a few days back, is an article about a symposium held in Japan disc...

What's that about e-books? Nah, I'll keep my reliable paper ones, thanks. (Also, they should've installed Firefox in that book.) Via Scaryideas .

Those "best-of" book lists that are popping up on all the book review sites and blogs? Forget 'em. Take a look at Prospect Magazine's Over-rated and Under-rated Books of the Year instead. What's the most over-rated? My current read: Dick Dawkins's God Delusion . No surprise there. Nice quotes abound: Suzanne Franks writer & broadcaster Snow , Orhan Pamuk (Faber). One should not say this when he has just won the Nobel prize and survived state harassment, but I found it tedious. Alan Wolfe academic The God Delusion . Written with so little tolerance and so much fervour that fundamentalists will recognise Dawkins as one of their own.

So I get to have a story published in 2006 after all! Hooray! Karen-Ann Theseira and Oak Publications will be launching their short story collection, Write Out Loud , a very nifty book featuring short stories by up-and-coming young writers like Alexandra Wong , John Ling , Yvonne Foong , me (me! me! me!) and many other equally talented people * . Come join us and support the local writing scene: Date : Saturday, 30 Dec 06 Venue : Popular Bookstore, Ikano Time : 3-4 pm Write Out Loud will retail at RM29.90. *Full List of Writers: Charmaine Hon, John Ling, Low Mei Heng, Tan Phaik Cheng, Richard Huang, Melvin Tan, Tan Yi Liang, Janarthani Arumugam, Koi Kye Lee, Kelvin Ooi, Kwan Su Li, Selvam P. G., Ashvini, Graeme S. Houston, Yvonne Foong, Agnes Ong, Ted Mahsun, Frederick Kovilpillai, Wong Boon Ken, Joanna Van, Lynette Quah, Vanitha Krishnan, Alexandra Wong, Tracey Jan Francis, Jolin Kwok, Kwan Su Li, Noreha Yussof Day, Zachary Lee Francis, Bob Teoh, and last, but not least, M. Khairu...

Didn't think I'd go this time as I'm not really in the best state of finances right now... but I must've been trapped in their tractor beam and they managed to rope me in anyhow. I managed to escape by the skin of my teeth with these: 1. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes I've been eying this for ages at Borders. 2. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson Recommended by a friend a couple years back. Feel slightly guilty it took me this long to actually get the book. How long more will it take for me to read it? 3. Louisiana Power & Light by John Dufresne Passed the first-page test. Looks like it could be an enjoyable read. 4. Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin From the writer of the Tales from the City series. 5. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer OMGWTFBBQ! I've been looking for this for yoinks! (Big Sherlock Holmes fan here!) 6. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver I hope I haven't already bought this. 7. We Were the Mulvaney...

So yesterday I went to Lydia Teh's launching of her latest book , Honk! If You're Malaysian . This probably ranks as the grandest book launch I've ever attended. Even that Roald Dahl launch for Rhyme Stew I went to when I was a kid couldn't beat this. Congratulations, Lydia, for being able to launch your book with much fanfare. I should also state here that the book is a really wonderful read, just like her previous collection, Life's Like That . Having already had a chance to read it in public, I can now tag it "Laugh-out-loud-funny". It also certainly benefits from having Hassan Bahri's illustrations accompanying the text. The illustrated cover he did for the book is one of the best covers I've seen on a locally published book. (One that comes close that I can think of right now is Cinta Ubi dan Laksa , a Malay young adult novel-comic hybrid). Having Adibah Amin write the intro is a huge plus too... though I thought it was a little insubstantial...

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. Literate Good Citizen Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm Book Snob Fad Reader Non-Reader What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

You want poetry?!? I'll give you poetry , you hacks * !!! Whenever you pet a cat, Please make sure you're not a rat, Please do be advised, That it is unwise, For a rat to pet a cat. There once was a man from Peru, Who didn't have a thing to do, He picked up a phone, Which had no dial-tone, And made a call to Kathmandu. There once was a man with a daughter, Who wanted to marry an author, Her father refused, Because of the news, That the man knew only one letter. There once was a girl with a Volkswagen, Who wanted to drive to Copenhagen, But once she got there She found it quite blehh , And drove home again with her Volkswagen. There once was a girl called Daisy, Who hated the sky when hazy, She vacuumed the air, With her mighty derriere, That wonderful girl called Daisy. There was a young man in Peking, Who declared himself to be king, He made himself a crown, Which kept falling down, That silly young man from Peking. Mwahahaha!!! * I kid, I kid... you're all nice people...

Daphne Lee has a review of Adibah Amin's new (and long-awaited) novel in yesterday's Starmag and gives it a hearty thumbs up. She seems to be a little confused over the title though, first calling it This Side of the Rainbow , then later calling it This End of the Rainbow , which I assume to be the correct title since that's what's printed on the picture of the book's cover. Ms. Lee's concluding thoughts: Anyone who is familiar with Adibah’s writing through her column As I Was Passing can expect the same fresh, simple and direct style here. This book is an easy read, and it is also eye-opening, especially if you are not familiar with Malaysia’s pre-independence days and the social unrest of the 1950s. Anyone seen this in bookstores? I was in the Local Books section in MPH MidValley on Saturday but I didn't notice it anywhere. And pity about the cover... it looks like it was designed by a high-schooler with a pirated copy of Photoshop. Further reading: D...

I was in MidValley yesterday afternoon to watch a certain local superhero movie (don't watch it unless you want your IQ to drop to a single digit) and while I was browsing through MPH an announcement came over the P.A. system. Yvonne Foong was to give a talk to promote her book, I'm Not Sick Just a Bit Unwell - Life with Neurofibramatosis . Hey, that's lucky, I thought. I had meant to get her book and this opportunity would allow me to get it and have it signed, as well as to give her my support. I read her blog off and on so it was great to also be able to meet her in person. Though it was hard to understand her at first (her condition, as I understand it, severely affects her jaw as well as her hearing), the crowd quickly warmed up to her as she talked about her experiences battling Neurofibramatosis as well as her struggle to write a book and get it published. If you haven't bought the book yet, I highly suggest you do, as it is a very good read (although I admit I...

Wow! They finally upgraded my Blogger account to the new Beta version! Yay! Since some of us are posting up our "to-be-read" 2007 list , I'm gonna go the other way round and post what I will be reading again next year. The following list is not in any particular order: 1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Not as influential to me as it was when I was in Form 4, but still relevant. After all, as Malaysians, aren't we all under the gazing eye of Big Brother ? 2. Animal Farm by George Orwell For years I couldn't find this book in bookstores (ah... the days before Kinokuniya KLCC), until my second year in university. I made friends with a guy from the studying management and he was complaining about this "boring" book he had to study for his English class. When I found out it was Animal Farm, I asked if I could borrow the book. He said I could have it and he didn't want to see the damn book ever in his life. He must really hate socialism. 3. V...

In the month of November, I received 2 rejection letters and another came in the mail yesterday. Not that this is disheartening. Not at all! Rejection's part and parcel of writing. I'll get there one day. Fellow writers facing rejection might find solace in Ha Jin 's words from an interview published in AGNI Magazine : The more ambitious you are, the stronger the sense of failure, because there are so many great books that have been written. When I was at Emory University I often taught a story by Kafka: “The Hunger Artist.” That story explains the psychology of a writer. Very often we write not because we want to achieve—maybe there was that desire, but so much has been accomplished. We can’t do anything better. On the other hand, you have to go on and continue. That’s why I think some sense of failure is essential to a writer from the very beginning. So there you go. Keep on writing, y'all.

Lydia's threatening to put me on the dead blog list if I don't update. Fortunately though there's my review in Starmag yesterday to blog of. (I can't say much of the title they went with though...) Here it is: The Thirteenth Tale Author: Diane Setterfield Publisher: Atria Books Paperback: 416 pages ISBN: 1-4165-3726-0 If you apply the acid-test of reading a first page of a novel and seeing whether it pulls you into the story and makes you want to keep on reading to Diane Setterfield's debut novel, I am in no doubt it will pass. The Thirteenth Tale starts simple: Margaret Lea, plain, bookish and reclusive, receives a letter at her father's bookshop. The letter is by none other than world-renown Vida Winter, claimed to be "England's best writer; our century's Dickens; the world's most famous living author". Not only does Ms. Winter creates stories when she writes her acclaimed novels, she spins a different story every time someone interview...

You'll have noticed that my counter hasn't moved for two days now. There are two reasons for this - 1) all the work I managed to avoid in the office defeated my barriers and have come and hounded me - there is no escape; and 2) my inner editor - usually a nice chap with glasses - paid me and my novel a visit, and judged it crap. What a bummer. Such party-poopingness! So it is with great joy that I received the weekly inspirational email by Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo's founder) in my inbox today, in which he says: The plot is draggy. The characters are boring. The dialogue is pointless, and the prose has all the panache of something dashed off by a distracted kindergartner. If you're feeling any of these things---or find yourself starting to feel them this week---know that nothing is wrong. In fact, you're likely on track for a great NaNoWriMo. Just lower your head, pick up your pace, and write straight into the maw of your misgivings. If you are thinking about quitting, ...

Anyone can become a successful writer. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop whining about how that other writer keeps getting awards and recognition. Or so says J.A. Konrath . Here are some things to keep in mind, which might help curtail the poisonous envy: There will always be someone doing better than you. Luck plays a big part, no matter how hard you work or how talented you are. There is no such thing as karma, no one is keeping score, and no such thing as destiny or fairness. The writers you wish you were all wish they were someone else. The only writer you're competing with is yourself. Anyone can make it. The last one is the most important. Your goal should be to maximize your opportunities, minimize your weaknesses, and keep at it until you're the one that makes it.

10027 words... and I'm spent. Probably won't be writing during the weekend, so had to make up for it. All those Raya eats to go to, y'know. Where is the story going? Dunno, one of the characters just finished an extensive monologue which hopefully isn't boring, then the whole cast got on a train. Off to where? Dunno. Maybe I'll put some snakes on the train. Say it! SNAKES! ON A MOTHERF'ING TRAIN! Wooot! I'm off to the 10k word party. Happy weekend peeps.

Looks like I have time to post. Thoughts on the Novel-In-Progress: Woke up feeling a little afraid that my momentum had lessened because I did not know how to continue where I left off yesterday. Well I did, but I couldn't really "imagine" a perfect continuation. Solved it by simply not thinking about it and sitting down and writing it. GF mentioned that the story reminds her of Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , which is interesting in that I did not have it in mind when I wrote it but I did read it recently. (About 2 months back?) The story does have some similarities to Never Let Me Go . A story narrated by a young person, and a "gob" instead of a "carer". But no clones in this one. Or any nostalgic escapades into the 80s. Or sex. :( I'm scared of writing this down because I might jinx my novel, but damn! I have a good feeling about this story. I didn't really plan the whole thing like I usually do, and I find this to my advantage because I fi...

Well! So far so good, I guess... 3731 words on the first day. I'm not going to be posting my updates every day, but here's a short excerpt of what I have so far, to give you an idea of what I'm working towards: The day Antartica finally declared independence was the day I saw my first true gob. I know, I know, I shouldn't say "gob". But that's what we called them back then, before it started becoming offensive. Of course, I had seen gobs before. Some of my teachers were gobs. But like I said, I wouldn't call them "true" gobs. Not after meeting Dulkhan "Magwitch" R.1128.9x. Compared to Dulkhan, my gob teachers were mindless drones, and when compared to my human teachers, they were even lesser beings. I cannot say this enough - Dulkhan was a true gob, in every sense of the word, good or bad... and I am fairly sure he was proud of it. The day I met Dulkhan was also my last day in school. My secondary education was completed. What await...

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow! That's just 12 hours away... I participated in last year's NaNoWriMo. Even went to the meet they had organised in MPH 1 Utama. But my efforts sizzled pretty quickly as work took over my life. But thanks to a different job and a lifestyle change this year, I'm pretty confident I can make the 50k mark this time round. Phew! 50,000 words. The number almost leaves breathless every time I think of it. Hey, it's just, you know, words . Anyway, I've decided that I won't be writing the usual angsty stuff I usually write in my short stories and will be aiming for a novel with a science fiction/young adult persuasion. One that doesn't require me to think too much. Plot driven, rather than character driven. Something that would most likely fit in the mass market. My influences would most likely be... er... lemme list 'em: The Hungry City Chronicles , The BFG , Snow Crash , Eberron, The Golden Compass (but not the rest of the His Dark Mat...

David Leo takes a look at Singaporean lit and wonders whether they can ever come up with a Great Singaporean Novel : But before we - in typical Singaporean manner - rush to start on a blueprint of production- line initiatives and targets, let's be mindful that this cannot be a completely objective-driven task. What is important is the creation of space for writers to find their niche, grow and excel. Asked what he thought would go into the making of that much-touted but still elusive Great Singapore Novel, a publisher answered with a question: What makes Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind a great American novel? Or John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, or J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye? Clearly, they all breathe America. In the same vein, the works of many great Irish writers, such as Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha! Ha! Ha! and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, are unmistakably Irish in soul. Too many of our local works, though well written, do not ...

Ah! So WD-40 does the trick! For years I tried to remove the huge ugly patch of sticker residue on the back of my white-covered copy of Philip K Dick's Man in the High Castle , and nothing worked. I don't know where I read about it. Perhaps on a forum somewhere but I admit I was skeptical. I ain't now! No more stubborn sticky stuff! Bonus - it cleaned the book too. The only drawback is that the book smells weird now. I'm wondering whether I should spray Febreze on it now too. UPDATE: Just remembered... the stickers on the books from the Times Warehouse sales have the most stubborn sticker residue. Right, time to hit the library with a can of WD-40.

This is coming a bit late but what to do? It's Raya. I've been tagged by Eliza to join in on the 50 Posts to Independence gig initiated by Nizam Bashir . So what makes Malaysia special to me? I think I can honestly say my childhood. More specifically, my childhood during the years my family lived in Ipoh. I was not born in Ipoh, and my family did not move there until I was 10. My father was a civil servant, a highly optimistic man who joined the government because he wanted to make a change "from within". He also fancied Chinese chicks... something that's been passed on to me and my brother. But while we both fail in scoring ourselves a Chinese chick each, my dad successfully seduced and married one. He is indeed our idol. (The secret, I've been led to believe, is getting them when they're young, and I suppose it also helps when the girl you're after happens to be the sister of your art teacher when you were in Malay College.) But I digress. Between ...

Well, I'm off for Raya. I think I'll be able to claim extra reading time even amidst the nosy distant relatives and noisy brat cousins. No internet or cellphone access helps a lot. I'm packing a Raymond Carver, a V.S. Naipaul, a Barbara Kingsolver, and maybe that Karen Armstrong book that's gathering dust for almost a year now. Will also be finishing Allen Kurzweil's The Grand Complication , which is like a Da Vinci Code with librarians and (much) better prose. Even the obligatory French chick is there. Anyway, I don't know what all the fuss is about meeting relatives and going back to your hometown. Give me solitude anytime. Happy Deepavali and Selamat Hari Raya, folks. Out.

They say you're too much of a crazed Haruki Murakami fan when you order from Japan his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing . I guess now you can count me in as one of those crazed fans... I just got my copy yesterday. It's a very small book, measuring only 4.25" x 5.75". This spoils my Murakami collection a bit though - I collect the UK editions - but I don't care! It looks so cute! How typical of those Japanese! Have you seen the new Picador Shots! books? It's as small as a Shots! book. But instead of costing RM7, this one costs RM50... Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are the only two novels by Murakami that haven't made it into the West. Though translated by Alfred Birnbaum and published by Kodansha for Japanese students studying English, Murakami has stated that these two early efforts by him were weak and not fit to be republished. And while the English translation of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reissued in Japan, Pinball, 1973 hasn't ...

When I was growing up in Ipoh in the 90s, the only good bookshops around were Mubaruk's, which specialised in textbooks (and still does), and Novelhut, the second-hand bookstore that used to be in Yik Foong (and maybe still is there, but I haven't checked in years since I prefer going to their Ipoh Parade outlet when I'm in town). There was also a pretty good bookstore in the Parkson Grand in Ipoh Parade which could have been a Berita outlet, but I don't remember. This was in the days before they expanded Ipoh Parade into what it is today. (And temporarily causing the Convent school next door to consider moving.) I recall this because I was thinking of when exactly I started reading "serious" fiction, trying to pinpoint the years when I moved from young adult/fantasy/sci-fi books into non-genre fiction. I still can't remember, but it brought back memories of a book I bought from a short-lived bookshop in Old Town. Mum had brought me there, because she must...

Yay ! Haven't read any of his stuff yet, but I have Istanbul on my TBR list, which from what I've browsed through, looks like a smashing good read, chockful of huzun and Turkishness.

The sequel to the best-selling Dark City by Xeus will be different. Well, only slightly. For one thing, the stories will no longer be written only by Xeus, but will be contributed by other writers and selected by Xeus herself: For the Dark City sequel, which is scheduled to be published in April 2007, author Xeus is calling for short story submissions. Dark City 2 will be an anthology of dark and twisted Malaysian tales much in the tone of the first book. The submission criteria are: Each short story should contain around 3000 - 8,000 words. Please use double spacing and Microsoft Word. Each plot must be in the same vein as Dark City 1, which are stories about the darker side of Malaysian life. The short story genres can be contemporary, horror, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, romance, Roald Dahl-style ironic etc. The stories must meet the English and storytelling standards of the first book. (In other words, the editor will only select only what is publishable) Each short story ...

Kiran Desai is this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize for her book, The Inheritance of Loss , making her the first woman to win the coveted prize since Margaret Atwood scooped it for The Blind Assassin in 2000. From the press release : Chair of the judges, Hermione Lee, made the announcement at the awards dinner at the Guildhall, London, which was broadcast live on the BBC 10 O’ Clock News. Harvey McGrath, Chairman of Man Group plc, presented Kiran Desai with a cheque for £50,000. Hermione Lee comments, “We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2006 is Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss, a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness. The winner was chosen, after a long, passionate and generous debate, from a shortlist of five other strong and original voices.” If you missed it, read Sharon's review of the book, published in the Star last Sunday . Let the cheers and jeers commence.

The Bloke in Bangsar has started a blog, or that is to say, he started three blogs. Raman of Silverfish has started using Blogger as his "content management system" and now, thanks to its amazing aggregating powers he will post news items more "frequently" because "because some news have very short shelf lives". (Of course, one wonders why he didn't go with a better CMS, like, say, cough cough, Wordpress .) The three blogs actually power three categories on the Silverfishbooks website: Literary News , Writers's News , and the probably the most interesting of all, the Silverfish Writer's Circle . Quoth the Bloke : It is not infrequently that I receive request feedback on a short story or a manuscript. It is difficult to say no, but at the same time it is diffcult to say yes, lest it starts an avalance. Take for example the stories submitted to the Silverfish New Writing series. We typically recieve about 200 stories each time. It would be huma...

They're announcing this year's winner for the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. I'm guessing the winner will be someone I've never heard of. (Certainly not Haruki Murakami , surely.)

I don't like Samy Vellu. But when he takes time off to launch a writer's book, I'll resist the urge to poke fun at him. From The Star : WRITERS should produce literary works that provide ideas for the socio-economic development of the people, Tamil Nesan quoted MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as saying. He said a positive and right frame of mind was needed to improve one’s quality of life. In this context, writers could help contribute such ideas for the betterment of society. One’s success in life would be more meaningful if it also benefited society as well, he said. In this respect, writers should be broad-minded and far-sighted to help uplift the people’s socio-economic status. They could share constructive ideas in their writings, he said. Samy Vellu praised Tamil writer P. Sundarapaadiyan for possessing such positive traits. He was launching the writer’s Tamil short story collection entitled Vetri Nichayam (Success is in Our Hands) in Sitiawan, Perak, recentl...

I am currently reading: The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess People keep saying Burgess is so irreverent in this one and I keep expecting the rudeness to appear, but it never comes. I've almost finished the first book, "Time for a Tiger", and so far, apart from the "orang darat" of whom I've never met, the descriptions seem to be generally accurate. Other than that, the book's a very fast and enjoyable read, especially so when you "know" what the real places are supposed to be and when you can understand the snippets of language the characters speak from time to time. I have recently finished: 4 Sep 2006: after the quake by Haruki Murakami Six wonderful but sad stories about the wide-ranging effects of a huge event (in this case the Kobe earthquake of 1995) and the emptiness of the human soul. Book ends on a carefully optimistic note. 5 Sep 2006: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri A realistic portrait of life, confused identity and origins. Sad...

From the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival we have 18-year-old Indonesian author Vira Safitri , who's already had two of her books published : Asked how long it took to write her first novel, "Secret Admirer", a giggling Safitri said: "Four days and three nights." "And in another week's time I had a publisher," she added. There's been a spate of young writers in the media recently, hasn't there? The article continues on about how Asia is "trying to reclaim its literary heritage". Seems the in-thing for an Asian writer to do is to write about Asian issues like "the repression of women, the politics of the hijab, political dissidence and eastern mythology". Speaking of the politics of hijab, Dina Zaman (who's currently in Ubud with Sharon ) gets to chip in a few words: Malaysian writer Dina Zaman, who writes a column about Muslim life in Malaysia called "I am Muslim," said she wanted to write from the pers...

So you think ebooks are the future ? Yeah, whatever. Try reading digital books in a virtual world published by a real-world publisher. Penguin is planning to introduce digital books to the online world of Second Life, starting with the aptly chosen Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. What is Second Life ? Ah, let me quote Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin's digital publisher: For those who don't know, Second Life is a virtual world (a 3D MMOG in geekspeak), where the residents themselves create and build the world which includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing, and games. People also design their representation in Second Life, which can be pretty realistic, or totally outlandish (I met a Penguin author in Second Life whose avatar is a hippo!). In some ways, it's a cross between myspace and collaborative virtual lego, though some see it as a possible future of the internet .

The Guardian profiles Salman Rushdie: The first drafts of his novels are written straight on to the computer, from which he then takes a print-out for cold-eyed revision. "I can't really see it unless it's in type." His new novel, though it may be mediated by these technological miracles, is set at a distance from them. "I've invented a story which unites the India of the Mughal Empire with the Italy of the High Renaissance. It's a fantasia, set at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries called The Enchantress of Florence. And I must say that, given how horrible the world is, it's really quite nice to spend some time in the 16th century." I am very intrigued about his next book. Look forward to reading it!

Alexandra Wong spars wits with Lim May Zhee over ice-cream, life as a teenager and her debut novella in today's Star : “For Vanitee Bee , nothing in particular inspired me because that’s the kind of book I have been writing about my whole life. Teen life with a mixture of fantasy. Everything in life, the books I read, the movies I watch, everything inspires me,” May Zhee says. What was the most difficult part about getting the book published? “Writing the book was easy, because when you feel so passionate about something, it just comes naturally. The hardest part was probably getting the support from my parents. “I understand my parents’ fears – they were just worried I would sideline my studies for this. But I knew I was capable of balancing this and school, and in the end I did it myself because there was no other way.” So, was she saying here studies were not affected at all? “Nope, my studies were unaffected. I scored straight As for my PMR, which I sat for while writing and...

I'd have to agree with Eyeris on this: Reading is cool, ok? It makes you look intellectual, and shows you actually have a brain beneath all that gelled dyed hair. Oklar, maybe in your eyes being seen with a book is not as cool as being seen in some Beemer or a SLK; but heck, I'd rather be able to strike up a conversation with a girl PROPERLY, rather than just sidling up to her and going, "Hey, How you doing? Wanna take a ride in my SLK?". How shallow did you think she is?

I'm surprised to read that while Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale , is doing good and has sold 70k copies in the US in the first week of its launch, British sales have been far from remarkable at only 600 copies sold in that same week. Is it because the British are sick of reading about the exploits of crazy women running about in the rain on the moors of Yorkshire? Do gothic novels bore the pants off people? Aw, come on... Jane Eyre and Rebecca weren't so bad, were they?

It sounds almost too good to be true. A Chinese 11-year-old kid writes a fantasy novel about warring birds. She submits it to a US publisher (who usually doesn't accept unagented submissions) and they agree to publish it. Kid must be a freaking genius. I'm jealous : Born in Beijing in 1993, Fan lived in New York with her parents from the age of seven, graduating 'with excellence' from an elementary school there in 2004. When she was in sixth grade, at the age of 11, she was taught about terrorism and the events of 9/11. That night, she explains, she had a startling dream all about birds at war and the next day she started writing Swordbird in her bedroom as a way of trying to convey her worries about violence in the world. She now lives back in China, on the beautiful Hainan Island with her parents and their three pet birds. The girl, now 13, is a compulsive writer and reader who spends most of her time in the library, but she also loves bird-watching and martial arts....

Nice to know that Murakami won the Frank O'Conner International Short Story Prize, and is sharing the booty with his translators, Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel.

From the American Library Association : Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2006, marks BBW's 25th anniversary (September 23-30). BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met. Of course, as Malaysians, we don't have that much democratic or intellectual freedom, but we do have more of it than some nations. I guess that's something to be thankful for. More intellectual freedom would be nice though. It'd be great if our government stopped treating us like chil...

It's Ramadan. I've resolved to stay far away. Far away from bookstores. For the duration of Ramadan. I'm fasting all right. I'm fasting from buying books. Wish me luck.

Seems everytime I go in the direction of Bangsar, it rains. And boy, does it rain. Visibly was really bad on the NPE at around 3pm. The rain eased a little when I got near the Bangsar LRT station, but traffic just decided not to move, so I got stuck there for a while. Might have reached this month's Readings at Seksen's 67 Lorong Tempinis on time if it weren't for the jam. But then again, I probably wouldn't have come at all in the first place. Azman, the Streamyx contractor had called me a couple of weeks earlier to tell me that he and his Gang of Installers would be paying me a visit on the 23rd to get my wireless internet up and running. (Irony paid a visit too when Maxis dropped a leaflet in the mailbox announcing the arrival of their new wired broadband plan this morning. I hate Puchong.) He said they would come at 4pm, right when Readings would be scheduled. Thank goodness he decided to come a little earlier, so that was how I found myself in Bangsar for the Read...