John Ling gets a Star in Dunedin.

Our very own John Ling, author of Fourteen Bullets, was interviewed recently by The Star in Dunedine, New Zealand. ~~(Sorry, no direct link; they have no web presence apparently.)~~ In the article the thriller author laments of being a writer in Malaysia:

Ling says an English best seller there is only 1000 copies and to say you are a writer provokes questions of what are you doing with your life.

“The first thing people ask you in Malaysia when they meet you is ‘how much money do you make?'” Ling said. “Here in New Zealand, you say you are a writer and they say 'that is great'.

“The culture in Malaysia is so geared to career, no-one has time to read."

John Ling also explains how he manages to write about such worldly events:

Ling said he does a lot of research but all stories are about conflict, of one sort or another, and why people write is to readdress the conflicts in their own lives. He was chased by wild dogs when he was six on his grandfather's estate and transposed the feelings to write one of the short stories in Fourteen Bullets which is about a Bosnian escaping sniper fire.

Good going, John! His book, Fourteen Bullets, can be found in MPH 1Utama and MPH MidValley, and probably some other MPHes too, but I didn't check.

UPDATE:
Oops, John tells me they do have web presence. D'oh!

Comments

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...

An Ipoh Ghost Story.

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...

Ted Mahsun

Search This Blog