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.