Walking is the best way to get to know any city, and Macau — the former Portuguese colony returned to China in 1999 — is made for walking. Only seven miles square, one can easily walk from the Border Gate to the A-Ma Temple at the tip of Macau in a day. Todd Crowell’s guidebook Explore Macau describes eight routes [...]
Chris Thrall's Eating Smoke, his memoir of a wild year spent in the gritty underbelly of Hong Kong -- a true story of drugs, crime and psychosis -- is now on the shelves of local bookshops! Chris Thrall left the Royal Marines to find his fortune in Hong Kong, but instead found himself homeless and hooked on crystal meth. Soon [...]
In the run-up to the 2011 Hong Kong Book Fair, which opens this week, Blacksmith Books is featured in a Hong Kong Trader story about publishing in Asia. Hong Kong has always been viewed by the publishing world as a place to print books rather than to have them published. That's changing due to shifting global focus on Asia. At [...]
Find out by reading this interview with the author of King Hui and the new Alphabet of Vietnam. What is your most recent book? Tell us a bit about it. My latest book is a novel called The Alphabet of Vietnam. Vietnam is a word that simultaneously conjures up a country and a war – and not just any war. [...]
There is a darkness in men’s hearts that war sets free. When their war is over, they bring that darkness back home with them. It’s a short trail from the jungles of Vietnam to the forests of the Appalachian Mountains. Read this excerpt from the new novel by Jonathan Chamberlain — in shops on June 16th. Chapter 1 I’m [...]
Following his recent climbs in Dubai and Istanbul, French daredevil Alain Robert, author of With Bare Hands, was interviewed by Al Jazeera's Riz Khan:
Here we print an excerpt from Ken Ing’s Wing Chun Warrior — the biography of Duncan Leung, a kung fu master who studied under the famous Yip Man. Scroll to the end for cartoons which illustrate the story! Bruce Lee and I Beaten Hong Kong, 1958 Subdue the dragon, tame the tiger — Journey to the West Wu Cheng-en [...]
Walking is the best way to get to know any city, and Macau — the former Portuguese colony returned to China in 1999 — is made for walking. Only seven miles square, one can easily walk from the Border Gate to the A-Ma Temple at the tip of Macau in a day. Todd Crowell's new guidebook describes eight walking routes [...]
If you're free on the afternoon of Saturday 14th May, why not join us at Hong Kong's historic old police headquarters -- at 10 Hollywood Road, Central -- for a series of author talks about different aspects of Hong Kong culture. Entry is free, and signed books will be available. This mini book fair is part of a wider exhibition [...]
You are invited to a New York book event: HONG KONG ON AIR As the Hong Kong handover boom fizzles into the Asian economic bust, a young American couple’s marriage and careers tumble into a maze of television news, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. Come and meet totally globalized New York author Muhammad Cohen. “In this irreverent comic novel, [...]
As an update to our earlier preview of Eating Smoke, Chris Thrall's memoir of a crazy year spent living on the edge in Hong Kong, Chris has now been interviewed by Time Out. So Chris, how much contact did you really have with the triads? I had contact with them every day. One of my fellow doormen was a 6’7” [...]
Here's what people have been saying about Kirsteen Zimmern's The Eurasian Face: "Zimmern ... has taken what she called "a fleeting glimpse into the lives and faces of a number of Eurasians," and ended up fascinated by what she discovered. She has produced a lovely and evocative book to tell their stories." –- Asia Sentinel "Half Chinese and half Scottish, [...]
There's a full-page interview with extreme climber Alain Robert in today's China Daily. Asked why he's not afraid of the dangers posed by his unaided ascents, Alain explains his approach to life. "A lot of people are dreaming but they don't have the guts to make their dreams come true. At least I'm the one who did it. I'm not [...]
Muhammad Cohen's Hong Kong On Air is now available in the US, and it's caught the attention of New Yorker Tracy Quan -- author of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl -- who says: "In this irreverent comic novel, The World of Suzie Wong meets CNBC's Squawk Box, and sweatshop lingerie proves a harsh mistress. Hong Kong On Air is [...]
Thanks to Time Out Hong Kong for a full-page interview with Annelie Rozeboom, author of our newest title: a book of interviews which explores the life stories of Chinese and Tibetan people in and around Tibet. Click to see at full size. Also read a great review of the book in Cairns Media Magazine: Almost everything that's revealed in Waiting [...]
Watch a slideshow of images from Graham Earnshaw's trek across China, set to a fitting soundtrack: a song the author has composed about his westward journey.
How long would it take to walk across the world's most populous country? Find out by listening to Graham Earnshaw's story. He'll be speaking at Garden Books -- 325 Changle Road, Shanghai -- at 6pm on Saturday 26th February. 40 RMB includes one drink. Graham's book The Great Walk of China is a journey into China's heartland, away from its [...]
Extreme urban climber Alain Robert is in Hong Kong this week to give a talk at the Royal Geographical Society (6:30pm, Tuesday Jan 25th, details at the link). This reminds me to post an excerpt from his hair-raising autobiography With Bare Hands. Alain has made a career out of thumbing his nose at the authorities and doing what people tell [...]