Asian Echoes

2011-02-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

I was greatly disturbed by this book.

You see, according to Rory Miller, author of Violence: A Writer's Guide, I’m a nice guy. Just one of the vast majority of ordinary folk who avoid conflict and know nothing about real violent behaviour. That means that probably I don’t do anything above merely manipulating people to get what I want (according to Rory Miller, indirect violence such as subtle manipulation and coercion, is still violence - just not violence that causes bodily harm). Any level of violence above that, including aggressive, assaultive and murderous behaviour would (and probably should) disturb me.

And that was the author’s point.

I found this book because I am writing wuxia – Chinese martial arts fiction, and I was doing research. Aside from a few schoolyard fights and a few years of Karate, I have very little experience. And aside from a few short chapters in writing books and a few web pages, there is very little solid information out there about writing action scenes*. So when I happened to find this little book at Smashwords, I was intrigued immediately. Now, just by the description I knew this was not going to help me with my martial arts fiction. The author is writing about realistic fights, not stylized, choreographed action sequences. But I needed a baseline for my own writing plus, I have other stories which rely on realism in fight scenes, so I put down the $5.00 for a PDF copy of the book.

I was not disappointed.

The author cuts through the bull**** and tells it like it is in simple, sometimes grammatically incorrect, language. The book looks and reads like it was slammed out in first draft in MS Word. It barely goes over 80 pages. But that is enough for the author to give the reader everything he needs to know about the world (professional and otherwise) of violence and violent behaviour. With his credentials, he does appear to know what he is talking about. Whether he is correct or not remains to be seen (but I wouldn’t suggest trying this stuff at home). He gives the reader a bleak and uncompromising look at the world of violence and even gives readers dire warnings about how real life muggers and crack-addled street thugs think (or don't, depending on your point of view).

The author then goes on to describe various weapons from blunt force weapons and knives to guns. He discusses how each are used and the mindset you have to be in to use such weapons. The book also points to several online resources such as real life videos (The Russian Mugging video is brutal and not for the faint of heart) or extra online material from his own website. It is all there to hammer home the idea that the violence we see on television and the movies and read about in books is vastly different from reality.

And why did he write such a book? In the penultimate chapter of the book, the author goes on a rant and discusses what bugs him about books and movies that "get it wrong". He even describes Hannibal Lechter as a scary bogeyman, but hardly a realistic portrayal of a psychopath. He wants writers to understand what real combat is like and how real fighters and killers think.

After that, it’s up to us as writers to pick up the mantle and write realistic fight sequences in our stories. Should you buy this book? If you are a writer who writes fight scenes, yes, certainly. Writers are immersive. We try very hard to understand the human condition and write about it. So if someone who purports to know what real violence is like, I would certainly give him a try. Just be prepared for some disturbing information. Whether you use these ideas is up to the individual writer.

So now that I know the facts, will I heed his words? For martial arts fiction, not likely. That is the stuff of heroic fantasy and I’ll probably continue the fictional dance. I imagine many other writers will do the same in whatever field they are writing because sometimes realism gets in the way of good storytelling. But in the back of my mind, at least I finally have a baseline of realism to fall back on for my other projects.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll heed his warnings and understand how a real street thug’s mind works.

*If you can point me to a great resource on writing martial arts or action scenes (online or in a book) please direct me there. I would certainly appreciate it.

Con-Version 26 Retrospective

2010-10-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Conversion 26 has come and gone. I could take the time to dissect it, to let you know what I thought was good and bad about it, but I think I'll take a different approach. Here was what I thought was noteworthy, from my point of view, about the Con. I’ll let others do the autopsy (bones, bugs and all):

• Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo standup routine with both of them playing their Star Trek: Voyager characters. Wonderful performances.
• Hamburger and hotdogs for a banquet meal.
• A red-faced Ron Friedman and actress/songstress Chase Masterson and no photos.
• Seeing H.A. Hargreaves and family for the first time in 30 years. He received his Aurora Pin for his Aurora nomination in the early 1980’s.
• H.A. Hargreaves accepting Rigor Amortis, the anthology with my first short story publication, 30 years after he signed a copy of his book of collected short stories.
• Literary Panels. Feeling inadequate on those panels.
• Robert J. Sawyer. Surprise, surprise, surprise. He was here and he’s a friends with Chase Masterson.
• Meeting Marina Sirtis and John deLancie in person.
• Hugs from Brian Hades and the rest of the Edge Books group.
• Finding out that Rigor Amortis can go mainstream as an Edge Books imprint for distribution in regular book seller channels. All we have to do is sell 600 copies … soon.
• Getting advice about Worldbuilding from David B. Coe.
• The Dalek. And Dr. Who.
• Reading my story in Rigor Amortis aloud to an audience for the first time.
• Rene Bennett’s flash fiction story that won Writer’s Idol. Wonderful. And she wrote it the night before.
• Weregeek.
• My creative writing teacher, Betty Jane Hegerat, has read my story in Rigor Amortis. And she liked it. What a wonderful feeling.
• IFWA’s Monster Mash.
• Actually getting some much-needed sleep throughout the Con.
• Sentry Box (and all other bookstores in the city) running out of David B. Coe’s first book in his fantasy series Winds of the Forelands.
• Pho. And Denny’s. And Humpty’s.
• Free drinks at the Con Suite.

This Week’s Reason to Read:

Under Heaven: If you haven’t been paying attention to Canadian Spec Fic, then you don’t know that the incomparable Guy Gavriel Kay has published his next novel set in a world inspired by the glory and power of Tang Dynasty China.

In the novel, Shen Tai is the son of a general who led the forces of imperial Kitai in the empire's last great war against its western enemies, twenty years before. Forty thousand men, on both sides, were slain by a remote mountain lake. General Shen Gao himself has died recently, having spoken to his son in later years about his sadness in the matter of this terrible battle.

To honour his father's memory, Tai spends two years in official mourning alone at the battle site by the blue waters of Kuala Nor. Each day he digs graves in hard ground to bury the bones of the dead. At night he can hear the ghosts moan and stir, terrifying voices of anger and lament. Sometimes he realizes that a given voice has ceased its crying, and he knows that is one he has laid to rest.

The dead by the lake are equally Kitan and their Taguran foes; there is no way to tell the bones apart, and he buries them all with honour.

It is during a routine supply visit led by a Taguran officer who has reluctantly come to befriend him that Tai learns that others, much more powerful, have taken note of his vigil...

It's Here, Reanimated and Better with Zombies!!!

2010-10-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, how time flies. Two years since my last post. Lots has changed. Technology has changed (I love my iPad but I'm writing this blog on a netbook - soon to have Scriviner) and the book market has changed (e-books are all the rage). Well, my online sabbatical ends now.

First, the good news. I can now call myself a published writer. My first published short story, "Travelling a Corpse Over a Thousand Li" appears in the zombie romance anthology, Rigor Amortis. The book is published by Absolute Xpress, a small imprint of Edge Books. It was released today and can be purchased at Amazon.com (not Amazon.ca ... yet). The book cover appears at the side. More to come, of course. I've been working on quite a bit over the past two years.

Let's see...I've got a first draft of my novel, "The Last Miko" done. It is currently in re-write. I've got two short stories on the go as well - both for short story anthologies. I hope at least one of them sells.

In the meantime, I am judging for the Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Contest (both High School and Adult level) which is being judged at ConVersion 26 (which I have previously placed first and third), critiquing stories for the Conversion 26 workshop and prepping for my first author reading at Pages in Kensington on Wednesday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. More info to come when I know more.

Whew. And on top of that, I'm going to have more "Reasons to Read" - all Asian fantasy or Asian fiction by other authors. If you've been paying attention, the first fantasy novel will be obvious. If not, well, wait until next week.

Am I the only one who is bothered by this?

2008-11-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm a bit late here. This offer just expired. Still, it is representative of a lot of deals Chapters/Indigo offers to their iReward customers.

Take a look at the coupon on offer here. It allows you to take 10% off any book in the store. That’s good.

But if you are an iReward card holder, you get 20%. That’s even better, right?

It is if you actually GOT 20%. In reality, you get 19%.

To figure out how, you have to look at your bill. The bill takes 10% off the top as you would expect from the deal. No problem there. But then, iReward card members get an additional 10% off the discounted price, not 10% off the original price. The latter would give the iReward card holder 20%. The former nets 19%. Chapters/Indigo saves themselves 1%.

So, if you spend $40.00 on books and you have a iRewards card, you would get 10% off ($4.00 off) for a discounted price of $36.00. With the iRewards card, you get an additional 10% off ($3.60) for a grand discounted total of $32.40 – a difference of 40 cents, which is exactly 19% off the original price – not 20%.

Now, if Chapters/Indigo had hedged their bets and said “iRewards card holders get an additional 10% off”, I probably won’t have much to quibble about. But they don’t. They make a blanket statement that iRewards card holders get 20%. It isn’t even mentioned in the fine print.

I know what you’re thinking. iRewards members are still getting a substantial discount and in the example above, all I am doing is quibbling over 40 cents. That’s very true. On an individual basis, my complaint is only over small dollar amounts. It’s probably the reason most people just suck it up. Even on a $100 purchase (pretty easy to do these days), you’re still only talking about a loonie.

But, taken at the corporate level, Chapters/Indigo makes an additional $10,000 for every $1,000,000 in books they sell. That’s more than chump change. If we take Indigo’s 2008 second quarter profits (I couldn’t find Chapters) of $191 Million dollars and use that to figure out what they might get, that comes out to be over $600,000.00. Now not all of those sales are from iRewards holders or even books, but if a third of it was, that is $200,000 in extra profit (not revenue) they would not have had if they calculated things properly.

So, is saying you get 20% and then only giving 19% in discounts still not a problem? I would like to hear your comments.

This Week's Reason to Read: Shimura Trouble by Sujata Massey - Alas, this is the 10th and the final book in the long-running mystery series which combines Japanese culture and murder mysteries and spins it with a little romance. I always found the series to be a light entertaining romp. The series took a turn several books ago and has never looked back. Now, the series last book is finally available in trade paperback, which should make it easier on the pocketbook for some. Here is what the publisher says about Shimura Trouble: In Agatha-winner Massey's engaging 10th mystery to feature antiques dealer and part-time spy Rei Shimura (after 2006's Girl in a Box), Rei and her father, who's recovering from a stroke, travel from California to Hawaii for a family celebration with previously unknown Shimura relatives, who turn out to be involved in a legal battle to recover land stolen from them during WWII. An appealing protagonist and memorable supporting characters blend smoothly with lessons in Hawaiian and Japanese history in a tale sure to win new readers for the series.

That's a Rap, Folks - World Fantasy 2008

2008-11-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a whirlwind four days meeting and greeting some of the greatest authors and publishers in the industry. These are the people I aspire to be. The guests of honour included David Morrell (the creator of Rambo was Canadian – go figure), Barbara Hambly and Tom Doherty (the big kahuna at Tor Publications). They were all gracious, friendly and warm. I was fortunate enough to meet these and other extraordinary authors and publishers and get to know them as people. Some, like David Morrell, have inspiring life stories that are more fascinating than the stories they tell, and knowing their life stories helps you understand their work in meaningful ways. It makes me wonder how someone like me, who came into this avocation so late in the day, is going to fare with such luminaries gazing down.

IFWA was well represented too. There were two book launches by Calgary ’s own EDGE publications that featured IFWA writers: Gaslight Grimoires (with Jeff Campbell) and Tesseracts 12 (with Randy McCharles). Many IFWits talked up their latest projects to the powers that be and might even miss the Slush Pile when they send out their work.

To give me hope, publishers all seemed to be saying the same thing: they are looking for anything that is different – including fantasy fiction with an Asian edge. They’re looking for what I’m writing and that gives me hope that I will stand out of the slush pile.

Some Highlights:

- David Morrell’s two hour workshop on the Author’s Voice – the golden orbs of wisdom he gave everyone who showed up were priceless. I found my dominant emotion that night and noticed it throughout my work. It isn’t pretty, but it’s the truth. Now I have to re-read his writing book, The Successful Writer.

- I met new friends and got re-acquainted with many others (John Mansfield – my how your beard has grown).

- “When all else fails, if you can’t make the reader turn the page, at least make sure you don’t end a sentence at the bottom of the page.”

- Kij Johnson’s tattoos. She does rock climbing too. The next novel in her Heian series (The Fox Woman and Fudoki are the first two) is still in the works.

- Canadian Fantasy is not much different than other genres of Canadian literature – they are all stories told with an outsider’s point of view and none of that nasty racism and sexism.

- Gayleen Froese was at a panel. Alas, Ryan States did not attend as well and Gayleen was there for only a few hours. Still, it was great seeing her again.

- Jeremy Lassen of Nightshade Books (publishers of the Inspector Chen series and 9-Tail Fox). It would be very cool to be associated with such an eclectic group.

- There was a lot of Adria spotting and some catch and release, but no definite captures.

- Tad Williams’ speech about “American Fantasy under the glorious regime of President-for-Life Bush” at the Closing Banquet was hilarious. I hope someone got it on film and puts it on You Tube.

- I almost caught the cute and fuzzy Black Death, but did not succumb. I thought about getting the Common Cold, HIV or perhaps the Flu but decided to wait to get them after the Con. Apparently, the Clap was very popular. A couple of IFWits got a Brain Cell to prove to their friends and family that they have one.

Props: My congratulations and thanks go out to everyone at the Con Committee who spent countless hours and countless dollars over the past few years to make such an event possible in Calgary – Randy McCharles (how many more cons next year?), Kim “Running on Adrenalin” Greyson (get some sleep, okay), Cliff Samuels, Danita Maslankowski, Kim Nagata (oh my gosh, the food, the food) and Eileen Capes and all the tireless Con Committee Members and volunteers who contributed to the smooth running of the Con. My hat is off to you all. You have earned a much needed rest.

And now, I’ve got a massive bag of books to sort through. Where to begin … ?

This weeks reason to read: Along with all the luminaries I met at the conference, I also found (or heard about) a lot of Asian fiction that I had not been acquainted with. You can bet that I picked up as much of it as I could. I’ll have more of my findings in the weeks to come. In the meantime, here is one I never expected to find: Yume no Hon (The Book of Dreams) by Catherynne M. Valente. It is the story of a woman, Ayako, who wanders through dreams and myths, receiving lessons from the mountain and the river. Yume No Hon is an internal landscape painted with thoroughly poetic turns of phrase and a slim volume that packs a great deal of punch.

Note: the list of authors writing about a Fantastic Asia keeps getting longer. Thus, I have adjusted the list to your right with updated links to all those authors and what they write. I try and include everybody, but there is a lot of YA that would also fit into these categories as well and I just don’t have the space.

A Writer's Rededication to the Rules

2008-10-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

The Canadian general election is over and the Liberals got the Green Shaft (sorry, couldn't resist). As the Canadian parliament returns to the job of governing, it will have to rejuvenate itself and abide by a new set of rules.

As a writer, now is the best time to rejuvenate myself as well, and abide by the rules of writing. What better place to begin than by looking at William Safire’s Rules. William Safire is the author of the New York Times Magazine column entitled “On Language”. He is also the author of the book “How Not to Write.” In this lighthearted look at grammar and language, William Safire lays out the rules of grammar and then tells us how to break them. I know I’ll be abiding by these rules every day.

If you don’t get what Mr. Safire is trying to accomplish with these rules, you will by the sixth rule.

1. Do not put statements in the negative form.

2. Remember to never split an infinitive.

3. It is incumbent on one to avoid archaisms.

4. The passive voice should never be used.

5. Proofread care- fully to see if you words out.

6. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

7. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

8. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

9. A writer must not shift your point of view.

10. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

11. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!

12. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

13. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

14. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.

15. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.

16. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.

17. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.

18. Always pick on the correct idiom.

19. The adverb always follows the verb.

20. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

This week’s Reason to Read: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Usually, I would recommend the latest Asian fiction novel to introduce to as many people as possible the wide range of Asian-style fiction out there. I had to digress this week because one of my favorite fantasy authors has released a new book in hardcover. Billed as a children’s fantasy, the book is about the graveyard adventures of Nobody Owens, Bod to his friends, who was raised and educated by ghosts and guarded by a being neither living nor dead. There are many dangers in the graveyard, but if Bod ever leaves, he will be attacked by Jack, a man who has already killed Bod’s family. This book sounds like it will be a great addition to any library – great reading before Halloween.

Write Dharma 3 - A Writer Writes, Always

2008-09-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

Family and work have overtaken my time this past few weeks. With the end of summer and the passing of Conversion, it is time once again to re-dedicate myself to my writing. This month, IFWA begins a new year. Aside from new membership fees being due, a new Writing Contract will be written by all IFWA members.

My own goal is to finish up Jiang Shi this weekend. Aside from that, I want to write every day ... and when the brags come up next month, I want to be able to say I did just that. I will write even if it is for five minutes a day (fiction and this blog counts - my job is contract writing so that doesn't count - it's much too technical).

I am trying a new technique with Jiang Shi. I want it to read like a movie, so I am doing it as a screenplay first. After that is done, then I will make it into a short story. Wish me luck.

This week's Reason to Read: Heaven’s Net is Wide by Lian Hearn – When I was first introduced to Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori, I was quite skeptical. The first tale came across as being wish-fulfillment. But there were aspects of Ms. Hearn’s writing that kept me turning pages, least of which was her detailed descriptions of all things Japanese (even though this is set in a mythical Japan, the influence of Japan is clear).

The trilogy, which began with Across the Nightengale Floor eventually expanded with two more books - a sequel and a prequel. These two novels are bookends to the original trilogy. Now, the last book, Heaven’s Net is Wide, the prequel book, is available in paperback. If you have not yet entered the strange and mythical world of Hearn’s Three Countries, you owe yourself the trip.

How Green is My Grammar?

2008-08-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Even after writing for the last few years, I cannot say I'm an expert at English grammar. I'm not bad and I've internalized most of the rules of grammar. But don't ask me to conjugate verbs. That would be painful. Sometimes, what I need is the grammar police, but aside from an IFWA member, they don't really exist.

Or do they?

Jeff Deck and Ben Herson of the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) have been travelling throughout the United States stamping out as many types as they can find "in public signage and other venues where innocent eyes may be befouled by vile stains on the delicate fabric of our language." You can see a map of their travels by clicking on the link to their website.

In an interview, Jeff Deck said he has had a passion for eradicating typos since he was young and with this tour hopes to raise awareness of typos. He also said the most frequent typo he finds is the misuse of the apostrophe.

Not everybody values their form of public service. On August 11th, they plead guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property in Grand Canyon National Park when they used white out and permanent marker to correct a typo on a historical sign that was painted over years ago. They were sentenced to a year's probation and banned from National Parks for the period of one year.

During that year, it would be amusing if the members of TEAL travelled through China correcting the grammar on "Chinglish" signs. Although the Chinese government tried hard to exterminate Chinglish signs for the Olympics, I'm sure a few like the one shown here got missed.

This week's Reason to Read: The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer. The author of Madame Sadayakko: the Geisha that Seduced the West and other non-fiction works about Japan has finally written a novel about Japan. The Last Concubine is an epic novel about Japan in the 19th century. Sachi is only 15 years old when she is given to the Shogun as his concubine. She escapes amidst civil war after the Black Ships arrive and she begins a journey of self-discovery.

Write Dharma 2 – There’s Something About Ami

2008-08-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Conversion Writer’s Workshop and had part of the novel I am working on, The Last Miko critiqued. The workshop was a fantastic experience and I got a large number of good crits for my novel. I also have a lot of thinking to do. It was our facilitator who gave me the bombshell.

He said that every writer has two minds: a craft/technique mind and an artistic/muse mind. Writers who are good at craft will write competently and formulaically, whereas writers who are good artistically will surprise. You can’t craft surprise. The best writers, the ones who are recognized for their work, use both minds. He said I am a good craft mind writer (like himself) but I seem to be pulling punches. I had to put a sharp edge into my writing. In other words, I had to let my artistic mind take over once in a while.

I know what he means. I don’t often let my artistic mind take over because I am so focused on craft and I don’t really trust my muse. But when I do, sometimes, I do something right.

Case in point: Ami. More than one person, in fact half of the workshop participants, said they loved Ami. Not liked, loved. Ami had a short, five page appearance in Chapter 2. I didn’t do much with her either. She was a foil for the main point of view character. Yet they loved her? She was amazing. They cared for her. I was quite taken aback by these comments. Then someone asked me how I did it. How did I get everyone to care so deeply about her in so few words?

The answer: I don’t know. Ami came out of nowhere. I originally wrote her in an earlier draft of Chapter 2 but then scrapped the whole thing and started fresh – new setting, new characters, new plot. The draft I submitted to the workshop hadn’t even been polished. I guess I discovered the diamond at the core of Chapter 2 and her name is Ami. And I still don’t know what I did right.

The only thing I can think of is that my muse was kind to me that day.

This Week’s Reason to Read:Shanghai by David Rotenberg

Most noted for his Zhong Fong mysteries (also set in Shanghai), Canadian author David Rotenberg has written a thick, page turner of a book that will remind readers of the Clavell's novels Shogun and Tai Pan. The novel centers around two families, both descendents of Emperor Qin, the first Emperor of China, locked in a multi-generational feud. This is not-to-be-missed reading.

All Eyes Trained On Beijing

2008-08-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

The Eye of Jade
by Diane Wei Liang

Rating: ***

Culture Shock: ****

To celebrate Beijing’s 2008 Olympics, for the next two weeks I am going to review novels set in modern day China. This is the first.

Although you may not be aware of this, but there are quite a few English language mystery novels featuring hard-boiled Chinese detectives. Two that come to mind are Zhong Fong by Canadian author David Rotenberg and Inspector Chen by Qiu Xiaolong. Both of these detectives are male and both work, for good or ill, within the confines of the Communist system in Shanghai .

The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang gives us a new protagonist in this otherwise brutal profession: a female private detective living in Beijing. Mei Wang, a former member of the Communist Party’s Ministry for Public Security opens her own private detective agency against the wishes of her sister and her mother, both whom feel she doesn’t have enough guanxi, or contacts, to make it in business. She is far from being a hard-boiled style of detective, though she does ply through the seedy streets of Beijing. Instead, she represents the clash of cultures; the battle which is going on in modern China everyday. She is a modern, female capitalist finding her way through the maze of China’s Communist traditions.

I enjoyed reading this book. It does not read like a conventional mystery novel. After introducing us to Mei, it meanders through her life taking us on a trip into her past and to her sister wedding before plunging us into the main mystery involving her uncle's request to find the Eye of Jade, a jade seal lost during the Cultural Revolution.

When the plots do run into each other, the collision is satisfying and says a lot about life in modern China . Some readers might get frustrated waiting for so long for the author to get to the point, but the details about Chinese society under Communist rule and good character development will keep the astute reader turning the pages.

This book is an easy and breezy read for the summer cottage. I await the second Mei Wang novel, Paper Butterfly, due out in May, 2009.

Rating: ***

Culture Shock: **** Details about guanxi and life in modern China are well detailed and easy to understand.

This Week's Reason to Read: The Ancient Ship by Zhang Wei

Originally published in 1987, two years before the Tiananmen Square protests, Zhang Wei's award-winning novel is the story of three generations of the Sui, Zhao, and Li families following the creation of the People's Republic in 1949. It is a bold examination of a society in turmoil, the struggle of oppressed people to control their own fate, and the clash between tradition and modernization. Translated into English for the very first time, The Ancient Ship is a revolutionary work of Chinese fiction that speaks to people across the globe. It was released to Canadian booksellers on August 8, 2008, just in time for the Beijing Olympics.

I Am Rich...This Icon Tells Me So

2008-08-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Asians have a reputation for loving their cellular phones. You would be hard pressed not to see an Asian texting furiously or talking incessantly for hours on the latest cellular gadget. And the rates for using them in China are among the cheapest I have ever seen (The equivalent of $20.00 a month for 1000 "anytime" hours in Hong Kong - and that was 3 years ago. I am sure prices have changed since).

Blackberries have simply upped the ante. If you use a Blackberry, it tells the world that you must be somebody - a business mogul on the go who is so important that he must be connected to his office at all times.

So, it comes as no surprise that somebody thought of selling this icon (pictured here) as an App (short for Application) for Apple's new iPhone and iPod Touch. It says "I am Rich" below the picture of the glowing red jewel. Created by Armin Heinrich, it is a work of art that costs $999.00.

What does it do? Nothing. He's not trying to scam you either. It does nothing and he tells you up front. It's just a one square centemeter status symbol that reminds you and tells the world that you are rich enough to buy it. Well, at least someone is getting rich from it.

Oh, and if you press the icon, it will show you a secret mantra that will help you stay rich and healthy.

Mine says: "I wasn't born yesterday."

Japanese Shark Tank

2008-08-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Shinjuku Shark by Arimasa Osawa

Rating: ****

Culture Shock: *****

Summary: Jump the shark and discover Japanese noir at its finest in the first of a long-running series of mystery novels to be translated into English.

A few years ago I toured Japan with Intrepid Travel (plug, plug). While in Tokyo, managed to cajole my wife into Kinokuniya, the Japanese equivalent of Chapters/Indigo or Barnes and Noble. This mega-bookstore in Shinjuku was five stories tall with one floor dedicated to manga. When you bought a book, no matter how small, the cashiers took the time to wrap the book in a Kinokuniya book jacket and then wrap it again in tissue paper before handing it to you in a bag. It’s all about the aesthetics I suppose. I still have the book jackets.

As I was staring in awe, I found a small shelf of English language books. On it was a collection of the most popular English language best sellers by the likes Stephen King and JK Rowling and Tom Clancy. There was nothing by such literary luminaries as Margaret Atwood. And it got me to thinking – is this how the Japanese perceive English language books? Are the likes of the most popular writers in the English language world the only window into English literature?

The same could be asked of Japanese literature. What do we get as a window into Japanese society? The most popular books out there are manga. I would dare say that this is not entirely the best way to see what Japan is really like on the literary front. Well, then along comes Vertigo books which publishes translations of Japan ’s most popular novels that were not written by Haruki Murakami. Koji Suzuki (author of Ringu and its sequals), Natsuo Kirino (Out and Real World) and other popular Japanese authors are now gracing American bookstore shelves. They provide at least a peak into what the Japanese literary world is like.

One hopes that Arimasa Osawa is a name that will also stay on North American books shelves (I got my copy on Amazon though).

Shinjuku Shark is Arimasa Osawa’s first book in a series of noir detective novels. Published in English by Vertical Books, this series of best-selling crime fiction has won numerous awards including Japan’s Naoki Prize and has been made into films – all Japanese of course. After a decade and a half of acclaim in Japan , this series has finally made it to North American shelves. I had to get it on Amazon, but at least I got it and now that I know the second one (Poison Ape) is coming in October, I will look out for it.

Samejima is the quintessential noir detective – tough as nails with a strict, uncompromising moral code and living in a corrupt system that wants him dead, or at least silenced, for what he knows. Samejima (whose name loosely translates into ‘shark’) must find out who is killing cops and his investigation will lead him through the seedy streets of Shinjuku home to criminals, corrupt cops, streetwalkers and Yakuza. Samejima grabs you by the throat from the first page and doesn’t let go until the last. His character and his relationship with the young pop singer Sho will keep you turning pages.

And that was enough for me to recommend this book. However, there were parts of the novel that did not engage me. Some parts might work for a Japanese audience, but did not work for me and may not work for a North American audience. For instance, there are several short chapters seen from the point of view of the unnamed killer. The reader gets insight into what is going on in the killer’s mind. But for me, it wasn’t engaging enough. There was little or no interplay between Samejima and the killer nor was there enough information to get insight into the killer’s motivation (at least not until the last couple of chapters) so as a study in the criminal mind, I found it lacking.

Also, there was a lot of backstory regarding Samejima and the secrets he knows near the beginning of the book. This extended infodump slowed the pace of the book considerably and may turn some readers off. Much of the information imparted to the reader did not have any bearing on the current mystery. It did reveal a lot about the character of Samejima and where he comes from, but did not add to the air of mystery surrounding the cop killings. I imagine a lot of this is set up for the inevitable translations of the sequals, the first (Poison Ape) which is due this December.

So my recommendation is to jump the shark and discover Japanese noir at its finest in this, the first of a long-running series of mystery novels to be translated into English.

Culture Shock: ***** Arimasa describes Shinjuku and Tokyo in very sparse terms. This is probably because it was written for a Japanese audience who would be familiar with the locations mentioned in this book. Intimate knowledge of these places and terms is not necessary but trying to figure them all out might cause vertigo.

Write Dharma 1

2008-08-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

These are comments and updates on projects I am currently working on:

Snow on Red Leaves: my latest try at a samurai short story was not accepted into the final five of the Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Contest this year. I made it into the contest for the past two years and won last year with Happy Valley. But my “no hat trick” rule still seems to be in effect (I can’t seem to three-peat anything. Two in a row is my upper limit it seems. Such is my karma). To be fair, there were over 30 entries this year and I was very close according to the pre-judges. However, there were still issues regarding character motivation which I have yet to work out. I received similar crits shortly before Christmas and I thought I added just enough to it, but obviously not enough. A few more tweaks and I’ll start sending it out to markets.

Current Short Projects include Jiang Shi, a story with Chinese vampires. Yes, Hopping Vampires. I plan to have this finished up this week and start editing this month. I want to send it in to Tesseracts 13 for the October 31st deadline. I need at least a crit or two before doing so, so I have a tight deadline. I am also working on Sorcerazzi, another modern day fantasy.

This Week’s Reason to Read: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami was released in hard cover last week. It is a memoir about writing and running by Japan ’s award winning author. Murakami’s other books include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After Dark and Kafka on the Shore.

An Asian in America

2008-07-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang

Rating: ****

Culture Shock: *** There are references to the Monkey King and Journey to the West.

Summary: A masterfully written tale told with humour about what it was like growing up Chinese in America.

In an early scene in Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel, young Jin Wang waits patiently for his mother while watching his aunt do accounting on an abacus. They strike up a conversation and she asks what he would like to be when he grows up. Jin answers “a Transformer” and holds up his toy robot as illustration. His aunt ominously tells him that he could become anything he wanted as long as he sold his soul.

Unbeknownst to young Jin, this innocent conversation would be pivotal to his understanding of himself and his place in Middle America. It also reminded me a lot of my own childhood which is why this simple and well-crafted graphic novel affected me so much. When I was a lot younger, I often wished to be like Jin’s toy robot – able to change myself at a moment’s notice and become someone else, anyone else, but who I was. And I was a skinny Asian kid most often the target of bullies. Being me was not a lot of fun most of the time. But this book isn't just about Asians. It is about any person who feels different or alienated. That experience crosses many bounderies of race and culture.

American Born Chinese tells three interlocking tales which initially look like they don't belong together. There is the folk tale of the legendary Monkey King and his battle to be accepted as an equal among gods. Then, there is the tale of Jin Wang, an ordinary Chinese kid in junior high school who is alienated for being Asian. Finally, there is the tale of Danny and his cousin Chin-Kee, the over the top Chinese stereotype who comes complete with his own sitcom laugh track. These tales eventually converge in ways you would never expect. The artwork is colourful but sparse and reminded me a bit of of Dilbert or Bone.

It is a masterfully written tale which, through lots of good natured humour (although much of the humour in Chin-Kee’s tale is cringe-worthy), comments on what it was like to grow up as a Chinese kid in white, suburban America (and Canada for that matter). For me, it almost felt like my inner-most thoughts come to life in comic-book imagery.

You can find out more about this and other of the author's graphic novels at Gene Yang's Blog.

Crouching Keeper, Hidden Dragon

2008-07-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Dragonkeeper Series
By Carole Wilkinson

Dragonkeeper *** (YA ****)

Garden of the Purple Dragon ** (YA ***)

Dragon Moon *** (YA ****)

Culture Shock ***½

Summary: As a YA series, these books are quick and breezy reads that will entertain the young reader. For adults, the bits of Chinese culture and history should keep interest just long enough to get through the improbable storylines.

Not often do I find books by western authors whose protagonists are Chinese or Japanese. And more often, if they touch on Asia at all, the characters are Japanese. Perhaps this is because it is the easiest of all Asian countries for a westerner to identify with since it is the most western of all the Asian countries. So these books captured my attention immediately because they are set in ancient China. What also surprised me was that it is a Young Adult (YA) series.

The Dragonkeeper series by Australian writer Carole Wilkinson follows the adventures of Ping, a young slave girl who helps an ancient dragon escape from the clutches of an abusive Imperial Dragonkeeper. In the first book, Ping helps Danzi the dragon travel to the land beyond while being pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter. The second and third books relate Ping’s journeys with another dragon, Kai, and their troubles trying to find their place in China.

The first and third books are the strongest of the series. The first provides the reader with vivid details about life in Han Dynasty China and also gives us a great set of characters in Ping and Danzi. The third book is also strong because the story centers on the relationship between the dragons and their keepers. We finally discover more about the complex relationship between dragon and man and the events that lead to catastrophe. Dragon Moon is a good story about man’s stewardship (or lack thereof) of the creatures on earth and the environmental message will resonate well with some readers.

However, the second book, Garden of the Purple Dragon, is the weakest of the three. It has Ping and Kai navigating the maze of the Imperial Bureaucracy. Ping makes friends with the young Emperor of China Liu Che who appoints her as Imperial Dragonkeeper. This relationship feels contrived and did not ring true to this reader. Ping is a peasant girl. Despite this fact, she is befriended by the Emperor and given an Imperial title. I know Ping is the protagonist, but the events surrounding her ascendance in the Imperial Court seemed highly improbable to me and will likely feel off even for YA readers.

Finally, since this is a YA series, the modern sounding dialogue and writing style were clearly chosen to engage its target audience. If you are searching for high prose reminiscent of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori, you will not find it here. The language is simple, straightforward and clean making the reading light and breezy.

Overall, if you want a quick and easy read that takes place in ancient China, you could do worse than take these books to the beach this summer. Just remember that the target audience is Young Adults (which is why I gave each book two ratings)

Culture Shock: Yes, I gave it ***½ and not *** or ****. Why? It deserves a **** because of all the Asian content. There are a lot of Chinese words and the author includes a glossary. The author also gives the reader a lot of cultural information and history to go along with the language. The reason for the half is because as a YA series, the author manages to simplify things for the younger reader. Although I would not recommend using this book as a history text, it does impart quite a bit between its covers.

Nit Pick: the number eight is frowned upon in Dragon Moon since it is “double 4” and 4 sounds like the word “death”. It is the number nine that is revered. The number eight in modern Chinese culture is definitely a good luck number but so is the number 9. I do not know if this is a modern sensibility was the same in Han Dynasty China. I would be curious to find out.

For more information, go to Carole Wilkinson's website.

News, Reviews and Intrepid Travellers

2008-07-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

As Calgary breathes a collective sigh and returns to work with a post-Stampede hangover, I note that it has been a while since I’ve posted anything here. This is something I am changing right now. Even blogging is writing, right? It’s what I am going to blog about that should hopefully be of interest.

Asian Echoes has always been about bringing the Asian experience* in literature to the average Western reader. There are many Western and Non-Western novels about Asia and Asians or written from an Asian perspective and I want to introduce many of them to you – one book at a time.

So, what I intend on doing is introducing them to you through book reviews. But aside from the ubiquitous star ratings (which are still only my opinion), I also plan on taking a cue from Intrepid Travel and using a Culture Shock rating. This is not a rating about how good it presents the culture or how accurate it is. Instead, the Culture Shock rating will let you know just how much Asian culture is present between the pages. Does it gloss over the facts and history or does it present a detailed look at Asian life and use many foreign words and phrases? Does it have Japanese characters with Japanese names and no other mention about culture, or do the concepts in the novel require more than a passing familiarity of Japanese customs and mores?

Each short review, aside from a description and recommendation, will include some mention of the cultural aspects present in the novel.

All the novels and books to be reviewed were originally written in English or translated to English and all should be easily accessible at your local book store or at online book sellers.

Here is the Culture Shock Rating:

1 star: The author uses Asian characters and names and not much else. Very easy and very familiar.

2 stars: The author uses Asian characters, names and simple foreign words and phrases most Westerners would find familiar.

3 stars: The author uses Asian characters, names and settings. Some foreign words and phrases are sprinkled throughout the book, but their meanings are apparent or easy to understand from context.

4 stars: The author uses Asian characters and settings. The author liberally uses foreign words and phrases throughout the book, the meanings of which are either understandable in their context or may require a glossary. Basic understanding of culture and history would go a long way to appreciating some of the concepts addressed in the book.

5 stars: The author uses Asian characters, settings and language. Complex cultural and historical information is imparted to the reader (sometimes in the form of info dumps). A good understanding of mythology, culture and history may be necessary to appreciate the nuances in this book.

Watch right here for the first review later this week.

* “Asian” in this case means Chinese and Japanese as these are the cultures I was raised in and am most familiar with. I know there are other cultures such as India which also fit under this classification, but I know very little about them. Since they say “write what you know”, I defer to those who know better.

Protagonize Me

2008-01-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

Check out this site: Protagonize.com.

Try your hand at interactive fiction by visiting Protagonize.com, a new web site by Nick Bouton, a 29 year old software developer from Burnaby B.C.

You can choose from 18 different story categories and start writing a living, breathing narrative that may never end. Or, you can simply log on and contribute directly to the already growing number of stories started by amateurs, pros and semi-pros alike. And don’t be afraid of breaking continuity or taking the story in directions the original author intended, many of the stories are absurd or nonsensical.

Just don’t slay the main character. Bouton says it is the quickest way to kill a ripping yarn.

Six Word Stories then Get OUT

2008-01-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

Check this WIRED article out - stories by science fiction and fantasy authors that are only 6 words long. Only Arthur C. Clarke refused to pare his work to six words. Go figure.

I challenge all writers reading this Blog (and anyone else who wishes to give this a try) to attempt writing their own six word story.

Plus: I've added a link to Natsuo Kirino. Her first English novel is entitled "Out" - a gritty noir-like novel about murder and mayhem in Tokyo. Her second English translated novel, Grotesque, is already out in Hardcover.

Her website has only basic information on her. You can find an English language interview with her here.

Sorry about the long wait between posts. Life just caught up with me. But I'm back.

My Treat Isn't Really "My Treat"

2007-12-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone. I know its been a while, but things have been very interesting for me. New job, new child, you know ... life.

Being Asian, red envelopes full of money (lai see) are a welcome gift in a stocking or under the tree. Being married and having kids I don't see them much anymore. Instead, gift cards have become the ubiquitous gift in a lot of envelopes.

And, I got a VISA "MyTreat" card this year. I thanked the friend who gave it to me and really do appreciate him remembering me at this time of year, but I hope to never receive another of these ever again ... not unless VISA changes things.

Most gift cards come in a cardboard wrap and have a few rules attached to them ... usually an expiry date or "participating stores only" stipulations. The VISA card has a few more charges and rules, however.

First, there is a Purchase Fee of $3.95. That's right ... $3.95 is skimmed right off the top and given to VISA. This may not be much on a $100 Gift Card, but for the $25 one it comes to a whopping 15.7%. So the recipient of the gift does not even get the full value of the Gift Card. What a rip-off.

There are other rules too - maintenance fees, fees for inquiring how much of a balance you have left etc. Most of this is on the back of the card (see the first diagram). But, on the inside, there are (surprise, surprise), more rules (see the second diagram). For instance, you MUST have a bill of over 20% more than the value of the card when using this card at a restaurant, hotel car rental agency or cruise line (on the MyTreat Website, this is listed as 15%. So, which is it?). And don't bother trying to return any merchandise bought with this card. It is too much of a headache. These rules are not written where the purchaser can clearly read them before deciding to purchase this nonsense of a gift card.

Finally, a long two page contract is included with the card. Luckily, it does not have any more hidden fees, but anyone who thought using this card would be simple was dead wrong.

So be warned. You can purchase a gift card for a particular shop or restaurant or you can get these VISA gift cards that do not provide full value for the recipient and come with a myriad of rules and fees. Your choice. Happy holidays.

The Wheel of Time Has Stopped Rolling

2007-09-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

The author Robert Jordon, best known for his Wheel of time series, passed away on September 16, 2007. You can read the full story on his blog.

Although I had not read the entirety of his series (which from my understanding remains unfinished), he will be missed by all writers of genre fiction.

I am Canadian. Really.

2007-09-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

The CBC radio show, “The Current”, is running an in-depth report on “Mixed-race identity”. For those who know me, this is a subject near and dear to my heart. As a budding writer, it influences a large part of what I write about and how I face that subject. I sent in a series of posts in their forum on this subject. You can read what I said below.

---

Where do I come from? As a Canadian of Chinese and Japanese ancestry I get that question a lot. I do not think it a rude or ignorant question. People are usually genuinely curious. They are usually shocked to find out that I was born in Montreal, Quebec (and was fluently bi-lingual until the age of six).

I am a third generation Chinese - Japanese Canadian. My parents (who were both born in Canada) married at a time when it was very "bad form" for Chinese and Japanese to date, let alone marry. Even now, their union raises eyebrows in the Asian community.

I have grown up in Canada and throughout my school years was (usually) the only non-white in my class. Others pegged me as "different" and I stood out no matter where I went. I felt very alienated and often wished that I was white. How could someone feel that they were wholly Canadian, when they were made to feel that they didn't truly belong? Claims that not only was I born here, but my parents were born here fell on deaf ears. I looked different, so I must be different and come from somewhere else. Not here. Not Canada.

This sense of alienation followed me even into High School. At an early age I had shown promise in the fine arts such as acting, but was told by well meaning teachers that even though I could be an accomplished actor, it was unfortunate that I was Asian and there would be little or no place for me in Canada. They were not racist or trying to be mean, they were only telling me the current reality - that there was no place for me. Needless to say, I gave up on that dream.

Slowly things changed and far from being resentful about my heritage, I began to embrace it. I found strength in my cultural heritage and a sense of belonging and identity that I did not experience in my earlier life. I began actively seeking out books and literature about my heritage and found very little. I began watching movies and interacting with others in my own cultural community. This process of discovery allowed me to grow, change and mature.

But even here, I did not feel that I completely belonged. I did not understand the language. I only had a minimal understanding of the culture and customs. I had never been to China or Japan. I had no shared history. And since I was both of Chinese and Japanese heritage, I looked "off" to many of them. They would smile and reassure me, but behind the smile was the knowledge that I would never truly understand or be a part of that heritage.

So I felt like a person in-between. Not really part of one world because of the way I looked, and not really part of another world because I had grown up westernized. My entire adult life has been spent reconciling these feelings of alienation that I have experienced on both sides of the cultural wall. My response has been to embrace all those things that made me unique (including those parts of me that have nothing to do with my culture). I continue to embrace my ancestry and to be proud of it. To do anything less would be to deny what I see in the mirror every day. At the same time, I realize that I do not live in Asia, that I was born and raised in Canada. I do not simply "feel" that I am Canadian, I am Canadian. And being Canadian is to celebrate all those cultural identities and take strength in them.

Today, I am happily married to a woman of Chinese ancestry (she was born in Asia but raised in Canada) and we have a two-year-old son. I will raise him to be a proud Canadian with all the rights and privileges that entails. I will also raise him to know where his great-grandparents came from and why it is important to retain that part of his background - to be proud, not arrogant about that background. And all my hopes go with him that he will find a place in his life long before I found a place in mine.

Updated: Now with links

What is a Good Reader?

2007-08-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Having a story critiqued is a nerve-wracking experience. You put your heart and soul on paper and then willingly hand that paper to other people. You hope that your writing is clear and concise and that the critquer understood all the nuances and metaphors.

So, when I was listening to the critiques of all the stories in the latest short story contest, if a judge didn't seem to understand a certain passage, he or she might qualify their opinion by saying "maybe I am not a good reader."

So that got me thinking. What makes a good reader? Is it a person who is well-read? Does a good reader necessarily have to be a voracious reader of the classics? Or should a good reader be one that reads widely on a certain subject? Or maybe a good reader just understands a subject without having widely read in it?

As for myself, I have widely read a lot of Asian-style fiction be it fantasy, mystery or general literature. I have read non-fiction, historical books, books about Chinese society and Japanese society, books about geisha, books about Chinese mysticism - quite a bit in fact (just look at my library for an idea of what I have read).

But outside of this preferred area of obsession, I am not so widely read. I don't read hard science fiction. I haven't read all of Shakespeare's plays and don't understand Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Dickens is a mystery to me and Jane Austin has held no interest. I fly through certain books (ie Harry Potter) and slog through others (anything by George RR Martin and China Mieville) but I still enjoy them even though they are difficult. And I don't necessarily understand all the underlying metaphors inherent in those stories even if I do read them.

Does that make me a bad reader? I don't know. What is a "Good Reader?" Opinions, anyone?

---
Edit: After some discussion, it was suggested that being a "good reader" was short hand for apologizing for not necessarily understanding what a writer meant. Could be, could be.

A Happy Happy Place

2007-08-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, Conversion 23 has come and gone and with it, the Short Story Contest.

As I wrote in an earlier post, my story Happy Valley had made waves, well it made the top 5 of the Short Story Contest (and I promised not to mention it to anyone) and this past weekend, it took 1st place!!!

I was really shocked. I'm going to have a lot to live up to for World Fantasy Con next year (which is good because I won't be able to attend Conversion next year - got a wedding to go to).

And to top it all off, my own mother read the story and enjoyed it. But she said she couldn't figure out if the protagonist committed murder or suicide at the end of the story (you just have to read it to understand that). Honestly, it bugged her so much it kept up at night and she called me first thing in the morning to find out what I intended. Go figure.

Next story: SNOW

Paper Blossoms, Sharpened Steel

2007-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

My short story Happy Valley has made a few waves around here (more on that later), and now I am working on my next story, Snow. This will be the first story I plan on submitting to a publisher since they are asking for submissions on an Asian theme. You can view the submission guidelines for Fantasist Enterprises here and maybe submit something of your own. Wish me luck.

The deadline is December 15th 2007, so I hope to write a few more stories before sending in the best two. And I hope they get Stephanie Pui-Mun Law to do the artwork again. She did it for one of the publishers other anthologies and her artwork is amazing. Check it out.

In the meantime, IFWA and the rest of the crew are preparing for Con-Version 23 and we have a Star Trek Filk to rehearse (the fools - I told them I can't sing, but would they listen? Muwah hah hah ;-) )

The World of Saramyr Appears on Bookshelves

2007-07-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

I just picked up this omnibus of the Braided Path trilogy by Chris Wooding. He is a British author that is making waves with his world of Saramyr, an Asian-inspired world written for adults (there are now a few kids books including Jeff Stone's "The Five Ancestors" Series and the Dragonkeeper series by Carole Wilkinson [see series link to the left]).

Between this and works by such authors as Lian Hearn, looks like Asian-inspired worlds are slowly rising in popularity.

Check out Chris Wooding's site. This link is connected to a description of the first book in the series, The Weavers of Saramyr. Book Two is the Skein of Lament and the last book in the series is entitled The Ascendancy Veil.

That's Me in the Fuzzy Red Suit...

2007-03-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

... and Darth represents the stranglehold that writing has had on my life this past month. Normally, I would be jumping for joy. I've done so much this past month that I've had no time for blogging. The truth is quite a bit farther afileld.

It's not that I have had a lack of writing work to do. I've had critiques, assignments for a small splitter group within my writing group, and a writing contest to prepare for. So, why haven't I accomplished anything? Why has my writing life been holding an anvil over my head?

And it's not as if I have not done anything. I have done the crits. I have started a story for the splitter group. The problem is, the story is not done. It was also going to be my writing contest entry. Well, with the deadline this weekend, I doubt anything will be done for that. The only consolation I have is I have not seen anything from the splitter group either.

Last week, with deadlines looming, I found myself complaining aloud about how little time I had to actually write. I looked at the promises I made to myself and then I added up the amount of time I spent writing. I felt depressed and disappointed with myself. Then I wondered if I was actually cut out for the writing life or whether I would end up just being another wanna-be writer.

Then I picked up Page After Page by Heather Sellers and my writing life began to transform. This was the book I needed. It doesn't discuss writing theory. It doesn't tell you the intricacies of plot, character and theme. It's about the writing life and how to get to it.

Ever since, writing has stopped having a strangehold on me. It is not torturing me or calling me nasty names. Now, it is co-operating. I am writing a little bit each day and even keeping a journal. It's baby steps, I know, but as life has shown me recently, babies quickly learn to run very fast.

Golden Pigs Can Fly

2007-02-17T15:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

On February 18th, we enter the 4075th year on the Chinese Calendar, also known as the Year of the Fire Pig, or if you follow legend, the Year of the Golden Pig.

The Year of the Golden Fire Pig comes only once every 600 years and rumor has it, 2007 is this special year. It is Golden because the combination of elemental Fire, the sign Pig, and Yin/Yang components bring this year once every six centuries! It is said that children born under this sign will live in comfort as wealth and luck are always near. The Fire Pig is known to have traits of wealth, prosperity, luck and fertility.

So what are you waiting for...go out and celebrate.

Snakes ... Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?

2007-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

This book is a great example of lateral fiction thinking. Snake Agent is an eclectic blend of science fiction, Chinese mythology, fantasy, and hard-boiled detective stories. Detective Inspector Chen is a Police Detective in the futuristic city of Singapore Three with a penchant towards solving supernatural cases. When asked to find out what happened to the ghost of a rich industrialist's daughter, his superiors partner him with a Demon from the wrong side of Hell.

So does it work? Liz Williams does a great job of immersing the reader in a world that is completely alien to the average person. Not only does she have to introduce Singapore Three as a futuristic city with new types of technology (including roll out desktop computers), but also introduce the reader to a very complex Chinese-style mythology.

In spite of this daunting task, Liz Williams weaves what starts out as a supernatural detective story, which morphs into an apocalyptic thriller involving a possible war between the forces of Heaven and Hell. It is a good, solid narrative, but loses its focus about half way through the book.

Snake Agent is the first in a series of novels involving Detective Inspector Chen. The next one up is The Demon and the City and is already in hardcover.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

2007-02-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

Writing is hard. Very hard. Harder than I ever thought possible. Just looking back at what I have written this past year, most of it (as the adage goes) has been crap. I recently reviewed my last story, Little Meme, written for the "Freedom to Read Week" stories. Crap. That's the long review. It is still salvageable, but I'd have to put a lot of work into it. I am looking forward to a few critiques.

In the meantime, I am working on a new story within the theme "On the Clock". It is due at the next IFWA meeting and I am frantically working on it now (writing about being "on the clock" is very much like really being "on the clock." Go figure).

It has the working title of Happy Valley, but it's not really about happiness (if you couldn't already guess). I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, I am thinking about a new writing topic for IFWA members to write about (we just finished the theme of Censorship - that's where Little Meme came from). This one should be for Conversion 2007 in August. I am thinking of The Day of the Dead. Should be fun.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Imagine Me and You ...

2007-01-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

I seem to be having luck finding these book sites these days (thank you CBC).

This nifty little site is entitled Meet the Author. It contains 90 second video clips of authors old and new introducing their books. There does not seem to be many Science Fiction or Fantasy authors yet, but there are a few YA authors listed. The clips are not made by marketing departments or publishers.

So far, it is limited to U.S. and British authors, but it is only a matter of time before it comes to Canada. Then, we'll all have lots of Margaret Atwood clips to watch.

My Favorite Books Aren't In There ... Yet

2007-01-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

Update

I made a new friend today, and its name is Library Thing.

Library Thing allows you to enter your entire library and share what you read with the world. I have been told it's like flickr for books. You can also hook up with other people who have similar book collections or libraries as you do. You can rate your books, write reviews and read reviews of books others own. I especially like the UnSuggestor ("if you like Book X, you will NOT like Book Y.").

It looks absolutely amazing. Here's the link to Library Thing so you can check it out for yourself. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to my cataloguing.

Update: If you look to the sidebar, you will notice a new section entitled "Books in My Library." You can find out information about these books if you wish, or click on the highlighted "My Library" to see what I have in my Library.

Read Different, Read Vertical

2007-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

Vertical Books is a relatively new player on the book publishing scene. They translate contemporary Japanese books, graphic novels and nonfiction books into English and market them in North America. So far, I have read much of what they have to offer and can make recommendations if anyone asks.

You can find the link to Vertical Books in the column to your right.

You Can't Fix Stupid

2007-01-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a noon hour seminar on humour in the workplace. Humour, as the speaker defined it, is "looking at something in a different way". She used pictures such as this one to illustrate her point. Every situation, just like this picture, can be seen in more than one way. If we can look at a situation differently, we might see the humour in it and thereby decrease our stress level as we attempt to deal with it. After all, we can only change how we react, we can't change other people.

Of course, I also liked her suggestion of imagining other people giving you grief, as vegetables - it takes all the power they have over you away.

Writing Contract

2007-01-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I joined Calgary's IFWA (Imaginative Fiction Writing Association) was to associate with a group of writers who may help me improve my writing and encourage me to write. I think I joined at the right time. IFWA has re-dedicated itself as a Writer's Group and as a part of that re-dedication, each member voluntarily wrote a Writing Contract - a contract you made with yourself. This is mine.

Why I want to be Published:

I want to be published so I can try and earn a living at writing and feel a sense of self worth doing something I enjoy.

Why I Write:

I write because I have always enjoyed telling stories that up until now, have been told primarily through pen and paper role-playing games.

What is Preventing Me from Reaching My Writing Goals:

1. Conflicting priorities
2. Daunting research in my chosen field of writing
3. Procrastination and time management problems

What Can I do to overcome these obstacles:

Set up a time and place to write. Write something every day. My goal is to write for a minimum of a half hour per day. Write even if all I get is a half a page.

New Year, New Blog

2007-01-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

"A Writer writes ... always."

This quote comes from my favorite movie about writers block - Throw Momma From the Train starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito.

It also acts as my mantra pushing me forward as I begin my adventures in imaginative fiction that should have begun a lifetime ago.

So, what do I plan to write? Well, the short answer to this is: Asian Fiction - fiction with Asian protagonists, settings and themes.

Why Asian fiction? Well, it's the niche I am interested in and don't see much on bookstore shelves. Really. Especially in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It's out there, but it is pretty hard to find. Look at some of the links for some of the authors I have read. Most of them are mysteries and a few are horror. Only a couple of them are fantasy. Some authors not even listed aren't even being published any more.

I noticed this trend in the 1980's when Dungeon's and Dragons was my Role Playing Game (RPG) of choice (you can throw the geek references at me here). Back then, there weren't many Asian themed RPG's and the majority were about Japan. And, I think it goes without saying, all of them were written by non-Asians. So when the Oriental Adventures supplement came out I lapped up each page as if I was learning long lost truths about my heritage. What opened my eyes was discovering how many inaccuracies, untruths and clichés riddled its complex text.

Then, I began noticing that there were next to zero fiction books with Asian themes on the bookshelves of major bookstores either. I suddenly had a need to find out about my own culture and I had very few resources to utilize to start looking.

You should know that I am half Chinese, half Japanese and all Canadian, so I know what growing up Asian-Canadian is all about. I still remember those Asian influences in my childhood. I remember going to my uncle's place in High Park and hearing kabuki music lilting from his record player. I remember eating sushi at an early age (and wondering what all the fuss was about when it became popular in the 1980's - after all I had been consuming it since the 1960's). I remember devouring my Uncle Jack's authentic Chinese meals which included fresh steamed fish with ginger, green onions and soy sauce. He cooked the fish in a wok and would pour hot oil over top of the fish to crisp the skin sending aromatic smells wafting throughout the house. I also remember ancestral shrines, Buddhist funerals and the odd red envelope filled with money on Chinese New Year.

But I hadn't learned much about Asian history. I knew a little. I knew about the Japanese internment in World War II, but my parents didn't discuss this much. And what about Chinese and Japanese history? The school curriculum didn't add much to my knowledge either. Everything I have learned about history I've learned on my own.

So I began my cultural exploration by seeking out books and RPG's with Asian characters, settings or themes. RPG's began changing as tastes changed. Things really took off when Asian cinema began to cross the Pacific and gain a foothold in mainstream movie theatres. Games such as Feng Shui and Legend of the Five Rings were published and became cult hits. Sure, they were still mostly inaccurate and cliché versions of Asia as seen through western-coloured glasses, but they were more accessible and a starting point to introduce people to Asian culture and history. So, I narrowed my focus in RPG's and began specializing in only running RPG's with an Asian focus.

As for books, slowly Asian fiction and even some Asian authors began appearing on bookstore shelves. As these books became more available, the internet and internet book sellers such as Amazon made finding the more obscure ones easier and less expensive and I was able to enjoy many excellent authors that may forever remain as niche writers.

By 2000, I had begun dabbling in writing, and what I wanted to write was what I had been seeking and reading about for over 15 years, Asian fiction.

So what can a Canadian-born descendent of Chinese/Japanese parents contribute? The area of Imaginative Genre Fiction such as Fantasy and Science Fiction remains relatively untapped and it is there I plan to stake my writing claim. Asian-style fiction can be just as fantastic as contemporary western fantasy. It has shape shifting foxes, horrendous demons, faceless apparitions, majestic dragons and spirit-talking shamans not to mention the odd talking monkey on a quest for enlightenment.

But as a Canadian-born descendent of Chinese/Japanese parents, I have a very different voice than those who might have been born, raised or lived in Asia. I have been raised in an Asian environment, tempered and formed by western ideas and sensibilities. Even my travel’s to these lands is limited. My voice, although my own, can only be an echo of an Asia that lives in my imagination. In those worlds, I have visited at length and never truly left.