Huge news. I’ll get to the point. I’ve sold Inhospitable, the novel I wrote for my PhD. Camphor Press in Taipei will be releasing it sometime in mid-2018, probably May or thereabouts. I’m very pleased (honest) to have finally had the good sense (it eventually kicks in), to check for good regional publishers. Yes, I’ve made queries with agents and presses in the US and UK. There’s been a certain amount of “we like this but it’s not for us, best of luck, happy trails, go in peace,” the usual stuff those of us who enliven the margins grow weary of hearing. There’s a lot out there at the moment at how bound by stereotype publishers (and, I suppose, agents) in the West still are: the Asian characters (even if they’re hyphenated Americans or Brits) need to be othered, exoticized; the settings have to be alien, dangerous. Despite the book’s subject matter, that’s not how I approached the people and the places in it. After all, I live in Asia, so apart from my well-researched ghost lore and some circa-WWII history, there aren’t many Oriental whispers and ancient Chinese secrets. It’s comforting and encouraging to know that the book will be put out by a publisher who actually gets it. Updates as I know more!