Two SFnovelists on a day in Malacca (aka Melaka)

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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One of the disadvantages of being a SFF writer in Malaysia is that I usually have a long way to travel before I bump into another genre writer. It gets lonely sometimes. So when I noticed a blog post heading over at SFNovelists in the sidebar that said: “I am in Malaysia” I was ecstatic. The blog belonged to Maria V. Snyder, the NY Times bestselling auhor of Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study; now also Storm Glass and Sea Glass.

So of course, I cheekily contacted her (I had never met her – our sole contact had been through the SFNovelists site) and arranged to take her down to Melaka for the day, and to deliver her back to the airport where she would meet her husband and fly back home.

Above is Maria, looking remarkably cool in spite of 90+ degree temperatures and 90% humidity.

And here are some of the photos of old Melaka – a city that still has structures standing from the Portuguese era (they arrived in 1511) and where the old Dutch town square still stands. Above are some of the ornate Baba Chinese shophouses, below an interesting shop front.

Below: A shop specialising in wooden & bamboo & rattan handicrafts
Below: An old Muslim tomb and Chinese architecture, side by side
Below: a decorated trishaw or beca.

Below: the Malacca river. In its heyday, the late middle ages and for a while afterwards, it was the major port of the region, controlling the commerce through the Straits of Malacca by virtue of its position. The river is now largely silted up and it is hard to imagine what it must have looked like as a bustling port of godowns and traders…it was subsequently superceded by Penang and Singapore.And on the town square, what used to be the Dutch Reform Church before being appropriated by the Brits. That red colour is an approximation of the original colour of all the Dutch public buildings here.

I had a wonderful day – talking writing with a talented, successful novelist and at the same time pottering around an interesting old city, collecting ideas…my idea of heaven.

Poor Maria, though – she had a 37 hour journey ahead of her just to get home!

Writing to win a race – how mad is that?

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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The process of writing is a lonely business. No one shares your chair in front of the computer screen – in fact if anyone talks to you, you are liable to get bad tempered at having your concentration broken.

It’s no wonder, then, that sometimes it seems hard to stay with it…writing…writing…writing while other people are watching something exciting on TV or chatting about interesting things or going out or reading a good book.

Knowing there are two other people out there, trying to do exactly what I am doing, to produce the same number of words (30,000) over the same period of time (15 days), seems to help. The fact that there is a G&T or a cup of coffee riding on the winner (the one to get to the 30,000 first) helps too.

So thanks Carol and Helen.

I made 2,850 words today, the fourth day of those 15. My overall total is 8,330, so I am ahead of the curve. Not bad seeing as I took one whole day off. And these last 4 days have been much more productive than a heck of a lot of the days that preceded them.

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Malaysia’s first science fiction and fantasy club?

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Today I went to the “Why-Isn’t-There-an-SFF-Bookclub” bookclub meeting. That’s right, Malaysia now has an SFF bookclub, which – who knows – might one day expand into an actual society and … be running an SFF convention? Hey, let’s set our sights high, ok? In the meantime it’s just a way of getting together to discuss a common interest in SFF books and comics once a month.

You can see the facebook site here and the group’s blog here.

So if you are a genre lover, live around KL and want to join, why not? It’s free!

I went along, didn’t know anyone, and now have three new friends. Yes, there were only 4 of us altogether, (although there are over 20 members on facebook,) but it was a great discussion of “Air” by Geoff Ryman, lots of serious chat, lots of laughs, and a good time had by all. Many many thanks to Maxine and Alina and Zen Cho for starting this.

Clairvoyante et Guérisseur, Les Isles Glorieuses

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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News for French speakers:

The first two volumes of Les Isles Glorieuses are available now.
Volume 1, Clairvoyante (The Aware) was published before, by J’ai Lu, but they have now passed the publication of the trilogy to a sister imprint, Pygmalion.

As a consequence, we have a new look and reissue of Clairvoyante, below, and there’s Guérisseur ( Gilfeather) above.
For non-French speakers, guérisseur means healer.
Love those covers!! Je les adore, vraiment…

Unfortunately, I don’t know who the artist is, but the books are translated by Mélanie Fazi.

The race is on…

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Carol Ryles and I are racing.
First to write 30,000 words wins and buys the other a beverage of choice when we meet in real time (which will probably be at a convention somewhere).
As Carol seems to be able to write 3,000 words a day, is aiming to complete 30,000 in 15 days and has survived Clarion, I think she’ll probably win hands down.

I do hope she isn’t a connoisseur of expensive fine wines or champagne…

For teachers/librarians who want to promote reading.

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Just came across a review of The Last Stormlord which looks at it more from a “can we learn anything from it” perspective.

True, the waterless background was there because I think it is a real possibility for the future, especially in parts of Australia, Africa and America, but basically I just wanted to write an unputdownable (is there such a word?) tale. So I am glad the reviewer ended the review with “a most enjoyable read”!

The blog site is called ReadPlus, a superb resource for Australian teachers and librarians. I wouldn’t advise anyone taking a look at the review if they intended to read the book for their own pleasure, as it is aimed at giving teachers an idea of the book’s suitability for kids – and more or less gives away a lot of the plot.

If you are a teacher/librarian, though, go read the review and see if you think it is something your kids would like to read.

Apart from saying what it is about, the reviewer (Mark Knight) says:

(Ages 12+) Glenda Larke has done what should have been more than obvious to many: she’s created a world where water is the most valued commodity. It is controlled and regulated by the state and not just water but the rain and where it falls.
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The use of water as the ultimate resource is timely. There are already alarm bells ringing in Australia about water supply and like many in the Scarpen Quarter, who control the rain, complacency seems to take precedence over action. Glenda Larke has drawn her characters well, there is enough depth of emotion in them all to be believably human and enough insight into their various roles to see the reason behind their differing view points. A most enjoyable (600+ page) read.

The bit that really tickled me was this, right at the end:
I hope she (the author) doesn’t run out of steam in what I presume will be a trilogy.

So do I, Mark, so do I. Lol…
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Where did the idea of pedes come from?

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Another question from Jo: Where did the idea for pedes come from?
And here’s the answer (and remember these are just what gave me the idea):

So the answer is: the Malaysian rainforest.
And if you haven’t seen that, you’d better hurry up because it is almost all gone. Even that which is protected is fast losing its biodiversity to poachers and indifference of most of the populace.

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If you don’t understand Jo’s question, then you must read The Last Stormlord!
Go on, you know you want to…
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Hardback or paperback?

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Jo asked a couple of questions on the comments section of the last post, and here’s the answer to one of them:

Why do some books come out in hardback and others in paperback?

And with paperbacks, why is the size different? Why sometimes in “trade” paperback, that’s the larger sized paperback; or A format – the smallest size?

The first thing you have to understand is that this is never the choice of the author. We take what we can get. The publishers make this decision and it’s based on economics – commercial reasons, i.e. what is going to make them the most money.

It would be rare these days for a first-time fantasy author to come out with their first book in hardback. It can happen – but rarely. The publisher wants to be sure they have a success on their hands before they produce a more expensive edition. Yes, they can sell a hardback for more money, but the profit is going to come from numbers, and they can lose more too if they don’t reach the magical break-even number of sales. Trade paperbacks are inbetween – yes, they will cost more, but once again the profits are better as long as you get the right number of sales.

So they want an author with a proven track record for sales before they will opt for trade pb or hardback. This is why you sometimes see a trilogy start as a paperback with book 1, it sells like hot cakes, and book two is out as a trade paperback or even a hardback – and you have to wait and wait for that mass market paperback which will match your copy of book 1.

Got that?

Of course, there are exceptions. A publisher might want to throw a lot of money at a new author they think is going to be a hit, and in a way this can be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Put the book in hardback, buy space at the front of the bookstore, advertise a lot – and you up the chances of having a best seller.

Every author wants to be in trade or hardback because they get more per book too. And they get a second round because the book will be re-issued in a mass paperback, at least if it was a hardback first.

And why are people prepared to pay more and buy that hardback? Because they guess it will be a “keeper”(a book you will re-read and/or pass on the the kids) and hardbacks keep better (they usually have better paper as well as better binding). And maybe because they can’t wait for the paperback to come out – they want that particular story from that particular author now!

Topical books that are going to be quickly out of date are usually paperbacks; textbooks that will keep going for years are usually hardbacks.

Children’s books are often hardbacks because kids are hard on books… I suspect YA are more often paperbacks because they are easily stuffed in a bag and read anywhere. (Just guessing with that last one though.)

So when a fantasy author comes out in hardback, you can be pretty sure they are popular and sell well. And same with trade paperbacks – the author is probably doing better than the one who never sees a trade. The USA is fonder of the really small size pb than UK or Oz. No idea why.

We authors also believe that when your name is bigger than the title, then you are becoming a “brand” – i.e., your name is a big factor in the selling books, not just what the book is about.

Note: compare The Last Stormlord, Oz cover v. UK cover, over in the sidebar. I am better known in Oz – and the name is larger than the title. It never used to be!
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