Eric gets Tanya on the Couch!

Among the mighty good stuff on Eric Forbes Good Book Guide blog is this interview with award winning short story writer Tania Hershman who seems to have some very original scenarios in her fiction :

... a woman sets up a roadside cafe on the way to the South Pole, a grieving widow bakes science cakes, a girl is paralysed when it rains, another talks to her knees.

Tanya's debut collection, The White Road and Other Stories, was published by Salt Publishing in September. She has also set up a website devoted to reviewing short-story collections called The Short Review which I'm sure the fiction writers among you (and aficionados of the form) will enjoy reading. She is currently doing a blog book-tour (great way for authors to promote their work!) and Eric's blog is one of the stops along the way. There's plenty more interesting content on Eric's blog, much of which finds itself into copies of Quill. Eric and May Lee interview another short story writer, Claire Wigfall, who won the BBC National Short Story award.

The 50 Most Important Malaysian Books

Amir Muhammad is asking :

If you were to compile, say, 50 Malaysian books that you should read, what would this list consist of?

He's decided to limit discussion to C2oth books which cuts out some of my favourites, and, he says :
I suppose if I were to set out 3 criteria for inclusion (3 sounds reasonable), a book to be included must be :

1. Referenced often, either in local popular discourse or subsequent books.
2. Exceptionally well-written.
3. Emblematic of a particular Malay(si)an experience.

All 3 would be good, but I will settle for 1.5 :-)

An essential reading list for Malaysian books is a topic that has come up a couple of times before on this blog (see here and here) along with the observation that so much of the local literary heritage is out-of-print and unavailable to a younger generation of readers and writers. Anyway please direct your ideas about the list to Amir, either on his blog or on Facebook. (I have closed the comments for this post.) There is some really lively discussion going on!

Amir is keeping pretty busy. There's his column, Pulp Friction, about influential Malaysian books old and new for the newly revamped Malay Mail, as well as a column about vintage Malay films in Tell magazine and a ready supply of politician quotes for Off the Edge. Books in preparation, all, by the looks of things.

(Pic of Amir (left) with Datuk Shan taken at Silverfish by Shahril Nizam.)

Solidarity

Yes, I put it up at last. Came out from under my grouchy boulder. All bloggers rock, actually.
Men.
Women.
Dan lain-lain.

I tend to agree with minishorts about the whole Women's Day thing. Do we really need to set ourselves apart?

But. Greatly admire all the women who take a stand on social issues and fight on social issues and my biggest cheer would go to Sisters in Islam. And if I had a second award I'd give it to Farish Noor (Not a woman himself, but a very supportive bloke!) for wanting to record women's versions of history.

I applaud all those women bold and brave enough to put their voices out there in whatever medium, particularly when those who are perceived to step out of line in some way often come in for a great deal of harrassment and abuse. (And how many Malay women's blogs have been hacked and brought down? Well, I can name at least three.)

And I'd like to mention Kak Teh's post today which I loved.

Blooking Hell!

I blogged. Someone read it. Someone else read it. Someone else passed it on. The political bloggers linked to me and the world went mad. I blogged some more. Someone read it. Someone liked it. Someone passed it on. A publisher e-mailed me. A book was mentioned. Money was mentioned. I tucked my skirt into my knickers, said "Ok then" and looked for hidden cameras.

The Sunday Times reports how Judith O'Reilly started her blog, Wife in the North, following a move to Northumberland with her family, and how she was discovered by Viking Penguin and offered a lucrative publishing contract. 'Tis the stuff of dreams!

And I particularly like this:

My book deal isn't so much about money, it is more to do with the fact that blogging is a force to be reckoned with. Ultimately blogging is people willing to commit time, effort and emotion. How cool is that?

Do Your Chores First!

Seems that our latest overseas published author has been disrupting the domestic life of one of my favourite British libloggers. Dovegreyreader got sent an advanced copy of The Gift of Rain by new independent publisher Myrmidon:

Then I just sneaked a peek at the Tan Twan Eng and an hour later remembered that actually I'd been on my way to empty the dryer.

I have Twan much on the brain today as I have to get the review of his book finished and type up my interview with him for the first StarMag literary supplement appearing later in the month. Better stop messing about on this blog and actually get some work done!

Here's a pic of Twan, looking a tad serious. I snapped it at Starbucks in Borders at the Curve on Saturday.

Postscript

We would like Ang Lee to google his name and drop by this blog so that he knows that he is invited to make the film of this book!

A Blog of Influence

Don't believe this ... Amir just left a comment to say I was listed as one of the 50 most influential blogs in Malaysia on Sabahan.com. And there I am at number 36!!!! This time he uses Technorati to tally the list.

It's very exciting, especially as the focus here is on things literary. Especially as I sometimes bore the pants off you by writing about Patrick White and post-colonial literature!

I have nowhere near the number of hits per day of many of those higher on the list (I read in the NST that Paul Tan gets 20,000 hits a day) but it is so good - and humbling - to have been linked by so many people.

By the way, I switched to the new Blogger last night and am so happy with it. Those of you who said there's not much difference, probably have a lot fewer posts to juggle. Tags are going to make it so much easier to find things again. Readers looking for information via Google are going to be able to find all my posts on a particular topic easily rather than just one of two. I've already added a whole lot of tags - playing with my new toy!

Must be very careful to spell names right in my tags though. Upset poor Pang a bit by getting his name wrong ... Very very very sorry.

I ought to put up some advertising and make some dosh ... but I've always held off, thinking it didn't look aesthetically pleasing ...

Good Stuff On Elsewhere Blogs

This is where I suck you all in to a whirling vortex of local litblog news and spin you out in all directions again.

Deepika is just back from the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka (here and here ... with more to come) where she interviewed Booker winner Kiran Desai.

Another Malaysian writer has begun blogging - master of horror Tunku Halim. I met him for the first time at MPH Writer's Circle the other day, and he wasn't at all what I expected ... much younger and a lot less spooky. Am looking forward to reading his new collection of stories, due to be launched soon.

I hadn't realised that short-story writer and long-term Malaysian resident Robert Raymer has a website, until one of his former students (Yan Yi at Marshall-Cavendish) told me about it. Robert previously taught creative writing at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is now based in Sarawak. He was the editor of Silverfish New Writing 4 and has a collection of short fiction, Lovers and Strangers Revisited (both avaialble from Silverfish). Robert has put up some very useful tips and exercises for writers.

Eric, as always, has much good stuff on his blog, but this superb list of reading recommendations for the short story is well worth printing off and keeping as checklist.

Daphne Lee has had her first four children's books published (congrats!) and is taking criticism on the chin.

Ted gets steamed up about the ignorance of local teenagers who haven't realised that - yes, there actually is a writing scene here. There is! There is!

Lydia reacts to a comment made by Glenda's daughter that writers websites tend to be self-absorbed and whiny.

Amir is spot on when he talks about how to read like a writer. (Caution though, easily offended sensitivities and young minds should stay clear of this blog entirely.)

Then there are book reviews: YTSL has applauds Adibah Amin's new novel This End of the Rainbow. I was surprised to see a book review on Malaysian Medical Resources, a consistently informative and yes, even entertaining blog. Palmdoc recommends Michael Crichton's Next for stressed out doctors and medical student in need of a good diversion from work!

Okay then, what bookish things have I missed? Fill me in in the comments.

Oh, the frustrations of posting here at the moment! I began this post several days ago but my internet connection kept going down. My internet provider I am rechristening Screamyx. Is it still that cable problem? Very inconsiderate of the Taiwanese to host an earthquake.

Blogging for Writers

Goodness. Almost forgot to blog this. (No reminding email received from MPH to jog my memory!)

Tomorrow's Writer's Circle deals with Blogging for Writers. The blurb from the events calendar reads:

Meet several experienced writers-cum-bloggers while they share how blogging benefits the by developing their writing skills further; serves as a platform for exchanging ideas about writing and publishing and for the general public to view their work.

Several high profile bloggers will be there including - ahem - yours truly. And Ted Mahsun and Nizam Zakaria and Lydia Teh.

The lovely David Byke will be keeping us all in order!

Venue: The Booker Room, MPH 1 Utama
Time: 11.00 - 1.00
Free and open to all.

Author Blogger

How lovely to see Malaysian author Yang-May Ooi's blog, Fusion View featured inStarmag today in a piece by Elizabeth Tai.

Yang-May is a fairly recent blogger (she began in April) but her space online is a great place to go for useful insights into the writing life and the low-down on getting published.

And for a good read about all things Malaysian written by an expat in London.

I can echo her sentiments about blogging being a great way to connect with people from across the world (how many good friends has it sent my way?) and I find it particularly interesting that she says that blogging has helped her to write in a more relaxed manner.

Yang-May plans to put up extracts from the new novel she is writing, Tianming Triavata "a quirky family drama" set in small-town Malaysia, as well as podcasts of them.

I gotta podcast soon or burst!

Related Posts:
Getting Published: Advice from Yang-May (28/5/06)
The Real David K.T. Wong (5/6/06)

Blooking Baghdad and Bad Girl Blogs

Thanks =] for picking up this story first.

You know I wrote the other day about blooks - books based on blogs, and how they are now becoming not just respectable, but in some cases, best sellers?

Well, now a blook has been listed for a major literary prize in Britain.

Baghdad Burning, by an anonymous author who blogs under the pen name Riverbend:

I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That's all you need to know. It's all that matters these days anyway.

She has been longlisted for the £30,000 Samuel Johnson award fon non-fiction. You can read her blog here. (Add to her average of 6,000 hits a day, why not?)

I think it's quite incredible to be able to have a glimpse into how it felt to be an ordinary Iraqi living through the war and its aftermath, and will be looking out for this book. (Sorry, blook.)

On the subject of blogs, the Independent had an interesting piece the other day on sex-blogs as the new chick-lit. Racy online journals are now being snapped up by publishers in the wake of the success of Belle de Jour.

Disclaimer:

Just don't follow any of the links from that article or you won't get any work done today!

Afterthought:

Has anyone offered Sarong Party Girl aka MissIzzy a publishing contract yet? Would anyone in this part of the world dare?

Cooking the Blooks

Marisa very kindly forwarded a press release a couple of days ago regarding the shortlist for the Blooker Prize.

Now if the idea of blooks (self-published books based on blogs) seemed a little ... self-indulgent ... when I first mentioned the idea some time ago, the quality of contenders for the prize has certainly made me think again.

Belle du Jour is, of course, up for the award. (Who could not want to read a memoir written by an intelligent, articulate hooker?) Apparently a film (or should that be a flook - film of the blook?) is in the pipeline.

And so is a book that I've been looking forward to reading since I first heard about it. Julie and Julia:365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen - part cookbook, part memoir, it's the story of Julie Powell's personal cuisinery journey through every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and how in the process she saved her soul. The book which has garnered excellent reviews grew from a blog on the salon.com website.

Another contender for the Blooker include Egg, Bacon, Chips And Beans, a quirky tribute to greasy spoon caffs by US-based Brit, Russell Davies. And here's his blog.

The landscape of publishing is changing for sure, becoming through initiatives like this more democratic, more meritocratic, more ground up. And of course all the time my mind is working (as I hope yours is too, dear reader) ... might I also have it in me to be a blauthor?

If the answer could be yes, start here.