Cargo Fever Launch
Friday March 9, 2007
Despite the appearance of relative calm here at thinkBuddha, activity beneath the surface has been feverish for the last few weeks, because my first novel Cargo Fever, is to be launched in Waterstones in Birmingham, UK on 29th March 2007.
Published by award-winning Tindal Street Press, the book tells the tale of Englishman Sam Rivers’s attempts to smuggle a semi-human creature from the forests of Sumatra to the northern coast of Australia. Publishing News have already called the book an ‘exotic adventure novel, thronging with picaresque characters, raucous magic and unfamiliar customs.’ Cutting across religions, cultures and philosophies, from the Buddhist Taiwanese fisherman who hopes for a favourable rebirth (if not into a Pure Land, than at least into the middle classes), to the Dutch missionary who worships at the shrine of Reason, to the people of the island of Kenukecil and their traditional adat beliefs, the novel asks questions about who we are, where we come from and where on earth it might be that we are going. Here’s a picture of the cover, which is very pretty.
The launch will be in Waterstones on Birmingham High Street. All thinkBuddha readers in the vicinity would be more than welcome to come along! Doors open at 6pm, there will be readings and an interview starting some time around 6.45, and of course there will be chance to get your very own signed copy. From 8pm onwards we’ll then be retiring to the Sunflower Lounge, one of Birmingham’s hippest independent venues, to celebrate in style with wild and quirky tunes from DJ Owen Davies. There’s a map of the two venues here (thanks, Elee!)
If you would like to attend the launch, it would help if you could let me know either by getting in touch using the thinkBuddha contact form, or by sending a quick e-mail to the publishers on info@tindalstreet.org.uk. Do also feel free to bring as many of your bibliophile friends as you can – just give a rough idea of how many might be coming!
If you can’t make it to the launch, you can still snap up a copy of the book by going to Amazon. The following link should take you right there:
If you pre-order a copy, it should arrive soon after the launch. For those further afield, the book is also available on amazon.fr and amazon.de, and is coming soon from amazon.com.
Oop! A bit of a database glitch led to this article being posted twice. All should be sorted now!
Will :-)
