Are you a Mrs Koh?

We all know what  Lolita or a Shylock or a Scrooge is. Each of these character names has become a by-word for certain kind of individual.  But what about a Mrs Koh? Worse still, might you yourself be a Mrs Koh?

Robert Raymer tells me that he was pleasantly surprised to find an article by educator Denis Harry in The New Straits Times telling readers why they should be wary of the Mrs Koh type :

... who is lurking somewhere waiting to pounce on her next promising victim

The character is from Robert's short story Neighbours. (You can download the PDF here.) Writes Harry :

Neighbours, a fine work by Robert Raymer in Lovers and Strangers Revisited, highlights Mrs Koh as the central character. She fabricates stories to create rifts between neighbours. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Maybe this is because there are many Mrs Kohs in this world, people who really are venomous, vicious and potentially damaging, ready to trample on whoever stands in their way.

Raymer is spot on in creating Mrs Koh's character as she is portrayed as someone we both love and loath at the same time. When you hear her loud voice mentioning someone's name in high decibel, you know she wants your attention and she knows she gets yours.

On the other hand, deep inside your heart you keep praying that she does not talk about you. Whether you want to admit it or not, we all have a certain degree of nosiness. Sensational stories surely catch our alert-as-a-rabbit's ears. Unfortunately, they come with a hefty price tag.

Mrs Koh is someone we would call a nosy parker. ... In real life, you can never argue with whatever a Mrs Koh says; she is always right.

In addition to that, she knows everything and wants you to be aware of that too. Here is the sad irony: someone like Mrs Koh may appear warm, friendly and welcoming to those on first encounter with her. Her ability to crack jokes and make fun of other people's flaws and sufferings make her a "people magnet", drawing in audience the moment you anticipate she is going to say her first word. 

Quill Online

Quill, published by MPH Bookstores now has a very good website up and running, featuring pieces from the magazine which is available in bookstores.

Robert Raymer (one of the judges) pours balm on the hurt feelings and wounded egos of those who did not make the shortlist to the MPH Short Story Competition in his piece Prove Them Wrong!; Tom Sykes describes A Haphazard Journey Through Java, and there is a very sensible piece (which I could have done with reading some years ago) about how to get your money back from the loved ones you've lent it to, without creating bad feeling.

And ... here's Chan Siew Fun's review of the first e-reader to become available locally (at last!) - the Hanlin V5 E-reader.

The magazine is off to a very good start - congrats to editor May Lee and the team.

The Winners Are…

The cover story of Starmag's ReadsMonthly supplement was of course the results of the Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards.

Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad (left) who edited and compiled Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Selected Letters to World Leaders talks about how the idea for the winning book came about during a casual meeting with the former PM three years ago. The English edition of the book book has apparently sold more than 15,000 copies, but it hasn't been reviewed in the press at all. There is apparently sufficient material for a second collection.

Robert Raymer, the fiction winner says :

I felt that I had a good chance of being in the top three, and I really thought that either Preeta Samarasan or Tan Twan Eng would win!

He says that in writing his stories :

I always take notes of people I see and hear. For Lovers and Strangers, most of the characters were developed through real people like my ex-wife, my mother-in-law, and an uncle.

(Shall I be nervous next time Robert comes to stay?)

Also in today's Starmag, Daphne Lee writes about books with furry covers!

Pictures of the "Poppies"

So here's more about the Popular Bookstore Reader's Choice Awards a couple of days back. (I posted results here.)


Nominees Brian Gomez, Amir Muhammad, Adeline Loh during the speeches. The guest of honour was YM Professor Diraja Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid, former Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaya. He spoke among other things about the necessity of using Malay for all subjects on the school curriculum and the need to vastly expand the translation of scientific texts into Malay.

The welcome address was delivered by Mr. Vangatharaman Ramayah, Director of Popular Holdings Limited who talked about the history of the bookstore and its broad reach in the Asia Pacific region (it has a total of 129 retail stores and is currently expanding into Myanmar).

Then it was time for each of the nominated titles to be highlighted on the screen above with a brief biodata of each author. My favourite moment though came when the MC had to read out the name of Brian Gomez' blog in this august company!


Then the results were read out in nail-biting reverse order. The first prize winners for the fiction and non-fiction categories won RM1,500 each and a trophy, while second prize winners received RM1,000 and third prize winners RM500.

Above, Tan Twan Eng's mum, Sally (in pink), receiving his award from Ungku Aziz on her son's behalf since he is in South Africa.

A group photo of all the winners in or their representatives. (Though I think some at the edges got squashed out. Apologies.)

A more informal shot afterwards - June Wong (Star executive editor) holds a copy of Adibah Amin's Glimpses, Robert Raymer (red shirt - behind her); Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad holds a copy of Dr Mahathir's Selected Letters to World Leaders which he co-wrote with the former PM; Vangatharaman Ramayah (in the black suit), Director of Popular Holdings Limited; Sally Tan (the lady in pink); Popular Book Co (M) Sdn Bhd executive director Lim Lee Ngoh (holding Preeta's book) ; and last but not least, Kee Thuan Chye holding his copy of March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up.

I was very happy for Robert, winning the fiction category, as I know that this will be important encouragement for him. He looked scrape-me up-off-the-floor-it-can't-be-happening-surprised at the result.

Congrats to Popular books and to the sponsoring newspapers for creating a buzz about Malaysian books and involving readers. This is a very worthwhile event. I must say, though, that I would really welcome an award given by a panel of judges in addition to this popularity contest. (Mind you, there is no literary award without at least some controversy and there is always bound to be disagreement about the results.)

The important thing about any literary award is the conversation it creates, and the recognition and encouragment it gives writers. The "Poppies" succeeded very well on both counts.

(More at The Star.)

The Merdeka Miracle

Three Malaysian writers, Robert Raymer, Tunku Halim and Lydia Teh have collaborated on a short story for the Malaysia Airlines in-flight magazine Going Places. The Merdeka Miracle was written to celebrate Malaysia's Independence Day and each writer took it in turns to contribute their paragraphs.

Shirley Ng of MPH was kind enough to send me scans of the pages which you can click up to size:

Robert's Guidelines

Ideally a story should linger, even haunt you in some way (not in a scary way, but bother you, perhaps; at least make you think about life) so that even a year later, you’re still thinking about that story. Also, I’ll be looking at character motivation, development and change (no change, no story!). Are there conflicts on more than one level? Are the characters memorable? Settings clearly defined? An opening that hooks the reader? Any tension that’s pulls the reader from the beginning to the end? An ending that I didn’t see coming or that resonates in a way that I wasn’t expecting?

Robert Raymer, who is (along with Eric Forbes and myself - okay so now you know!) one of the judges in the MPH-Alliance National Short Story Prize 2009 has blogged some excellent advice for anyone planning to submit an entry.

Lucky Sarawakians who get to attend his workshop in Kucing - wish we could have him over here!

(Photo by Georgette Tan.)

Robert's Workshop

Here's something for those of you who live in Kuching :

Robert Raymer of Lovers and Strangers Revisited will be conducting a writing workshop in conjunction with The MPH-Alliance Bank National Short Story Prize 2009. A creative writing lecturer at University Malaysia Sarawak, Raymer will teach you how to write and improve your short story! Limited seats available for participants age 13 years and above. For registration and enquiries, please contact MPH The Spring at 082-244 800. The theme is Improving Your Short Story.

Date : Saturday, January 31, 2009
Time : 10-1 pm
Place : Conference Room, Level 2, MPH The Spring, Kuching
Register: at MPH, The Spring (082-244 800), for age 13 and above; first come, first served; first 25. (If more, another date may be arranged)

Hitting the Cyberspot

Authors who blog Antares (left) and Robert Raymer are among the bloggers caught by the Malay Mail's Cyberspot today. Robert says some nice things about this blog (which I'm grateful for!). Antares notes that blogging :

... has actually become a full-time unpaid job ...

Join the club!

Malay Mail Grabs the Blogger Authors!

Although initially the reason was to talk about my books, my present aims are much wider than that. I highlight conservation issues for a start. I hope in some little way to increase awareness of Malaysia’s stunning biodiversity and its importance. If you want to see photographs of anything from the Imbak Valley or a pill millipede – come to my blog.

I also cater for fans and readers of science fiction and fantasy, and for would-be authors of those kind of books. I post on things like how to get published or how to write a fantasy novel or how to improve your writing. I tell fans about what’s coming out next of mine, and will happily answer questions about my books, past and up-andcoming.

Occasionally I blog about social issues, especially when I feel a grave injustice is being done, or when authorities try to take away our rights on the flimsiest of excuses. I like to point out ironies and idiocies and bigotry. (There is so much material here for a fantasy writer…and of course, I use that material in my books. What writer wouldn’t?)

It's been a lovely surprise over the last couple of days to see a couple more writing friends who are also bloggers featured in the Malay Mail. Yesterday it was conservationist/fantasy author Glenda Larke who blogs at Tropic Temper. (And thanks so much, Glenda for naming me your favourite blogger! Guess we're in each other's fanclubs now.)

Today it's the turn of short story writer Robert Raymer, who blogs as BorneoExpatWriter which is a must-read for everyone interested in learning about the craft of writing.

In the article he says :

Blogging hasn’t changed my life, just my writing life, or how I view writing. Before, I would write or pitch articles for publications, but now I write posts on writing to help inspire other writers. Then later, I think some of these would make pretty good articles, so I would rewrite them and submit them for publication. This is a recent development, but so far one has already been published. So blogging in this sense serves a new purpose for me, it gets me to write articles that I may not have written in the first place, plus they become fodder for paying articles and workshops.

It’s also nice when readers of my stories and former writing students stumble across my website or blog and contact me. Also the website/blog is invaluable for editors, agents, publishers and reviewers to get more information about me and to read samples of my writing. So far I’ve got one US$500 writing assignment from the US, one full page interview and book review ( Borneo Post ), and one workshop presentation (in Miri) from strangers who came across my website.

So you see, blogging is a mighty useful thing!

(Sorry for being away from you all for so long. My computer is repaired and has a whole lot of new parts inserted and I'm really happy with it now. All my troubles have made blogging more effortful than it should have been, and it's a real pleasure to be back to normal.)

The Story Behind the Story

Robert Raymer is sharing how each of his short stories in Lovers and Strangers revisited came to be written. So far he's written about On Fridays and The Future Barrister.

This is essential reading for anyone who wants to know where story ideas come from, and there are few writers more generous in sharing their process than Robert.

As a sneaked in aside for short fiction lovers, can I point you in the direction of the Guardian website where there is some excellent new Summer fiction by Chris Ware, William Boyd, Alice Sebold, Julian Barnes, and Tessa Hadley?

Robert Shares His Secrets

It was lovely to see author Robert Raymer on Saturday for MPH's Breakfast Club at the branch in Bangsar Village 2. These days he's so far away in Sarawak (teaching creative writing at UNIMAS), so it was nice that the launch of his revised collection of short stories Lovers and Strangers Revisited gave us the opportunity to meet up.

Remember how we talked about authors going back on earlier work to turn it into something much better? Well, our Robert is one such, and this is the third incarnation of the book. (In the picture, he's holding all three versions. The latest is published by MPH, and the previous edition by Silverfish.) His reason for rewriting is that when he started off, he was satisfied with writing for a local audience, but now want to take them to a higher standard and aim for an international readership.*

Robert is always very generous in sharing what he knows about writing, and in this session, he talked about how :

Ideas come from every place.

His short story Neighbours, now included on the SPM syllabus was based on a real-life incident. His neighbour had attempted suicide, and Robert drove him to hospital. (I don't think the guy made it.) When Robert got back, he found the neighbours gathered outside his neighbour's gate gossiping about him. Out came the note book, and the idea for the story was born. Another story came out of the strong sense of deja vu he felt when he visited KL's Station Hotel.

Then he talked about how important it is he finds the beginning of his stories and chooses the right point of view to tell the story from :

Each point of view is a different story entirely.

he says, and adds that if a story is going to go wrong (as it does for many of the students he teaches) it usually goes wrong on the first page.

In his stories he often finds himself inside the skin of a Malaysian character and in fact he says he once felt very flattered when a judge in a competition organised by the New Straits Times disqualified his entry believing it plagiarised, because how could a Mat Salleh write so convincingly about a Malay character?

Robert also talked about the importance of maintaining momentum :

Even if it's crap writing, stick with it. As parents we know that crap can be cleaned up. It's part of the editing process. When you've cleaned up that crap you find there's a cute little butt in there!

He reckons too that some of the stories that give you the biggest grief can be your best stories.

He urged his audience to take writing off the backburner of life and said write for yourself first before you do other things in the day (like answering email or checking your blog!).

Robert's hard work and commitment is clearly paying off, his novel The Lonely Affair of Jonathan Brady won 4th place in the 2008 National Writers Association Novel Contest (USA), there is going to be a play based on Lovers and Strangers, and he has a book about 20 years living in Malaysia coming out soon.

Those of you in Penang who would like to catch Robert can find him at Little Penang Street Market on August 31st, selling books on one of the stalls and giving a reading at 11am.

*Aiyoh! This got misinterpreted (thanks to my own clumsy writing) in the comments and Robert steps in to clarify how and why he rewrote his work.

Pneumatic Drills, Talking Books, and Subversive Chocolate Brownies

For last month's Readings@Seksan's we had the gentle accompaniment of the cutting of tree branches, this month we had the sound of the delightful melody of pneumatic drills as the pavement down below was torn up. Is there a conspiracy?

Then we couldn't open the wine bottle and had to send out an emergency call to the guy who sold them to us to come with a better bottle opener.

Then the microphone was giving grief, screeching away and soundman Reza, who has no idea of priorities, was away at his sister's wedding. I shudder to think how we will be jinxed next month.

Still, once we got going things began to go well. We kicked off with Dr Shih Toong Siong was first talked very interestingly for a few minutes about his his book Foochows : A Historical Perspective and told us plenty we didn't know about this community which settled Sitiawan in Perak. Want to know how Sitiawan got its name, or how its most infamous son Chin Peng became a communist? Buy me a coffee and I'll tell you (and probably more besides because I bought the book!)

Robert Raymer read from his beautifully observed short story Transactions in Thai which is included in the new edition of Lovers and Strangers Revisited and also appears in Silverfish New Writing 7. Torn between desire and conscience, expat men negotiate with a hotel owner for women to take with them to Pucket.

Kathleen Choo, a young poet who is working so hard at her craft and mobilising other versifiers through Poetry Underground read us a series of poems, moving between very lively pieces like her excellent slam poem about dead white males, and Jesus was a Black Man (a piece about skin colour and prejudice) to quieter more sensual pieces like the one about the "serpentine" sea.

This is Zain who is trying to rope us all in to take part in his wacky Read While Waiting project. I have a feeling we might just succumb to his charm!

Someone snuck in and left a plate of delicious brownies. Someone told me that they were from Amir Muhammad. Subversive brownies then, although fortunately not banned.

After the break Sheena Baharudin read a poem Keling about being taken for an Indian. Will give her a longer slot further down the lien because the poetry is bursting out of her and I am afraid she will explode if I don't. I am sorry I don't have a decent picture of her. She always turns out blurry in my photos!

Jason Leong was almost the one who got away. Advice to self when you invite someone to appear at an event make doubly sure you actually have invited them and then confirm it! Luckily his other appointment for the afternoon was a reading at MPH Megahell so I was able to persuade him to come along afterwards and read to us from his new book The Twisted Stethoscope about his experiences as a first year medical student in Dublin.

Young Nic Wong, on holiday at the moment from Columbia University has added another poetry award to his list - the 2008 American Poets award. His poems are complex and you sense layers and currents underneath the surface images.The first was Takemitsu's Kitchen, named for the composer, then Wu Gui ("after Kungfu Panda"), then The Arsonists and a new four page poem about the wonderful sex-changing clownfish.


Singer-songwriter Azmyl Yunor and actor (and much more besides) Fahmi Fadzil gave us their Wayang Buku performance (which I first saw at an event organised by KLue). It's a quirky sequence of sketches which begins with a version of the traditional puppet play with books as the protagonists, then has Fahmi as a talk show host interviewing celebrities represented by books (How do you concoct the Malaysian recipe for harmony?) and then has a hilarious dialogue in which Azmyl tries to persuade Fahmi to buy a thick book which can be used for every reason it seems ... apart from reading. Their performance ended up with a very laid back piece of A4 paper getting interviewed!

So, it was a very varied afternoon in all. My thanks to all who read and all who came and supported. Thanks Shahril Nizam for making the poster. Biggest thanks are due to Sek San for the use, once again, of this beautiful space.

I hope to organise readings next month for August 30th and already have a very strong list.

More pictures on Readings' Facebook page.

Another Literary Saturday

Heavens above! Once again we have a single Saturday crammed with activity of the bookish kind. I'm talking about 26th which kicks off with MPH Breakfast Club (11.00a.m. to 12.30p.m.) featuring short story writer Robert Raymer, whose collection Lovers and Strangers Revisited has just been republished by MPH. (More about Robert and the event on Eric's blog.)

I've been hoping for some time that Sarawak based Robert would find his way back over here again soon, and that I would be able to nab him for Readings@Seksan. And so it has come to pass.

This then is the second great event of the day, running from 3.30-6 p.m.) and the poster will be up on this blog as soon as I have finalised the line-up (or as far as I can, given the inherent unpredictability of this kind of event!).

Saradha Narayanan will be at Silverfish at 5.30 p.m. to talk about a little about her experience with writing and then read selected passages from her book, Freedom of Choice. (Should be possible to hop from Seksan's to Silverfish in time to catch this if you need a double/treble dose of book events.)

Meanwhile, over at Rasta Restaurant in Taman Tun (5.30-8.30), the lovely Farish Noor launches his new book Dibalik Malaysia. The hilarious Harith Iskander will be MCing and there's food! (Click the poster up to full size to see details and map.)

Can you cram in four events in one day? This is the ultimate lit-lovers challenge.

Blue Shoes and Silverfish

Saras came by yesterday bearing the gift of a copy of Silverfish New Writing 7, in which her short story Invisible appears. (Some of you will have heard it when she last read at Seksan's.) There are also stories by Wena Poon (in next Saturday's line-up), and Yusof Martin , Robert Raymer, Viren Swami, Peter Brown and others. The collection is this time edited by South-African academic Ashraf Jamal, and Shanti Moorthy (whom I suddenly realised I had met ... she's the daughter of a very dear friend of my husband's. Small world, huh.)

If there's anyone whose story is included would like to read at Seksan's, please let me know, okay?

The cover by those amazing malay boys (Sufian Abas and Ruhayat X) is so nice, especially so as I recognise Saras' house and my friends in the moody sepia photo!

And talking about Sufian Abas, his new book Kasut Biru Rubina (Rubina's Blue Shoes) is now out, and can also be bought from Silverfish. Here's the blurb and it sounds intriguing :

A woman wakes up without her body. A boy tries to endure the pain of being an adult when mini animals start to come out of his anus. What do you do when angels forgot to bring a unicorn for your daughter's birthday? And are all shoes evil or just the blue ones?

Many of the characters in Kasut Biru Rubina want to live ordinary lives. But the unexpected happen. Brief, shocking, and full of lies that can only come from the twisted mind of Nigerian scammers, Sufian Abas' stories are snapshots that illuminate the strange hidden in a world we never want to live in.

Sufian will also be reading at Seksan's this Saturday.

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.

Saturday in Photos

Saturday was every bit as hectic as I knew it would be.

First, there was MPH Writers' Circle where Puan Hafizah of The National Library (pictured above with her colleague Pn. Zalina) told us all about how ISBN numbers work and why we need them for our books and how to get them. She also introduced us to the 13 digit EAN numbering system which will be introduced next year. There was an interesting discussion afterwards about the work of the National Library and its role in promoting local writers and developing libraries in the rural areas.

Local writer Lynette Kwan (right) had some great news to share. After taking part in the first Writers' Circle meeting last year, she was so enthused that she went home and wrote a collection of short stories, found an agent in Singapore (apparently the one and only) and soon had four publishers competing for the right to put her work into print. Dark City, her book of tales with Dahlesque twists in the end is called , is written under her pen name Xeus, and some of the stories are being filmed for Singaporean television. Lynette is a doctor by day and fits writing into a very busy schedule.




I had a quick nosey around the new 1 Utama branch of Pay Less (sorry MPH!) and bought a couple more volumes of Best American Short Stories. Had lunch and a long chat about writing with a friend from the Writer's Circle, Chris, and then drove to Bangsar for the readings at Sek Sen's place.

Bernice (left) kicked the event off with a touching tribute to Pramoedya.






Kam Raslan's (right) first novel is being published soon by Marshall Cavendish in Singapore ... and you may not have realised it, but you've probably being reading it already if you read Off the Edge each month. Yes, that's right, you thought it was just a column written by an codger reminiscing about the good old days days ... Am so happy for him!








Zedeck read too (left) ....
















... so did Bernice's CENFAD student Farid Ramlee who can draw on a family history populated by British, Chinese and Malay forebears for his fiction. (Lainie was supposed to read but was sick, so Soefira Jaafar read her piece). ...









... The lovely Ruhayat X read a deliciously humourous piece which had everyone laughing ...

... Dina Zaman read pieces from her I Am Muslim column. I took a beautiful picture of her (which doesn't make her look like a chipmonk!) but we both agreed that I shouldn't post it up because of the moronic sicko who took the photo of her from my blog to post online advertisements which has her being bombarded with lewd SMSes (she showed me) and emails. What exactly is it about her that provokes this gonk?

The third and final port of call was Silverfish and I got there with Saras and Diana just as the event ended. Apparently Raman decided against a conventional reading and Robert Raymer was talking about how the stories in his collection came to be written ...

Rounded off the day with a nice cold beer with Saras, overjoyed because my long-term writing buddy has a story in the next Silverfish collection!!!

It was a really good day with so many reasons to be hopeful for local writing.

Rain and Readings

If you're canny you can sample both events - leave Silverfish by 3.30 to catch the readings a short walk away at Seksen's place ...

Well the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee, as someone once said, and I'd reckoned without the huge thunderstorm that left me stranded at Silverfish for longer than I'd intended.

It was good to see Robert Raymer again. Although we've exchanged emails on creative writing and the joys of editing I hadn't seen him since the Litfest when we took part in a panel discussion about what editors look for in a short story.

Robert has been busy revising his collection of short stories which should be republished next year and will be taught as a set text at USM. I've also discovered (and see how modest he is - he didn't tell me this yesterday!) that Robert is a semi-finalist in the William Faulkener Creative Writing Competition 2005 for his novel-in-progress.

But I digress. There was just a small group of Raman's invitees sitting politely in a circle in Raman's back room. Robert read his story Waiting for My Father to Crash from Silverfish New Writing 5. The story is apparently very largely autobiograhical and I'd read an earlier version but this worked much better.

Christopher Yin read his story The Geology of Malaysia from SNW5. Love the way that he weaves in the metaphor of geology around a personal and family history. I do hope Chris keeps writing, even though he says that this story was a one off prompted by his desire to set the record straight about Spider Man and the Green Goblin after watching the film version.

Raman had his lady footballers, Demilia (Dina's cousin and bursting with enthusiasm for the game), and twins Lolita and Latha to read the title story from his collection.

When the rain died down a bit I hurried over to Lucky Garden and up the back stairs to Seksen's place, but only managed to catch the tale end of the readings. There was a good crowd there, the usual relaxed and supportive atmosphere, and everyone seemed to have be enjoying themselves.

After the last of Bernice's students finished, Rauf Fadzillah took the floor to read some of his poems including Allah's Telegram and The Eyes - and he'd thoughtfully made copies of his work.

I'd never met Rauf in "real life" before but we'd once been members of the same writing e-group where we posted our stories, and I am still haunted by a very edgy piece set at the kind of party no-one invites me too anymore. (Goodness, he's only 21 now so must have been only 17 or 18 when he wrote that?) Sadly, he lost the story when his hard disk crashed and he didn't have a backup copy. (And the moral is ...?) Anyway, Rauf is my hot tip for a one to watch: he's got the words, he's got the hunger.

Was sad sad sad that I hadn't heard Bernice's students read. (Repeat performance, please??) But enjoyed chatting to them afterwards and swapped notes on blog addiction with Lainie.

Other friends I was happy to see - Pang and Danny and Animah and Sunitha.

Posts about previous readings here.