Angsana Books, an imprint of Flame of the Forest Publishing, is offering S$2,000/RM4,000 in cash and other prizes for short ghost stories.

Here’s what it says in the back of the book:

All you have [...]]]> A quick competition update! I saw this in the back of True Singapore Ghost Stories 20, which you can find at most local bookstores.

Angsana Books, an imprint of Flame of the Forest Publishing, is offering S$2,000/RM4,000 in cash and other prizes for short ghost stories.

Here’s what it says in the back of the book:

All you have to do is to write a ghost story, preferably based on a personal experience. About 700 words will do; we are not fussy about length. We are fussy about entertainment value. Entries must be ORIGINAL, that is, they must be yours and unpublished. If your story is chosen for publication, or if we think it’s a good story, you win an amount up to S$100/RM200. The contest is open to all.

Winners will be announced in the next book but you must claim your prize within six months from the date of the next book. We will write to the winners but please make sure you have listed your names and addresses clearly and correctly.

You can send in photos or illustrations, which may be published as well. You can send in as many entries as you want through snail mail or email.

The address:

 Russell Lee
 Angsana Books
 Flames Of The Forest Publishing Pte Ltd
 Blk 5 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2A
 #07-22/23, AMK Tech II
 Singapore 567760

 Email: RussellLee@ flameoftheforest.com

They recommend that you include your name, age, gender, address, phone numbers (home and mobile), school and/or occupation.

Pick up the book for more details and terms!

There’s no deadline in the ad, but best if you send it in early!

It’s that time of year again! This year, we’ll be merging the NaNoWriMo kickoff party with a book launch. :D

Happiness at the End of the World is a collection of short stories written by a few people who did NaNoWriMo last year, and will be on sale at the party-launch.

It’s that time of year again! This year, we’ll be merging the NaNoWriMo kickoff party with a book launch. :D

Happiness at the End of the World is a collection of short stories written by a few people who did NaNoWriMo last year, and will be on sale at the party-launch.

There will be cake for everyone! :D

I got back from holiday a few days ago to find out that Neil Gaiman is coming to Singapore for the Sinagpore Writers Festival in October-November!

You need tickets to get in, but I’d already missed the ticketing date — apparently all the tickets were gone within 1.5 hours, but the SWF organisers decided to [...]]]>

I got back from holiday a few days ago to find out that Neil Gaiman is coming to Singapore for the Sinagpore Writers Festival in October-November!

You need tickets to get in, but I’d already missed the ticketing date — apparently all the tickets were gone within 1.5 hours, but the SWF organisers decided to open up more places! But they were extremely limited, and only available at The Arts House on 26 September from 11am.

I missed him the last time he came down, so of course I arrived at 7am on Saturday to line up for those limited seats.

I arrived just 7am but I wasn’t the first: that was my semi-famous friend Seriously Sarah, who arrived at 6.40am. The night before, rumors were that folks would be camping overnight for the tickets. In the end there were no campers, likely due to security for the F1 Grand Prix that weekend.

He’ll be doing four sessions at the SWF: a reading with Amanda Palmer from The Dresden Dolls, a joint panel, and two individual panels talking about his work. Tickets were limited to one pair per head for one event.

So we waited. More people came, and they waited with us. And waited… By 11am, I’d counted at least 63 distinct groups or individuals that I could clearly see were there for the tickets.

Four hours and ten minutes later, at 11.10am, we were the first to get the tickets to the November 1st panel!

Afterwards, Sarah and I found out that within half an hour all the tickets were gone. The first one to run out was the November panel, but the Amanda Palmer tickets were really popular too.

It’s interesting to see how big the fanbase is, but boy, am I looking forward to November 1.

The Youth Writers Awards Asia 2010 is a competion brought to you by Reader’s Digest Asia and the National Library Broad. This year’s theme is “Dare 2 Dream: Stories of Imagination, Passion and Sporting Excellence” because Singapore will be hosting the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Here’s some info from the ad, which you can find [...]]]>

The Youth Writers Awards Asia 2010 is a competion brought to you by Reader’s Digest Asia and the National Library Broad. This year’s theme is “Dare 2 Dream: Stories of Imagination, Passion and Sporting Excellence” because Singapore will be hosting the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Here’s some info from the ad, which you can find in this month’s edition of Reader’s Digest Asia:

Students are invited to write a short story (fiction or non-fictional) in English describing the nature of individual love and passion for sport(s) including values such as friendship, the will to go the extra mile, honesty, fair play, hard work, respect for everyone regardless of differences etc. They can share their dreams, true feelings, joys, frustrations or special memories they may have about sports through the medium of the short story.

So yep. Main details:

• Entries should be between 500 to 800 words, in English
• Deadline is 30 September 2009
• Youths born between 1992 and 1996 are eligible to enter (boo, that means I can’t)
• Prizes include a trip to somewhere in Asia and 2 tickets to the YOG in 2010

You can find the entry form and more details here at their website.

Date: 22 and 23 August Time: 9.30am to 8pm Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 6A Admission is free

Books are going for cheap! English books are $2, while magazines are going for $5 for ten issues. Prices vary according [...]]]> The library used book sale is back! Basically the NLB takes all its old books and puts them on sale for really cheap.

Date: 22 and 23 August
Time: 9.30am to 8pm
Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 6A
Admission is free

Books are going for cheap! English books are $2, while magazines are going for $5 for ten issues. Prices vary according to language, but either way it’s a steal. And if you’re lucky you might end up with some really good finds.

Payment is by NETS, CashCard or cash only. Each person can get up to 60 items, and a pack of 10 or 20 magazines is considered one item.

More info at the GoLibrary page.

The Happy Smiley Writers Group (which I’m a part of!) is proud to present a preview of their upcoming novel, Bubble G.U.M. You may remember it being mentioned in our appearance in the newspaper recently.

You can download it from the Singapore Novelists website; here’s a direct [...]]]> I’m really excited to report this. Heck, I’m practically bouncing away!

The Happy Smiley Writers Group (which I’m a part of!) is proud to present a preview of their upcoming novel, Bubble G.U.M. You may remember it being mentioned in our appearance in the newspaper recently.

You can download it from the Singapore Novelists website; here’s a direct link:

Bubble G.U.M. Prologue (Maybe)
[Download]
40kb, PDF

It’s a PDF document, so you’ll need the Adobe Reader or similar program to open and read it.

The official launch of the book will be at the Singapore Writers Festival in October/November. It’ll be a joint event with the kick-off party of NaNoWriMo Singapore, so the timing is somewhat flexible, but it should be at the end of our allotted time slot! More details soonish!

You can also find HSWG on Facebook and Twitter!

War of the Words is a scifi novel contest brought to you by SciFiNow, Play.com and publisher Tor UK. It’s organised by agencies in the UK, but it’s open to anyone from anywhere in the world.

Some details:

Unfortunately, entry is only open to primary and secondary students through their schools. So any teachers or educators out there, listen up :D

Anyway, here are some of the rules:

Date: 29 & 30 June (Mon and Tues) Time: 9am to 5pm Venue: Possibility Room, National Library (100 Victoria Street) Fee: $490/person or $390/person for two and above (includes materials and tea breaks)

It’s quite expensive, but it looks like it’s pretty intensive. Over two days, the workshop [...]]]> Book Camp is a two-day intensive workshop organised by the National Book Council.

Date: 29 & 30 June (Mon and Tues)
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Possibility Room, National Library (100 Victoria Street)
Fee: $490/person or $390/person for two and above (includes materials and tea breaks)

It’s quite expensive, but it looks like it’s pretty intensive. Over two days, the workshop will cover book writing, book production, getting published, and marketing, promotion and distribution – basically the whole process, really. It looks like it’s focusing on nonfiction, but I think quite a lot of it will carry over to fiction as well.

For more information, download the brochure here (it’s called Book Camp).

You can register for the workshop online at the Book Council’s website, or print the form in the brochure and fax it to them.

More about Dan Poynter:

Dan Poynter is an author of more than 120 books. Dan’s work for publishing was recognized by the Publishers Marketing Association when they gave him the Benjamin Franklin Award. He was given the Irwin Award for the best electronic promotion campaign by the Book Publicists of Southern California. He is a past vice-president of PMA.

Dan’s seminars have been featured on CNN, his books have been pictured in The Wall Street Journal, and his story has been told in U.S. News & World Report. The media comes to him because he is the leading authority on book marketing, promoting and distributing. More about Dan Poynter, visit his website at www.parapublishing.com

The Adelaide Review is having its first Annual Short Fiction Competition! The prizes include:

What you need to know: