Apple Trouble, Pulitzer Snub, And Seeing Red At LBF

Apple Lawsuit News Round-up
Are we all sick of "Apple vs DoJ" and "Amazon wins"? I am. I'm following the developments but I can't be bothered to comment at length about each stage or revelation that surfaces. So here's a list of links.

Last week, publishers Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon &Schuster were reportedly seeking a settlement with the US Department of Justice regarding allegations of them colluding with Apple to fix prices of e-books.

What does Apple say about it? "See you in court." But not in Europe, apparently, where it and most of the named publishers have reportedly decided to settle with the EU competition commission. Now, it seems Canada wants to sue Apple for e-book price-fixing, too.

Some others also wonder who's the real price fixer: Apple or Amazon? For one, the indie book publishers feel it's Amazon that's the 800lb gorilla. There's also the opinion that book publishing is staring at a dilemma similar to that faced by the music industry back when music started going digital.

While speculation has begun over what the Apple lawsuit will mean for readers, somebody asks: Who was the stool pigeon in the case?


Meanwhile, in the Amazon jungle...
Jeff Bezos speaks to Amazon's shareholders in a written annual addresss. "...even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation," he said at one point. Care to guess who these "gatekeepers" might be?

Amazon also bought the US licensing rights for Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, allowing it to republish the titles. The time limit is ten years.


Pulitzer fiction flap
The decision to not award a Pulitzer for fiction this year outraged the publishing industry, as well as the Prize's jurors who worked hard to pick the finalists.

Peeved over the snub, some publishers offered their 'winning' picks. Said Ann Patchett of the decision, "This was the year we all lost."

It seems that the rules say that a title must obtain a clear majority vote to win. The three shortlisted titles: Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, Karen Russell's Swamplandia! and the unfinished The Pale King by the late David Foster Wallace did not get the required number of votes.

The ...kerfuffle? ...has sparked some calls for the rules to be changed. But just how significant are such prizes in the era of the million-dollar fanfic?


Seeing red at the 2012 London Book Fair
Chinese author Ma Jian's protest paints London Book Fair red.

Also at the Fair, a reporter's encounters with China's book censors, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP)... were not pretty. One instance:

At the information desk, staffed by young Chinese women studying in the UK, I asked whether Gao Xingjian, the Nobel Laureate, would be speaking. None had heard of him. I said he lived just over the Channel in Paris. One of the young women said: "Then he's not a Chinese, right?" I said he was indeed, had lived most of his life there, and had resigned from the Party. They looked embarrassed.

...When [a lackey] asked [her boss] in Chinese if they had Gao's books he said, in English, that Gao wasn't a Chinese and that, like all foreigners, "he lied about China." I asked him what sort of lies. He said in Chinese to his young assistant, "Don’t talk to this foreigner." I told him in Chinese I could understand every word he had said, whereupon he told me, in English, "You're a shit." I replied, Bici, bici, ... the feeling is mutual.

Read the whole thing. Online and offline, it looks like the China's censors can't operate without being standoffish.


Other news

• Our National Library is targetting to have 28,000 new book titles by 2015. Would that number include e-books? If it does, easy-peasy. Will the potential tsunami of local e-books give rise to our own 50 Tona Kelabu?
• How (some) book publishers decide what to publish. Can be instructional.
• More writing tips: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. From the Los Angeles Festival of Books, three pieces of writing advice from "great" non-fiction writers Tom Bissell, Mark Dery and David Bellos.
• Lauren Myracle responds to being on US library association's list of most frequently challenged books of 2011.
• The activity that dare not speak its name: a guy's mom's secret writing life.
• Has Kindle killed the book cover industry? Some may argue "yes". To emphasise the point, Booktango introduces a free feature for designing e-book covers.
• The story behind Germany's low e-book sales. Maybe it explains the culture that gives the EU competition commission its teeth.
• "Would you blurb my book, Mr Mansbach?" Adam Mansbach, in short: "Go the f— to sleep."

Ah, and there's the KL International Book Fair 2012 from 27 April to 6 May at PWTC. Going there this Saturday might be a bit tough, though....

MPH Quill Annual Issue 2012

Cover story for the Quill Annual issue 2012: Tan Sri Dato' Dr David Lai, CEO of housing developer Bandacaya Group.

Phillip Matthews asks whether great editors are born or evolved; Ellen Whyte talks about her obsession with book placement.

Kashini Krishnamurthy delves into the lair of the sleeping giant that is the Malay publishing industry; we catch up with Jeremy Chin, author of Fuel, one year on.

We also have Lau Siew May (Playing Madame Mao and The Dispeller of Worries) talks about the art of writing fiction; Shantini Suntharajah waxes lyrical (almost) over bookshops.

Mary Schneider introduces the old Penang through an old soldier's postcard collection; Tom Sykes explores the genius of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Third World literature of protest.

The Quill April-June 2012 issue is also out, too. Get them both now.

A Roast To Toast

This article was originally a blog post that languished in the drafts pool since the end of March. Which may explain the minute omissions of one or two details, such as the actual business hours (listed at the bottom) and that it costs RM1 to swap the milk with Bonsoy.

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A roast to toast

The welcoming vibes at this neighbourhood café keep 'em coming back

first published in The Star, 21 April 2012


"Starbucks with sarongs" is not how I would describe Artisan Roast TTDI. But it's satisfactory enough as an introduction. I'm not even sure the staff wear sarongs all the time these days.

Two things to note when entering: ambience and aroma.
Welcome to Artisan Roast TTDI.

My first visit to Artisan Roast was an adventure. I almost got lost.

Part of a café concept founded in Scotland, Artisan Roast KL is owned by Michael Wilson and Amirah Mohd. Artisan Roast (AR) sources, roasts and packs its own beans and, back at its old place at Yayasan Seni Berdaftar (along Persiaran Jalan Ritchie in KL), none of their beverages were priced above RM10.

Talking to a customer are (at left) Michael Wilson and Amirah
who run Artisan Roast

The fresh, fragrant brews, made from freshly ground Brazilian Carmo beans, needed no sweetening, either. Even after the coffee had cooled way down, the thick lines of latte art and the foam they sat on held firm.

The coffee was good. The atmosphere was good. But we never went back. Nor could we.

As it's often the case these days, the news came from Facebook.

Artisan Roast was moving.

Its new digs at Taman Tun Dr Ismail are bigger, better equipped and more comfortable, being air conditioned and all. With a proper kitchen, meals and other stuff can be made from scratch as advertised. Located next to the big Maybank branch on Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, TTDI's well-known nightspot strip, it was easy to find - unlike parking.

Light reading at Artisan Roast TTDI

And unlike the old days when it was in YSB, Artisan Roast TTDI has a larger, steadier clientèle. Good, because the place needs the business.

However, gone are the serenity, open spaces and clean air. Will it become a victim of its own success as the crowd swells?

In keeping with the artisanal vibe of the brand, AR's interior has fewer polished lines and surfaces than most modern cafés. Tall benches and chairs and tables that are more like wooden beams emanate a bar-like feel. A nook of low tables and cushions at the back provides more space for family gatherings and meetings.

...Hmm. Definitely not Starbucks, then

Most of the walls are bare brick, save for some surfaces decorated with murals, some of which are half-finished. When the baristas get to work, expect half the room to smell real good.

Drinking coffee or tea here feels more natural. AR is essentially a bar for teetotallers. I was also told that some bar-goers in the area drop by for a caffeine jolt to help stretch their nights.

AR serves its own cakes, pastries, sandwiches and savoury muffins. But the a la carte menu is limited. At the moment, you can choose either eggs on toast or pancakes with caramelised bananas and whipped cream, sprinkled with cinnamon, both cooked from scratch. It's worth the wait. The menu is also evolving, bringing the promise of more scratch-kitchen yummies in the future.

Killer pancakes with ambrosial caramelised bananas.
Too much whipped cream, though.

Everything in the display chiller comes out from the kitchen as well. The Sicilian Apple Cake seems popular; one night I was there, they sold five slices within an hour.

Each rustic-looking slice looks like a cluster of apple cubes and sunflower or pumpkin seeds held together by a bit of cake sponge. I bet one slice of their Carrot Cake can improve your night vision straight away.

Other tasty treats include the Cheeeeeeeeese Cake which is worth every "E" and every sen you pay. I've found that The Zesty Lemon Slice goes particularly well with hot coffees. The Millionaire Shortbread was nice with its layer of chocolate and all, but my preferences lean towards hoi polloi shortbread.

See? "Cheeeeeeeeese Cake!" Count the "Es".

I shan't say much about their coffees. Crowds don't lie, they say. If you're curious about what they're serving, ask the barista. Beans that have had their turns in the hopper include Sumatra Mandheling, Rwandan Musasa, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, El Salvadorean La Guachoca and those from Fazenda Lagoa do Morro in Brazil.

AR also serves Red Espresso, rooiboos tea that's prepared like espresso. The Red Latte is a great pick for caffeine-free nights - simply the most luxurious, sublime teh C kosong I've had. Another non-caffeine diversion is the Smoovie, AR's special concoction of banana, yoghurt and cinnamon. Those were the only ingredients I could taste.

Baristas at work

Nowadays, I spend at least a night or a weekend afternoon at AR, nursing one of their beverages for a while before washing it down with free filtered water. Prices are also reasonable: Most of their beverages go for between RM5 and RM10 and cakes/pastries are between RM2 to RM10. One can also pay a little more to go lactose-free with Bonsoy. Plus, the benefit of a (supposedly) cooler crowd.

But I miss the quiet. And playlist needs more tunes.

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Artisan Roast TTDI

4, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14,
Taman Tun Dr Ismail

Daily, 7:30am (weekdays) or 8am (weekends) to midnight

+603-7733 6397

amirah@artisanroast.co.uk

Web site | Facebook page

Perils Of Possessiveness

In my defence, I did not write that title or standfirst. But the rest was all me. Not that it matters.

Maybe it was the psychological portraiture of the "mama's boy" that I didn't like, rather than the writing. The writing was fine.

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Mama's boy

A prize-winning author gives us a sad sob story about a sad sack of a man

first published in The Star, 20 April 2012


I guess it's true what they say: classics, bestsellers and prize-winners are not for everybody.

Struggling past three chapters of this book felt like hacking through a dense bamboo thicket. The narrative is noisy, and I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or the problems they faced. Maybe writing this in the voice of an emotional mama's boy wasn't a good idea.

In this edition of The Mirage, translated from the original Arabic published in 1948, the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) channels the voice of Kamil Ru'ba, who was raised by his mum. His mother, a powerful presence in his life, is dead and he's taken up the pen to deal with his issues.

Even before his life's story begins, we get a sense of the emotionally intense and confused, selfish and immature person Kamil is. His behaviour throughout the novel emphasises that perception. The places and times in his life just melt into the background in the heat of his pain, his neuroses, and his disappointments. Kamil's Egypt barely exists.

Scarred by the abuse and broken promises of his drunkard father, Kamil's mum becomes overly protective of him. His sheltered upbringing, naturally, does not prepare him for life's disappointments and nasty turns. He can't make friends. He's a below average student. He can't be trusted to live on his own. On top of that, it seems as though he's inherited his father's love for drink and melodrama.

But not everything he does ends badly at first. Though he successfully courts and marries his sweetheart, the relationship sours due to "medical complications", and for the umpteenth time his world starts crumbling. Then he meets and begins an affair with a woman called Inayat but little changes – until tragedy strikes.

If it is Mahfouz's intention to embody this dislikeable character in his writing and subject us to his misery until our psyche buckles, the author has succeeded beyond measure. One fights an overwhelming urge to grab Kamil and shake him until he falls apart in one's hands. He's a flawed man, son, sibling and husband and he's candid about that.

And how he rambles! He can go on and on about his favourite bones of contention, chewing until they break into pieces. Even so, some of his rants could've benefited from better paragraphing. Every time I was faced with an over-20-line block of text, I was so tempted to skip – and I did. And yet, I don't feel I've missed much.

So I didn't get a "happy" storyline in The Mirage. No matter. Life isn't all sugar and spice, and it's to Mahfouz's credit that he manages to present such a convincing if perturbing portrait of this broken man. (Kudos also to the translators, whom I'm sure worked real hard to bring this novel into the Anglosphere.)

Even so, it is hard to read, and harder still to feel sorry for such a character – which might not be the point of the novel. While some will be annoyed, others who can identify parts of themselves with the troubled protagonist will surely be discomfited.

At the end, we are not sure if it is possible for this fellow, with so few redeeming qualities, to find any happiness that doesn't eventually waver and vanish like a mirage in the desert. Perhaps we're better off not knowing. Or am I missing the whole point of this sob story?

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The Mirage

Naguib Mahfouz
Anchor (February 2012)
480 pages
Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-307742582

Plate Full? Chomp Chomp

Nowadays I wonder why I do this, but I'd like to think it helps keep me on my toes with regards to my deadlines. And it's the only way I keep track of books to be reviewed under the "personal" (blog) and "professional" (publication) categories.

Several unlikely titles made it into the list this time around. For the time being, they're all "personal" and most are ARCs.

• Starters
  Lissa Price
  Doubleday (April 2012)
  336 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-0-857-53135-3
• Catching The Sun
  Tony Parsons
  HarperCollins (2012)
  293 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-0-00-732781-2
• In One Person
  John Irving
  Simon & Schuster (May 2012)
  427 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-1-4516-6412-6
• The One and Only Ivan
  Katherine Applegate
  Harper (2012)
  305 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-0-06-199225-4
• The Language of Flowers
  Vanessa Diffenbaugh
  Ballantyne Books (2012)
  367 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-0-553-84109-1
• The Book of Madness and Cures
  Regina O'Melveny
  Little, Brown and Company (2012)
  314 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-0-316-19583-6

I first heard of Lissa Price's Starters, part one of a duology, from this "Big Idea" entry. Next thing I know, I have the ARC.

And Monsoon Books has some new titles I'm keen on - as soon as they arrive in stores.

• Shadow Play
  Barbara Ismail
  Monsoon Books (April 2012)
  288 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-981-4358-68-2
• Jaipong Dancer
  Patrick Sweeting
  Monsoon Books (April 2012)
  368 pages
  Fiction
  ISBN: 978-981-4358-73-6
• Bali Raw
  Malcolm Scott
  Monsoon Books (April 2012)
  256 pages
  Non-fiction(?)
  ISBN: 978-981-4358-71-2

Also coming my way might be The Black Isle by Sandi Tan and the next instalment in Justin Cronin's vampire trilogy. Guess it's time to sweep the bookshelves.

News: DoJ vs Apple, And The Myracle Of Challenged Books

The earth shifted a little last week. So did the publishing landscape, when the United States' Department of Justice filed a suit against Apple and several publishers for allegedly fixing prices of e-books.

Many see these publisher's acceptance of the agency model suggested by Apple as a response to what is seen as Amazon's growing dominance over the publishing industry. Some believe that Amazon will emerge as the big winner in the clash, as fears of authors and smaller independent publishers getting trampled in the middle grow. This view appears to be more prevalent in this debate on The Huffington Post.

Online publisher Smashwords, however, will keep its agency pricing model, despite the DoJ's looming showdown with Apple. Helps when some of its books are less than US$3 and almost 15,000 of them are free....

Too much has been written about this over the week since the news broke, so I won't elaborate further. I'll say this though: E-book retailers should make it much easier for Malaysians to buy e-books, if they're concerned about piracy and stuff. And e-readers need to be cheaper. Then, perhaps, they can start talking about e-book prices.


Other news

• What is solidarity? A pamphleteer's Occupation.
• A book lover's challenge: spring cleaning.
• Barnes & Noble announces Nook Simple Touch, with a backlit screen. Get a move on, Kindle.
• Police fingerprinters save blind woman's invisible writing.
• Google ends e-book agreement with indies; booksellers disappointed.
• OMG, baboons can recognise 'real words'. Soon they'll learn to drive and occupy Wall Street.
• Marshall Cavendish kids' books returning to Barnes & Noble stores. Wait, Amazon bought those?
• Image gallery: The Hunger Games and more top ten "most challenged" books. One book in this list is my Lauren Myracle, said to be "the US' most hated author".
• Why you can't find independently published books in bookstores.
• Book publicist dips its toes into publishing with the launch of February Books.
• Self-publishing company Blurb reportedly helped its clients earn over US$1 million in 2011.

Flash Fiction

An author once said that an "utterly succinct and masterful" short story can be compared to caviar or fine dark chocolate. "Chocolate" best describes the very mixed box that is Without Anchovies,published by Silverfish Books in 2010. Though the simple cover helps it blend into the bookshelf, after your second pass along the aisle you can't help but be curious.

Chua Kok Yee's debut short story collection starts off normally, then takes a turn into darker, more bizarre territory at the end of the second tale, where a nightclub singer apparently answers a song request from beyond the grave.

What follows is a smorgasbord of day-to-day, action, crime, thrillers, more ghostly tales and strange happenings and a bit of comedy. The superbly scary "My Number One" and "Perfect Prefect" benefited from sharp, 90-degree turns from mundane to macabre, complete with hair-raising endings, so his budding reputation as our Edgar Allen Poe is more or less assured.

Among the new and strange are also shades of the familiar. The "last message from beyond" plot ("Dead Cougar"), and devices such as character continuity between stories ("Dinner" and "Cruel Mother") reminded me of Shih-Li Kow's Ripples – could it be because she and Chua took the same creative writing programme?

"Sambal Without Anchovies", which evokes the very Malaysian (or rather, Yasmin Ahmad's Malaysian) warmth, comfort and sweetness of freshly made nasi lemak, is the first, best and most well-crafted story in the collection. It's a brief, brilliant look at love, family and the generation gap that tugs the heartstrings.

However, many of the following stories couldn't match the mastery of the first. It's Hanif, his wife and the dad, Pak Samad who will be remembered long after the book is put down.

An author's first book is rarely his best. While it's not necessary for one story to segue into another with velvety smoothness in a collection, this one has the feel of a hurriedly compiled volume of exercises for creative writing or storytelling techniques. Why did Silverfish Books published it "as is"? Tight deadlines, maybe?

Chua has heaps of imagination (look at "You Are What You Eat"), a warped sense of humour, and he writes pretty well. At the conclusion of this rather short collection of short stories, one is left to ponder what more he could have done, had he been given more time.

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Without Anchovies

Chua Kok Yee
Silverfish Books (2010)
172 pages
Fiction
ISBN: 978-983-3221-27-1