Around The Peninsula In 37 Days

“Four corners of West Malaysia, 2,664 kilometres in 37 days... Are you two nuts?”

...Well, those were probably not the exact words. However, nothing could keep outdoors enthusiast Sandra Loh and her friend Mak Shiau Meng from their goal to travel to the four corners of Peninsular Malaysia on bicycles in early 2009. The tour was Mak's idea, and he had invited Sandra along for the ride.

For Mak, it was the fulfilment of a dream; for Sandra, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Braving exhausting uphill roads in the scorching sun and freezing rain, daredevil lorry drivers, unhelpful road signs and the occasional cow, the two intrepid cyclists made their way to the designated four corners: Padang Besar, Kedah; Tanjung Piai and Sg Rengit in Johor; and Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

As they rode past small towns and big cities, friendly and helpful locals, old and new friends, new and familiar sights and (mostly) good food made the trip more interesting ...and bearable. And Sandra, the chronicler of the expedition, wrote it all down in her chirpy inimitable style.

...This was a really challenging book project.

Several months into my job, I received a bunch of huge Word documents, a manuscript for this woman's cycling travelogue. No, too bloggish. So we sent it back. Being new to this, I added some recommendations.

A few months later, it came back to us. More detail now, but ... rather flat. And still a bit bloggish. Bounce.

I never thought we'd see it for the third time. She's persistent ... well, she did cycle around the peninsula. We took it on. The meeting was scheduled around the middle of last year and at the end of it, an agreement.

G*d, the amount of text I had to chop off. About 14,000 words, by rough estimates. No shortcuts. After looking through it for perhaps five to six times, I could no longer spot the minor typos. So the author pitched in.

The layout people suffered more than I did, however. Though similar to the last book project, there was a lot more material to work with.

The last several weeks before the book went to the printers was (for me, at least) nerve-wracking. We ended up with a slightly trimmer version of the original manuscript. Had we kept most of it, the book would be too thick and too expensive.

(For the author's account of the publishing process, go here.)

About a month later, the first copies arrived at the office. A book looks a whole lot better and more real once it takes on three dimensions.

The tentative launch date for Pedalling Around The Peninsula is on 14 April, 3pm at MPH Subang Parade. Date, time and venue may be subject to change. We're hoping it'll be in stores by then.

"It's gonna be big," she kept saying.

I wasn't sure. But that teacher's blook surprised us, despite being the easier project.

Fine. Let's see what surprises this book would hold.

---

Pedalling Around The Peninsula

A Malaysian Girl's Two-wheeled Adventures

Sandra Loh
MPH Group Publishing Sdn Bhd
349 pages
Non-fiction
ISBN: 978-967-5997-82-2

Buy from MPHOnline.com

Ghostwritergate, Publishing Tips And "Literary Broccoli"

Ghostwriter Gripes
Julia Moskin's New York Times piece on cookbook ghostwriters stirred up quite a hot pot. Rachael Ray and Gwyneth Paltrow have denied using ghostwriters for their cookbooks. Some ghostwriters also spoke up. Moskin later explains her definition of ghostwriting in that article's context. Rachael Ray was not pleased.

Eater compiles several responses to what they call "Ghostwritergate". As usual, a chef (Eddie Huang of BaoHaus in New York) gives good advice on the matter, while defending Moskin and several other NYT food writers whom he says are "tearing down an industry built largely on lies."

In The Daily Beast, Regina Schrambling says almost every celeb cookbook these days is (sort of) ghostwritten and brushes off the whole thing as a "tempest in a tasting spoon."

Yeah. How many of us really cares if a celebrity cookbook was in fact ghostwritten?


Wanna publish a book?
Writers, power up your bio for (slightly) better publishing success.

Also: some PC Advisor advice on publishing an e-book. A computer/IT mag dishing e-book publishing advice? Books are becoming software.

While you're upping your CV, here are some resources on publishing industry terms and contracts. Hey, you learn the jargon with IT, too.


Other news

• It seems you still have to queue up to check out library e-books online. Plus, other challenges.
• Are the bells tolling for the Canadian publishing industry? Meanwhile, Canadian author Clare Marshall stays indie with digital self-publishing. "...it's not a sprint, it's a marathon."
  
• Was Oprah a boon to or bane of literature? This piece says "bane", apparently.
• An author reached out to a book pirate who shanghaied his "English Monster" - and gets a response.
• "Broken English": The rise of the imperfect narrator in fiction. Did the writer forget about Moira Young's Blood Red Road (which a commenter mentioned)? Or does it not count?
• When tradition threatens: Liberian writer Mae Azango's story on female genital cutting forces her into hiding.
• The life cycle of words, identified by science?
• Did a missionary turned researcher find something in the Amazon that threatens modern linguistics?
• Why it's a bad idea to think of translated foreign books as "literary broccoli".
• Some medieval marginalia said to be from old manuscript copies written by monks. Drudgery of tedium, carpal tunnel, and complaints about equipment, handwriting, etc. The more things change....
• Know your snark from your ad hominems.
• France suggests taxing online giants such as Amazon to help indie bookstores. So French, right?
• Someone has called Hemingway literature's Nike swoosh - and says Hemingway would be appalled. Not everybody liked him, though.

News: Shades of Grey and Phantom Pens

More Shades of Grey Coming Your Way
Will Paypal's erotica U-turn mean hundreds more 'shades of grey' in Smashwords, etc?

HarperCollins UK this so, apparently, judging from the rollout of its erotica imprint, Mischief Books. Also, "legit" publishers are reportedly combing the writing badlands for the next Fifty Shades. And thanks to e-readers, nobody can see what some of you girls are reading....

It's not the genre, it's the medium, this report seems to suggest. Sure.


Cooking the (cook)books?
A writer has revealed that some famous chefs do not write their own cookbooks. But Rachael Ray says no, no ghostwriters were involved in her cookbooks. That so? So who else does? And does anyone care?


Other News

• The Puzo family strikes back in "Godfather" dispute with Paramount. This episode is almost worth its own film.
• The central figure in Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers speaks out. Better than a (positive) review.
• Seems e-books aren't so good for the learning process.
• Paper vs pixels: A view from China. Also, the apparent decay of the brick-and-mortar bookstore scene in the Middle Kingdom.
• A pirated version of Jin Yong's novel on Apple's online store prompts a call for authentification for mobile content. And 22 Chinese authors have filed a claim against Apple for selling unlicensed copies of their books.
• A 12-year-old from Ahwatukee, Arizona has published her first book.
• Book Warehouse, one of Vancouver's largest independent discount book retailers, is closing its stores.
• Ian Fleming's back catalogue of Bond will be relaunched in e-book and print by Random House. It appears that, in the world of publishing, you live more than twice.
• 22 more reasons (read: excuses) to stop writing.
• Have newspapers begun publishing e-books on the side?

Collusion Collision: The Feds' Sour Apple

The US Justice Department may sue Apple and several big publishers: CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc., Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, Pearson PLC's Penguin Group (USA), Macmillan, and HarperCollins. The publishers are accused of colluding with Apple to fix prices of e-books. PCWorld has provided a primer on the issue that led to this.

The feds aren't the first to raise the possibility; the EU Commission began investigations several months earlier.

A notable sci-fi author thinks it's more of a case where publishers are hopping onto a bigger shinier bandwagon - assuming that the US DoJ is wrong about these firms' active collusion. But: "Again, maybe they all did actively collude, in which case, whoops, guys. Stop being idiots."

Charles Cooper, blogging at CNet, cheers the Feds, blaming the late Steve Jobs for masterminding the 'controversial' agency model to "kneecap" Amazon. A Businessweek report on the matter seems to concur with Cooper that the result could mean more affordable e-book prices. But I doubt the fight - if it goes ahead - will look like the titanic struggle the media appears to be depicting.

I see this whole thing as a desperate scramble by these big publishers to retain as much of the status quo as possible, before the Titanic that is traditional publishing finally slips under the waves of e-publishing - or so it is thought.

Maybe outsourcing the sales and distribution would mean more savings (and profit), but at what cost? Would the probable legal wrangles like this one be worth the trouble? Would it mean keeping themselves afloat in the midst of the digital storm or merely delaying the inevitable?

Like I said before, it's no longer business as usual for publishers. It's not enough to throw themselves at the feet of either Amazon or Apple in their attempt to sell as many books as they can.

One way out could involve publishers taking their books to other distribution channels, or sell their own books. Why not? Is it such a big deal? I bet lots of other smaller publishers do that. That way, they can set the prices and charge extra for shipping, all within their sphere of influence.

The named publishers are big, but it may not a good idea to stay big and do things big anymore. And how far can the "biggering" of a business go before it becomes unsustainable?

That's why many prehistoric species aren't with us today.

With smaller, more numerous publishers, we might see the industry return to what they're supposed to do: vet and produce good books for readers, and take the occasional risk with artsy, experimental works. With a smaller overhead, they can set better prices.

And who says books have to be sold in bookshops? With the advent of independent cafés arrrhmmArtisanRoastWhiskRawCoffeeFatSpoonarrrhmm, for instance, authors or publishers can have a few copies displayed in the counters or shoved into the free reads pile.

Books on culture? Central Market, maybe. Funky, thoughtful art/culture/lifestyle mags? Indie cafés, airports or maybe international book fests. Travelogues and books on bicycle tours? Bicycle shops, naturally. In exchange, premise owners get a cut of the sales. Take your books to your market, dear authors. Don't make your market come to you.

And it goes without saying that a pool with many, many good publishers will also mean good things for people in the industry...

Plated Perfection at Xenri D'Garden Terrace

Took a while for this to emerge after the actual dinner last month. I was characteristically worried if it would be okay. Seems to happen only when I write about high-end places.

I was so jittery, I had to confirm the names and spellings of the dishes and equipment with online research and the restaurant, while studiously avoiding the dozens of other reviews of the same venue.

Thought it would turn out okay but when the paper came out, oh my seafoodz, isn't that the sea fan mussel carpaccio, not the white trevally one?!

Also, the yuzu sorbet was actually part of the undefined "three-dessert course" that also consisted of a single mochi and two small slices of mango tempura. From this post I trimmed a little bit off the last sentence; Meltique beef is not more expensive than wagyu beef.

...I guess no matter how perfect the dining experience, writers can and will never truly do it justice. But never mind this imperfect piece. Pick a good day to indulge, call the number and make a booking. And check if you have seafood allergies.

All photos in the article and this post are courtesy of Xenri Group.

---

Plated perfection

Surrender yourself to the kaiseki experience at Xenri D'Garden Terrace and you'll see that Japanese food is more than just sushi and katsudons

first published in The Star, 17 March 2012


One of Melody's contacts had invited her out to lunch one day at Xenri D'Garden Terrace. It must have been some meal; she was virtually singing about it while tormenting me with a smartphone slideshow of the dishes. After hearing Melody ooh and aah over it for weeks, I finally took the leap to see what the fuss was all about, albeit with some misgivings.

We were going for a kaiseki dinner.

"Parfait" of Philadelphia
cream cheese, crabmeat,
tomato and avocado cubes

The word (literally, "gut stones") harkens to the days when Japanese Zen monks staved off hunger by warming their stomachs with heated stones in their robes. Today the name is bestowed to the multi-course dining concept synonymous with the Japanese ryokan experience.

Only the best seasonal ingredients within an inn's vicinity are used to create a series of small dishes. The aromas, flavours and textures of handpicked ingredients are artfully arranged and garnished to give diners a memorable experience.

By "memorable", I mean "expensive".

We arrived for dinner at slightly past 7pm. The public area, where the buffet lines were, was already full. We were ushered into a private nook befitting our "fine dining experience".

Though my companion and I were in no hurry, our orders took a while to arrive. I assumed the chef must have been bending over backwards for us in the kitchen. In Japan, chefs doing kaiseki are reputed to have an unforgivingly perfectionist streak.

Our meal arrived course by course. My appetiser, a single seared scallop, was firm and sweet, but I liked the luxuriously rich and thick sea urchin glaze it sat in even better. The "home made" seaweed caviar and sardine "biscuit" that garnished the scallop provided additional and interesting flavours and textures.

Seared scallop in sea urchin glaze with seaweed
"caviar" and sardine "biscuit"

From its meaty-pink freshness, I could tell that Melody's ocean trout was fine specimen of ocean goodness. Smoked with an apple-wood fire, poached and laid on a bed of asparagus shavings and drizzled with truffle oil, I stole a spoonful, only to be catapulted straight to heaven.

Smoked ocean trout with asparagus shavings,
drizzled with truffle oil

A good start, I thought, impatient for my next order. I didn't have to wait long. My carpaccio of white trevally (or striped jack) was dressed in an appetite-whetting honey vinaigrette. Paired with fresh firm shrimp, buttery avocado and luxuriously rich sea urchin, it was delectable. From the way Melody was wolfing down her sea fan mussel carpaccio, dressed in a tangy home-made apple sauce, I guessed it must have tasted as good as it looked, sitting prettily in the shell with a side of crunchy white fungus.

Braised wild duck confit

After such a stellar start, my expectations were sky high. Alas, my crab bisque, with an egg custard that trapped pieces of crabmeat at the bottom of the bowl, was just so-so; I much preferred the Melody's Pacific clam soup. I crushed one of the little beasts with my teeth and got a mouthful of clam essence - I could have swooned with pleasure. It was only course No. 2, and I was beginning to feel a little full. That was when I began to worry. Would we have enough room between us for what would follow?

My braised wild duck confit and Melody's braised Angus short ribs, dressed in a thick sauce made with Japanese burdock, assured us that we would make room. My slow-braised duck, accompanied by sweet little eggplants and meaty Portobello mushrooms, was so fall-off-the-bone tender, the meat would not stay on the fork.

We were truly stuffed by the time the three-dessert course rolled around. Melody couldn't finish her decadent warm chocolate soufflé, "royal" vanilla ice cream with several halved cherries drenched in a red wine sauce, although it was very good. Neither could I do full justice to my green tea tiramisu and "home made" (do the chefs live at the restaurant?) mango sorbet topped with honey-lemon jelly.

Perhaps the best part of a kaiseki meal is that you can never predict what you're getting. Even if it's a set menu, sometimes the chef throws in surprises. Midway through our meal, the chef impulsively slipped in a few additional items – we had come at a time when they were testing out new dishes, we were told.

We received, gratis, a bowl of firm glassine noodles made of arrowroot flour, kept cool with ice and dressed with the same apple sauce as the mussel carpaccio; a "parfait" consisting of layers of Philadelphia cream cheese, crabmeat, tomato and avocado cubes; and a yuzu sorbet, served with its zest. The tangy citrus with floral notes commonly used in Japanese cuisine was, until my first spoonful, an ingredient I had only read about. For bringing just this flavour across the miles, Xenri has my eternal gratitude.

Time taken? Two hours. Damage? RM238. Satisfaction level? 100%.

In spite of my wallet-conscious dining habits, I am already planning a return and wondering what Xenri's irrepressible chefs will come up with the next. I'm certain they will make the old ryokan chefs proud.

Tip: The adventurous could also try the wagyu beef grill, essentially a hotplate on a hida konro (clay stove). Our waitress rubbed a lump of fatty beef on it, before searing the slices of mid-grade wagyu on it. Xenri plans to use Meltique beef (processed using a variation of the French larding technique) for this dish.

---

Xenri D'Garden Terrace

Lot No. 2-04, 2nd Floor
Podium Block, Menara Hap Seng
Jalan P Ramlee
50250 Kuala Lumpur

Pork-free

+603-2078 6688

Xenri Group (M) web site

A Long Decade

On that day, I was getting off a bus at Taman Tun Dr Ismail when I saw the burning towers on the newsstand. The days that followed passed in a blur. Far removed from the scene of the largest terrorist attack in the US, something of it reached our shores.

Several days later, the workplace was evacuated due to a bomb threat. I remember feeling more relieved than panicked; it'd been a lousy day and I couldn't wait to leave.

There were wars in the Middle East. Regimes toppled. Reprisals. But they couldn't get the one who was said to have inspired the 9-11 attacks.

Until May 2, 2011.

After all the anger and blood, however, one wonders whether any ghosts have been exorcised at all with the killing of the avowed terrorist leader.

That's the impression I got after finishing A Decade of Hope. This seemingly hasty compilation of interviews by Dennis Smith, with the editorial assistance of his daughter Deirdre, appears to be some attempt at burying the spectre of 9-11 with stories of how New Yorkers coped with the change wrought by the 19 airplane hijackers and the loss of friends and loved ones on that day.

Most of those featured are first responders to the tragedy: firefighters, police personnel and paramedics, with a civilian or two and the token American Muslim. And most of them are still grieving. Some cannot forgive. But all of them cannot forget, and aren't likely to.

The choice of interviewees may be more than coincidence; Smith was a firefighter before he became a writer, and it would've been easier to speak to people within that group. That would explain the strong firehouse camaraderie emanating from the pages.

I found the book a long, laborious and lugubrious read, mostly because I couldn't relate to any of the interviewees. Should I be moved, inspired? Is the publication of the book meant to be cathartic, the push we all need to move on?

Many of the interviews are lengthy, and while preserving as much of each as possible honours the spirit of the book, some substantial editing could've helped make space for a few more points-of-view. For one, there's too much background info on the interviewees and the people who died.

That some of the characters refer to each other throughout the book reinforces the - dare I say it? - the cliquishness of the collection. Over 3,000 was said to have perished that day; surely there were more people who'd be willing to come forward with their stories? Apart from the first responders?

Given the superhuman expectations we mere mortals have for first responders, seeing these men and women of steel grieve and bleed in the face of the disaster would show us the enormity of what happened to them and what they went through. It does, but I don't think it affected me the way the author wanted it.

The shadow of terrorism is still with us, but 9-11 just doesn't have the same gravitas these days. Bin Laden is gone, and Bush is no longer president. And we have other worries keeping us up at night.

The author has good intentions, which makes me ashamed to feel this way. Despite the honest, heartfelt outpouring of grief and hope, I just couldn't empathise; were I to try I'd end up sounding glib. Nor can I imagine the weight of the burdens they've borne and will continue to bear.

Nevertheless, whatever has been said about their leaders and foreign policy, one should note that the views and behaviours of a government don't always reflect those of the populace. Nobody deserves a 9-11.

With Bin Laden's death, the Americans can sigh away a collective breath held for ten long years; for many, some measure of justice has been reportedly done. But Smith's collection of voices suggest that the healing has only begun and that full closure may only be a matter of hope.


This point of view is based on an advance reading copy.

---

A Decade of Hope

Stories of Grief and Endurance from 9/11 Families and Friends

Dennis Smith, Deirdre Smith
Viking (2011)
356 pages
Non-fiction
ISBN: 978-0-670-02293-9

News: Authorship Has No Privileges? And E-Books Are Like Apps?

"You have no right to make money anymore"
Seth Godin, whose book Stop Selling Dreams was kept out of Apple's iBooks store because of the buy-from-Amazon URLs in that book, has apparently come out and told authors to drop any sense of entitlement (like the big fat advances) and go out there and fight to hawk their wares. "Who said you have a right to cash money from writing?" he said. "I gave hundreds of speeches before I got paid to write one. I’ve written more than 4000 blog posts for free."

Authorship ain't the fabled aerie in the arts no more, what with indie publishers and self-published e-books bucking trends and flooding markets. But no complaints from Godin, it seems. "Poets don’t get paid (often), but there’s no poetry shortage. The future is going to be filled with amateurs, and the truly talented and persistent will make a great living. But the days of journeyman writers who make a good living by the word–over."

He's got something to say about libraries and literary agents as well.

...So, still wanna be a writer?


Books: From Hardware to Software
Writing for the Guardian, Frédéric Filloux argues that, as books go digital, publishers will look more and more like software houses. And like software houses, publishers need to 'debug' their 'apps', i.e. e-books to distinguish themselves from the pack.

"Like the app business where abundance creates a need for more human-powered guidance and suggestions," says the general manager of the French ePresse consortium, "book sections of magazines and newspapers will have to adapt and find ways to efficiently suggest e-readings to their audience. ... The most potent selection tool will remain the quality of the product."

...So I left that field only to return to it?

Filloux may think that Apple is a quality app provider, but somebody at TIME thinks the late Steve Job's company should avoid vetting books for publishability.


Future of Books at Bath Lit Fest
At the Independent Bath Literature Festival, the future of the book, discussed. Hardbacks will become luxuries (as they'd been before Gutenberg came along), and authors will become "brands".

What Charlie Redmayne, CEO of JK Rowling's online venture Pottermore, said about publishers more or less concurs with Godin's exhortation to authors to 'come out more':

"...publishers should learn from the fate of the music world. Just as record companies make money only by sending artists out to play live, book publishers will expect authors to promote themselves more – to have a media 'presence,' acquire followers on Facebook and Twitter, interface with current readers and fans and establish a 'community' to buy their books on Day One."

Oh, and spend lots of time at literary festivals.

(Speaking of Rowling: it's been reported that she's no longer a billionaire, thanks to "Britain's high tax regime" that left her with "less than £640 million in the bank." How. SAD.)


Some E-Reader Pitfalls
E-book readership is growing, but are e-reader devices selling? Right now, says ZDNet, the market is dominated by the iPad, Barnes & Noble's Nook and the Amazon Kindle - all of which are from companies that are not playing nice with each other.

A major problem, claims CBSNews, when consumers ditch one platform for another. I wouldn't really know about that; though file formats such as EPUB are 'universal', issues such as ownership rights (when I 'buy' off iBooks, do I really get to keep it?) will mean that buyers will think twice before pulling an e-reader off the shelves. That, and the hefty prices (I think) of e-readers.


Other News

• The £130,000 (RM617,022) Sheikh Zayed Book Award for the "best literature in the Arab world" has reportedly been withheld because all candidates weren't up to mark. The advisory council for the Abu Dhabi-based award came to this decision after six titles were "longlisted" (shouldn't it be "shortlisted"?) for the honour. ...It's kind of like the Burj Khalifah of book awards, isn't it?
• A collection of World War II memories from residents of a retirement home became a surprise hit. More on the book, World War II Remembered, here.
• The Syrian tumult is keeping the country's publishing houses from the Riyadh International Book Fair. For the first time in six years, Syrian publishing houses were absent from the event but, from the report's headline, it looks like their presence was not missed much. However, "Abdul Aziz Khoja, [Saudi Arabia's] Minister of Culture and Information, expressed his regret over the no-show of Syrian publishing houses."
• In You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom, Nick Cohen says you can't always read the books you want. "...not because they have been banned but because they have not been written."
• UK-based e-publisher HopeRoad continues being a platform for Caribbean, Asian and African writers.
• One of the last of his kind: book scout Wayne Pernu.
• Trying to donate books to a library? It can be painful, as one donor in New York learns.
• As libraries are threatened with closure in the US, a book-printing machine comes to the Brooklyn Public Library.
• Some more self-publishing successes. And oh, look, a housewife scored a book deal with Harlequin. More endorsement for the genre. How many more "shades of grey" will be written about?
• Oh yeah... about those Nazi myth-busting Mein Kampf excerpts? No go.