Saturday, November 30, 2013

Launch of Rozlan Mohd Noor's new books.


Rozlan Mohd Noor will launch his new book, Bayu, on Saturday, December 7, 2013, at 5.30pm at Silverfish Books, 28-1, Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: +603-22844837.
Everyone is welcome, but do let us know how many will be turning up.

Bayu is a departure from the Inspector Mislan series, and is altogether more ambitious, telling the story from the point of view of the criminal.

You know the author, here's something about the book:

“Encik, how shall I address you?”
The line goes quiet as TJ considers the question. He remembers the breeze as he lay on the beach cooking up this scheme.
“You may call me Bayu.”
“Bayu, you mean like the wind?”
“Yes.”
“Encik Bayu, how do we contact you?”
“You know you cannot contact the wind. You can only hear it when it chooses to let you,” TJ chuckles.


Bayu is a master criminal, also known as The Planner, who wants to retire with a signature caper, by testing his wits against the best. What better way to achieve that than to kidnap an American and engage the CIA, he reasons. Robberies give quick highs and rewards, but he is interested in worldwide notoriety. He settles on kidnapping because the adrenalin rush lasts longer and he’ll get more coverage.

“No, this is no ordinary kidnapping. He is taking this public and it is to his advantage. He is not communicating with the family and that can only mean he's not open to negotiations.”
“More importantly, by not communicating with the family, he has eliminated the one method we had to nail him,” Ong points out. “We can’t track his calls.”
The two men look at him.
“He calls himself Bayu. Does that mean anything?” Jack asks.
“Bayu is wind or breeze in Malay. He is telling us we can hear, feel and see his handiwork, but not him.”


But there is one problem: the target he chooses turns out to be the grandson of the US Secretary of State, and the second anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden is coming up. When news of the kidnapping gets out and into the press, every one is on the alert: governments, every Islamic terrorist group trying to make a claim to fame, the CIA, the Interpol and ... very quickly becomes an “oh, shit!” situation. A wonderful romp.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Barbara Ismail at the Lincoln Corner

This is on short notice, yes.  The Lincoln corner is organising a roundtable with  Barbara Ismail (the author of Shadow Play) on Saturday, November 9, at the Lincoln corner at the Kuala Lumpur Library (Jalan Raja/Dataran Merdeka) at 10:00 am – 11:00 am. She will be discussing the influences on her writing work, her passion, and her time in Kelantan. She would also like to get a feel for Malaysian writing and publishing while she's here.  Please email Gerard George of the Lincoln Center:  GeorgeG2@state.gov if you are interested to attend. We believe that places are limited.

About this author
Barbara Ismail spent several years in Kelantan, Malaysia in the 1970s and '80s, living in Kampong Dusun and Pengkalan Chepa, studying Wayang Siam and the Kelantanese dialect. She holds a Ph.D in Anthropology from Yale University, and is originally from Brooklyn, New York. Shadow Play is the first in Barbara Ismail's series of "Kain Songket Mysteries" based in Kelantan.