“The Musical Tree” has been published in The Blue Lotus, Special Issue, 22

 

“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.

“The Funeral Procession” accepted by The Secret Attic, a British anthology

“The Funeral Procession”, a 1000-word excerpt from my novel A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, has been accepted by The Secret Attic, a British anthology.  It follows the acceptance of another excerpt, “Monkey Beech”,  a full short story, taken from the same novel, accepted by the same publication last month.

So far, parts of five chapters have been published in six countries, fourteen times—all of chapters one and two, nearly all of chapters five and eleven, and part of chapter fifteen.  One excerpt was even translated into French.

I have turned two other chapters into long short stories and several other parts into flash fiction.  Even though this novel has never been published, mostly through my own stubborn­ness, since I had a chance to publish it in Singapore (and Malaysia) a really, really long time ago, I have held off and have been revising it every couple of years, including last year, where it was a finalist in the 2019 Faulkner Wisdom Novel Awards.  (Also a finalist in 2017  & 2016.

Each publication from that novel shows me that I’m on the right track and bolsters its chances of being published in the US or UK, my desired markets, along with Malaysia and Singa­pore.  I’ve been very patient.  In fact, I have completed a sequel full of excerpts that I could no doubt publish when I get around to it…

—Borneo Expat Writer

My interviews with four Malaysian novelists and one poet: 

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day.
Chauh Guat Eng author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change.  

Also, Malachi Edwin Vethamani, author of Complicated Lives and Life Happens.