Unwrapping “Gravedigger’s Kiss”

A few days back, I received the package.

Hands trembling, I stripped off the brown paper and there it was 4 copies of Gravedigger’s Kiss.

At last . . . it’s out!

Holding a new book is always an electrical moment. So many different thoughts and feelings go through me. It’s hard to put into words though. But it’s truly wonderful!

Gravedigger’s Kiss contains some of my best stories including ‘Mr Petronas’, ‘The Woman Who Grew Horns’ and the prize-winning ‘This Page is Left Intentionally Blank’.

There are 4 new ones here too. There’s the “title track” about our poor gravedigger; there’s ‘Hawker Man’ and ‘Black Death’. The last story ‘Blue Glass’ draws on the tragic events of the Altantuya case.

I enjoyed writing all my stories and I hope you do get a chance to read Gravedigger’s Kiss!

The Myer fire

Other than online book shops, my books aren’t available in many other countries. It’s mainly found in Malaysia and Singapore.

A couple of weeks back I found that our local book shop in Hobart has an extensive horror section. So I mentioned to the manager about my writing. To my delight, he said he had previously stocked my novel, Dark Demon Rising!

As I had a 2 spare Dark Demon Risings and 2 spare Vermillion Eyes sitting on my book shelf, I asked if he’d like them. He said “yes” so the next day I brought the books over. This is a big deal for me as I’ve never taken my books to retailers directly. I’m a bit reserved when it comes to promoting myself!

A couple of days ago, the Myer shopping centre in Hobart burnt down. It was a terrible sight. The shop next door which stocked my 4 books suffered water and smoke damage and are likely to be closed for weeks as all their books have gone soggy. My 4 destroyed books don’t bother me though, it’s just the irony of it. Ah, c’est la vie!

As for the Myer shopping centre, it was in a beautiful heritage listed 1830s building. I’ve always admired it as I walked past it almost every day. That is now gone. A terrible shame indeed. There’ll be something modern there, probably something we’ve all seen before in any city, in any other country.

Addendum: The Myer shopping centre is only 2 minutes walk from my office, so it’s closely felt. Walking around the burnt structure the day after the fire there was a hint of ground zero, a sort of war zone. I remember when as a boy, most of the Royal Selangor Club in KL was burnt to the ground. We went there often and that was closely felt too.

Gravedigger’s Kiss – Hitting the Shelves!

On returning from holidays, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new collection of short stories will be out soon.

That’s right, Gravedigger’s Kiss: More of Tunku Halim will be in the shops in a matter of days!

It’s a follow up to 44 Cemetery Road: The Best of Tunku Halim.

The new collection includes 21 stories, 4 of them are new ones. At 432 pages it’s a much thicker book. Priced at RM35.90 I reckon it’s pretty good value too.

It was hard though trying to juggle between these two covers:

In the end, we went for the latter…

Which do you prefer?

Reviewers and Authors – Working together!

I recently read Sharon Bakar on book reviewing. My comment became so extended that I thought I’d do a post instead!

Daphne Lee in Starmag said this:

“I know local writers who feel that a bad book review shows lack of support, but I feel that all writers can learn from an honest review, good or bad, but especially one that clearly points out why the reviewer is less than thrilled with the book. After all, there is always room for improvement and if one receives nothing but praise, how can one know which areas need work?”

So true.

But I reckon an “honest review” is not good enough. It must be a quality review.

You see, the skills, experience and credentials of the book reviewer are vital. In Malaysia, quality can be an issue. Just as there are good, bad and mediocre authors, there are also good, bad and mediocre reviewers.

Book reviewing is a difficult skill and I think the local writing scene would really benefit if we ran courses on it. Unfortunately, the local press is so hungry for reviews that sometimes sub-standard reviews get published.

When I’ve written book reviews, as a published author, I’m keenly aware of the hard work and the “enormous heart” the writer has put into it. A reviewer should be sensitive to this.

In many ways the reviewer is like god, s/he has the power to pronounce judgment. Its vital that this power doesn’t go to the reviewers head. We know only too well that power can corrupt!

As such, I try to review sensitively, even delicately, minding the feelings of the author and yet providing a valuable resource to the reader. I try to be fair minded. I try to be balanced. I try never to go on a tangent or allow the review to be a soapbox for my own opinions.

I am particularly mindful when reviewing books published locally. This may be the only review the local author ever gets!

There is always something good to say about a book. Even a terrible book can have one good thing about it. Conversely, you can also find one negative point even a highly acclaimed and wonderful work.

As for spats between authors and reviewers, any negative feeling, for me anyway, is imaginary. Just like two lawyers for opposing sides in a hard fought legal case can have drinks and share a joke together, an author and his negative reviewer can do the same. After all they are in the same industry.

Authors and reviewers depend on one another. They work together. They should be professional. There should be nothing personal in it. When the work is done, we can share a joke and have a drink, and go home happy!

So as Daphne Lee says, we can all learn. We can all, authors and reviewers, up our skills. Be open minded. Be open hearted.

Always learn. Always practice. Always write.

And the Winners are . . .

The 1st prize winner for my Favourite Tales Competition is …

NN, with the following entry:

I really have a tough time selecting the three favourite tales as definitely there are more than three! Nevertheless,here goes my entry:

Ladiah really tugged at my curiosity to find out what will subsequently happens, which found me reading and turning the pages rapidly. Ladiah unveils and echoes one’s own weakness in succumbing to evil desires which in itself is THE most powerful potion that even Ladiah’s love spell loses its strength!!

The Width of the Circle, bizarre as it is, melancholically grips the heart. Was it a boy’s own way of coping with his initial fear being in a foreign land had him visualizing a ghost? Or was it a forlorn soul yearning and trying to relive his youthful happiness in homeland before it was harshly taken away from him? The tale is unsettled.

The Year 1972 is psychologically haunting. “Tikam, tikam,”…Tack…tack…tack…The words kept bugging me. They linger and jinggle, creating their own rhythm tugging at the back of my mind, even as I am writing this entry. “Tikam, tikam,”…Tack…tack…tack… How could not that poor liltte boy be haunted by them?!!

The 2nd prize goes to Jai with the following submission:

The Width of a Circle -
I like this story very much. How Adam left his home and arrived at a strange new place to find himself being stalked by a creepy old man. But it was the ending that made me fall in love with this story, the clever little twist that the old man was no one but himself in the years to come. I thought that was brilliant, I really didn’t expect it.

Paradise Revisited -
I read this one whilst sitting in a little café in KLCC. I was really hooked on to it, interested on how Matthews got to know Mok. This story was not as frightening as the rest, and I quite like that because hell the other stories scared me to near death. I thought the part where Matthews found out he was eating human meat to be highly amusing. Not so good of me, but I just couldn’t help laughing. This one is my favourite story of all.

44 Cemetery Road -
44 Cemetery Road I thought was an immensely beautiful story, and not to mention a chilling one. I just love how Janice told her husband her secret, to meet her in seven days at the cemetery. I loved that, it was so romantic. On the other hand the story of Vera was so menakutkan. The ending was lovely, especially when George spoke. Brilliant. <3

Another thing I would like to add, just to tell… Something Called Mamsky scared me to death, and it has been haunting my thoughts till today. Haha.

The book was wonderful, Tunku. Keep up the good work. ^^

The 3rd prize goes to Lydia Teh with her last minute entry:

Biggest baddest bomoh (love the alliteration) and Ladiah are about how men succumbed to their lust and paid the price for their folly. Watching the Doll has a nice twist at the end. Having rooted for the protagonist and for his sense of righteousness to prevail, how he turned out eventually came as a disappointment. Yet, we are able to empathize with him on the choice he made.

It’s interesting to note that both “The Width of a Circle” and “Ladiah” were selected twice. I must read those stories again!

My sincere thanks to everyone for entering.

I’ll be doing another competition for my upcoming book Gravedigger’s Kiss: More of Tunku Halim (due out next month), this time with even more exciting prizes!

Winners – do please email me your postal addresses so that I can get MPH to post to you your MPH book vouchers.