Book Marks: FanFic, Banned Book Club

Quite a few things going on. So let's get to it...

• "If someone wanted to nourish a child into loving literature, you could hardly do better than the Folletts. Wilson was a Harvard graduate who worked in publishing, first at Yale University Press and later Alfred A. Knopf, all while finding time to contribute to The Atlantic. His wife, Helen, was a former teacher and Wellesley graduate who gave up her career for their children." The story of child novelist Barbara Newhall Follett, who vanished into thin air.
• Meet Natalia Cheong, the teen author of The Cat on the Bridge. Not just an author but also the manager of a virtual book club and a host of her own online talk show. And the book? It's about "Toby the cat navigating the Rainbow Bridge – a realm for departed animals. Natalia weaves themes of pet loss, human-animal bonds, and personal insecurities, drawing from her own experiences as a teen."
• "...fanfiction is some of the best writing out there, excelling at hooking readers and keeping them enthralled. Given that this is the goal for any writer who wants to gather and grow an audience, studying fanfiction and how it pulls off this particular magic trick can help unlock the secrets to telling a story that captivates fans." Author Laura R. Samotin makes the case for fanfic and what the writing community can learn from it to transform publishing.
• Books that can't be published in Russia are being released elsewhere. Get acquainted with the practices of tamizdat and samizdat, which are returning as Vlad the Impaler's regime tightens its grip. I know few governments who'd literally poison people who write books they don't like, whose thoughts they can't control. Shudder.
• Free Malaysia Today spoke with Malaysian-born poets Malachi Edwin Vethamani and Shirley Geok-lin Lim for World Poetry Day on 21 March. More recently, FMT reported that the national book policy will be reviewed, an exercise that hasn't been conducted "since the policy was introduced 39 years ago on Nov 27, 1985."
• Australian author and journalist Paul Malone pays tribute to the forgotten and unsung World War II heroes from Sarawak with a book titled Forgotten Heroes. The book was was launched in Bario "in conjunction with the 79th anniversary of the landing of eight paratroopers under the Z Special Unit of the Allied Forces ... led by Tom Harrison on March 25, 1945 in the Kelabit homeland of Bario," Borneo Post Online reported.
• "I'd wanted to quit copywriting for years, hated office jobs, felt my time, abilities, and soul were being wasted in them. I'd felt secure as a single, independent woman with no want for children because Mom was there to call on when I felt alone. In her absence, I was unmoored; I needed a change." After her mother passed away, Mickie Meinhardt moved back home and opened a book-and-wine shop. Reminded of Hwang Bo-reum's Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, but sadder.
• The shortlist for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award is out and our nominee, Hades by Aishah Zainal, didn't make the cut. Ah well, this batch has some serious contenders, and to choose six out of 70 titles? The winner will be announced on 23 May, during the International Literature Festival Dublin.
• Get acquainted with the genre known as fabulism, which "fights against being placed in a neatly wrapped box," according to Lyndsie Manusos at Book Riot. "When fabulism is at play in a work, it often resists the why. Fabulism does not explain the magic system or fantastical elements. It doesn’t go into why a character suddenly sprouts branches as limbs, or why a character is back from the dead. It — the fantastical, the magical, the weird — just is."
• A graphic novel about books being banned in Korea is facing the heat from the book-banning fever in the United States. Banned Book Club is set during the 1980-87 military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan and depicts the situation in Korea during that time. "The book is based partly on co-author Kim [Hyun-sook]'s own experiences growing up in 1980s Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province," reports The Korea Times. "[Co-author Ryan] Estrada says it was researched thoroughly via first-hand memories, interviews with the real people who experienced similar events, primary documents and historical documents."
• "Despite possessing the talent and capability to write, many women find themselves confined to the role of homemakers due to the lack of conducive environments for reading and writing at home. ... For many of us, the time dedicated to creating art is stolen time, squeezed in between household chores and employment." An interview with author Manisha Gauchan in The Kathmandu Post, on her writing and the lack of support for women writers in Nepal.
• "The best kinds of books are the ones with attributes that are unquantifiable, which is a big reason why people are so much better at recommendations than algorithms are. ... What is unquantifiable is horrifying to the corporate overlords, of course, but it's the magic that connects readers with particular books." Lo, the seven types of book recommendations asked of Maris Kreizman at Literary Hub, and her replies.
• A Latinx reimagining of classics such as Frankenstein, Hamlet, and The Great Gatsby? From The Sacramento Bee: "These stories are among the classics reworked in a new book to ensure more youth read stories by and about Latinos. West Sacramento author Sandra Proudman, 35, spearheaded the effort, recruiting more than a dozen diverse Latino writers to each produce their own contemporary twist on canonical tales." Hell, why not?
• Were enslaved people employed to write the Bible and spread Christianity around the Roman empire? Theology professor Candida Moss says "yes" in her book, God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible. Among her aims is to highlight the contributions enslaved workers made to the Bible and the religion. "The writing, the editing, the copying, the movement of those early Christian texts – what you might call 'missionary activity' – all of that’s being done by enslaved workers."
• "I think the rise of romantasy is certainly in part because people do have the vocabulary of fantasy. Romance is one of the biggest genres in the world, so of course people want to see, or are able to read, fantasy romances in a way that might not have been true before." Holly Black speaks about, among other things, the romantasy boom, BookTok, and making hooves sexy. Whut.

Finally, something to make the skin crawl: Harvard has removed the human-skin binding of a book in its library. AFP reports that "A copy of the 19th-century book Des Destinées de l’Ame — or Destinies of the Soul, a meditation on life after death — was found in 2014 to be bound in the skin of a deceased woman." Apparently, anthropodermic bibliopegy – what the practice is called – used to be a thing, until it wasn't.

At This Cafe, Coffee Comes With A Second Chance

If you could return to the past, what would you change?

Tales premised around time travel have been told ever since the concept gained a foothold in the public imagination, and it often stems from lingering desires (changing the past) or unbridled curiosity (what lies in the future).

But what some may find remarkable about Toshikazu Kawaguchi's Before We Say Goodbye, about a café that serves a trip to the past along with a cuppa is how anime it feels. A good anime, that stays with you long after you leave the cinema hall or switch off YouTube.


Full review here.

Book Marks: Márquez, Authors Equity, Feline Fee Waivers

The release of Gabriel García Márquez's Until August had people talking, and over at Book Riot, Rebecca Joines Schinsky thinks that's okay, as long as publishers are upfront with regard to the reason(s) for publishing something posthumously. "There are plenty real reasons for readers to be interested in a posthumously published work, publishers and estates don't need to fudge the backstory."

While some are willing to give Márquez's sons the benefit of the doubt, for the publishers, one reason will always be money. Is it grotesque if money was the only reason? Perhaps, but as long as the publishers are ready for the brickbats that come their way if word ever got out... . For someone as famous as Márquez, anything he wrote will be read and discussed, so whether Until August was a good decision is probably best left to readers to judge. Published and be damned.

In Esquire, Alex Belth dives into the world of posthumous publishing and ponders whether it is a betrayal to release an author's unpublished works after they're dead, in defiance of their wishes to have them destroyed. The answer seems to be "yes", with a huge "but". Belth appears to build a case for posthumous publishing, stating that pretty much anything goes once a writer passes on and how deprived the literary world would be if some choice titles had been destroyed. And if writers don't want their works published, they should dispose of them while they still can.

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Maris Kreizman at Literary Hub is dismayed to learn about the business model adopted by new publisher Authors Equity, specifically their use of freelancers for publishing projects. "Rather than offering book workers the stability and benefits of full-time employment, Authors Equity will rely on the gig economy to get the job done," she writes. "Look a little more closely, and 'growing pool of freelancers' is a terrible euphemism for 'jobs are disappearing and more and more of us are fighting for scraps by competing for freelance gigs.'"

Dan Sinykin also touches on the gigification of publishing in The Baffler, with a detailed look at the players in Authors Equity and wonders if it or any others like it will ever disrupt publishing at a time where further conglomeration of the industry seems increasingly less viable.

Years ago, I pondered whether a publishing model based on crowdsourcing would upend the landscape. Instead of a firm like Authors Equity, alll the freelancers would gather for a project and disperse when it was done. I still think it's an option, especially for indie authors.

Of course, those involved need to work well with each other, and a corporation provides the framework for that. But I see the collaborative spirit when it comes to projects involving VTubers and I can see that happening in publishing.

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Cats rule the home and the heart. Now they're helping forgive fees for late and even damaged library books in Massachusetts. According to MiNDFOOD...

"A librarian is a book lover, a cardigan lover and a cat lover," Jason Homer from Worcester Public Library said. "Our staff has a lot of cats. Some of the staff were in a meeting and they were coming up with ways to bring people back to the library, and they thought, 'What if we removed as many barriers as possible and told people they could show us a picture of a cat, draw a picture of a cat or just tell us about a cat?'"

What an a-meow-zing idea. A picture of a cat in exchange for getting your fees for late or damaged library books waived is the cat's whiskers. I see this working only as a time-limited deal or libraries in the US will be short of books at a time when they're struggling with costs, sourcing issues, book bans, and adminstrative and legislative woes.

Speaking of libraries, there are several little ones set up at Taman Wawasan Recreational Park in Puchong. The books are mostly donated, while others are purchased from recycling centres. "Everybody can borrow up to five books at a time," said retired headmaster Lee Kim Siew, who established the reading stations. "One family can take over 30 books! There's no limit: you can return after one year, two years or three! No limit, no fee!" No need for cat pictures here.


Elsewhere:

• "I try to come back every year for Chinese New Year, and call it good juju or fate, but all the good things that have ever happened with this book have coincidentally happened while I was in Malaysia." Debut author Vanessa Chan returned home to promote her novel, The Storm We Made.
• Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan, author of Red Sorghum, has become a target of fanatical Chinese nationalist trolls for allegedly insulting China's "national heroes and martyrs". Criticism against China is being pushed back against by these "pinkies": an army of angry, jingoistic and mostly young netizens who swarm over any perceived insult to China and Xi Jinping's government, however minor or remote – a throwback to the days when Mao Zedong unleashed the Red Guard on those seen as his adversaries. The country may have 99 problems but this ain't one of them.
• "Charissa Ong's tale of success in publishing begins with a scenario that would be relatable to many. While working at an advertising agency, the mindless drag of routine work was getting her down." A profile of Charissa Ong, author and publisher of the poetry and short story collection Midnight Monologues, in Tatler Asia.
• "Like most ghosts, I became one unexpectedly – when a publisher I'd previously worked with on my own memoir ... asked if I would be any good at writing someone else's. I said I'd never tried. Then the publisher told me what my fee would be, at which point I agreed, on reflection, that I was perfect for the job." A ghostwriter speaks his mind and reveals what he feels about seeing his work – all without his name on them – on display at a bookstore.
• A dispatch from the London Book Fair details the hot trends during the event, including #BookTok and romantasy, the imapct of AI, the climate, and Palestinian voices.
• "Thus begins a series of stories that unfold back and forth between 1921 and 1910, a period Tan [Twan Eng] captures in vivid detail, especially the changing hues of the tropical landscape; the culture and behaviours Willie absorbs and stores away; and imposing mansions where masters and memsahibs command a host of the local help — all-too-familiar characters who hold no surprises — and throw regular parties at which gossip is lapped up with the same relish as the liquor." Late, but this review of Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors in The Edge is worth a read.
• The Hindu posts a tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett days before the anniversary of his death nine years ago, praising his world building and noting the unique format of his novels.
• Is Russia so strapped for bodies that it's "encouraging" schoolchildren to sign up for the army? Because that's what a textbook on a new subject seems to be hinting at. What's more is that this new lesson, "Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland", is reportedly "compulsory for high school students aged 15 to 18 in Russia and occupied territories in Ukraine." And this lesson replaces one called "Fundamentals of Safe Living".
• When Microsoft design chief Jon Friedman's son wanted to write a book about him coping with anxiety, the dad turned to generative AI program DALL-E for the illustrations. The results are incredible, but is it really the way to go? Especially when generative AI is a source of anxiety for many artists and other content creators?
• Companies are offering immersive fantasy events targeted at #BookTok audiences and they seem to be taking off. As avid readers of fantasy or romantasy novels making their rounds on the social media channel, they would be receptive to a night out, dressed as their favourite characters and reliving the books' choicest scenes. Do authors get a cut for their universe coming to life in this way?
• Some people don't like Robert Kiyosaki, and after reading this article, I'm firmly entrenced on that side. Bragging about being US$1.2 billion in debt is one thing, but calling those with "contrasting economic ideologies "communists"? While he also seemed to pan another author who pitches a debt-free ethos, Kiyosaki acknowledges that not everyone can manage debt like he does. I don't know how I can sleep at night while owing US$1.2 billion.

Between Euphoria and Ennui

Mental health carries less of a stigma these days, with governments and institutions stepping up (slowly and gradually) to tackle mental health issues, mass media spotlighting it in more benign ways, and more patients start sharing details of their lives and their conditions to raise awareness and understanding.

One of the latter is Chow Ee-Tan, a freelance writer who put together and self-published An Elated State of Mind, a little memoir about her experiences as someone living with bipolar disorder or manic-depressive syndrome. Each chapter is a diary-style entry of major points in her life, and a section on bipolar disorder is provided at the back.


Read the rest of this review here.

Book Marks: Until August, Fried Rice, And Another Book Banned

Gabriel García Márquez's last and unreleased novel, Until August, has been published by his sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha. Thing is, the previously unfinished work was supposed to be destroyed. So, why? "Having reviewed the manuscripts, his family determined that they contained the essence of the writer who has captivated so many readers for decades," CNN reported. While conceding that publishing the book was a "betrayal", the sons felt it "definitely has many of (his) outstanding characteristics: beautiful prose, knowledge of the human being, power of description."

Unsurprisingly, this decision stirred up a maelstrom of a debate over an author's legacy. A creator's final wishes regarding their work should be honoured, but would doing otherwise harm their legacy? Márquez's sons don't think so and greenlit the release. Some have viewed this "betrayal" positively, including one writer living with dementia, who feels heartened by how the author, who also had dementia in his final years, continued to write.

Others aren't as sanguine. The Latin American Post expressed trepidation over the sons' defiance of their father, which it says "raises profound questions about the sanctity of an artist's final wishes and the responsibilities of those left to steward their legacy." The outlet adds that the dilemma "resonates deeply in Latin America, a region where the reverence for literary giants often intersects with the tumultuous realities of its political and social fabric." At least one critic doesn't think Until August is all that, and several local readers drew parallels with the posthumous publication of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman.

Márquez is a towering figure in Latin American literature and the region appears to have claimed him as its own. But the decision to release his work wasn't made by some third party but his immediate family. Even if they have the right to say "this was a bad idea", outsiders have less of a right to determine what happens to this work.

Whether Márquez will be peeved by this we will never know, but this is a family matter and should be treated as such. The book is out and being read, analysed, and discussed, as book should be.


Okay, what else...

• Erica Eng's Eisner Award-winning webcomic "Fried Rice" has gone to print and will be distributed by Gerakbudaya. The print edition "includes 30 pages of new content and 'remastered' pages," The Star reports. "I don't know if I'd have published Fried Rice if not for the recognition," Eng told the local English-language daily. "Before winning the award, I thought it would just be a fun art project and I wasn't expecting anything to come of it. Without the award, I don't think I would have gotten this far."
• Gay NOT OK! The ban on the book Gay Is OK! A Christian Perspective in Malaysia remains after the book's publisher, Gerakbudaya and the author, Ngeo Boon Lin failed to pursue the appeal against the ban at the Federal Court. The book was banned on November 2020. Malay Mail Online also provided more details on the ban and the court's decision.
• Romantasy is booming, thanks in part to #BookTok, but if you thought Sarah J. Maas created the genre ... not quite, according to Canadian book blogger Rachel Sargeant. "We're looking back at Mercedes Lackey and like J.R. Ward and all these, these women who wrote these fantasy romance books in the '90s and the 2000s," she told CBC Radio. "I feel like those aren't being put in the conversation at all."
• An author's work isn't done after the manuscript goes to print. Besides the next book, one has to do marketing and promotion: social media, meet-and-greets, websites. But is it necessary to churn out essays based on the themes of one's book for publication? Tajja Isen has some thoughts on that. "...in practice, such essays can make for a tricky genre, which embodies an expectation that shapes other parts of the promo process, from interviews to personal branding: that writers be ambassadors or educators for their books' issues, even if those issues are incidental to the work."
• Author Jeff Hoffmann wonders why men don't read more fiction. "I can't think of another storytelling medium that allows us to inhabit the subjectivity of a character more deeply than fiction. And seeing the world through another's eyes, especially someone completely different than us, helps us to strengthen our empathy muscle. Greater empathy makes us better parents, better spouses, better managers, better friends." Not to worry, Hoffmanm has some suggested titles to start with a~nd maybe his own? Yes, I've seen Twitter threads like this where the writer drops their book, newsletter, Ko-Fi, etc., but I empathise. We have to earn a living.
• Do historical works need to be rescued from obscurity by literary critics? Bringing back old literature to make them somehow relevant to our times "seems to miss the idea that reissues may have inherent value because they have aged, or even simply because they are enjoyable," according to a critic in The New York Times. "We don't rescue and recirculate authors in order to do right by them, but because their work is a piece of history. We need to understand literature in its own right and as an expression of its own time and context, even if that context is horrifying or alien or uninviting or problematic."
• In Nicholas Russell's interviews book critic Becca Rothfeld, he seems to be lamenting the state of book criticism and sees Rothfield's work as something to aspire towards: "What critics like Becca do so well is convincingly make the case for a higher form of discernment. We should be asking more of our art and the ways we engage with it. More than that, we should be practicing this discernment often, with generosity but also specificity."
• A publisher recalls the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and the aftermath. One part sticks out, highlighting one potential problem with who bans books and how it's done: "...Syed Shahabuddin, an MP from Bihar and the editor of the monthly magazine Muslim India, lodged a complaint about the contents of the book and appealed to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to ban it immediately. Shahabuddin had not read the book and neither had Home Minister Buta Singh who would have to act on the matter."
• Book Riot looks at a new publisher that promises authors a bigger share of the pie and dives into some of the elements of its business model. They seem to find things about it that makes it viable but one suggests waiting a bit longer to see if it will pan out.
• "A well-executed conlang can bolster a film's appearance of authenticity. It can deepen the scenic absorption that has long been an obsession for creators and fans of speculative genres such as science fiction and fantasy." The New Yorker explores the topic of constructed languages (conlangs) in such productions as Dune and Game of Thrones.

Tempests And Tribulations

In Malaysian author Vanessa Chan's debut novel, The Storm We Made, the past catches up with Eurasian housewife Cecily Alcantara, who is lured into becoming a spy for Japan pre-World War II by Shigeru Fujiwara, a charismatic undercover Japanese military official.

In her espionage activities she finds an escape from the humdrum life of a mother and homemaker, a bigger purpose, and contact with Fujiwara, whom she grows attracted to. But when the Japanese arrive, they bring fear, deprivation and death to many. Cecily's heady dream of a better, British-free Malaya crumbles and her family and many others pay the price.


Read the full review here.

Hopes For A New Dawn For Malaysian Bookselling

Several organisations in the Malaysian bookselling and book-publishing sectors were interviewed in this article in theSun regarding the closure of bookstores in the past few years and some trends in reading and book-buying.

The article has a hopeful tone and ends on a positive note. But how will bookstores capitalise on the supposedly growing print leadership, the quality of what's being read notwithstanding? What would they need to do to remain viable? Growing big may not be the answer as prices of books and the costs of running a bookstore keep rising, placing hurdles before the ambitions of the next mega bookstore.

Could one answer lie in being small instead? Instead of one or two major book emporiums, maybe a scattering of smaller bookstores all over, serving local patrons and their specific tastes and doubling as a community centre, where locals advertise rooms to let and more, organise local events and fundraisers, and spotlight products by micro industries?

I don't want to see the end of the brick-and-mortar bookstore in my lifetime. A good chunk of my life revolved around bookstores. They supported my hobbies and several became my haunts. One gave me a job. Some from my generation onwards don't feel that connection to many bookstores (any more), and I don't blame them. With the economy and the currency the way they are, staying afloat is taking all they have.

No hate for big bookstores. I just feel that in the current economic climate, they make less sense and are tougher to run. A mega bookstore that only offers a wide range of books and stationery won't get far. Also, BookXcess has a different business model that lets it sell books for cheaper, so I doubt we can compare it with other bookstore chains, and the falling ringgit has raised its prices too – been to its recent Big Bad Wolf sale?

Like small bookstores that end up catering to a community, megastores can be a high-profile platform to jump-start local literary initiatives through author events, readings, book launches and such. Having other non-book-related activities: micro-bazaars, career talks, blood donation and charity drives, etc., might make a bookstore more welcoming and more of a communal space rather than just a market for books. Bookstore chains can also hold pop-ups with targeted selections for where they are set up, especially in neighbourhoods without their outlets.

Instead of agonising over how much a promo will cost and what can be earned from sales, maybe just do it? That's how the smaller outfits lift their profile, because they are nimble enough to adjust and take risks to draw more people. Plus, their brands may not warrant protection, unlike those of established chains. The goodwill from such side projects accumulate silently and the results may take a while to manifest but if "everything" has been tried, what else is left?

Of course, bookstore-goers should reciprocate when the stores do their darnedest for them. Incidents of book vandalism, theft, and rubbish left on bookstore shelves demonstrate just how little regard some people have for bookstores and books. Such behaviour has no place in any book culture. While bookstores do have an obligation to their patrons, the sanctity of the store and the stock must be respected too.

Malaysia is still some distance away from having a book culture it can be proud of, but it'll get there.

Book Marks: Hugo Hiccup, Corrain, AI Book Fraud

The exclusion of several authors from shortlists in last year's Hugo Awards, held in Chengdu, China, was reportedly decided by the award's administrators because of the venue. "Leaked emails from the organisers of the prestigious Hugo awards for science fiction and fantasy suggest several authors were excluded from shortlists last year after they were flagged for comments or works that could be viewed as sensitive in China," the Guardian reported. Among the authors affected were RF Kuang and Xiran Jay Zhao.

Sci-fi news portal Gizmodo stated that Esther MacCallum-Stewart, the chair of the upcoming Worldcon in Glasgow, has apologised "for the damage caused to nominees, finalists, the community, and the Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards" and outlined "steps to ensure transparency and to attempt to redress the grievous loss of trust in the administration of the Awards."

Just another day of catering to Beijing's neurotic aversion to dissent. In the case of the 2023 Hugo admin team, not well handled either, apparently. Paul Weimer, another affected writer, was flagged for previously travelling to Tibet. "But Weimer said he had only been to Nepal," the Guardian stated.

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Cait Corrain, the author of Crown of Starlight, spoke to The Daily Beast about the apparent psychological breakdown, fuelled by substance abuse, that led her to review-bomb a bunch of novels by authors of colour on Goodreads. Corrain denies she's racist and that it was "an unfortunate coincidence" that her targets were writers of colour.

The authors Corrain targeted aren't convinced, however. The contents of the interview and the timing of the release (during Black History Month in the US) were criticised, and they don't seem to believe the reasons she gave for her behaviour or her denials of racism. On top of that, Goodreads review-bombs of certain BIPOC books commenced, probably by those who support Corrain rather than Corrain herself.

"Several of these authors previously got the chance to speak out in a separate interview with The Daily Beast," The Mary Sue noted. "Unfortunately, many have now been blindsided by that same outlet giving Corrain a platform. The interviews were even conducted by the same journalist."

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AI-written books keep flooding the market. The New York Times takes a peek at AI-generated biographies of people who recently passed on, noting the inaccuracies and errors in several and that some of these books were available just days after they died. And AI-assisted grifters don't limit their subjects to the dearly departed. A terse report stated that books "full of fake news" regarding King Charles III's illness, presumably days after his cancer diagnosis.

And like Jane Friedman, horror writer Brian Evenson learnt that he had published a new novel when he didn't. An impersonator is using his name to sell a shoddy AI-generated work, and pleas to have the book removed from Amazon fell on deaf ears. Instead, the retailer added a note to the product description calling it a "fake book" and a fraud. I feel that it's about as effective as Twitter's community notes because the book would have made its rounds and fleeced enough people before being flagged. Also, if it brings people to the site, why not?


Alright then, next up...

• In The Star, author, poet, and publisher Ninot Aziz speaks of her outfit Hikayat Fandom, the Dragonlore: From East and West anthology, and the magic of myths and storytelling. According to The Star, "The diverse offerings of Hikayat Fandom, ranging from themed anthologies to children's series, novels, and graphic novels reflect the duo's commitment to preserving and sharing cultural wealth of the region."
• "How well do you remember the 1990s?" Free Malaysia Today asks Malaysians, to introduce economist Hafiz Noor Shams's book, The End of the Nineteen Nineties, published by Matahari Books. FMT reports that "this book offers a view of the events at the end of that decade that shaped the present-day political, societal and economic landscape; a time of much hope and visions of unity, fraught with political upheaval and uncertainty."
• The market for same-sex romance books is growing, according to AlterNet. "From May 2022 to May 2023, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%," the report stated. While it notes that LGBTQ+ romance books are still a small slice of the print-book romance pie, "the structural changes they've made in romance imprints have fostered an outpouring of more diverse love stories."
• Gerakbudaya has published an updated version of The Life in the Writing, a biography on the notable Malaysian scholar Syed Hussein Alatas by his daughter Masturah Alatas. This edition is almost twice as long as the original version by Marshall Cavendish and will be featured at this year's KL Alternative Bookfest at Central Market in Kuala Lumpur from 22 to 25 February.
• Penang-born author Daryl Yeap, author of The King's Chinese: From Barber to Banker, has released a second book titled As Equals: The Oei Women of Java. Malay Mail Online reports that the book "is about the lives of three Chinese women, Hui-lan, Ida and Lucy who are from the powerful Oei Tiong Ham family of Dutch-occupied Java."
• Has the bookbot invasion begun? BookBot, the latest venture by book retailer BookXcess, is part of a partnership with CoffeeBot, a Penang-based coffee-vending machine supplier. So far, the book-vending machines have been deployed at two locations: Subang SkyPark at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport and KidZania at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara. The report by The Star also noted that MPH Bookstores introduced the concept in 2011 but it never took off. Citing "high retail overheads post-pandemic", BookXcess boss Andrew Yap says now is the right time for this initiative.
• Seems Malaysians can't have nice things because we don't appreciate them. Recently, a thief stole some books from Books n Bobs in Taman Desa. "The bookstore, on its Facebook page, said the incident unfolded around midday when a criminal entered the bookstore premises and proceeded to fill a large bag with books before nonchalantly walking out without making any payment," the New Straits Times stated. Books n Bobs sells and accepts preloved books and has several branches in the Klang Valley. Theirs is a self-checkout system operating mainly on trust, which the thief exploited. The NST adds that the owner is asking the public for assistance in looking for the perpetrator.
• The inaugural Women's Prize for Nonfiction kicks of with its longlist of "16 titles published between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024," reports Publishing Perspectives. Titles include Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista, Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, and Shadows at Noon by Joya Chatterji. The winner will receive £30,000. The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 27 March and the winner will be revealed on 13 June. Nothing unusual about this, but ... published "between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024"? Shortlist out on 27 March? How does this work? Do they review advance reading copies too?
• Michiko Kakutani, "the most feared woman in publishing"? Dan Kois at Slate prefaces a short review of Kakutani's latest book, The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider, with a glowing overview of her career as The New York Times' book critic, then wonders, "Why has a respected and feared book critic turned to writing books, and particularly these kinds of books?" Kois asks. "Why does Michiko Kakutani want to be David Brooks, or Yuval Noah Harari, synthesizing potted history and the Way We Live Now between the pages of hardcovers?"
• Some feel-good news: In Voorheesville, New York, author Mark Cheverton spoke to some schoolchildren about his writing and publishing journey. The author of a series of novels in the Minecraft universe, Cheverton started writing novels for his son after the latter was cyberbullied while playing Minecraft online. Despite receiving more than 250 rejections (for real?) by agents, he persisted and self-published his first novel on Amazon, which became a modest success.
• "I've always been fascinated by the shape-shifting foxes of Chinese literature, so I did a lot of research about the ancient cult of the fox, which has its roots in northern China, and likely spread from there to Korea and Japan." California-based Malaysian author Yangsze Choo talks about her latest novel, The Fox Wife; myths about fox spirits, and whether she would write a novel set in the present.
• AI can't write books (yet), but can it edit? Four editors put ChatGPT to the test, and the results were predictable. While ChatGPT "can give credible-sounding editorial feedback", and may help with grammar and spelling, it cannot provide individual assessments or expert interventions that require human editorial intelligence. For the foreseeable future, human editors still have a job.
• "Though I frequently joke with my husband about how our dog, Stevie Nicks, and our cat, Meg White, are my children, sadly, I did not actually give birth to them. I did, however, recently birth a book of my life's work, and I'm still recovering from that labor." In Literary Hub, debut author Tawny Lara dives into her post-publishing blues and wonders if these feelings are similar to postpartum depression. An author's work isn't done once copies of the book is sent for print and this can impede their post-publication activities.
• Adélia Sabatini, commissioning editor of fashion titles at Thames & Hudson, is quoted in the Financial Times as saying, "Fashion loves a good story, so it's no wonder so many designers and fashion houses are looking to books for inspiration, and as a way of sharing their ideas." The FT report looks at the intersection between fashion and literature, which has been there for a long time.
• Esther Walker bought the "publishing sensation" Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for her 12-year-old. Walker soon had second thoughts about that after looking at its contents. The Bookseller also ponders whether books targeted for YA readers should be adultified to that extent. More books for the young adult segment are getting racier but parents shouldn't panic. I'm not for censorship, but parents and guardians should think about gatekeeping what their kids are reading when they're of a certain age.

A Stormy Affair

Never delve too much into a stirring fantasy-romance romp between two enigmatic characters. Because that's what I did with Thea Guanzon's novel, The Hurricane Wars, and now I know it belongs to the romantasy subgenre and could be based on Guanzon's Star Wars fan fiction that ships opposing characters Rey and Kylo Ren.

Reading parts of it again, the parallels are hard to unsee. Stormships? Star Destroyers, maybe? Lightweave and Shadowgate? The light and dark sides of the Force. The in-story Kylo has a mask too. And the female lead wields weapons made of light, like lightsabers? The beginning kicks off with a battle between an alliance and an empire in a setting reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back. Even the title is a nod to the franchise.


The review continues here.

Don't Fight Sleep To Chill Out

So who else is having trouble returning to daily life post-holiday in the new year because they borked their sleep cycles, especially after being on leave for over a week? Or are you (still) losing sleep over having to return to a full five- or six-day work week?

Tips on sleep like this are all over the web, so picking one or two lists to fix our sleep cycles and get better sleep should be a cinch. But not all of us can be bothered with execution.


Go here for the full article.

Book Marks: Somewhere In The Kuala, Dalit Literature

A picture book with no dialogue, Somewhere in the Kuala, an illustrated children's book published by Suburbia Projects, takes readers around Kuala Lumpur. Readers follow two children who try to return home after being separated from their parents while on a tour of the city.

"Produced by illustrator Lisa Goh and lecturer/freelance designer William Chew, the book is a recipient of the Think City–PNB 118 Merdeka Grants Programme," The Star reports, adding that "the idea for the book was inspired by their love of walking in cities, a habit picked up during their time in university and working in London."


Elsewhere:

• "India publishes around 90,000 books a year," South China Morning Post reports. "Among these, around 150 titles in 2017, less than half a per cent, were by established Dalit authors, according to Frankfurter Buchmesse, which runs one of the world's largest book markets." Hence, small publishers in India are stepping up to push Dalit literature.
• "The stories of these time-honoured street vendors have always captivated me. Particularly my father's story, as he's been a hawker for the better part of his life." Tan Chew Ngee speaks about her debut novel, Sweet Braised Duck, which was launched at last year's Singapore Writers Festival. The book is loosely based on her father's life.
• "...a lot of social conservatives seem to believe that if their kids simply never find out about homosexuality or transgenderism, they're guaranteed to grow up to be cisgendered heterosexuals," writes Laura Miller at Slate. She then argues that teens aren't getting that knowledge from such books and that the book bans aren't about LGBTIQ+ issues.
• "In [Bianca Bosker's] book [Get the Picture], she dares to break down the strange codes and customs of the contemporary art world – why, for instance, it is entirely gauche to call something 'beautiful' or why must gallerists say they 'placed' a painting rather than announce that they 'sold' it?" This book sounds intriguing; hope it won't disappoint.
• Pro-Palestine authors continue to face censorship and punitive actions for their stance, and among the latest is Bosnian author Lana Bastasic, who, according to Middle East Eye, "cut ties with her German publisher over its 'silence on Gaza'" and has been dropped from a literature festival in Austria.
• "[Kristin] Hannah wanted both to shine a light on the nurses who served in Vietnam and to explore the larger context of a changing America. 'Americans were learning that their government was lying to them about really important facts, and the whole national consciousness began to change,' Hannah said." Kristin Hannah speaks to Seattle Times about her new novel The Women, women in war, political divides, and honouring and helping war veterans.
• "It was the right time for a book that pokes fun at the thoughtless way in which we've been building up images of other people, making assumptions about people's reputations and inner selves, and how we've had so much fun tearing them down." Ahead of her appearance at the Brisbane Writers' Festival, R.F. Kuang speaks to the Sydney Morning Herald about her book, Yellowface, and the themes behind it.
• Michela Wrong, a British journalist and author of Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, said she feared being attacked in her home after receiving online backlash. The Independent reported her claim that "an unnamed British public relations firm played a 'key role in orchestrating' an online hate campaign against her in response to the book, which includes strong criticism of rebel leader turned Rwandan president Paul Kagame."
• The BookTok phenomenon has undoubtedly led to more people reading. But has it also contributed to overconsumption in books? The Student ponders this question, pretty much arguing "yes", stating that "Much of the content on BookTok centres around reading as many books in a short time as possible", with less emphasis on the quality of what is read and more on what is popular. One antidote to this might be putting more time into the reading hobby: be selective about what one reads and to enjoy a book at one's own pace.
• Oh g*ds no, J.D. Barker, this is not how you promote a book on BookTok. Soliciting racy clips from influencers for your latest release? Barker claimed that a PR agency issued the call via email. He has distanced himself from it and apologised, but that was not enough for his agent, who dropped him. Seriously, folks, don't.

Tales of Heartache, Hurt, and Hope

Common threads run through the stories in Saras Manickam's My Mother Pattu, a collection of short stories that doesn't look like one from the outside. In the face of adversity and its accomplices: racism, classism, cultural differences, patriarchal attitudes, suffocating traditions and others, the characters struggle to maintain their dignity, ideals, individuality, and humanity.

The window into Saras Manickam's portrait of the human condition is the first story, "Number One, Mambang Lane", in which Meena, a precocious teenage Indian girl, is exiled to her relatives' quiet homestead in the fictional small town of Mambang after committing what her Tamil household considers cardinal sins: falling in love and getting a boyfriend.

As Meena settles in, she is slowly introduced to the community. Towards the end, we do not know of her fate or when her exile will end, which is fine because the thing about stories is that they just keep going – and in directions you least expect.


Read the full review here.

Book Marks: Local Author News, Hugo Exclusions

I know I've been away for a bit, dropping my pledge to update once a week. But the publishing sphere seemed to have been quiet at the year-end and beginning of January 2024, so there wasn't much of note happening.

Also, I caught COVID in early January. The worst I've ever felt in a couple of years and I had to go see a doctor for medication and get more RTK test kits while ill. To my dismay, the nasal swab returned a strong positive result, though I should have guessed from my feverish brow and limbs that felt like lead.

And who knew all the medical equipment I bought on separate occasions on a whim – pulse oximeter, digital thermometer, and blood pressure monitor – would come in handy?

So I'm taking it easy for now, and I'll only be posting as and when sufficient material is available, while I wait and see what else COVID has done to me. Back to the usual programming...


Ipoh-based teacher Aishah Zainal's debut novel Hades was nominated by the National Library for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. Published by Gerakbudaya, the novel is about a delinquent called Kei who forms a bond with a young mother who's his neighbour in a dilapidated flat. "At its core, Hades is a tale of the underdogs – of those living in poverty and what it does to people, especially women," Aishah tells The Star.

Getting into the shortlist will be hard as the competition is tough. There's Eleanor Catton (Birnam Wood), Paul Harding (This Other Eden), Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead), and Gabrielle Zevin (Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow), among others. Still, Aishah is with good company, and we wish her the best.

Also in the news is Vanessa Chan, whose debut novel The Storm We Made has been named the "Good Morning America: Book Club Pick" for January by US television channel ABC. Set in Malaya before World War II, it follows a Eurasian housewife who is lured into spying for the Japanese and the consequences that follow for her and her three children.

---

RF Kuang's novel Babel should have been a nominee for last year's Hugo Awards. But the organisers of the award seem to have felt differently. Apparently, Kuang and fellow author Xiran Jay Zhao were excluded from the 2023 Hugo Awards that took place in Chengdu, China, as were several others.

The Mary Sue failed to get any explanation from the Hugo Awards for this exclusion, but speculates that politics may have been a factor. "Through their books and social media activity, Zhao has spoken out against the alleged Uyghur genocide in China and even once questioned if they would be allowed into the country for this reason, while Kuang has been open about how her father was a part of the Tiananmen Square protest."


Okay, what's next?

• "Writing about books means there is always something new I should be reading. But there is also always something old that I should understand—there are always books whose moment I might have thought slid past me, but it didn't, or books I just never saw before." Molly Templeton ponders why some books meant for their readers take so long to find them. Perhaps "the time wasn't right", as some would say.
• "Usually there are about eight or nine books per month that I'm interested in, that I note down on my trusty spreadsheet, and I get a chance to read four or five of them. But in March of 2024 there are 30 books on my radar that I want to read." Some might consider this a good problem to have but Maris Kreizman isn't so sure. In Literary Hub, she explores what's behind the deluge of new releases for March 2024.
• Associated Press reports that Max Chapnick, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, "believes he found about 20 stories and poems written by Louisa May Alcott under her own name as well as pseudonyms for local newspapers in Massachusetts in the late 1850s and early 1860s." Best known for Little Women, Alcott wrote a whole lot under various pseudonyms, leaving behind a pile of material for scholars like Chapnick to go through.
• A Q&A with Lucille Abendanon about her debut middle-grade historical novel The Songbird and the Rambutan. "The book is inspired by the real life stories of my Oma ["Grandma" in Indonesian] Emmy," Abendanon tells The Nerd Daily. "She was a prisoner of war in Tjideng during WW2. I would visit her in The Netherlands from wherever I was living in the world, and we would talk for hours about her life during the war."
• A recent Twitter drama involves a poet called John Kucera who was revealed to have plagiarised the work of other poets, including local writer May Chong. Various journals and other publications have discovered evidence of Kucera's plagiarism and removed the problematic pieces. Dude was prolific, it seems.
• Speaking of plagiarism, a court in Turkey ordered Turkish author Elif Şafak and Doğan Publishing to pay a total of 252,000 Turkish liras for plagiarising the work of another Turkish author, Mine Kırıkkanat. "The case was brought to light by Turkish author Kırıkkanat, whose work 'Fly Palace' was copied by Şafak in her 'Flea Palace'," the Hurriyet Daily News reported. From the publisher's response, an appeal may be filed.
• "I never imagined that my own manuscripts would end up in the hands of an editor like Marek, much less be the last he ever worked on. In 2018, I was searching for an agent for my first novel, The Reflecting Pool. Connections and good fortune put me in touch with my agent, Judith Ehrlich, who, in turn, introduced me to Marek. I couldn't have known just how impactful this introduction would be." Otho Eskin recalls his publishing journey and Richard Marek, the editor who changed his manuscript and his life.
• "...sometimes research becomes an excuse not to write, because you can endlessly go down these rabbit holes. There comes a point when you just have to write." The Indian Express speaks to Abraham Verghese about his novel, The Covenant of Water, "a multi-generational epic inspired by his grandmother's memoirs of what it felt to be a child."

New Mess, New Mystery

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose picks up from her previous book, The Maid, which came out in 2022 and features the same few characters that include Molly Gray, the protagonist and a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel.

In The Maid, the death of Molly's grandmother, who was also a maid, left her to navigate the messy webs of life by herself. She found comfort and security in her tasks, but her quirks put her in the crosshairs of the police when a guest was found dead in his hotel room.

We know Molly is cleared in this second novel because several years have passed since then, she's still employed at the Regency Grand, and she's now the head maid with a trainee under her wing. She even has a boyfriend...


Continue reading here.

Teetering On The Brink

Imagine a future where weather can be controlled, gnat-sized drones guard private property, and apps feed growing stores of data that reveal much about their users than they realise – all in the palms of several wealthy and powerful individuals obsessed with control and seeing steps ahead of other people. Meanwhile, climate change wreaks havoc here and there in the world, almost as if heralding the end times.

A scary premise and maybe a bit too close for comfort. But that's what makes Naomi Alderman's The Future a timely novel. We have climate disasters, drones, and we're already seeing how our data on web portals and social media platforms is being used. Alderman's imagined future foreshadows our own and it looks bad...


Click here to read the rest of the review.

End-Of-Year Kitchen Hijinks

Since I bought it last year, the tabletop oven has seen little use outside of warming up food and a batch of shortbread I baked as a test run. This year though, it's been used to bake fish, another batch of shortbread, and a couple of chicken meals.

The first was four (small) drumsticks on a bed of onion, carrot, and potato, with cloves of garlic scattered here and there. Marinade was salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. I was worried that I oversalted the chicken, but didn't turn out that way.

I didn't keep track of the time because I only eyed the condition of the chicken skin for doneness. At one point, I could see juices bubbling under the translucent skin. I turned the pieces to the other side when one side was nice and light brown.

All went down the hatch, with two pieces of wrap skin that served as flat bread. I was quite pleased with this, even though the onion and garlic powders clumped into a gel-like substance that didn't spread well.

Encouraged by this, I attempted another weeks later before New Year's Eve 2023. Two boneless chicken thighs marinated in a yoghurt-based marinade with turmeric, cayenne pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon and nutmeg – a chicken tikka-ish mix – with onions, carrots and potatoes. Plus a load of garlic cloves.

I tend to overcook things in the oven due to paranoia – what if the inside is underdone? And does the marinade need to be wiped off the chicken? Did I use too much salt? Too much turmeric? Can I still use the cooking oil, even though its best-by date was last April? So many questions.

Several potato bits seemed underdone but the rest of the dish tasted okay. This needs practice, though I shudder to imagine how much meat I'd have to go through to get things right. And I think I'll have to junk the rest of the cooking oil. I rarely use it, and though it didn't taste "off", playing it safe is prudent.

What caught my eye about the chicken was – yes – that claim about it being raised on yoga music. The logic being that animals raised in a calming atmosphere are less prone to stress and therefore healthier and yummier. I spotted this type of chicken when I went to check out a frozen-goods shop that also sold fresh chicken in the old OUG neighbourhood.

If "yoga music" is the sort I had listened to in my few yoga lessons, I~ don't think that's how one should use those tunes. Imagine a coop full of chickens taking yoga lessons with Yoga Music™ in the background one day, and then the next ...

I feel sinful eating that chicken. Should I say "namaste" instead of "itadakimasu"? And is it ethical to use yoga music in that setting? What would the composers and songwriters feel about that?

Anyway, the store that sells this yoga chicken also has buffalo meat, which would make a great stew experiment. I've heard things about buffalo meat that made me curious to see if it could be as good as beef. Too bad the meat only comes in one packaging size. How can one tuck in 500g of buffalo meat plus extras in one sitting?

We'll see. The year has just begun.

Malicious Sockpuppetry, Racism, And Plagiarism

The latest Goodreads drama over author Cait Corrain's setting up sockpuppet accounts to downvote books by several authors and upvote their upcoming romantasy debut came to a head when their agent and publisher cut ties with them when the whole thing blew up.

At least one observer expressed puzzlement over Corrain's actions: why would a debut author set to make a huge splash self-sabotage like this? Just how much of an emotional stake did they have on the debut that they would resort to gaming the system in their favour?

Corrain has issued a statement, claiming that a medication-induced mental breakdown over her novel's performance compelled her to review-bomb the books. Considering that her targets were mostly writers of colour, some don't buy that, including The Mary Sue: "Starting a new medication doesn't turn someone into a racist."

Goodreads has always been in the spotlight for shenanigans such as review-bombing, the practice of inundating titles on the site with one-star reviews to make it less popular. This strategy is egregious, especially when it targets authors from minority groups and upcoming titles that have yet to be released. While Goodreads has pledged to do something about it, cracking down on review-bombers and and such is tough. Any engagement on the platform is seen as valid, regardless of intent.


Pathologically self-destructive?
Corrain isn't the only author behaving badly of late. Barely a week after her scandal another Twitter (no way I'm calling it X) dust-up involving authors has one accuse another of plagiarism because their POC protagonist has solar-related powers, "just like mine!" The claim has been met with derision, because who has a monopoly on the sun? Some commenters have helpfully provided a list of fictional characters and mythological figures associated with the sun, just to rub it in.

Another author charged some parties with plagiarising his fan fiction: a sequel to the JRR Tolkien classic The Lord of the Rings. And who did he try to sue? Amazon, for "infringing" his work's copyright with the Rings of Power TV series, and the Tolkien estate. Predictably, the move backfired. The estate has since sued the fanfic author for copyright violation, and obtained an injuction to prevent him from distributing the book and to destroy all physical and digital copies. He was also ordered to pay legal costs.

An earlier case was about books that non-fiction ghostwriter Kristin Loberg worked on, which were found to contain plagiarised material. Publishers of some affected works reissued updated versions of the books without the borrowed parts and mentions of Loberg.

The LA Times noted the publishers' silence over the Loberg issue and suggested that Lobergs' workload – 46 books in about 17 years – was one reason behind her corner-cutting. "In addition to outside sources, Loberg frequently borrowed sections from her projects with other clients," goes the report. "The result was a sort of ouroboros of wellness content across multiple books."

The imagery of a snake devouring itself from the tail onwards aptly describes the self-destructive behaviour of these authors. Some of them can't seem to help themselves. Are they deluded or creating outrage to farm for attention or clout? At least one person believes it could be the latter in the case of They Who Tried to Copyright the Sun™ because no one can get their head that far up their ass. These days though, it's hard to tell. Could be both for all we know.


Tougher than swimming upriver
Several authors targeted by Corrain say this sort of attack and how the publishers involved handled it is "illustrative of racism deeply rooted within the literary industry." "Black people, we got to work twice as hard to get half as far," author RM Virtues told The Daily Beast. "In the publishing industry: twice as hard to get a quarter as far. And she had time to do all of this? To us?"

Publishing in the anglophone world remains overwhelmingly white, despite the growing inclusion of Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC) in the sector. Which is perhaps why businesses like those of Dhonielle Clayton, who's aiming to make books more diverse by pitching ideas for fiction with characters from various backgrounds, play a vital role.

"In an industry that's long had a diversity problem, Ms. Clayton has sometimes struggled to get publishers on board," The New York Times reported. "She's received countless rejections, and has heard many variations of the argument that books centered on people of color don't sell. But in the past decade, her packaging business has sold 57 books; 41 of which have been sold since 2020."


Expanding and deepening the pool
Diverse books appear to be on the up and up, an encouraging trend that makes opinion pieces like this one in The Telegraph glaring. While I'm against censorship and retroactive editing of previously published works, to say that sensitivity reading and "woke books" have destroyed publishing is a bit much.

Publishers pushing for diverse books is not "shallow", though I believe it has more to do with the bottom line rather than altruism. So what if the titles cited in The Telegraph tanked even though publishers paid a bomb for them? Maybe work out more realistic publishing deals and stop shelling out so much for books?

And the "independent publishers" the article mentions who are stepping in with good stories "while major publishing houses are busy maximising their ideological purity and preventing themselves from making money"? A publisher that "has published books including former Levi's executive Jennifer Sey's "Levi's Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job But Gave Me My Voice" and journalist Chadwick Moore's biography of Tucker Carlson, a New York Times bestseller."

Jennifer Sey, a former Levi's executive, is part of a think tank that is against COVID-19 measures such as masking and vaccine mandates. She also opposed school closures during the COVID pandemic and is a critic of the "woke mob" and cancel culture. Besides the Tucker Carlson biography, Chadwick Moore also wrote a book that decries "forced" diversity, equity, and inclusion training in the US as part of "a corrupt political ideology".

Stellar examples of free speech. Genre-bending queer feminist Westerns sound more palatable and less toxic than what amounts to right-wing figures making bank by peddling their outrage and victimhood. Voices worth uplifting might include those represented by indie publisher Whiskey Tit in Hancock, Vermont:

Take Charlotte and the Chickenman by Aina Hunter, about a futuristic society in which a group of animal rights activists proposes consuming white people as the most ethical form of eating. Or Postal Child by Granville author Joey Truman, about a boy who grows up in an abusive environment in Brooklyn and finds solace in befriending pigeons.

Just because diverse books aren't minting millions doesn't mean they're not being read. How much of it has to do with the gatekeeping that happens in the industry post-publication? How hard are publishers marketing diverse works? If anything, more effort is needed to diversify the publishing industry as more and more minority writers find their voices and hone their craft.

If publishers aren't keen on works by or about people of colour because "they don't sell", readers can make sure they do by broadening their horizons and reading more of such works. When the numbers go up, perhaps publishers will listen, and not because of the need for diversity for its own sake.

Book Marks: BookTok on BBC, Salled Ben Joned

All right, let's get to it, shall we?

• A self-published author and a bookshop owner tell the BBC how #BookTok is changing lives and publishing. But is the hashtag "pushing other book review sites to the side"? A clutch of one-minute videos may feel more genuine than text reviews, but in the age of AI, who can say? Different formats can complement or compete with each other. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.
• "For most of my life, I was never really aware of the impact of his work. But in my 40s, I became aware that he had contributed something quite unique and important to Malaysian culture." Sydney-based journalist, singer and guitarist Anna Salleh, eldest daughter of poet-writer Salleh Ben Joned, launched a new book that chronicles her father's life and literary journey.
• "Geungsi is my first local creation and graphic novel after settling back down in Singapore. I wanted to produce more local works for my own country. I was hopeful and until today, I think I'm still hopeful, but I realised that it's not as easy as I thought." Singaporean author Sean Lam hopes to make the jiangshi (reanimated corpse in Chinese folklore) trendy again through his work.
• In an edited extract from author Monica Ali’s 2023 PEN HG Wells lecture, she talks about experimenting with AI and comes off not worrying too much about AI taking over from human writers. What concerns Ali more is that "the bookpocalypse, when or if it comes, will mean an increasing homogenisation, driven by a 'dataset' that is simultaneously massive and narrow in its worldview, supported by a 'more like this' algorithm that crowds out diverse voices or those that challenge the status quo."
• Does jacket copy say too much sometimes? Tajja Isen at The Walrus seems to think so. She seems to feel that jacket or back-cover copy in some books sets up what readers should expect from and feel about them in a way that's "controlling, even demeaning" when all she wants is "a premise and some vibes, a taste of tone, a flicker of the voice the book contains. I don't want to be told what's about to happen, even in the vaguest sense. And I definitely don't want to be told what it's 'about.'"
• The spate of book bannings in the United States have people across the Atlantic a little bothered. Some attempts to stealth-ban books seem to have been made, but for now, the kind of fever engulfing the States is not likely to cross over to the United Kingdom ... yet. Back in the States, public libraries are fighting back against book banning. The San Diego Public Library is participating in the Books Unbanned programme that provides access to scores of books pulled from shelves at public and school libraries.
• Books by and about Palestinians have been censored or kept out of the limelight for decades, but since 7 October, Palestinian authors, and other figures seen to be supporting the Palestinian cause, have been facing discrimination, including the cancellation of their appearances at events.

Book Marks: Genres, Singapore Libraries, Ian Fleming's Productivity Hack

"Genre is a confining madness; it says nothing about how writers write or readers read, and everything about how publishers, retailers and commentators would like them to," writes Alex Clark in The Guardian. "This is not to criticise the many talented personnel in those areas, who valiantly swim against the labels their industry has alighted on to shift units as quickly and smoothly as possible."

The title of the article asks whether literary genres should be abolished, but I don't think it's necessary. And Clark's example of "a boiled egg" for lunch and something "complicated" and "unfamiliar" at dinner time strikes a chord with those whose lunchtime go-to on some days might be a kopitiam breakfast set of half-boiled eggs with kaya toast. "These are not perceived as contradictions, but as perfectly reasonable options available to those of us lucky enough to have them," he writes.

Let genres stay. If publishers or agents can't find a suitable pigeonhole for the next possible hit, be certain that new ones will be invented.

Okay, moving on...

• Libraries across the United States and the United Kingdom are closing down, but those in Singapore seem to be adapting to changes in the reading and literary landscape. In Channel News Asia, Singapore's National Library Board reported that "as of August, 78 per cent of Singapore residents visited NLB’s libraries and archives and accessed its content in the preceding year, up from 61.7 per cent in 2022, and 72.5 per cent in 2019 pre-COVID-19.
• "Innovators and business professionals are constantly bombarded with stimuli that fragment their attention. The proliferation of digital devices and social media means that distractions are not just external but also reside in our pockets, making concentrated work a significant challenge." A solution? Ian Fleming's "Rule of Forced Boredom": putting himself in a distraction-free environment where he could either write or do zilch. But to write a book in two weeks?
• "While many people know the city for its military base, Paju [in South Korea] is also home to the nation’s elaborate book publishing hub — officially known as Paju Publishing Culture, Information and National Industrial Park but commonly referred to as Paju Book City. Around 900 book-related businesses, including printing presses, distribution companies and design studios, line the streets, and signs reading 'Paju Book City' are everywhere." Not sure why this idea isn't as widespread as it should be, but one supposes that political will and leadership play a role.
• "If Prophet Song is a dystopia, then, like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, it's one whose events are already happening around the world. ... The recent rioting in Dublin, and the shock and disbelief that greeted it, give the novel an uncomfortable extra timeliness." In The Guardian, Justine Jordan believes the winner of the 2023 Booker Prize is – or should be – waking western societies up to the forces threatening their sociopolitical fabric.
• In the wake of a shark attack, Mike Coots took up photography and shark conservation. His book, Shark: Portraits, is part of those efforts. "His book is a way to hopefully get the masses to look at sharks in a different light; not as murderous creatures stalking humans, but as an incredibly beautiful example of evolution. The book is years in the making. Thousands of photos taken over nearly a decade culled down to 200."
• "...Reylo fanfiction is no longer something you can just find on sites like AO3. In fact, several Reylo authors have made the jump from fanfiction to traditional publishing in recent years, transforming their fics into original works you can find at your local bookstore." The romantical shipping of Star Wars characters Rey and Kylo Ren goes mainstream with Reylo-inspired fiction and audiences are lovin' it.
• "Every generation decries the fall of civilization and the lack of young kids reading," Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan tells Rolling Stone. "You can find quotes from the ancient Greeks talking about how the world is doomed because of ’these kids today.’ Personally, I think kids are our best reason to be hopeful, and I think they will keep reading as long as we give them stories they love." YA authors including Riordan defend the genre as movie adaptations of YA works flounder.

Book Marks: Big Fiction, AI, Malaysian Bus Journeys

Lacking material, I put off last week's post. As these things go, I probably should have expected to run smack into a deluge of stuff on books and publishing this week. Who was it that said publishing activities tend to slow down towards the end of the year?

Anyway, this is what cropped up in the past two weeks...

In The New Republic is a review of Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature by Dan Sinykin, an assistant professor of English at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. A part of it reads...

"As publishers grew far larger—and ever more concerned with the bottom line—the lives of editors and authors transformed. More than ever before, they became cogs in a corporate machine, responsible for growth and returns on investment, necessarily responsive to the whims and demands of capital—and these pressures increasingly showed up in their output."

And how. I'm sure this is increasingly the case as publishers push more books out and the editorial process suffers as a result.

Sinykin and his book are cited in this prediction about the (near) future of books in Esquire. I'm not dismissing it outright, so let's see how many of these come true.

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Over at Observer, writers and publishers weigh in on how to cope with AI. "Reports of companies and individuals using A.I. to spread misinformation, infringe copyright and steal authors' identities have dominated discussions of the technology's role in the books we consume," goes the report. As the technology develops, publishers are finding it harder to detect AI use in submitted work, while writers seem to be thrilled with how AI is supercharging their productivity.

Meanwhile, several editors look at the adoption of AI in publishing and ponder where the tech would fit in the editorial workflow. "While generative AI's current appeal lies in creation, it requires human motivation and direction. This is the kind of briefing and tweaking that editors and publishers historically have done: acquiring, commissioning, copy editing. Our role has included adopting and adapting text to create (or curate) connections with audiences, elevating prose to the best it can be, or the perfect fit for that category."

Not everyone is sanguine about AI. This writer, whose farewell to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proven premature now that Altman looks set to return as CEO, appears concerned that chatbots at workstations is but a step towards a dystopian post-human future. Also: "Even if we assume that the creation of a superintelligent AI is plausible, let alone desirable, was Altman ever the right man for the job here?"


Also:

• "A bus ticket gets you places. An open heart gets you hidden Malaysian experiences." Lam Ching Fu, author of the developing My Journey By Bus series, is profiled in Options @ The Edge. After covering stopovers in Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis in his first book, his second book takes readers from Pahang to Terengganu and Kelantan. In progress is part three, which covers Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. You gotta hand it to him to embark on such a project. Will it help spur improvements to the bus system? One can hope.
• Malaysia's youngest author? Meet Karen Chew, author of What Can an 8-Year-Old Tell You? While she was only eight when she started writing her book, she had begun to write when she was only about three to four – "first with a diary and later a blog," goes the report. One factor in her achievements has to be how she is schooled. Now we have to wonder just how Herculean efforts would be to get the current national education system to that level where every third or fourth child can write and publish a book at age eight.
• "People have agency. People are going to write what they want to. I'm not here to tell people what they can and cannot write. I'm here to ask them should they be writing that story? And I think more people should ask themselves that." After speaking up on Tillie Cole's problematic dark romance novel, BookTok creator Sat and others who have aired similar views found themselves harassed by fans of the novel. Questions are raised over how taboo themes should be addressed in fiction, specifically the dark romance genre.
• "...the most troubling side effect of #Booktok is how the publishing industry responded to a glut of younger, easily influenced consumers moving deeper into the romance genre. The plan, it seems, to entice and retain these customers was to take the embarrassing bodice-ripping, kilt-clad, flowy-hair heroes off the covers of romance novels and instead churn out aesthetic, minimalist designs." TikTok may be shifting copies, but what if erotica dressed up in YA covers are among those? And if a customer is about to pick a volume of stealthed smut off the shelf, should booksellers intervene?
• Lots have been observed and said about Javier Milei, who's set to be Argentina's next president, so perhaps it's no surprise that the controversial far-right figure is apparently a plagiarist too. El País claims Milei lifted whole passages from an article written by Mexican scientists for his book, which was published in 2020. "Accusations of plagiarism hung over Milei throughout his entire career, whether it be his academic publications, his campaign spots or even his autobiography," the portal adds.
• Could this be one of history's longest-running literary scams? The BBC reports that fake Robert Burns manuscripts "made by a forger in the 1880s, have been fleecing collectors for 140 years." While the counterfeiter was caught and imprisoned in 1893, many of the fakes still circulate. "Genuine Burns manuscripts can fetch tens of thousands of pounds at auction today," the report adds, "so there is cash to be made through the fake papers." How many people have been Burn-ed, I wonder?
• "It's believed Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations as a form of introspection rather than for larger public consumption. The entries range from blunt maxims to cogent dissertations, and there is no definitive organization to the work—though some patterns have been identified, with themes organized around Stoic philosophy." Though Meditations may not have been written for a wider audience, this self-help classic has become one of the go-tos for those seeking wisdom and life lessons.
• "My stories, thoughts, and insights are crafted with care, but they must struggle to find their place in a family budget that is under pressure to prioritize where every dollar goes. In this economic climate, choosing between a Netflix subscription and a Patreon pledge is not a matter of preference — it's a hard financial decision for many." Joan Westenberg ponders writing as a career in these trying times.
• "I knew at once that I would say yes—not because I felt any particular sense of confidence but because I was fully committed to trying. There are so few things we can do for the dead; this was something I could do for her." When she died, Rebecca Godfrey was working on a novel about heiress and art collector Peggy Guggenheim. Friend and novelist Leslie Jamison was approached to finish Godfrey's work. Jamison's quest took her on an odyssey of sorts, delving deep into Godfrey's thought processes, the life of the novel's subject, and her friendship with Godfrey.
• Former Huntsville Public Library employee Elissa Myers shares her experiences working at the library with Book Riot. "Her work is less about the book banning–that is there, too–but about what it means to be a queer librarian in a time of unmitigated bigotry, much of which is being directed at public employees in education and libraries."
• "Despite being a nation with a reputation for prudishness about sex, the British don't seem to have any problem reading about it, at least not if you go by the enduring popularity of one the country's most successful writers, Jilly Cooper." Explore Cooper's career, a brief history of the "bonkbuster" (urh), and the British affair with raunchy novels.
• "There's a reason why Medieval art is particularly, well, weird. While paintings and sculptures that remain from most other periods in history were generally produced by trained artists, the illuminated manuscripts made in Medieval times were often authored by monks and tradespeople, who weren’t necessarily following artistic conventions of the era." Can't get enough of the @WeirdMedieval Twitter account? The book is now out.
• "Hubert Seipel, an award-winning film-maker and author, admitted receiving support for his work on two books charting the Russian leader's rise to power and offering portrayals described as sympathetic to him." A German publisher has stopped selling books by Seipel after an investigation revealed he received payments from companies linked to an oligarch close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Balmy Bookshop Vibes

Rows of bookshelves stocked to the brim. The smell of books perfume the interior, with the occasional whiff of freshly brewed coffee. Gentle air conditioning, pushing away the warmth of the afternoon sun. From a corner, an almost imperceptible flap of a page being flipped. As you sit in a corner, you relax and become one with the ambience. The past, the future, and the world outside no longer exist.

Rarely does a book about a small neighbourhood bookstore evoke the sensation of being in the real thing. But from the first chapter of Hwang Bo-reum's Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, one is sucked in – and is reluctant to leave.


Read the full review here.