Next - World Domination

Wah! I'm ranked 293rd out of 5,000 blogs listed by Technoranki! (Discovered this by accident after following a lead from my site meter.)

Meanwhile, fellow Brit in Malaysia Shaolin Tiger is at number 18! Yay!

It took me a little while to fathom out why I was listed at all when other Malaysian blogs much more popular and linked to than mine, aren't on that list though ... and then I remembered that I had actually signed up with Technoranki some months ago and it was by invitation.

Apparently, membership isn't open to the general public yet, as it is still in development stage, but will be soon.

Meanwhile:

The highest ranked litblogger on the list is Dovegreyreader in 54th place.

Highest rated author blog is Samuel Pepys at 26. Well yes, I know he's been dead for three hundred years but nothing keeps a good blogger down, right?, particularly when he can add a little hypertext to his words. (Shaolin Tiger must be happy he's beating Pepys though.)

Exactly how the ranking is worked out is a secret, but two of the factors are traffic and Technorati score.

There are some thoughts on the site about what makes a good blog and criteria for ranking. The other listed blogs are really good and I had to drag myself away after getting engrossed in one or two of them ...

Writers Read

As Saul Bellow once observed:

A writer is a reader moved to emulation.

Britlitblogger Dovegreyreader reviews The Gift of Rain and interviews author Tan Twan Eng about the books that have shaped him.

Of course, an author has to give the right answers when asked such questions. The photo I snapped in MPH shows him with the backdrop of his preferred reading matter.

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!