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!

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