“The Musical
Tree”, previously published in French for Editions GOPE, and an excerpt from my Penang-set novel A
Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, has been published in The Blue Lotus, Special Issue, 22. The excerpt, a flash fiction,
was part of the short story “Following the Cat” that appeared in Off
the Edge in Malaysia and Thema, a USA literary Journal, in 2006. Thema, by the way, recently accepted
one of my short stories, “The Stare” due out in 2021, the fifth short story for
them, all set in Malaysia, dating back to 2005.
I like working with them because each issue has a stated theme and if
one of your works already fits that theme (or if you can revise it to fit), it increases
your odds of publication.
Two other stories from the same novel, one a short story, “Monkey Beach” and the other flash fiction “The Funeral Procession” were also published this year in The Secret Attic, a UK publication.
Recently I revised the 88,000-word novel and have been considering reverting it back to the previous title, The Woman on the Ferry, the first novel in a planned trilogy set in Penang. The second novel, in progress, will be The Lady on the Balcony. The third novel, already completed, The Girl in the Bathtub.
