The Shadow Walker
Most of the news coming out of Mongolia at the moment seems to be concerned with political tensions and civil unrest (here's a very comprehensive and apparently balanced account from Mongolia Web).
But, by contrast, here's a more positive story from the New York Times about a young jockey. Though I'm not sure whether to be pleased or depressed that the influence of Manchester United stretches even to Mongolian 13 year olds.
Political turmoil continues to grip Mongolia, but of course life outside the capital just goes on.
In the Publishers Weekly interview (see last posting), I mentioned that some incidents and themes that I thought I'd fictionalised or exaggerated in The Shadow Walker had subsequently been reflected in real iife events in Mongolia. Having just finished editing The Outcast, which deals in part with political activism and potential civil unrest, I was disturbed to see that, following its recent general election, Mongolia has responded to violence on the streets by declaring its first ever state of emergency. The problems have been described as the 'teething troubles of a young democracy'. Let's hope so.
I've been a little quiet on here for the last week or so, as I've been completing the final edits for The Outcast, which is now (I hope) just about ready to go.
In the meantime, I've been also made some more updates to the website, including adding the first exclusive extract from The Outcast. More to follow.
I've also mentioned on the news page that, following its starred review of The Shadow Walker, this week's Publishers Weekly carries an interview with yours truly by Jeff VanderMeer.