Taking Stock

By the end of the year, I would have two novels out – my urban fantasy novels Wolf At The Door and Obsidian Moon, Obsidian Eye.

I would also have a few articles out. I am currently drafting one for Slutwalk Singapore.

But…

I have plans.

I am planning to relaunch Purpose With A Purpose, my YA SFF novella. Thank you for answering my call for an editor and cover illustrator.

Likewise, I am planning to translate one of my novels into Turkish. The only problem is that all of my projects need money. 😛

I checked out IndieGoGo since Kickstarter is purely American. Would people actually back me up?

Congratulations!

…To Christina from Naps in the Library.

You have won signed copies of Winged and Oysters, Pearls and Magic!

STGCC – Pictures (Mega-Post)

Attending STGCC was an interesting experience. I was the weird white tiger with a sword.

The visuals were mind-blowing. The first “Wow!” was the 501 Legion’s display:

The second “Wow” was reserved for the cosplayers:

The Valkryie Knights also came as characters. Vworp vworp vworp!

Then you got the heavy weights like Marvel and DC:

Con-goers also got to interact with their favorite artists:

(Harvey Tolibao)

(Kieron Gillen)

Best of all, I got in touch with Ray Toh, a local artist, and chatted with him about Warhammer 40k. There are definitely creative and talented people in Singapore, like this:

(I didn’t get her name, but she drew a fantastic Wonder Woman!)

What I really want to see next year: More involvement from local artists and writers.

So, signing off, the white tiger woman:

Let’s get the spark going.

I was playing sparklers with my girls and one of the best things about sparklers: you can ‘ignite’ a fresh sparkler. So my girls were happy. No painful lighters (yes, the damned things burn). But just touch the tip of a sparkling sparkler and voila! another sparkler will be burning away.

You must be wondering why I used the sparkler analogy.

You see, I am a supporter of local talent. I am speaking from the writer/author’s perspective: publishing in Singapore is very limited at the moment and I am writing genre. My publisher, Lyrical Press, is American. You can guess already that publishing for genre fiction is – at the moment – a frigid landscape. That’s why it comes to supporting indie and small press, I am big on it.

Then, I read about Inch Chua‘s decision to leave Singapore for greener pastures.

Then, I read about the ‘underwhelming’ response of Singaporean fans to STGCC.

Then, I got angry.

It’s not easy for local talent, especially we seem to be tuned towards the US/UK markets. I can understand why Inch Chua is leaving. I can also understand why it’s so important to encourage local and regional comic artists.

We have a lot of talent over here in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Why are local artist(e)s and writers being overlooked often for the bigger names? If you want me to use a gardening analogy – we just don’t cultivate and encourage growth. Sure, the other gardens look nicer and bigger and lush… simply because people have been paying attention to them. How about our own garden? Do we let it languish and fade away? Or do we choose to cultivate this garden of talent?

Artists and writers are also people. They feel encouraged to create more when they know their talents are recognized and their works beloved.

So, please, support your local artists and writers. Let’s get the spark going.

Giveaway Party!

Hi hi, I am having a giveaway party! In my hands right now (well, in a paper bag) are signed printed copies of Winged and Oysters, Pearls and Magic. That’s right – one signed copy of Winged and Oysters, Pearls and Magic.

Not so simple. You need to give a good reason (in 140 characters – Twitter style) why you want these books.

Comment below! May the best reason win!

Interview at Turkce Bilimkurgu ve Fantastik

Interview

Interview in English

Thank you, Gokce, for this amazing opportunity to share with Turkish readers. 🙂

A 5-star review on Smashwords: here
I am immensely grateful and touched for such a great review.

PSA: Singapore is not in China.

As much as I hate posting this kind of PSAs, I think I need to do it (maybe, regularly) until people get it into their heads that Singapore is not in China.

Singapore is in Southeast Asia, slightly above the equator. But there you go: Singapore is in Southeast Asia.

So Wolf At The Door is not set in China. It is set in Singapore.

Here’s a map of Southeast Asia (image courtesy from Nations Online:

You can see that Singapore is at the tip of Peninsular Malaysia. In Southeast Asia.

That’s all for the geography lesson-PSA.