Publisher: Matahari Books (2008)
Format: Paperback,  Pages 254,
Price: MYR30.00
Delivery: (Malaysia): MYR 5.00
(For delivery to other places in the world please contact us.)

Bali Sacred & Secret is a remarkable revelation of a rarely witnessed, mystical world of ritual and magic. In 248 pages of stunning and extraordinary photographs complemented by thought-provoking text, Gill Marais invites and challenges the observer to delve beneath the veneer of commercial tourism into the depths of Bali's golden, living culture.

Published by Saritaksu Editions, the book is the result of 17 years of privileged access to daily life and sacred ceremonies.(Jakarta Post Features - August 13, 2006 - READ MORE).

About the author: South-African born Marais is a freelance photojournalist who specializes in cultural travel and medical reportage. She has traveled extensively in India, Pakistan, China, Tibet, Europe and Africa, and has published a book on Tibetan medicine entitled Right Over the Mountain: Travels with a Tibetan Medicine Man. She first came to Bali in 1988.

Price: Book only
Malaysia: MYR250.00 (Free Delivery)
International: MYR390.00 (USD110.00 incl delivery). (Interational delivery will be by airmail parcel post which will take about two weeks. If a quicker and more reliable delivery is required please email us at info@silverfishbooks.com for a quote).

ENGLISH STUDIES

Title: English Studies in Asia 
ISBN:
Editors: Araki, Lim, Minami, Yoshihara

In her introduction, Yoshihara Yukari of Tsukuba University wites: Some Asian countries have a past history of colonization by English speaking or European countries, while others did not - this naturally affects the meaning of English studies in each Asian country. Moreover, while some Asian countries are mono-lingual, others are multi-lingual. Counter-measures to 'talk back' in the (colonial) master's language differs. These factors have effects on the different significance of English studies. For the purpose of highlighting the similarities/ differences in English studies in various Asian countries/localities, multiple-comparison, rather than one-to-one comparison, seems more favorable.

This book is a collection of essays by 17 academics involved in the teaching of English and literature in Asia from the historical, cultural and political points of view. You will be surprised at some of the facts.


Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 240 pp, English Studies, 2007
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

This is Salleh ben Joned's first book of poems since Sajak Sajak Saleh (or Poems Sacred and Profane) and it is entirely in English. Salleh says in his forward that, although English is not his first language - he only learned it in his teens - he has two main reasons for writing in English. Firstly, he thinks that a big majority of his readers seem to be non-Malays, and, secondly, "My satires in Malay, the use of humour, parody, irony ... puns ... and othr forms of word-play seem to have been taken wrongly by most of the Malay readers."

Adam's Dream is an intensely personal collection of poems, to make you laugh out loud or cry or to ponder over.

Salleh ben Joned was born in Melaka. He spent many years Down Under where he became a student of leading Australian poet James McAuley. His first collection of bilingual poetry, Sajak-Sajak Saleh (Teks) was published in 1987. [A second enlarged version was published by Pustaka Cipta in 2002.] It was followed by A book of essays, As I Please (Skoob, 1994) and Nothing is Sacred (Maya Press, 2003).

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 128 pp, Poems, 2007
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

Synopsis:
From the preface:
'I am at a happy loss to explain the continuing popularity of A Malaysian Journey, a work of non-fiction, comtemporary affairs, pop history and personal memoir, which was published in 1993, sold a few tens of thousands of copies in Malaysia and Singapore, turned my life inside-out, upside-down and back-to-front, and went out of print at the turn of the millennium...'

This is the story of a Malaysian born in the twilight of British Malaya, growingup in an independent Malaysia, attaining maturity as his nation approaches the turn of the millennium ... and this is the story of Malaysia's own growth, asseen through his eyes.

The historical and biographical narrative is interwoven with passages culled from a months-long journey through the nation as the narrator visits every Malaysian state, exploring his country and, in so doing, his own soul.

(This is the 6th reprint of this book. This book is a virtual Malaysian classic and we have had had so many queries. We are glad to have it back in print)

About the Author: Rehman Rashid became a journalist in 1981. After seven years as a Leader Writer and Columnist with the New Straits Times, Malaysia's leading English language daily, he joined Asiaweek magazine in Hong Kong as a Senior Writer. From there he left for a year in Bermuda, as a Senior Writer for the Bermuda Business magazine before returning home to Malaysia to complete A Malaysian Journey, his first book. He was the Malaysian Press Institutes Journalist of the Year for 1985 and Bermuda's Print Journalist of the Year for 1991. Rehman lives in Petaling Jaya in Malaysia.

Imprint: Rehman Rashid
Format: Hardback (HB), 287pp, History/Politics, 2006 (Reprint)
Price: RM 59.90
Price: USD 29.95
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POLITICS/HISTORY
Subject: Origins of religio-fascism in Malaysia and Indonesia

Title: FROM MAJAPAHIT TO PUTRAJAYA
ISBN: 983-3221-05-X
Author: Farish A Noor
Synopsis: Washington has fingered Malaysia as a 'Islamic terrorist hub' several times since 9/11. In this second collection of Farish A Noor's commentaries on unfolding developments in Malaysia (which) is nothing if not timely with the current raging debate on the 'clash of civilisations'. By focusing on specific issues and suddenly erupting controversies, of Malay/Muslim nationalism and (what he calls) the rise of Islamic 'religio facism' in Malaysia and Indonesia, he tries to answer the question: how much of this is caused by Western 'meddling', and how much of it is actually home grown? This book is written in "white heat" of someone personally affected by the events, but at the same time Dr Farish A Noor manages to maintain an academic distance required by the scholar he is. A must read for anyone interested in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and religio-fascism in the world today, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Impassioned, controversial, courageous: Farish A Noor's writings on religious extremism and 'moral panic', social conformity and the 'New Generation Post-modern Malay' makes him an indispensable voice in Malaysia. - Clive Kessler, Emeritus Professor, School of Sociology and Anthropology, UNSW Syndey.

About the Author: Farish A Noor is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. Currently based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin; he has taught at the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya; the Institute for Islamic Studies, Freie University of Berlin; the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), Leiden; and Sciences-Po, Paris. He has been a radio essayist for the BBC World Service and his columns have appeared in Malaysiakini.com, The New Straits Times, Sin Chew Jit Poh, Pakistan Daily Times, The Far Eastern Economic Review, Impact International, Ummahonline.com and Harakah. Among his writings are New Voices of Islam (ISIM, 2002) and Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS (MSRI, 2004) and The Other Malaysia (2002).

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 334 pp, History/Politics, 2005
Price (Malaysia): RM 40.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 21.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Title: THE OTHER MALAYSIA (Reprint)  
ISBN: 983-40816-3-4
Author: Farish A Noor
Synopsis: This is a compilation of some of the articles by Farish A Noor, arguably Malaysia's top public intellectual, that were published in the online daily Malaysiakini.com. His writings aimed to unearth the forgotten and marginalized aspects of Malaysian history, reminding us of the manifold possibilities and contingencies that existed in the past and remain with us still. The articles were an attempt at a sustained critique of Malaysian historiography and an effort to deconstruct some of the more settled and essentialist understandings upon which Malaysian politics, culture and social life are premised.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B) 304pp, History/Politics, 2005 (reprint)
Price (Malaysia): RM 40.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 21.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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FICTION/HISTORY
Subject: Gendercide in the Bosnia

Title: THE STORY OF SREBRENICA
ISBN: 983-3221-03-3
Author: Isnam Taljic
Synopsis: (This book is translated from Bosniak.) Srebrenica, is a small 2000-year-old silver-mining town in Bosnia, known to the Romans as Argentaria. Between July 12 through July 18, 1995 approximately 13,000 (the figure varies from 8000-13000) Muslim males from young boys to elderly men, were massacred in one of the worst cases of gendercide in history. This massacre was carried out after the commander of the UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force), General Bertrand Janvier, refused to carry out UNPROFOR's mandate to defend the Safe Area but instead handed it over to Serbian army General Ratko Mladic.

It was not an instantaneous death, for every one of the victims knew they were to be taken out one by one for slaughter. The Serbs were intent upon wiping out the Bosnian Muslims, the last genuine European Muslims in Europe. Europe was to be free of Muslims.

Though this book is written as a novel, it is in fact history. Isnam Taljic has written this account after sieving through hundreds of interviews with eyewitnesses. Isnam Taljic does not condemn the murderers; he does not seek revenge. But he begs the world simply not to forget. What is amazing is the way Isnam Taljic even manages to infuse humour into a subject so horrifying.

About the author: Isnam Taljic was born in Vlasenica (northeastern Bosnia) in 1954. He has worked as a reporter and an editor in the daily newspaper Oslobodjenje in Sarajevo. Then, from 1993, he was employed as an editor of a weekly magazine 'Ljiljan', which was started during the war that was fought against Bosnia.

He has been rewarded for journalism several times: three times with the annual award of the newspaper Oslobodjenje, then, on the occasion of the 200th edition of Ljiljan, and the annual award of the Association of Journalists of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the book of reportages (1986).

He has received awards in several literary competitions, amongst them the first prize at the 'Zijo Dizdarevic' literary competition for a short story three times. He was awarded with the first prize twice for a short story in this most respected literary competition in the former Yugoslavia, and once after Bosnia and Herzegovina had received its independence.

He is represented in several anthologies, selected works and panoramas of the pre-war and war literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His prose has been translated into English, Slovenian, Check, Hungarian, Albanian and Swedish language.He has published twelve works: The Persecuted One and the Holy Mother (a novel, 1983), The Night Without Dawn, short stories (1985), A Man Who Fixes Time (reportage, 1985), The Season Worker (novel, 1988), An Avenue of Silver Brides (short stories, 1989), A multitude of Red Threads (novel, 1989), We Cannot Live Without Bosnia (war prose, 1993), Tiger (a short novel about the war against Bosnia, 1994), The Refugees, war prose (1994), The Story of Srebrenica (novel, 1998; second edition 2002), A Voyage from Mecca (novel, 2001), The House on the Drina (short stories, 2003) and Storm (novel, 2004).

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 304 pp, Fiction/History, 2004
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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NON-FICTION
Subject: Hostage crisis and United Nations mismanagement

Title: 21 DAYS
ISBN: 983-3221-04-1
Author: Ganase Jaganathan
Synopsis: On the 1st of May 2000, Major Ganase Jaganathan, who was stationed in Makeni, Sierra Leone as a United Nations Military Observer, was kidnapped at gunpoint by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. He and ten other hostages were systematically beaten, bound and clad only in their underwear, were taken to Matotoka in a commandeered UN vehicle, where they were joined by nine other hostages.

This is a true story of how Major Ganase Jaganathan, Commander Gjellestad (of Norway), Colonel Mendy of Kenya and seventeen others managed to stay alive in an increasingly volatile and hostile environment, with trigger-happy guerrilla often high on alcohol or drugs or both.

A very good account of the under-preparedness and naiveté of the United Nations in dealing with international and civil conflicts.

About the author: Ganase Jaganathan was born in 1958 in Kuala Lumpur. He joined the army as an Officer Cadet in 1980, to fulfil his childhood ambition.

On completion of his nine-month training at the Officer Cadet School, Port Dickson he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1981 and posted to the Royal Armoured Corps. In his 24 years service, he has held various appointments in the Armoured Regiments from Troop Leader to Squadron Leader, and the subsequent Chief Instructor at the Armoured Training Centre. At formation level, he has served as a Staff Officer Grade 3 Logistics at Rajang Area Security Command (RASCOM) Headquarters (now 9th Malaysian Infantry Brigade) and as a Staff Officer Grade 2 Operations and Training at the Armour Directorate, Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1995.

He presented a paper at the 'International Seminar on the Safety of United Nations (UN) and Associated Personnel Working in the Conflict Zone' held in Tokyo, Japan on March 2001. His essay Surviving as a Hostage was published in the December 2001 issue of the Malaysian Army Journal (Sorotan Darat).

Major Ganase Jaganathan is married and has three children.

Imprint: SILVERFISHBOOKS
Format: Paperback (B), 256 pp, Non-fiction, 2005
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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BIOGRAPHY
Subject: Mental illness

Title: FIREFLY
ISBN: 983-40816-6-9
Author: Bernie Tan
Synopsis: In 1991, Wings/BBDO was the first Malaysian agency (and only the second Asian after Japan) to be awarded the Max Lewis Memorial Challenge Trophy. Mary Bernadette Tan (Bernie) was the brilliant creative mind behind it. The youngest in a family of four, Bernie was an alcoholic at 14, did heroin at 16, was anorexic at 18 and was sent to the State Mental Institution at 20. A tragic true story of love (or the lack of it) and courage.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 144 pp, Biography, 2003
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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PLAYS
Subject: Theatre

Title: EIGHT PLAYS
ISBN: 983-40816-2-6
Author: Huzir Sulaiman
Synopsis: A delightful collection of eight plays by Malaysia's leading dramatist, acclaimed for his vital, inventive language and darkly humorous insight. This collection brings together his plays from 1998 to 2002 including Atomic Jaya, The Smell of Language, Hip-Hopera, Notes on Life and Love and Painting, Election Day, Those Four Sisters Fernandez, Occupation and Whatever That Is.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 320 pp, Plays, 2002
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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Title: THE WEDGWOOD LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB AND OTHER STORIES
ISBN: 983-3221-07-6)
Author: TRR Raman
Synopsis: The Wedgwood Ladies Football Club and other stories is a collection of Malaysian short stories - some hilarious, some satirical, some poignant. This book should appeal to anyone interested is a liberal dose of Malaysiana.

About the author: TRR Raman is an engineer who retired from the construction industry after 25 years to pursue an interest in reading and writing. He was born in Johor in 1948. He is also a publisher and runs an independent bookshop in Kuala Lumpur where he now lives. In 2004 he organised the first Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival, with 40 writers from 12 countries featuring Amit Chaudhuri, Oscar Hijuelos and Paul Bailey amongst others.

Reviews from the Malaysian press

Sheila Singham, Options, The Edge
A rollicking good read … in his hands a seemingly inconsequential event or ordinary person can become the core of a hilarious chronicle. .

Damelia Ajla, The Star
... the (story) is about a gang of local women who want to play football in their village … against strong reaction and objections … I couldn't stop giggling each time I read a character in the story ... so much like my own team mates.

Jessica Rajandran, The New Straits Times
Candidly Malaysian ... I picked it up and started reading the first story, The Wedgwood Ladies Football Club. And I felt like I was going to cry… (the) book made me miss living in Malaysia …

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 192pp, Fiction (short stories), 2005
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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Title: GREEN IS THE COLOUR
ISBN: 983-40816-9-3
Author: Lloyd Fernando
Synopsis: This reprint of the novel by Lloyd Fernando is about racial and religious tolerance set against the shadow of the 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur. A story of humanity struggling against the cold inhumanity of closed minds.

The central concern of this work is how people of different races face the challenges of living side by side. After the infamous May 13, an artificial togetherness has been created to prevent more such occurrence. Then, fresh violence breaks out and into this are thrown several characters of different races, religions and political affiliations, and different levels of tolerance. An uncompromising look at Malaysia's past, it articulates with keen insight some unexpressed truths about how we see each other in a multi-racial world. A Malaysian classic.

Some press reviews

Koh Buck Song, The Straits Times
A sensitive novel about racial and religious tolerance set against the shadow of the 1969 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur.

Edward Dorall, The New Straits Times
Lloyd Fernando has exactly recounted (the) terrifying experience many of us must have lived through those awful months. For me, it is this shared nightmare…that is the 'objective correlative' of May 13 1969 and the finest, lasting achievement of Green is the Colour.

Dorothy Colmer, Adelaide University, CRNLE Reviews Journal
Fernando creates a wonderful sense of verdant beauty of Malaysia, the 'melodic green' of Sara's childhood when people could live in harmony…(but) the green of the title is not always the colour of harmony with nature…We may remember Garcia Lorca's poem where green is the colour that kills…

Amir Muhammad, The New Straits Times
Fernando seeks to strip away the Englishness from English, to find a uniquely Malaysian prose voice…This is evident in his remarkable ear for Malaysian English, never sinking into caricature, but establishing a familiar flow…The best thing about it (the novel), and the reason I recommend it, is its picture of a society aware of its 'roots' but is simultaneously rootless.

About the author: Lloyd Fernando was born in Sri Lanka in 1926, and in 1938, at the age of twelve, he migrated to Singapore with his family. Fernando continued his schooling at St Patrick's, but the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1943 to 1945 interrupted his formal schooling, when it cost his father's life in one of the Japanese bombing raids. Following his father's death, Fernando started working as a trishaw rider, construction labourer and apprentice mechanic, to support him and the family.

After the war, Fernando completed his Cambridge School Certificate. In 1955, he entered the University of Singapore, graduating in 1959 with double Honours in English and Philosophy. In 1960, he joined the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur where he was, eventually, elevated to Professor and Head of English at the University of Malaya until his retirement in 1979.

Fernando started writing in the 1970s, rather late in life. Rejection of political violence, and a humanist approach towards life and society that sees every individual and community as equal, within and beyond a national boundary, recur as the central theme in both his novels - Scorpion Orchid (1976) and Green is the Colour (1993).

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 204 pp, Fiction, 2004 (reprint)
Price (Malaysia): RM 30.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 19.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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ANTHOLOGIES

Title: SILVERFISH NEW WRITING 1
ISBN: 983-40816-0-X
Author: Amir Muhammad (Ed)
Synopsis: It was the end of September 2000. What was the state of English writing in Malaysia? An email was sent out to a few hundred people requesting submissions for Silverfish New Writing 1. A one-month window was given. By the end of October we received 250 entries from not only Malaysia and Singapore but from Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Obviously the emails had multiplied. Initially, this project was started off as one involving short stories from Malaysia only. Singapore was later included because of the common historical and cultural background (and baggage). But this being the Internet age, the project refused to be contained. So, while most of the stories are from Malaysia and Singapore, there is a sprinkling from beyond. This is a snapshot of current writing in English - or postcolonial writing (for want of a better term) - in English from Malaysia, Singapore and beyond.

About the editor: Amir Muhammad was born in 1972 and has been writing for the media since the age of 14. He has a Law degree, which he does not use. He has written for the stage and television and is also an independent filmmaker.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 184 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2001
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Title: SILVERFISH NEW WRITING 2
ISBN: 983-40816-1-8
Author: Satendra Nandan (Ed)

Synopsis: This project was launched after the tremendous success of SNW1, this time round with the sponsorship of the Australian High Commission in Malaysia. Over 500 submissions were received. This volume contains several pieces by Australian writers although the majority of the pieces are from Malaysia and Singapore. More postcolonial writing from Malaysia, Singapore and beyond.

About the editor: Satendra Nandan was born in Fiji and is currently Professor of Literature and Director, University Centre for Writing in Canberra. He was also a Cabinet Minister in the Bavadra Government in Fiji, and International Chair of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS).

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 220 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2002
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Title: SILVERFISH NEW WRITING 3
ISBN: 983-40816-5-0
Author: Dina Zaman & Mohamad A Quayum (Eds)
Synopsis: This is a continuation of the series started with SNW1. This collection features 10 stories from Malaysia, 4 from Singapore, 2 from Australia, and 1 each from Hong Kong, India and Korea. All previously unpublished, with some venturing into areas previously thought taboo. SNW3 was sponsored by the Australian High Commission in Malaysia.

About the editors:

Dina Zaman has always been in the public relations and media industries though writing is her mistress. She writes both fiction and non-fiction, and is interested in religion, society and what makes Malaysians tick. She has been published abroad and locally. Educational and / or professional training: BA Mass Communication and Creative Writing, Western Michigan University; MA Creative Writing, Lancaster University.

Mohammah A. Quayum, who has lived and worked in several countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore), is currently professor of English at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. He left for the US in August 2003 to take up an offer of visiting professor at the State University of New York. Author and editor of 13 books, Quayum's articles have appeared in many distinguished journals in the US, the UK, Australia, India, Taiwan, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 224 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2003
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Title: SILVERFISH NEW WRITING 4
ISBN: 983-3221-00-9
Author: Robert Raymer (Ed)
Synopsis: This is a continuation of the series started with SNW1. Besides Malaysia and Singapore, this collection features stories from Australia, Bosnia, Britain, Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, the United States and Britain.

About the editor: Robert Raymer, a long time resident of Penang, teaches Creative Writing in Universiti Sains Malaysia, has published over 200 articles, 80 short stories in such publications as Literary Review, Press, Aim, London Magazine, Staple, My Weekly, Paris Transcontinental, Kunapipi, Going Down Swinging, Northern Perspective and Mattoid. Lovers and Strangers, a collection of his Malaysian-set stories, was published by Heinemann Asia in 1993. He has also been a stage manager for Penang Players and was an extra in four films: Indochine, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road and Anna and the King. He is currently rewriting a novel set in Penang.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 298 pp, Fiction (Short stories), 2004
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Title: SILVERFISH NEW WRITING 5
ISBN: 983-3221-06-8
Author: Ronald D Klein (Ed)
Synopsis: This time round we feature 23 writers; twelve are from (ie live in) Malaysia. Eight writers (also by place of residence) are from Singapore including Robert Yeo (poet, playwright and writer), Michael Vatikiotis (former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review), Lim Thean Soo (posthumous) and Goh Sin Tub (posthumous).Of the others, two writers Jane Downing and Craig Cormick, are from Australia and Lawrence Gray is from Hong Kong.

About the editor: Dr Ronald D Klein has been teaching English language, literature and culture at Hiroshima Jogakuin University for 16 years. His specialization is Asian English Literature. He was the editor of Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature; Volume 4: Interviews, a collection of interviews with 16 Singaporean writers, and has written about Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine literary views of Japan.. He advocates the use of Asian English short stories in reading classes.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 224 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2005
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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Title: NINETEEN
ISBN: 983-40816-4-2
Author: Joan Lau (Ed)
Synopsis: nineteen: as Joan Lau says in her foreword to the book, is not a book of women's writings but a collection of stories by women, and ultimately there are only two types of writings - good and bad. nineteen is a collection of nineteen stories - nine by Malaysians, three from Singapore, three from Australia, two from Hong Kong and two from the Philippines.

About the editor: Joan Lau had a childhood spent between book covers, which grew into a love for words in later life. Joan has worked as a journalist in The New Straits Times, copywriter in various advertising agencies, freelance writer for Options, The Edge, and editor of a woman's magazine. She is now back at the New Straits Times as an Associate Editor.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 136 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2003
Price (Malaysia): RM 20.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price (Int): USD 15.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00
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Title: COLLATERAL DAMAGE
ISBN: 983-40816-8-5
Author: Sharon Bakar (Ed)
Synopsis: The chillingly clinical phrase collateral damage was originally coined by the Pentagon during the first Gulf War. It was used to euphemistically refer to the deaths and maiming (to say nothing of destroyed livelihoods, disrupted family lives and lost hopes) of innocent civilians who got caught in the crossfire. It rendered those casualties invisible in official reports and television broadcasts, and effectively kept them off the public conscience.

About the editor: Sharon Bakar is British but considers herself as a "local foreigner", having lived and worked in Malaysia for the past twenty years. Her fiction has appeared in Silverfish New Writing 1, Men's Review and The Edge, and her articles on English Language issues have appeared in The Star. An English lecturer and teacher-trainer by profession, she's a self-confessed bookaholic and a founder member of the thriving Klang Valley-based reading group, Fiction & Friends. She lives in Petaling Jaya with her husband.

Imprint: Silverfishbooks
Format: Paperback (B), 224 pp, Fiction (short stories), 2004
Price(Malaysia): RM 25.00
Delivery (Malaysia): Free
Price(Int): USD 17.95
Delivery (Int): USD 4.00

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Silverfish Books is Malaysia's leading publisher of Postcolonial and World Literature. The first book, published in the year 2000, was Silverfish New Writing 1 - an anthology of short stories from Malaysia, Singapore and beyond. Since then the Silverfish New Writing series has taken on a life of its own attracting postcolonial writers from all over the world.

Silverfish Books is a small press, and we are very proud of that. Every single book is read thoroughly from cover to cover, and must pass our stringent criteria before it is accepted. And every book is produced to the highest standards (albeit in paperback form, due to cost) using wood free paper.

silverfish books, 58-1 jalan telawi, bangsar baru, 59100 kuala lumpur, malaysia. tel: (603) 2284 4837, fax: (603) 2284 4839 email: info@silverfishbooks.com