You mentioned in an interview that you don’t like the term horror. How would you describe your own writing?

I don’t particularly like the term horror for my own writing because it creates an expectation on the readers’ part that the writing will scare them. If you’re a horror writer, then you necessarily have to write scary stories. It puts a box around you …

That’s from an interview I did with Charles Tan for the Apex Book Company (Where Science Fiction and Horror Collide) website and you can read the full interview here.

The Apex Book Company recently published one of my early but favourite short stories, “Biggest Baddest Bomoh”, in The Apex Book of World SF Anthology. In this volume you’ll discover 16 stories from the speculative fiction genre from many countries including Thailand, Netherlands, China and the Phillippines.

Publishers Weekly reviewed the book as a “medley of horror-tinged fantasy tales … focused and interesting are Dean Francis Alfar’s whimsical “The Kite of Stars,” which describes a journey across fantastical landscapes, and Tunku Halim’s “Biggest Baddest Bomoh,” where an office drone consults a deadly shaman for help with his love life.”

And what is in store for our office drone, you ask?

You may, if you’ve read my stuff, already know the answer … but there are other dark tales here awaiting your pleasure!

I’ve always had a soft spot for Singapore. It was, after all, where I first laid eyes on my wife …

So when I heard that the island nation was hosting its Writer’s Festival around the same time as an official “family function” in Negri Sembilan, I leapt at the opportunity of attending both.

What really attracted me to the Writer’s Festival was the Publisher’s Symposium being held over 2 days. I was pleased to see Sharon Bakar there. She asked if I could attend “Readings” on Saturday since it was, after all, Halloween. But, unfortunately, I couldn’t.

I also met Philip Tatham of Monsoon books (publisher of Growing up in Trengganu) for the first time. We previously only had email contact. There were lots of other interesting people in the industry there, particularly the writers of children’s books, including Shamini Flint (the Sasha series), Adeline Foo (The Kitchen God etc.) and Emily Lim (Prince Bear and Pauper Bear etc.).

Well, that’s enough of the name dropping for now.

The Writer’s Festival was held at The Arts House which is located at the Old Parliament House, a beautiful building adjacent to the current parliament. What struck me as I strolled past parliament was its heritage nature, its accessibility and unpretentiousness.

It seemed too small for such important work. But that’s Singapore.

Efficient as ever.

With my head upon the pillow, I spied the eight-legged creature.

I slid out of the blanket, grabbed the insect spray and zapped it. But, to my surprise, it still clung there. It was still moving around half a minute later. What was the matter? Why didn’t the spider die? I checked the spray can.

Mortein.

Good. I didn’t use my after shave on it.

So what was wrong?

Below the brand “Mortein,” it declared “Flying Insect Spray”. So that’s why the spider didn’t die. Spider’s don’t fly.

Welcome to the world of product diversification.

It’s a most irritating, if not expensive, world.

Companies caught on to the idea of taking a good product and create a range of them, which is supposed to give the consumer more choice. Yet what it causes it confusion and complexity and, ultimately, more money out of your own pocket.

I often like to buy cans of tuna as it’s quick meal to have with toast. (Mix it with mayonnaise, lemon juice and some lettuce to make it even more delicious!) But buying a can of tuna is no simple matter. You now have the choice of tuna in oil or brine or spring water. Tuna mixed with tomatoes, capsicum, spring onions or herbs. Tuna in chunks or flaked.

The choice seems to be endless. Finding a standard can of tuna amongst all the different variations is a task in itself!

Tried buying coconut milk lately? You now have the choice of lite, standard and cream. Perhaps just get one of each? Because that’s what the company that sells it wants you to do.

In this increasingly complex world, I’d go for simplicity … any time.

I hope the spider did eventually die. But I couldn’t find it’s body.

Perhaps it crawled into my bed …

I’m a bit sad today.

I handed to keys to our country cottage to the estate agent to rent out for us. I’m surrendering it for someone else to use.

It really is a cute cottage where I’ve spent many hours writing my novel over the past two years. You might have read about it in a post from last year.

You see, we haven’t been using it very much these last few months. There has been so much happening at home that we rarely drive to our cottage which is only just over an hour away. Also, in winter, it does get rather cold there, since it is in the highlands.

So it’s a bit of a waste, and I really don’t like seeing things go to waste.

But as I was packing our personal effects, I had a real sense of sadness. The cottage really has become part of me. I’ve been so lucky to have had use of it.

A sheep near the cottage says hello ... and goodbye!

The last time I felt like this was when I sold my trusty Toyota Corolla which I had for 10 years. That was so much a part of me too.

It’s strange how we sometimes get so attached to things and places.

Alas … it’s time to let go … and move on.

Oh, yes, I’m also in the current issue of Tell magazine. Here’s a photo stitch from it:

The three of me ...

I’m described as a writer-cum-graphic designer-cum-illustrator-cum-photographer-cum-can’t remember what else!

I was in the same magazine, two years ago.

They must like me!

My daughter was late coming out of her ballet lesson this evening.

So whilst sitting and waiting in the car, I decided to mess about with the mobile phone and took a few shots of myself.

So here they are:

You can see that I was getting a bit irritated as it turned out to be a twenty-five minute wait!

(They are getting ready for their end-of-year concert so I’ll forgive the ballet teacher)

Incidentally, on the subject of cars, I read in the Australian newspapers that the Chinese car brand Great Wall only managed a “lacklustre” two-star rating with its utility vehicle in independent crash testing. So beware of Chinese cars it seems! But the paper was confident that Great Wall would soon fix these problems as they have reacted quickly to such issues before.

Unfortunately, in the same crash tests, the Proton Jumbuck did even worse with a “disastrous” one-star rating!

Adoi!!

I read over the weekend an article by Umberto Eco about the decline of handwriting. He is, of course, the author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum.

“My generation was schooled in good handwriting and we spent the first months of primary school learning to make the strokes of letters … writing by hand obliges us to compose the phrase mentally before writing it down. Thanks to the resistance of pen and paper, it does make one slow down and think.”

With our reliance on computers and mobile phones, the author sees that handwriting may soon seem unnecessary and, eventually, may just become an art form.

I agree that writing by hand does make us “slow down and think”. Writing with pen and paper is an organic, physical process. The words you create are physically present in the real world. It involves more of your physical body too: your wrist, arm, shoulder, head and neck are all involved in the writing process.

I heard Glenn Murcutt, the famous architect, on the radio yesterday and he lamented that our world is overwhelmed by computers and mobile phones. He still designs using pencil and paper. He finds that this creates immediacy. Whereas when a design is created on the computer, it does not truly exist, not until a hard copy is printed.

He also spoke about something called the “thinking hand” which is where the hand acts as the agent of his own subconscious thought. When he draws a line, he said, the hand terminates the line before he himself knows that it should do so. I suppose this can happen too on a computer, but less easily.

“The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

- from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Of course, the same isn’t true for writing that’s word processed. Simply resort to the delete key or select undo!

Writing by hand is a meditative process too. It’s also a lot easier to cart around pen and paper than a laptop.

I still enjoy scribbling by hand. I make notes and create mind maps full of lines, ellipses and arrows. I make amendments on hard copies of my writing by hand. I wrote my short stories “A Labour Day Weekend,” “One Day for Adlan Mutalib” and several others by hand.

I’m also guilty of doodling … not something easily achievable on a computer keyboard.

How often do you write by hand?

Sometimes you’ve just got to go out and do stuff.

You’ve got to appreciate what there is out there, and go beyond the day to day.

I read somewhere that the Dalai Lama said that you should, at least once a year, visit a place you haven’t been before.

So we took a few days off and went to Cradle Mountain in the north of Tasmania. We had been here on our honeymoon many years before, but this was the first time with our two children. Although I had been there on two other occasions without the family, it was my first walk around Lake Dove.

Despite the rain, and it poured and poured all day, we still bravely headed off on our hike. The signboard said that it was a 2 hour walk but it took us 3 hours. It didn’t help that a good part of the track had turned into a stream!

We could have taken the easy way out though and not gone … after all it was raining heavily. But I remembered from my daughter’s Montessori days that the teacher said that there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. We had all our wet weather gear with us, so there was no excuses!

At Lake Dove with wet weather gear

I really enjoyed our walk in the rain. The air was fresh. The views stunning. And the rain gave everything a different feel. And the waterfalls and streams were just gushing away.

Being out in the rain reminded me of when I was a boy in St John’s in KL. Once, during a torrential rain, a few of us 7-year-olds rushed out into the football field, just to play out there and get soaking wet! I think we got into a lot of trouble … but it was fun!

Sometimes you’ve just got to get out there and do stuff.

I was tagged by Andrea Whatever to do a post for Yvonne Foong. So I thought I’d do it this Hari Raya Adil Fitri when thoughts are more spiritual and less rooted in our day to day.

Yvonne Foong, 22, has neurofibromatosis type II, which has severely affected her sight and hearing due to tumours in the brain and spine. She is scheduled for an operation between 1 and 4 December 2009 in the US. The cost of surgery is RM154,770, and the cost of staying in hospital for two weeks is RM3219.

She has raised about RM74,000 of this and is hoping to raise the rest (another RM75,000) by republishing her book I’m Not Sick; I’m Just a Bit Unwell in English and Chinese. The books are now available in Malaysian bookshops and from her web store. She is also selling T-shirts at bazaars and via her web store. You can read about her surgery and donate to her fund here.

You can also help by sending on this meme.

If you do, please follow these meme rules:

1. Create a blog entry titled “Meme: Save Yvonne’s Sight”

2. List three things you love to see. Add in the picture of Yvonne’s book cover. The URL is http://www.yvonnefoong.com/images/banner/my-story.jpg

3. End with the line, “Yvonne Foong is in danger of losing her eyesight thanks to neurofibromatosis (NF). Please find out how you can help her by visiting her blog at http://www.yvonnefoong.com/.

4. Tag 5 blog friends. Be sure to copy the rules, OK?

[It is here that I have to apologise as I've broken this rule. I've not had time to obtain consent from 5 blog friends a the moment, but hopefully I will do so in time. To compensate, I took a photo yesterday which I'm dedicating to her.]

5. If you have a Facebook account, please check out Ellen’s new invention, a “feme” pronounced FEEM, a meme designed for Facebook here. And if you want to blog about NF, that would be great too!

Three things I love to see :

3. The World … at peace!

Photo for Yvonne

Yvonne Foong is in danger of losing her eyesight thanks to neurofibromatosis (NF). Please find out how you can help her by visiting her blog at THIS LINK

She accepts donations via PayPal and credit card. There is even a trust fund involved and a receipt can be issued for all funds donated.

It’s a good time to donate this Hari Raya!

“What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural.”
- Joseph Heller Catch 22

So much for the recent spat between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Some would say that all the spitting was coming across from the south rather than the north of the Melaka Straits. But that depends on your point of view.

The Indonesians have accused Malaysia of nicking much of Indonesian culture and calling it Malaysian, including a song which later became Malaysia’s national anthem “Negara Ku”. Flags have been burnt. There are shades of the Confrontation which we know happened in 19 …..

… of course, 1963, but you already knew that, didn’t you? (By the way, what was the Confrontation about again?)

Much has been written on the Malaysian / Indonesian issue and I don’t intend to stoke the flames. Not much anyway.

Malaysia and Indonesia have so much shared history and culture. Actually, that’s not so correct. It is peninsula Malaysia and Sumatra that share much common history and culture.

If the British and the Dutch did not divide the two countries between themselves in 1824, the map of modern Malaysia and Indonesia would be very different. What happened back then was a straight swap. Britain exchanged its settlement in Bencoolen, Sumatra for the Dutch’s settlement in Melaka on the peninsula. The cultural and historic links between the Malay peninsula and Sumatra was severed. The Dutch united the rest of the Malay archipelago into what it called the Dutch East Indies, which effectively drew the borders of Malaysia and Indonesia.

I wonder what would have happened if that Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 was never signed.

Would our modern map of the region look like this:

Just looking at the map sends a shiver up my spine. I wonder if I’ve broken any laws just by drawing it!

It is merely for the sake of hypothesis, that of alternate history. So please don’t arrest me!

As I’ve said before, isn’t our history interesting?

(You can find out more about the issue in an excellent article in The Sun)

You might have read my previous post about the magic ingredient that prevents swine flu.

I’ve been asked: How can this magic ingredient be used?

That’s a good question. There’s no point knowing what the magic ingredient is, when you don’t know how to use it!

I find that the best way to deploy it is in a curry as I’m sure the slow cooking involved will release the star anise’s special properties.

In case you haven’t seen this recipe before, here it is. It’ll make a great Buka Puasa dish too!

Minang Fish Curry

1. Mix 1 heaped teaspoon tumeric powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons water and mix into a runny paste.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in saucepan. Add 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves and 1 STAR ANISE and let whole spices flavour oil for a minute or so (this is an essential step that releases the properties of Star Anise, the other spices merely add flavour but my also be beneficial).

Unleash the healing properties of Star Anise!

3. Add paste and fry for a minute making sure paste doesn’t burn or get stuck to saucepan. If needed, add a tablespoon of water.

4. Add garlic (3 cloves), ginger (1/2 an inch) and about 2 chilies, all finely sliced. (Hotness from chilies can be quite variable, so how hot the dish is going to end up is always a mystery!) Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Fry for 1 minute.

5. Add 1 onion, sliced up. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Fry mixture of paste, garlic, ginger, chilies and onion until onions are caramalised. This is a very important step that brings all the flavours out and should take at least 20 minutes.

6. Add 1 tin of coconut milk and 1/2 to 3/4 cup water depending on thickness of coconut milk used. Add 1 stalk lemon grass (sliced into 2 or 3 pieces). Add 1-2 whole chilies (optional – for presentation purposes to garnish but delicious too)

7. Simmer for 40 – 50 minutes.

8. Bring to medium heat and add fish (about 3 fish fillets depending on size, each fillet sliced into 3). Will take about 5 to 10 minutes to cook. Test occasionally with fork. Instead of using just fish, you could include prawns, baby octopus etc to create a seafood curry (as per the photo below)

Ready to eat?

9. Remove lemon grass before serving. If sauce is too spicy for younger children, remove children’s portion of fish and, in a bowl, rinse a couple of times in boiling water from kettle.

Enjoy!

And, of course, stay healthy!

BTW I had an article in The Star on merdeka day. It’s called A HISTORY THAT BELONGS TO ALL.

History of Malaysia: A Children’s Encyclopedia is also now available on Amazon!