Ted Mahsun

Received an email from BookXcess : Hi Ted! We're having a super promotion in conjunction with the World Book Day celebrations. Even our latest shipment arrived in time for our latest sale! :-D Award-winning books with 20% discount, free books for nett purchases above RM20, RM20 vouchers for nett purchases above RM200... there's just so much going on at BookXcess! We would truly appreciate it if you can help spread the word in your blog to your esteemed readers and share the joy of reading more for less at BookXcess! Attached is the e-poster we have created for the occasion. Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Hope to see you soon at BookXcess! Warmest regards, Andrew & Jacqueline Yap Click on the poster to enlarge. Sorry this isn't a proper post or anything. Just don't have the time to concentrate on blogging at the moment.

Am on leave today, and have been since Monday, because I deserve a break after the horrors of the KLIBF , y'know? Decided to drop by BookXcess at Amcorp Mall today to check out their sale. Arrived at around 2pm and met the usual suspects-- Sharon Bakar , Chet , Eric Forbes, Janet Tay and even Tan Twan Eng ! So anyway, here is what I eventually walked away with: Flint by Louis L'amour (I'm going through my Western phase now, having left my SF phase) The Gates of Night by Keith Baker (Hurrah! Now my Eberron Dreaming Dark trilogy is complete; yes I'm a D&D nerd, and an Eberron one at that, so sue me) The Planets by Dava Sobel (cos everyone likes rocks that go round and round) The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (but it has a terrible Trade Paperback cover...) I also bought a chick lit book for the missus but we shan't mention that! :p

The Bloke in Bangsar has announced that Silverfish New Writing is no more after the seventh book rolls out. Say what you will about Raman, but the New Writing series has been a large contribution to the local literary scene and its discontinuation will be a major loss. On the other hand, it's a perfect chance for another publisher to pick up the reins and fill in the vacuum left by Silverfish. A chance to start anew, with less politics and perhaps more focused on local writers, like what Amir Muhammad says on his blog : I feel the series should have stayed as a focus on Malaysian and Singaporean writers. It could have then become a reference point for writers and readers interested in this area. From the third issue on, it started to lack a distinctive character when too many foreigners started pouring in. But then again... who reads all this literary nonsense anyway? Surely not Malaysians!

We went to the Payless Warehouse Sale at the 3K Inn on Saturday. There were many books, as is usual with Payless's sales, but this time I found the selection wanting. The books were the same old books we've already seen and bought in previous warehouse sales. I decided to concentrate on finding books of genres that I had not bought before at a Payless sale. I came out with two Dashiell Hammets, one Louis L'amour (don't ask), a book of writings by Marx and Engel (because I'm a closet socialist), and two classic sf books, Starburst by Frederick Pohl, and The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (probably the third time I bought this oft-lost book). I also "accidentally" bought two sf novels which I have absolutely no idea how it got into my book pile. I only noticed them after the guy at the counter had already scanned them in, and by then it was too late to cancel (without making a big fuss). The big downer is that both the sf books are ...

Finally got my hands on the unproofed copy of Murakami's After Dark ! I have Kinokuniya and Sharon to thank. I'd read it immediately but I'm currently enjoying Kam Raslan's Confessions of an Old Boy , which I noticed yesterday managed to make it to Number 1 on the bestseller list at Kinokuniya. Good going!

This story at Ludhiana Newsline reminds me a little of Chowrasta Bazaar in George Town, Penang: Five book sellers put up their wares for sale at Ghanta Ghar and Chaura Bazaar and if you are lucky you can get some priceless books just for peanuts. Scour a little through the piles and piles of these second-hand books and magazines and you can find J Krishnamurthy, Richard Bach, Nancy Friday, John Grishham, James Hardley Chase, Mario Puzo, Robert Ludlum and many others. And if still luckier you can get these novels for as less as Rs 10 to Rs 30.