Skip to main content

On Kedai Fixi's Bestsellers List.

That strange moment when not only are two books with my stories in them are on a bestsellers list, they are on it together with a book by Haruki Murakami!
CRAZY.

It's not much compared to other people's success, I know, but this is at least one of the few things that can make me smile when it comes to the painful writing journey I've had this past nine years.

After all the painful rejections I've had, after all the horrible things people have said about my writing, I now know at least there are some people out there who can appreciate it.

Thank you to those who've been there along the way, always encouraging and supporting me, (John Ling, Shark, Sharon Bakar, Elizabeth Tai) even the worst moments when I almost quit writing for good. Thank you to the editors (Zen Cho for Cyberpunk: Malaysia, Hadi M. Nor for Hungry in Ipoh, Jane Camens for Griffith Review) who loved my work enough to want to include my stories in their anthologies, and thank you to Fixi for giving genre writers a space in Malaysian literature.

I suppose the next thing I should be pushing towards would be a book that's solely my own work. A novel perhaps. Or even a short story anthology. We will see. It took me ten years to get where I wanted to be ten years ago, it might take another ten years to get where I want to be now.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Lydia Teh26/10/15 11:10 pm

    Hi, Ted. Congratulations! It's okay if you take longer than expected. You're young and time is on your side. But 10 years is a tad too long, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun27/10/15 6:56 am

      Thanks Lydia! Well... I don't want to rush things. We'll see how things turn out.

      Delete
  2. shandye.27/10/15 1:19 pm

    Well deserved... *slow clap*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun27/10/15 1:25 pm

      hahaha malulah! tentu la kau lagi hebat... ada trilogi. gua ada dua kerat cerita je

      Delete
    2. shandye.28/10/15 8:34 pm

      tapi saya tak reti tulis cerpen dalam bahasa inggeris. huhu... :/

      Delete
  3. John Ling3/11/15 5:39 pm

    You're a fantastic writer, Ted, and I'm thrilled that you're getting your stories out there.

    I'm still waiting to read that novel of yours. I'm sure it will be an incredible read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun3/11/15 5:55 pm

      John Ling putting on the pressure! hahaha! I'm planning on finishing the revision of it by the end of November. Will keep you posted. You're definitely on my first readers list, don't worry ;)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
5 comments
Read more

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 ...
5 comments
Read more

Review the Dark City TV Series!

According to Swifty , the Dark City TV series that Xeus mentioned some time back has apparently already started showing on Astro RIA. I don't own a TV and I certainly don't own a satellite dish to connect to the TV that I don't own, so I wouldn't know if the show is really based on the book of the same name. I highly doubt it. Seems the ratings have been low because there hasn't been any marketing to promote the show. So the filmmakers have taken things into their hands and plunged their film-making selves into the tubes of the dangerous internets to bring you the following message: NICHE FILMS present DARK CITY, a local 13-episode series playing on Astro RIA every Wednesday at 10:30pm (followed by repeats throughout the week). In the tradition of omnibus shows like ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, DARK CITY brings you various tales of the macabre with a distinctly Malaysian flavor ... ranging from supernatural horror to psychological thrillers, an...
18 comments
Read more