500 Words From Nick Wilgus

500 Words From...is a series of guest posts from Asia-based, locally-published authors, in which they talk about their latest books. Here Nick Wilgus, who is now based in the USA, but who lived and worked in Asia for many years, discusses The Curious Corpse, the latest title in his Father Ananda murder-mystery series, published by Hong Kong-based Crime Wave Press.

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Indie Spotlight: Nicki Chen

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko interviews Nicki Chen about her debut novel, Tiger Tail Soup: a novel of China at war.  When the first bombs fall, An Lee is pregnant and her husband is missing. He won't be home for another seven years. It's up to An Lee to protect her family. Surrounded by the Japanese military, An Lee struggles to survive, enduring hunger, loneliness, and fear. Then, on December 7, 1941, the enemy invades and occupies their little island on the coast of China, and An Lee's strength is put to the test…

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Seen Elsewhere: Discussion Of The Man Booker Shortlist

I wanted to give links to coverage of the Man Booker shortlist by publications within Asia - but it seems to have received very little coverage in our part of the globe. But here are a couple of pieces you may find interesting.

Is this the most diverse lineup ever?: The Guardian (UK)

Doom and gloom make the cut: International Business Times (headquartered in the USA.)

If you want to follow the betting odds click here.

Jackie Collins Dies

It has just been announced that Jackie Collins, the internationally bestselling author of Hollywood tales, who was particularly successful in the 1980s, has died overnight of breast cancer. See here for coverage by People magazine -  no doubt many more obituaries and tributes will appear today. 

Blog Spot

Each week I invite the administrator of a relevant and interesting-sounding blog to write a paragraph. This week, nobody has been in touch, and so there is no Blog Spot. A pity. Do you run a blog you think may be of interest to readers of Asian Books Blog, and which you’d like to see featured here?  If so, please get in touch, preferably via e-mail -asianbooksblog@gmail.com. Thanks. If you don't run a relevant blog, but you know somebody who does, perhaps you could pass the message on?  Again, thanks.

Twitter Spot

Each week I make a suggestion of an interesting Twitter account you may like to follow.  This week, Asia House, @asiahouseuk.  Asia House is based in London. Its mission is to bring the UK and Asia closer through business, policy, politics, arts and cultural events. It hosts an annual literary festival, and is active in promoting literature of Asian interest.

*A rojak is a Singaporean salad. Like Asian Books Blog on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter: @asianbooksblog

Lion City Lit: We Rose Up Slowly by Jon Gresham

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores what’s going on in the City-State, lit-wise. Here Jon Gresham talks about We Rose Up Slowly, his debut collection of short stories, published by Math Paper Press, a local publishing house dedicated to promoting poetry and literary fiction. It is run by the same people who run BooksActually, an independent book shop which is well-known in Singapore.

Just Quickly

The Man Booker Prize for fiction 2015 shortlist is revealed here. 

Published Today: Dancing Through Red Dust by Murong Xuecun

About the book

Dancing Through Red Dust tells the story of lawyer Wei Da, who is forced to go on the run after an accident leaves his girlfriend’s blackmailing ex-lover dead. He destroys evidence, hides his assets and plans to flee China but his desperate bid for freedom ends in anguish when he is arrested and sent to the notorious Cao River Remand Centre.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, and round ups:

3 Parallel Artworlds: 100 Art Things from Chinese Modern History, Chang Tsong-Zung and Gao Shiming, editors reviewed by Eric Wear
Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom by Andrew Duff reviewed by Sinead Ferris
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan reviewed by Peter Gordon
Japanese Literature: From Murasaki to Murakami by Marvin Marcus reviewed by Todd Shimoda
Outside reading: links to essays and articles on India, Indonesia, China 
The Raj at War: A People’s History of India’s Second World War by Yasmin Khan reviewed by Nigel Collett
Out to Work: Migration, Gender, and the Changing Lives of Rural Women in Contemporary China by Arianne M Gaetano reviewed by SY Koh
The Burden of Being Burmese, Poems by Ko Ko Thett reviewed by Peter Gordon
Modern Ink: The Art of Xugu by Chen Siyuan, Craig L. Yee, Jung Ying Tsao and edited by Britta Erickson with J. May Lee Barrett reviewed by Juan Jose Morales

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Just Quickly...

You may be interested in this piece I wrote for the UK Telegraph, on book subscription services for expats, if so click here.

Indie Spotlight: Translation opportunities for indie authors

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko explains how to get indie titles translated.

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

See you in September

I am closing the blog for August as I am spending the month travelling, and it's too difficult to keep posting from boats, trains, airports, hotel rooms, etc. The blog will resume on Sunday, September 6. In the meantime: happy reading!

Indie Spotlight: Malika Gandhi

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our indie correspondent Siobhan Daiko talks to Malika Gandhi, who was born in Mumbai, and who writes historical fiction making cross-cultural connections.

Can you tell me something about your debut novel, Freedom of the Monsoon?

The novel is set during the struggle for independence: the British Raj needs to go and the Indians must have their country back. It lets readers re-live the determination of Indians fighting against the British, by following five individuals as they face fear, love, sacrifice and hate.  

Man Booker Prize 2015 longlist

I’m never sure what to make of longlists for literary prizes – it’s quite a chasm between being on a list and winning a prize, even when the list is the shortlist. But for what it’s worth the longlist for the GPB 50,000 Man Booker Prize was announced yesterday, in London.

Published Today: New Asia Now

49 authors under 45 from across Asia have today been published in a themed edition of the Griffith Review, one of Australia’s leading literary magazines. Griffith Review 49: New Asia Now, edited by Julianne Schultz and Jane Camens, and published in parallel with an edition of  Asia Literary Review, takes a journey through the region’s diversity, featuring a new generation of literary stars.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, and round ups:

Murder with Bengali Characteristics by Shovon Chowdhury reviewed by Peter Gordon
China’s Forgotten Peoples: Xinjiang, Terror and the Chinese State by Nick Holdstock reviewed by Joshua Bird
A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator’s Rise to Power by Paul Fischer reviewed by Glyn Ford
Picturing Technology in China: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century by Peter J Golas reviewed byJuan José Morales

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Lion City Lit: Exploring South Asian Identity, by Verena Tay

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores what’s going on in the City-State, lit-wise. Here, Verena Tay talks about the South Asia Literary Salon, organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. It was chaired by Meira Chand and took place earlier this month.

Authors at Ubud

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, which runs this year from 28 October until November 1, has announced some of the authors, artists and thinkers who will attend.  More names will follow in August, but for the now, this is the list: