A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit – Finalist 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Awards—second year in a row!

For the second year in a row, my novel A Per­fect Day for an Expat Exit (formerly Taking the Expat Exit) was named finalist for the 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Award.  *Update:  And again in 2019.   “The Musical Tree”, an excerpt from the novel, was recently published in French.  

 

In 2015, the sequel The Girl in the Bathtub (for­merly Caught in a Mouse­trap: Expats at Play), was also a finalist (and a finalist for 2012 Novel-in-Progress category).  Both are set in Penang, Malaysia.

An Unex­pected Gift from a Growling Fool, was also named a semi-finalist this year, though it was a short-list finalist in 2013!  In the past, another novel The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady was a short-list finalist in 2014 (and Quarter-finalist in 2012 Amazon Breakthrough) and my novella The Act of Theft, a finalist in 2014 Novella category.  At least I’m persistent!

This year Faulkner-Wisdom had 502 full-length novel entries, so competition was fierce.  Although judging can be subjective from year to year, my two Malaysian-set novels keep striking a chord with the judges.  Every year since 2011 at least one of my Malaysian novels has been a finalist or a short-list finalist for the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Award.  Not a bad track record….After getting some encouraging feed­back from a US agent recently, along with an insightful cri­tique of Taking the Expat Exit that pointed me in the right direction, I plan to rewrite the novel after finishing the first draft of a new book that I’ve been working on.

I’m also planning to do a series of dialogue type of interviews with other novelists that I have met, starting with London-based, Malaysian author Ivy Ngeow who has her first two novels coming out this year (one of which was crowdfunded in the UK).  She had interviewed me back in July after I read the advance copy of one of her novels and has been quite busy working with both publishers.  Should be exciting.

    —Borneo Expat Writer

Taking the Expat Exit – Finalist 2016 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Awards

Taking the Expat Exit (formerly A Per­fect Day for an Expat Exit) was named finalist for the 2016 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Award.  (In 2014 it was short-list finalist and a finalist 2012.)  Last year, the sequel Caught in a Mouse­trap: Expats at Play (formerly The Girl in the Bathtub), was also a finalist (and a finalist for 2012 Novel-in-Progress category).  Both are set in Penang, Malaysia.

This year, for some reason, Caught in a Mouse­trap: Expats at Play was only a semi-finalist along with two other novels, The Summer of Sizzle (my latest, completed in May) and An Unex­pected Gift from a Growling Fool, a short-list finalist in 2013.  Another novel, The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, was a short-list finalist in the 2014 Faulkner-Wis­dom Novel contest (and Quarter-finalist in 2012 Amazon Breakthrough) and my novella The Act of Theft, a finalist in 2014 Novella category. 

Judging can be rather subjective, though my two Malaysian-set novels seem to strike a chord with the judges.  At least one of my novels has been a finalist or a short list finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Award every year since 2011.  Not a bad track record.  Shows I’m consistent as I persistently rewrite them as I write new novels.  Hopefully this year, one can finally win.

While waiting for the 2016 results, it’s back to work on my sixth novel, having compiled notes on it for nearly two years.  Sooner or later, one of my novels will break out.  It’s only a matter of time.  Having recently slogged my way through a third marathon, I know what it’s like to keep at it, advice I gleaned from Dory.  

    —Borneo Expat Writer

*update, an excerpt from this was published in French. 

**Taking the Expat Exit repeats as finalist in 2017, though double the amount of entries.