The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen

Julia of MPH wrote to tell me that author Paul Spencer Sochaczewski will be coming to Malaysia but in this case it is the Sarawakians (usually much neglected as far as literary events are concerned) who are the ones to get lucky and the rest of us who must feel a bit left out! You can catch him at MPH Spring 3-4p.m., on 23rd August.

Sochaczewski's first novel novel Redheads is set in the middle of a Borneo rainforest. On this trip the former Sarawak resident will be launching The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen : Surprising Asian People, Places and Things that Go Bump in the Night. (Here's an interesting piece about the Sultan and the Mermaid that he wrote for The Herald Tribune some time ago, and some of his other articles.) He is also a creative writing coach, and I have to say I feel very sad that I don't have the chance to meet him this time.

Rainforest Tears : The Website

Rainforest Tears author Paul Leslie Smith has created one of the best author sites for his book that I've seen ... anywhere on the web. (Go visit and tell me if it isn't!) You can read a synopsis, find out about Paul and how he wrote the book, and learn something about the background. There are also useful links if you want to uncover more of the history behind the fiction.

There is apparently a whizzier international version of the site in the pipeline (no pun intended) that opens up with a Google Earth type fly in to Sarawak from Europe since a lot of people know nothing of Sarawak.

The book is now being promoted by Marshall Cavendish Singapore which Paul feels is much more proactive than the KL counterpart and will soon appear on Amazon.co.uk, while Penguin Australia is also ready to take it. Paul is looking for a UK publisher, but says he is not sure how to go about finding one. (If anyone is passing by looking for a highly publishable manuscript, let me put you in touch with Paul.)

He is working on the sequel now :

Plot scratched out on paper, starting to fill in the gaps. Looking at my hopes for R. Tears at a similar, embryonic stage I am more hopeful for the sequel.

The Neglect of Literature from Sarawak

There's a very interesting academic article about the neglect of Malaysian literature in English from Sarawak up on Guat's blog. (Part 1 of the article here.) It's written by Patrick Yeoh who teaches at Unimas. Perhaps the most interesting reason Yeoh gives is :

... the apparent lack of a felt need by Sarawakian writers of literature in English to be linked to mainstream Malaysian literature in English in any way: they write what they know, feel and are concerned about – and these have no conscious Malaysian-ness.

It really is true that we hear very little - even here about - what is being written and publsihed in East Malaysia, and it would be really nice to make some links - even virtual ones.

Reclaiming History

It saddens me that Malaysia does not make more of its wide and varied history.

How on earth does a British engineer in the oil and gas industry end up writing a huge historical novel set in Miri, Sarawak?

In the Sun Bissme S. interviews Paul Leslie Smith (whom some of you will remember from Readings@Seksan a couple of months back).

Paul describes how most of his novel, Rainforest Tears, which centres on the love story of a British man and a Chinese/Melanau woman, was written in hotel rooms as he travelled for business. (Writing it kept him out of the bars, he says!) He also explains how he interviewed folks in Miri who had lived through the war, including one 82 year old man who moved him to tears:

He told me how they had a fine, thriving town before the Japanese arrive. ... Then he said the Japanese spent three years beating them, raping them, killing them and leaving them with nothing.

I met Paul for coffee a week or two ago and he showed me the old photographs he collected as he was doing his research and will soon be putting up on a website. I had no idea that Miri had such a fascinating past!