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New on the shelf

Allah, Kebebasan & Cinta
RM 60.00

Dalam Allah, Kebebasan & Cinta, Irshad Manji menebus laluan bagi membolehkan Muslim dan bukan-Muslim mengatasi ketakutan yang menghalang mereka daripada hidup dengan integriti yang tulus hanya buat Tuhan. Dengan membaca buku ini kita tidak lagi perlu bimbang kalau-kalau kita tersentuh sensitiviti pihak lain dalam dunia jamak budaya ini dan tidak lagi perlu takut untuk mempersoalkan kelompok kita sendiri. Sejak bukunya yang pertama laris dijual di seluruh dunia, Irshad telah beralih daripada kemarahan kepada inspirasi. Irshad menunjukkan kepada setiap seorang daripada kita bagaimana keimanan boleh diselaraskan dengan kebebasan, agar kedua-duanya tidak lagi bertembungan, sehingga kita dapat mengenal Allah yang memihak kepada kebebasan dan cinta - Tuhan sejagat yang begitu menyayangi kita sehinggakan Dia memberi kita pilihan dan keupayaan untuk menbuat pilihan.

Allah, Kebebasan & Cinta adalah buku panduan unggul untuk membantu anda menjadi warga global yang pemberani. Irshad Manji bukan saja yakin dengan Allah, malah beliau juga yakin dengan keupayaan saudara-saudarinya di kalangan umat manusia.


Allah, Kebebasan & Cinta
RM 60.00

Hayley's Vegemania Garden
RM 29.90

Hayley's Fruitastic Garden
RM 29.90

Little Turtle Messenger (Book + DVD)
RM 25.90

Nine Lives
RM 15.00

Magic Eyes
RM 19.80

The Iranum of Sabah
RM 59.00

The Four-Sided Tower
RM 23.00

From Poor Migrant to Millionaire : Chan Wing 1873-1947
RM 29.90

The Chinese Pakua : An Expose
RM 28.00

Chinese Dimensions
RM 49.00

Reflections of Pre-Independence Malaya
RM 29.00

Beyond Taijiquan : Supremacy of the Tai-Chi Mind
RM 39.00

The Origin of the Chinese People
RM 19.90

Chinese Tea Culture
RM 23.00
Silverfish magazine
Opinion
Mommy porn on the Kindle
April 27, 2012

When I first read a report that said paperback sales were down by 25% year to year, but hardback sales were holding its own, I was surprised. I thought, it would be the other way round because e-books do cost substantially less than first editions, but not the cheaper paperbacks. Then I read another story, Ebooks are rekindling women's x rated reading, it all began to make sense. The Kindle is the perfect device for consuming pornographic media, especially 'mommy porn'!

I am surprised I didn’t see it earlier, although I did have a nagging feeling of a piece missing from the logic puzzle, somewhere. How could I not have seen it? Porn has always driven technology. Let’s go back to the VCD and VHS craze from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. The explosion in the sales of these devices was mind-blowing.

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News
Why is Apple settling in Europe but not in the US?
May 02, 2012

The latest news is that Apple has offered to settle its e-book price fixing charge in Europe, but vows to fight a a similar battle in America because the charges against it by the Department of Justice are "simply not true". Forbes.com reports, Apple Offers E-Book Settlement: But Only in Europe, "The technology company was initially tight-lipped about the US case but last week broke its silence to declare itself innocent and paint itself as a hero for breaking Amazon’s “monopolistic grip”. It said the iPad’s bookstore “fostered innovation and competition ... However, it has taken an altogether different approach in Brussels. Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, said he has received settlement offers from Apple and all the publishers other than Penguin."

One speculation (by contributor, Tim Worstall) is, "As to why the settlement in Europe I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because of the size of the potential fines," implying that Apple might be trying to stave out a potential hefty fine. Maybe. But I am inclined to think that Apple is gambling on Europe being more sympathetic towards it because it genuinely thinks it is promoting competition, and saving the world from the likes of Amazon.

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News
South East Asian publishing perspectives
April 30, 2012

Reading the story by Vinutha Mallya in Publishing Perspectives, As KL Book Fair Opens, Publishers Eye Booming Southeast Asia, it is easy to get intoxicated in the euphorias of self congratulations. Publishing in Malaysia (and South-East Asia) is, certainly, not what it was 10 years ago, but much remains to be done. The Trade and Copyright Centre (TCC) is an interesting move, but what is it? What is its USP? Soon, every country in ASEAN will organises? Some are already planning. How many are we going to attend? How many are visitors going to attend? Will it all simply die off like the Merdeka Cup?

Since Frankfurt, Trade and Copyright Centres have become the new buzzword; the new me-too fix for all that ails publishing. Everybody now wants to sell rights. But the operative word in TCC is 'trade', and that involves both buying and selling. And, now we have one tacked to the KLIBF as well.

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Events
Children's Book Week
May 02, 2012

Children's Book Week 12-19th May 2012
at Silverfish, 28-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur

We are celebrating Children's Book Week at Silverfish Books this May with and exhibition of new books and a one-week-only special promotion. To kick off Children's Book Week, we will be having a party on Saturday, 12th May at 11.00 am. Come, meet authors and illustrators from Malaysia and the region. there will be story telling session and gift packs for children at the party! All are welcome.

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Books
Winsome
May 02, 2012

Title: King of the Sea
Author: Dina Zaman
Publisher: Silverfish Books (2012)
Price: RM30.00

by guest reviewer Quek Sue Yian. (This is her first book review.)

King of the Sea is Dina Zaman's second book of short stories, bringing together a collection of whimsical and seemingly personal experiences of kampong life. She paints an idyllic, almost romantic backdrop, giving a sense of the immutability of village life; with one generation rolling into another, with little to change it. However, as each little story unfolds she proceeds, and one can sense her enjoyment in doing so, to dot each story with idiosyncratic characters to juxtapose them with the serenity of village life, with often hilarious, sometimes creepy results. Masbabu, the first story in this collection, is about an outlandish out-of-towner who descends upon a quiet village and ensues to cause sexual havoc. From there the tone is set, and you are swept into village life and drawn into close proximity with the colourful characters. In The Translator, a simple school teacher goes mad for Hollywood and sends the village on a madcap translated fantasy of film.

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Books
A world (not French) classic
May 02, 2012

Title: Pantagruel
Author: Francois Rabelais
Publisher: Hesperus Press
Price: 43.50
(First published 1552)

I'm not long into the book when I think, "Damn it! This is so James Joyce." I'm thinking Ulysses. Rabelais's influence is unmistakable; and one can be sure that Shakespeare and Cervantes were quite familiar with his work, too. As was Jonathan Swift. It would be difficult for any writer not to be influenced by the style of Rabelais after reading him, although his book was written over 450 years ago, and his works will not fall into the neat modern category called the 'novel'. The influence this bawdy, gross, over-the-top classic satire, involving various bodily parts and functions, has had over the centuries is obvious. Rabelais is often described as 'a major French renaissance writer'. This is an unfortunate Anglophone put-down, one that has lead to profound ignorance of his works amongst those who read in English. Rebelais was a major world writer. Period. He was, and, is a hugely important writer. And -- think of it -- he wrote at a time when writers were tortured, strangled and burnt in public places in Paris for translating Plato, or quoting Socrates. (Pantagruel by Hesperus Press is only one part of the 1,000 odd page Penguin volume called Gargantua and Pantagruel.)

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Opinion
Indie survival guide in the post tsunami book world
April 04, 2012

Small guys are zilch

I read a story some years ago in Time magazine, about why big businesses are better than small ones. There was a story of a Japanese convenient store business in a small town where the owner knew all her customer; chats with them for a while and serves them tea before they depart with some groceries. Moral of the story: it is nice customer experience, but inefficient. Imagine the number of burgers McDonald's would have flipped within that half hour! I read another similar story in the Economist recently. The bottom line: economics is important, culture is not (except for tourists -- and that's economics). And small inefficient businesses, no matter how much cultural cache they hold, have no business existing.

Biodiversity

I am no economist, but I'm a believer in biodiversity. Don't put all your eggs (not that kind, you filthy mind) in one basket, every child is taught. Wrong advice? When a big guy (like Borders) goes down, the entire industry is shaken up. Books are returned, remainder-book dealers are overstocked, retailers dealing in them have a great time and, consequently, more major stores wobble. It's happening in Malaysia; just ask anyone in the industry. If a few small guys go under, they'd be replaced by others with hardly a ripple. The new bogeyman in that universe is the e-book. A major chain in the city that halved the size of its largest outlet recently and moved one floor down, gave the e-book excuse in a newspaper story. Please, who are you kidding? You had a bad business plan, one that could only succeed with a backer with infinitely deep pockets.

A lecturer in my engineering school would say, "When in doubt, go back to first principles." The era of the major book store is over. It was an aberration to begin -- huge floor spaces in expensive down-town malls, selling low margin bestsellers at crazy discounts (ostensibly for market share) was a doomed strategy from the start. That formula didn't last a decade. So, now, we have to get back to basics.

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News
Children's writing in Singapore
March 31, 2012

Asian Content for the World’s Children 2012 @ The Arts House, Singapore.

The National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House present ASIAN FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN’S CONTENT 2012 from May 26 to 29. This year’s festivalbrings together writers, illustrators, content makers, publishers, distributors and retailers, international buyers and other professionals related to children’s content in a plethora of formats such as comics, books, e-books, graphic novels, videos, films, educational games, etc.

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News
Nottingham Uni hiring locals?
March 31, 2012

Associate/Assistant Professor in Cultural Studies/Mass Communications and Media (for one post, a specialism in Film and/or Television Studies)

Contract Status: These full-time posts are available from 1 January 2012
Location: University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia.
Responsible to: Director of Studies
Job Outline: Associate/Assistant Professor in Cultural Studies/Mass Communications and Media, with administrative and teaching duties. The person appointed is expected to be research active.

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Events
It's a book party!
April 01, 2012

Come Saturday, 14 April 2012, 5.30pm, we are having a book party at Silverfish Books, 28-1, Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru (Tel: 22844837) in celebration of Dina Zaman's King of the Sea. (Well you can call it a launch -- hard or soft -- if you want, but as Eddin said, ‘One launches ships not books.’ Watch out, get out of the way, here it comes! I got an email from Dina saying that Sandra Sothy has agreed to read from the book, and have also heard rumours of a 'Masbabu cha cha' session! What else? You have to ask Dina. If she promises you a party, it will be a party. King of the Sea is one of the fastest selling book in the history of Silverfish Books (rivalled only by I am Muslim) and it has taken Dina, by her own admission, 13 years to complete it. And it is already on the longlist for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. (Received their email.) Frankly, didn't think anyone outside Malaysia would 'get it'. Obviously, I was wrong.

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Books
The American dream
March 31, 2012

Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Scribner (1995, PB, 216 pages)
Price: (Please check Amazon.com for prices of different editions)

The traditional dream of American authors has been to write the Great American Novel, to reconcile within one work the sprawling energies, contradictions and aspirations of a nation that, to take a phrase from Walt Whitman, contains multitudes. Not a few authors have managed to present an artistic vision of America with lasting aesthetic power; one of the best examples is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Gatsby has arguably the strongest claim to be the definitive “Great American Novel” because it takes as its subject the American dream – an idea that, more than any other, lies at the heart of what it means to be American.

The novel’s characters and themes are drawn from fundamental notions of American identity. The eponymous Jay Gatsby is a wealthy but mysterious figure in a fictionalized Long Island, New York community. Gatsby, both less and more than what he appears to be, is that quintessentially New World creature -- the self-made man. He embodies the economic and social mobility at the core of the American identity, rising from humble circumstances to success through desire and intelligence and hard work.

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Stories
Movie mania
April 04, 2012

The Translator (a story from the King of the Sea) by Dina Zaman

Rosli had just finished teacher training, and had come back to his hometown. He wanted to live, teach and die there – never really took to the big cities like Johor, Bandar Melaka and Kuala Lumpur. It was enough what his kampong offered: a school, the sea, his friends, and family, and on a monthly basis, there was entertainment in form of makyong, silat, gamelan and now, the cinema.

Films had finally arrived in his kampong (Name: Kampung Tokku Mangkok; Demographics: 3000 pax, predominantly Malay; Industry: fishing) when he was studying in Johor. His mother had written to him, to tell him that, “… kampong kita dah maju… sekarang kami pun ada wayang macam kat bandar…”

What he loved the most was lying on his mattress and looking out to the jungle across his home. Tall, black and reedy trees with branches reaching out to the sky, and the sound of the breeze dancing through the long wild grass in the jungle always accompanied his daydreams. One day he could be a millionaire, the next, he was a pahlawan with a maiden he’d be ravishing behind a shrub. Sometimes he was a great singer too.

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