Short Story Highlight: “起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion—The Lion Bows)” by Zen Cho

Strange Horizons have recently published new story, 起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion—The Lion Bows), by Malaysian writer Zen Cho: The hotel was not like any hotel Jia Qi had seen before. There was no drive swooping around a fountain featuring little peeing babies, no glass doors opening onto a golden lobby lit by chandeliers, no men in white...

The Rough Guide to Modern Malaysian Science Fiction and Fantasy

Over at The Portal, Eeleen Lee offer a rough guide to modern Malaysian science fiction and fantasy: The question of what exactly constitutes modern Malaysian science fiction and fantasy cannot be answered without first addressing the integral question; “Does science fiction and fantasy writing exist in Malaysia?” This post is not aimed at being a definitive...

The Rough Guide to Modern Malaysian Science Fiction and Fantasy

The question of what exactly constitutes modern Malaysian science fiction and fantasy cannot be answered without first addressing the integral question; “Does science fiction and fantasy writing exist in Malaysia?” This post is not aimed at being a definitive guide to particular literary forms but it will endeavour to sketch out a map to show that...

New Issue of Expanded Horizons

Expanded Horizons has become the premier webzine publishing international writers these days, and their latest issue is a strong one, including two Apex Book of World SF II contributors! Check out stories from Hungary, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Hong Kong and the Philippines at this great publication. Issue Twenty-Four (Nov 2010) Fiction Cornrows and Dill Pickles...

Monday Original Content: Worldcon Report, by Ika Koeck

Young Malaysian writer Ika Koeck has recently visited her first Worldcon, in Australia. She reports... Looking at Worldcon 2010 through Myopic, Malaysian, and Newbie lenses By Ika Koeck Being way out here in Malaysia where the fantasy/sci-fi writing community is small and conventions are practically nonexistent seeded my desire to attend such an event someday....

Introducing Malaysian writer Ika Vanderkoeck

A great article in The Star newspaper profiles young Malaysian writer Ika Vanderkoeck: Living Out A Fantasy, by Allan Koay. “I never thought of writing short stories until recently,” says Ika, 25, whose full name is Zulaikha Nurain Mudzar, but took on Vanderkoeck as her pen name to honour her mother’s Dutch parentage. “My mentor,...

Introduction to Malaysian SF

Over at Ecstatic Days, Jaymee Goh has an introductory post on Malaysian SF: Firstly, our folklore is rich with talking animals, mystical people, daring adventures, and heroes. Much of it is based on animistic beliefs, leftover from the days before Islam came to our shores. (Much of what is recognized as the Malaysian peninsular was...

Interview with KS Augustin

Hi! Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. First off, how did you become acquainted with the genre, whether it's romance or science fiction? I've been reading and watching sf and sf shows since I was six. It's a long and passionate love affair. Romance is a relative newcomer to my reading and I'll say...

Malaysian Comics: Benny Wong and Fatal Chaos

In 2007, Malaysian artist Benny Wong won Japan's first International Manga Award, for a comics in Bahasa Malaysia called Le.Gardenie. Here is an article on Wong, from The Star: Significantly, the achievement has validated Wong’s ambitions in the local comic industry, which began long ago when he was still a student following manga such as Video...

Gender debate

Over at Rebellious Jezebel, blogger Jha takes Nuno Fonseca (for his editorial here this week) and Luis Filipe Silva (for his response) to task on their treatment of gender, saying in part: Well, yes, of course arguing the lack of representation in spec fic is a goddamn personal thing. Fuck the male privilege horse you...