Soba Ni Iru Ne by Thelma Aoyama

I might make this a regular feature on this blog: a weekly peek into Asian culture (music, movies, books). I'll keep it to one video (or movie scene/excerpt) a week, featuring an aspect of Asian culture that the western hemisphere is missing out on.

This week, I'm featuring a song, Soba Ni Iru Ne by Thelma Aoyama.  In my mind, it's an instant Top Ten song simply begging to be translated and brought over here. Beyonce (featuring Usher) would rock this song.



Not that Thelma Aoyoma is any kind of slouch, either. She grooves, silky smooth. Part Afro-Trinidadian and part Japanese, Thelma brings so much nuance and depth to this song.

Also, there's a companion song Koko ni iru yo. Same song with a heavier emphasis on the soft rap male part. Nice video, though not quite as good a song, in my estimation. Those of you who speak Japanese must love the ne and yo ending of both song titles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndRYEIQG9o&feature=relmfu

Long Island Library Conference and more recognition from Booklist!

Had a great time at the Long Island Library Conference this morning where I was the keynote speaker. You couldn't have asked for a better audience - about 700 book-lovers otherwise known as librarians. They kindly laughed at my jokes and kept the egg-throwing and hissing to a minimum. It was a blast.



Afterward, when I'd gotten into my car and checked my email, my editor informed me of another distinction from Booklist! Crossing was chosen as a Top Ten First Crime Novel! I think the coolest thing about this distinction is being lumped in with Paul McEuen for his novel, Spiral. I just finished reading it and it was tres awesome. It certainly helped that McEuen - a Cornell professor - gave lots of detailed description about Ithaca in general and the Cornell campus in particular. It was, as the Japanese say, natsukashi.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE cover

I'm determined to be a better social networker.  Part of me is intimidated by this whole world, partly because I feel so late to the party, and partly because I'm not sure I have quite the "voice" for it.  Also, I hate the sense that I'm being nothing more than a used car salesman up to one of his gimmicky tricks, or a politician vainly trying to disguise self-promotion.  All the above . . . eeck.

But I'm going to plunge into this anyway and I'll be using the Roecker sisters and Nathan Bransford as role models.

• The Roecker sisters: I really like the light and amusing feel of the Lisa and Laura Roecker's blog.  It's funny, informative, and just this side of educational.  I've already committed to memory their blogging manifesto.

• Nathan Bransford: he said somewhere (a tweet, a blog post?) that the purpose of social networking isn't to promote or self-promote or accrue a fan base or look impressive, but . . . (drum roll) to be social.  Ahh...the light switches on...

So having said that, let's get a move on.  I will now be more social by . . .

Talking about Beth Revis' Across the Universe.

Or more specifically, about the cover.

Although I've heard great things about the book, I've resisted buying it for the silliest of reasons.  The cover.  Actually, it's not even the cover.  It's what I thought was on the cover.  My problem is that I've only seen the cover in thumbprint size on blogs and whatnot. And for whatever reason, it looked to me like a really odd image: two pink amoeba, facing each other, one on the right, the other on the left, kissing each other with puckering snouts. It just looked freaky. And once that image became impressed into my mind, it became difficult to dislodge.  Like the old hag/pretty young woman illusion - once you see the old hag, the pretty lady vanishes. And every time I saw the Across the Universe cover,  all I could see were the two pink amoeba with snouts, puckering each other in a kiss.  You tell me you don't see the kissing pink amoeba:



Only yesterday, at the library, I finally saw the hardcover. And boy, was I wrong. The cover, actually, is not bad at all.  And I was way off. Because it's not two pink amoeba on the cover.  In fact, there's no amoeba at all. Just a really cool picture of a young-looking William Shatner.



Awesomeness.

I was a fool to misjudge the cover so badly.

Bologna Children's Book Fair

A formidable team from Inkwell (including my awesome agent, Catherine Drayton) just finished up four days at the Bologna Children's Book Fair pitching a number of books, including The Hunt, to foreign publishers.  I received some good news from the team last night - there are quite a number of foreign deals in the making, with publishers in several countries bidding for the rights to the book.  Pretty exciting.  I can't say much about them (yet) because nothing is final yet, but one deal that is final and which I'm ecstatic about is the signing with Simon & Schuster UK (press release here).  It's an incredible publishing house and I'm honored to be on their list.

The deal also created significant buzz at the Fair over The Hunt (here, here, and here) and I'm glad to be getting this early attention.  Can't let it sidetrack me, though, from the nitty-gritty task at hand: working on revisions. Any moment now, my doorbell is going to ring.  They'll be a package there, with edited manuscript and editorial letter.  Excited to read them, but, truth be told, with a little trepidation as well.

Announcing the sale of my trilogy!

Publishers Marketplace (March 18, 2011):

 

Andrew Fukuda's THE HUNT, a new trilogy about a boy who has survived in a world where humans have been eaten to near extinction and who is forced to conceal his identity when he's chosen to participate in the government-sponsored hunt for the remaining humans, to Rose Hilliard at St. Martin's, in a significant deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2012, by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management (NA).

 

(I'll blog more later about this).

Shanghai Literary Festival

Just got back a few days ago from a trip to Shanghai where I participated in the Shanghai International Literary Festival.  I co-presented a session with Craig Silvey, a true artist and all-round good guy.  His novel, Jasper Jones, has garnered gobs of recognition in Australia; Knopf bought the North American rights and it's going to be released here in a few weeks.  Do yourself a favor and read this book.



During our co-presentation, it was great to chat with him.  Us writers can recognize that something in one another: an enthusiasm about the craft, a respect for the art, how writing can be such a blessing (but also a curse at times).  You can listen to our presentation here.

Craig and I also share something else in common - the same agent, Catherine Drayton!  It's a small world, after all.  Craig and I could not stop talking about Catherine, about what an uber agent she is.

Last, check out this TimeOut Shanghai story on me and a great review of Silvey's novel here.

love this duet

Something about this music video by David Choi and Kina Grannis really resonates in me.  I must have watched it five times now, and each time I find myself smiling and thinking.  It's perfect.