#bookreview: Hantu Macabre | Jill Girardi

Hantu Macabre by Jill Girardi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hantu Macabre started off great. Suzanna Sim, the half-American, half-Malaysian protagonist is based in George Town, Penang, so I started off loving the Penang vibes. The setting is described with so much detail and love that you can tell that Girardi really did enjoy living here. There's a series of grizzly murders and Sim sets off to solve them with the help of her assistant, a toyol named Tokek. Some of the cases take Sim to other parts of Malaysia as well, but I felt those places weren't described with as much care or detail as she did George Town.

The thing that ultimately felt off to me was the way it was written and/or structured. The series of murders are all interconnected, but in many ways, it felt like a bunch of short stories/novelettes that were put together instead of a cohesive novel.

Part I, the one titled "Hantu Macabre" itself, felt like the best part of the book.
Part II was a leeeeetle bit too outlandish for me, involving magical Japanese swords and undying generals from the Japanese occupation. But whatever. Here's where we figure out who the recurring antagonist is, and that she's going to be the actual main nemesis in this book.
Part III flipped back to a more Malaysian paranormal crime feel, and also reveals more about Suzanna Sim's past. It's the most substantial part of the book and should've probably been the climax. See, there was this big black magic event that happens and felt like it could be the Big Battle but it doesn't... end... there.
In Part IV, Sim spends a lot of time doing nothing especially interesting before the final show down happens. It does, however, also solve the mystery of Sim's past besides resolving the main crime issue of the whole book. And then it ends on a line, which I guess sets it up to have more books in the series.

Ultimately, I felt like, as a novel, Hantu Macabre started off with great promise but kind of petered out.

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I've been behind on posting reviews, so I figured eh, whatever, I'll post even if it's not a Wednesday. lol. So, bonus post, I guess? Or belated one.

This one's for October's TBR challenge. I have a couple of ARCs to read this week for books that are releasing in October, so I'll probably be skipping the stretch goal. 

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Affiliate buy link here:

#bookreview: Toyols 'R' Us | Terence Toh

TOYOLS 'R' US by Terence Toh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Toyols 'R' Us starts off like quite a normal police procedural then veers quickly into magic. Inspector Khairul is at his wit's end trying to solve a series of deaths (murders, he thinks) that only have one apparent connection: a hacked off big toe and a body drained of blood. Elsewhere in Klang Valley, Harun introduces his cousin Ismail to a secret that can solve all his monetary woes: toyols. On the surface, Toyols 'R' Us aims to help people secure their financial future, albeit in not-quite-legal ways - but what is their super enigmatic owner hiding behind his cheery demeanour?

If you've ever read one of Terence Toh's short stories, you know exactly what to look forward to in his debut novel: an utterly Malaysian story guided by and wrapped in punnery and wordplay. And since puns tend to be somewhat divisive, you may end up laughing your head off... or rolling your eyes so hard it hurts. I think I did a little of both.

In between the wit and the fun, Toh doesn't gloss over the darker side of Klang Valley. There's that one-upmanship, the constant competition to be better, richer. The rampant corruption and cronyism. Religious extremism and cyber trolling. Unwanted pregnancies and abortion. Loan sharks and gangs. In some ways, it feels a little like an extension of the KL Noir series. Both obliquely and blatantly, Toh seems to include an underlying commentary on the social issues that plague Malaysian society today.

The ending lends itself to a possible sequel - and I would definitely pick up the next Inspector Khairul & Detective Fara novel if that materialises!

It's not perfect. There's a little more POV changing than I prefer, and also a bit of an almost romance (as in, it's set up to be romantic I think but isn't quite sure what it is) that felt rather awkwardly staged. But these are really rather minor preferences that don't detract from the enjoyment of the novel as a whole.

I absolutely loved this gem, the winner of Fixi Novo's inaugural Malaysian Novel Contest. A deserving win indeed!

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From Malaysia? Get Toyols 'R' Us from the Fixi store or on Shopee.

Not from Malaysia? Toyols 'R' Us is available on Amazon! 

#bookreview: KL Noir: Magic | edited by Deric Ee

KL NOIR: MAGIC by Deric Ee

I'll forgo the star rating on this one, mostly because it felt pretty evident that Noir is still not my thing, so I'd hardly give a fair rating.

There's a level of magical realism to most of the stories (hello, supernatural Malaysia) here that made the anthology more palatable to me as a whole than some of the earlier books in the KL Noir series. On the other hand, there's also a level of obliqueness to quite a few stories that makes for a rather overall 'eh' feeling for me.

As of now, here's a short list of stories I really enjoyed:
Dastar - Sukhbir Cheema - THIS!!! This is the one story I would read over and over again. I would probably recommend you buy this anthology just for this story.
The Radio - Lily Jamaludin - This was a great start to the book, actually. Simple, understated.
Tooth and Consequences - Terence Toh - lol Terence, as usual, starts off dark and grim and then goes in unexpected directions. (Looking forward to TOYOLS 'R' US)
Pontianak, Risen - Nadia Mikail
Jaga Diri, Jaga Hati - Hong Jinghann
We Are Young - Joshua Lim - I don't know if I really "enjoyed" this, but it did stand out.

View all my reviews

#bookreview: Cyberpunk: Malaysia

CYBERPUNK: MALAYSIA by Zen Cho
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know if it's fair to rate a book that I have a story in, but well, I guess I'm rating all the stories in the book other than mine. =) Anyway, as much as I was hoping that I would fall desperately in love with Cyberpunk: Malaysia, I didn't. I liked it well enough. It's pretty decent. But it's not gripping. But as far as debut Malaysian Sci-Fi goes, it's a good offering. So that's 3.5 stars from me!

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There is a quote (I think) which says something about writers reflecting the state of their country through their stories. I think Cyberpunk: Malaysia does that. In imagining the near future, the writers in this anthology give vent to their worries about religion and religious control, the greed of our politicians, the growing racial divide, the growing economic divide, the burgeoning anger of the populace, the treatment of foreign workers and the polarizing effect of knowledge or the lack thereof.

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Likes:
Attack of the spambots - Terence Toh
What the andromaid reads at night - Ted Mahsun
The wall that wasn't a wall - Kris Williamson
The twins - Adiwijaya Iskandar
October 11 - Chin Ai-May
Undercover in Tanah Firdaus - Tina Isaacs
Unusual suspects - Tariq Kamal
The White Mask - Zedeck Siew


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We have two winners!

I apologise. I was supposed to do this when the rafflecopter closed... but I was in the midst of a little um... storm. Which ended up in me finishing the Mallorean in 2 days. But that's another story.

SO ANYWAY, the two winners of the Cyberpunk: Malaysia giveaway are:

Anis Suhaila (Malaysia)

and 

Vijaya Sankar (UK)

(This is also where I admit that I made a weeeeeeee mistake and forgot to put in an entry for you to tell me where you're from, but fortunately, rafflecopter, besides being awesome with generating random winners, also has an option which tells me where you are via your IP address. I am assuming this is accurate. Oh well, live and learn.)

I've sent the winners an email, so check your inboxes and give me your addresses! :D

#bookreview: KL Noir: Blue

KL NOIR: Blue by Eeleen Lee
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thought the first story, Ballerina in Pink (Roslan Mohd Noor) was pretty okay but nothing spectacular. Also, typos. So the copy I have is the first print, so maybe they fixed this in subsequent prints, but I normally don't expect that many obvious typos in the first story. It IS right in the beginning after all, before your eyes start to cross over and your brain shuts down.

Mamu Vies' Whose Blood Was It, Anyway? was a well-crafted story which I quite enjoyed. This was followed by A Woman in Five Pieces (Karina Bahrin), which was a reprint. Reprint aside, even though it dipped into the paranormal (read: it's a ghost story!) it was interesting and there was a point to it - how to get the ghost of the murdered woman to finally rest in peace.

Actually, 5 out of the 15 stories were originally published elsewhere. Which is a little ridiculous because one of the reasons I bought this book was because a favourite writer friend of mine, Damyanti Ghosh, had a story in it... Only to find out that I've already read her story in Readings from Readings 2: New Writing from Malaysia, Singapore and Beyond. *sigh*

Anyway, so another notable piece was Monster (Xeus) - annoying kid was kidnapped, parents try to get him back. Some delicious justice takes place.

Unwanted Utopia II: Deviant (Joelyn Alexandra) was a rather interesting, futuristic, sci-fi type story, that I would love to see fleshed out into a full novel. It does sound like it's a snippet of something longer.

The thing I didn't like about Bag (Elizabeth Tai) was that first person/third person perspective switch. I think the story would have been stronger if it had all been written in third person. Though that's probably personal preference.

The final story that stood out to me was Zedeck Siew's Hearts in the City. It's one of those slightly mind-twisting stories that I enjoy. Also, slightly fantasy - regret-maggots, anyone?

Okay. So I guess this further concludes the fact that Noir isn't really my thing, though I thought if it was going to be more police procedurals I would like them better than KL NOIR: RED. I mean, I do like murder mysteries (Ian Rankin, Jeffrey Deaver)

So overall... I guess it's okay. Maybe a 2.5-ish?

View all my reviews

Review of KL Noir: Red here.

I'm running a #giveaway for #cyberpunkmalaysia

So if you've been following my facebook page and my blog and my twitter and my website and all the social media-ly stuff I do, you can't have missed the fact that Fixi Novo recently published a book with my short story in it. =)

The launch was last week as part of the Cooler Lumpur Fest, and because I am scatterbrained like that, I'm finally getting round to announcing my giveaway today. LOL.

Anyway, first things first.




WHERE TO FIND THE BOOK AH?

Online:
Kakibuku
E-sentral
Smashwords
Google Play
Amazon

Physical stores:
Kedai Fixi / Lot4.35-36, Level 4, Jaya Shopping Centre, Jalan 14/17, Seksyen 14, Petaling Jaya
MPH
Borders
Kinokuniya

Note: apparently the print books won't reach physical stores until the end of June! Except for Kedai Fixi, of course.

SO WHAT'S THIS BOOK ABOUT?

To quote:

Cyberpunk as you've never seen it before…

Science fiction is all about outrageous ideas. Nice Malay girls breaking the rules. Censorship. Brain drain. Moral policing. Migrant exploitation. All the stuff of fiction, obviously.

But these 14 short stories take it one step further. The nice Malay girls are cyborgs. The spambots are people. The brains have drained into cyberspace, and the censorship is inside your head.

Welcome to CYBERPUNK: MALAYSIA.

Okay, okay, so back to the giveaway....

HEAD OVER TO MY WEBSITE FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

because my website needs more love. :)

#bookreview: Lost in Putrajaya

Lost in Putrajaya by Zurairi A R
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I generally liked this. Some of the stories were stronger than others (it really slumped in the middle), but I guess that's how it goes.

Drifting Azaleas (Paul Gnanaselvam) is an amusing account of Saras' application for Malaysian citizenship and her struggling attempt to speak in Malay. I thought this was a rather promising start to the anthology.
Listen to Your Grandmother (Jeannette Goon) is a story of an abused wife. The only connection it seems to have to Putrajaya is that Violet works there.
Back to visa applicatoins, Green Onions (Marc De Faoite) is Marc's hilarious account of applying for a Spouse Visa. I love the Malaysian voice that Marc has gained in this story.
Lost Toy (Claudia Skyler Foong) was a rather sweet story about a day out with Daddy - looking for a lost toy. Midway through I kind of suspected the ending, but it was sweet nonetheless. I don't know if kids are that smart at six, but maybe they are.
In Summer (Adriana Nordin Manan), Kimberly's summer plans of working with Prof Elkinson at the University of Chicago was dashed when she was unexpectedly called home to work with the government as part of her JPA scholarship. It was okay as a summer story, though I don't really know if there was a point to it. Also, I've never heard of the fact that you can't register a Western name if you're not a Christian. And the ratio of 1:2? What?
The Wedding Bet (Anuar Shah) was a pointless, sex-filled story. Did not like.
Blue Jeans (Eileen Lian) was also kind of meh. I mean, it was kind of heart-warming, but not really enough? Actually, the format was a little like one of those "saya sebatang pen" stories from primary school where you start talking about the life of some object and where it ended up.
I didn't really enjoy Bunian Diaspora (Alistair Yong) either. A combination of not really my style and ugh, spirit stories.
The Signs of the End Times (Hadi M Nor) - blatant sedition. Hah. It did reek a little of "trying too hard".
Broken Kaleidoscope (Timothy Nakayama) brought the book back to a better place. Alex is stuck in the rat race, losing his way, his girlfriend, and almost losing his life. I'm not sure if the jumping back and forth over time actually adds anything to the story, but it's a good enough read.
In Lost Highway (Marco Ferrarese), Santiago tries to hitchhike from Puchong to Singapore, only to find himself stranded in the middle of Putrajaya, in the middle of something that's not likely to be good for his health.
I think The Ministry of Sun and Storms (Terence Toh) is the best story in this book. It's delightfully funny and has a proper story arch and satisfying conclusion. If this were a stand-alone story, I'd probably rate it a 5/5. Then again, I'm probably biased. I like almost every story Terence posts on FB. Also it's fantasy :D So basically, Fairuz finds out there is a Ministry of Sun and Storms, which is an unofficial Night Ministry of the government, which uses bomohs to control the weather. With a stack of application forms and a nice girl in the ministry who does him favours, Fairuz is set to make a killing by selling weather services.
Sangsalibut (Nizam Shadan) - random genie story which I found a little meh.
I'm rather ambivalent about Mosquito Heart (William Tham Wai Liang) too. It started off really well but the ending was a little... random. Maybe what I really didn't like about it was that it seemed to want to talk about weightier things (like elections, sedition, unfair persecution), but settled instead to follow an albeitly already introduced theme on a death threat and random stalker.

View all my reviews

Book Launch: Cyberpunk: Malaysia

If you don't already know, my short story "Codes" will be published in an anthology called "Cyberpunk: Malaysia".

The book will be launched in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday! See you there!

Also, I'm working on a giveaway! Details coming soon. :)

Facebook event | Cooler Lumpur Programme

Post #atozchallenge reflections

I'd wanted to do this reflection post earlier (like say Monday) but life got in the way, the same way it's been doing all through April.

My goals for the challenge, other than finishing the challenge, was to visit and comment more on other participants' blogs. So how did I do?

I finished the challenge.
Yay! Though I "cheated" a little bit - I wrote some of the Friday and Saturday posts really late... as in... I posted Friday's post on Saturday (hey, it was still Friday in the US) and the Saturday post on Sunday. But... well, I did it. So now I have a brand new fairy tale!

I visited a lot of blogs.
Okay, mainly because I had to, being part of #teamdamyanti. I could have done a better job of it by visiting more often, instead of when Damyanti was asking for reports (heh heh) but... well... I was busy and tired.

I lagged a little on commenting.
One thing about April was that I was out most nights, so when I visited blogs during lunch time in the office, or after office hours, I couldn't leave comments for all of the Wordpress sites. So I ended up commenting only on blogger blogs or those which weren't Wordpress based.

So overall... I'd say that this year's A to Z challenge was pretty successful for me - though not as much as I'd hoped for.

Well, there's still the road trip to consider...

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P/S in other happy news, Love in Penang has gone for its 3rd reprint! :D

Related articles

• The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Reflections Post 2014 #atozchallenge
• #AtoZChallenge Reflections Post: Have I Thanked You Yet?

Announcing the #loveinpenang #giveaway winners!

Our two winners are Aila Namira Azizul from Malaysia and Samantha from Australia!

I'll be sending an e-mail out to the winners soon!

Congratulations! And a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all who entered!

#bookreview: KL Noir Red

KL NOIR: RED by Amir Muhammad
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I took a really long time to finish this one. Partly because I was busy, partly because... I don't know. Noir is maybe not my very favourite genre. I think I read this mainly because hey, it's local. Need to start reading local, right?
In terms of themes and language - let's just say these are mostly not for kids, ok? (Or the prudes like me.)

The stories I liked the most would probably be Rukun Tetangga by Preeta Samarasan and Mamak Murder Mystery by Marc de Faoite.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the writing in this... I guess it's just not my style.

View all my reviews

super mini update: nanowrimo and book launch

I IS THE DONE WITH NANO.

And now I have a literary fest to attend and a book to launch this afternoon.

I wish I could blog more but that will have to come later.

Love in Penang goes LIVE!

Okay, so yesterday was a really crazy day for me. Three things happened yesterday - it was Shaun's birthday (happy birthday, Shaun!) and I attended KPMG's annual dinner (as a guest, haha!) and Love in Penang launched its online sales!

So....

ISN'T THAT PRETTY?

Where to buy?

1. AMAZON!

2. Fixi's website (p/s yo, Malaysians! It's cheaper here!)

3. At Malaysian retailers near you!

Do drop by at our facebook page for more updates and come for our book launch on 30 Nov!

A quick half-asleep update

Nanowrimo started on Friday and I have less than 2,000 words.

Mainly because I took a 18 hour train to Hua Hin on Saturday afternoon, before which I was up almost all Friday night and Saturday morning trying to fix edits for Love in Penang before I left (which I didn't manage to and have to continue tomorrow). And so I was sleepy all afternoon on the train, through a few games of Resistance, and then we had dinner during which I felt train sick, so as soon as they fixed up the beds I took an early night.

The bed was quite comfortable, but when I woke up in the morning I couldn't write either because I'm not that good at concentrating in moving vehicles.

Then it was Speed Bang on the train, breakfast, hanging out at the shopping mall because the sun was too hot, some rest and a few measly words, then Plearnwan, awesome seafood dinner and a little night market shopping and 2 rounds of Bang until 2AM.

There were only 7 places left on the train and there were 8 of us, so we spent a lot of time discussing how to get back home - but that was settled on Monday.

Monday started at 7-ish with the power going off and the water going off (all for short whiles, thankfully) and then searing hot beach with the after effects of a mini typhoon, where there were really strong waves and lots of washed up squid. I did not take pictures of the washed up fish.

(I apparently can't paste the squid picture here cos it didn't get sent to facebook, but you can look it up on instagram.)

Then it was lunch followed by drinks at Let's Sea, and then a slight pause in the afternoon to rest/wash up/play Speed Bang before dinner.
After dinner we waited at the bus station for almost an hour before our bus to Hatyai arrived, where I crashed almost immediately (at I think 9-ish pm? or maybe 10) and then we had supper at something like midnight and reached Hatyai at 8AM. Where we immediately hopped on another van (at 8.30am) to take us back to Penang where by the time we ta-paued lunch, I got home at 2pm.
And then I worked, because I was supposed to.
And now I'm going to sleep.

Good night all.
I am tired and cannot think anymore.

P/S. I had a look at the cover for Love in Penang. Too bad I can't share it yet :P

#atozchallenge: Kitkat

Have a break, have a Kit Kat.

Remember that slogan? So here's a commercial break for you:

Submissions for the LOVE IN PENANG anthology closes in 18 days. What are you waiting for?

P/S several FAQS answered here:
1. Yes, we do accept international submissions.
2. Yes, the story needs to be based in Penang, Malaysia
3. Yes, you will get 5 free copies of the book if your story is accepted.
4. Yes, there will be some form of monetary compensation (so says Amir) but I don't know what or how much.
5. No, you don't have to pay anything to submit.

#atozchallenge: Gum

If there was one thing that really annoyed Natalie, it was stepping on chewing gum. There was that unpleasantness of the sucking feeling on the sole of your shoe when you first stepped on it, the embarrassment of unwittingly picking up stray pieces of tissue paper (or other kinds of rubbish that accumulated on Malaysian roads) as you tried to find a convenient place to stop and then the difficulty of trying to scrape off every piece of gum off from your shoe without tearing a hole in your sole (and bleeding in your soul). She'd stopped chewing gum herself at age twelve just because of this unpleasant experience and found herself contemplating a move to Singapore, where chewing gum was banned, at the age of seventeen, after stepping on another piece of chewed gum for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Don't be such a fusspot, Nat," her boyfriend, Henry, had said. "It's just part of your OCD tendencies."

Natalie put it down as a black mark against him. "Let's see how you handle it when you step on gum," she muttered to herself.

It was with pleasure that she took a trip down to Singapore to stay with a distant relation while she applied for universities there. As she stepped through the immigration office with her passport freshly stamped, she couldn't help grinning and saying aloud to the milling crowd, "Welcome to gum-free Singapore!"

A few teenagers from her bus stared at her, plainly thinking that she was crazy, but she didn't care. She hopped and skipped her way back to the waiting bus to continue the journey into the city, where her (somehow related, she forgot how) aunt would pick her up. It was precisely because she was so happy and carefree that she tripped on the curb and fell sprawling, everything falling out of her handbag.

Like a slow-motion movie, she watched as her favourite earrings rolled out of her bag, continued onto the road and ended by dropping down the grate of the drain. Some kindly souls came by to help her up and to gather her scattered belongings. A little sad sob escaped her as she stared down the grate to where her earrings lay amidst the dust. The iron bars were too narrow to allow anything more than her fingers to pass through, and they were too far down to reach. She tugged at the grate, but found that it was too firmly fixed in place for her to move it even an inch.

Just as she had given up her earrings for lost, one of the teenagers approached her, looking surreptitiously around.
"I have gum," he said in a soft whisper.
She looked up sharply at him. "But -"
"I can help you."
"How?"
"But you mustn't tell on me. Promise?"
She looked uncertainly at him, then looked down at her earrings. "Okay," she finally said grudgingly.

Peering around again, the boy casually pulled out a stick of chewing gum from his jacket pocket and slipped it into his mouth. He chewed furiously, pretending to be talking to Natalie, even as she looked at him suspiciously. Pulling out a long, thick string from his pocket, he stuck the wadded up gum on the end of it and tested it for sticking power. Satisfied, he slowly slid the string down into the drain, wiggling it until it touched the end of one of Natalie's earrings.

Within two minutes, the teen handed Natalie back her earrings, a little dusty and a little sticky, but whole and intact. He carefully wrapped the gum and the string back in its foil and disposed of it in a nearby dustbin.

"Maybe gum isn't so bad after all," she said as she thanked him profusely.

Also, reminder all: submission deadline for Love in Penang is on 30th April 2013. That's three weeks away!

Love in Penang: a call for entries

Some time last month, Gina alerted me to an invitation by Fixi Novo to apply to compile and edit their upcoming anthology of short stories, Love in Penang. And well yes, things just fell into place last weekend, with the call for entries up since Tuesday.

cross posted from: http://bukufixi.tumblr.com/post/44608462759/love-in-penang

I still think I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but hey it's a cool learning curve, ain't it?

So yes, if the theme "Love in Penang" is ringing any bells in your head right now, or if you've suddenly been struck by some wonderful idea - get to writing!

Can't wait to read all your submissions! =D