Ted Mahsun

Finally! Something new about Haruki Murakami I can feast my brains on! He was in Berkley to receive the inaugural Berkley Japan Prize (wtf? I have a feeling they created this one specially for him...) and was kind enough to have a reading and a conversation with the many fans who attended. (The session sold out fast.) Ben Dooley of The Millions was there and reported back a lot of interesting stuff I still didn't know about the writer, such as Murakami's likening of writing to playing video games: " Writing a story for me is just like playing a video game. I start with a word or idea, then I stick out my hand to catch what's coming next. I'm a player, and at the same time, I'm a programmer. It's kind of like playing chess by yourself. When you're the white player, you don't think about the black player. It's possible, but it's hard. It's kind of schizophrenic. " He also says he doesn't dream the conventional way: "I

My pal, Fadz, who had his second SF novel published earlier this year is featured in The Sun . Congratulations Fadz, and major props to Bissme for writing about a very much disregarded genre in local writing. As for the novel itself, Saga Horizon is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans struggle to survive against a never-ending rampaging hoard of robot soldiers. (Think Terminator.) Haven't finished reading it yet, but so far it's quite an okay read...albeit a little too depressing for me to stomach at the moment. Am in the mood for light and happy lit right now. So sorry Fadz, your review will have to wait :p

Pretty good news for Malaysian writers writing in English! From Eric : (27 October 2008 - 31 March 2009) In Support of Malaysian Writing in English MPH Group of Companies has collaborated with Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd as our main sponsor and the Malay Mail as our official media partner to create a national short story prize in support of the arts and to encourage Malaysian writers to showcase their literary talents. The Prize is also supported by the Reader’s Digest , Seventeen Malaysia , Discovery Channel Magazine , The British Council , the National Library of Malaysia and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage . We aim to promote the following objectives through the administering of the Prize: To encourage reading and writing in the English language; To recognise new writers and give them increased confidence to pursue writing as a career; To make more widely known the work of rising literary talents; To encourage more people to write about their lives in Malay

Am having net problems, so won't be blogging until my ISP gets its priorities right.