The Next Big Thing - Destination Cambodia

My pal P.M. Newton, the acclaimed Australian crime novelist, has tagged me with the Next Big Thing Meme. In the true spirit of procrastination, I have embraced the opportunity. So here goes:

1) What is the working title of your next book?

Destination Cambodia 

Washing the Buddha in Battambang, Cambodia

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

It is really the continuation of a lifelong journey that produced my first book, Destination Saigon. I have been visiting Cambodia for sixteen years, and my publisher at the time, Maggie Hamilton, said she wanted to hear about my experiences in that amazing country.

Walter Mason reads his first book, Destination Saigon

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Travel memoir.



4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Who could play me? As an ex-thespian, I am afraid I would have to cast myself in the role. 



5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

An affectionate, insightful and intimate glimpse of modern Cambodia.




6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

This is a very American question. I don't have an agent, but am published by Allen & Unwin, one of the oldest and most prestigious publishing houses in the world. 

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Oh dear. Not yet finished! To date, ten months.


8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Hmmm...this is a trick question to make me sound like a self-deluded egotist. Bill Bryson, William Dalrymple, Pico Iyer...

Inspiration: Pico Iyer

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I have to say that it was Paul Theroux who made me want to be a travel writer. But ultimately Cambodia is inspiration enough - there are a billion stories there.



10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

There's quite a bit of magic - I mean, real magic, not the literary kind. 

Cambodian magical tattoos

Destination Saigon in Cambodia

I have spent the past few weeks in Cambodia, researching my new book.
While there I was lucky enough to make contact with the Khmer Youth Writer's Association, an incredible bunch of young people who are passionately and energetically writing, creating and publishing in a way that made me feel like a lazy old hack. I wish I'd had even an ounce of their energy and enterprise when I was their age. As a body they are madly self-publishing their own work, as well as submitting material to the publishing houses of Phnom Penh. And they are successful at it, too - I kept seeing their books in the city's bookshops.
My dear friend Chanphal Sok is one of the group's luminaries. A successful commercial songwriter, Chanphal is also a novelist, and he was kind enought to give me inscribed copies of his previously published works, including the bestselling Gentleman's Love.



Just as I was leaving he was about to launch his newest book, Winter Love.



Unfortunately I had to go before I saw a finished copy. I promised Chanphal that this year I would do my very best to learn Khmer, using his writing as my textbooks. I haven't got very far yet, but I do intend to make more of an effort.
When I went to Cambodia I only took one copy of Destination Saigon with me, in case I should be called upon to prove my bona fides. Of course, I realised instantly my error, because many of my writing friends, most of whom spoke excellent English and regularly read English books, were desperate for a copy. Fortunately my partner, Thang, was due to visit me in Phnom Penh, and I prevailed upon him to bring a half dozen extra copies of the book for distribution.
Imagine my delight when Chanphal posted on his Facebook page (and can I mention here what a phenomenal social force Facebook is in Cambodia? Young Phnom Penh-ese use it as a principal form of communication, and some of them have Facebook friends in the thousands!) a picture of his copy of my book, lying casually in his room, obviously read. What an immense feeling of satisfaction it gave me!
I felt foolish when, just a day or two before I was scheduled to leave, I discovered that Phnom Penh's wonderful bookshop, Monument Books, had plenty of copies of Destination Saigon in stock, so I could have been buying and distributing them all along!

Inspired Living stand at the Sydney Mind Body Spirit Festival

A lot of people don't realise that Destination Saigon comes out under the Inspired Living imprint at Allen & Unwin.
Inspired Living is the MBS imprint that is the brainchild of my publisher and friend Maggie Hamilton - a wonderful woman and successful author in her own right.
This year Inspired Living has its own stand at the Sydney Mind Body Spirit Festival, and I was their first author of the rank, manning the stall, handing out pamphlets, signing books and providing a splash of D-List celebrity. I'm so proud to be associated with such a remarkable list of Australian authors, all of them inspiring people doing amazing work.

The Allen and Unwin team manning the stall.



Maggie Hamilton and I.

What I Wish I knew About Love

I don't think I'm giving too much away when I tell my readers that I'm a little portly. Built for comfort, avoirdupois, solid, a big man, call it what you will, I still find it hard to buy pants.
It wasn't awlays so. And in two short weeks documentary evidence of my previously slender self will be appearing in Marty Wilson's wonderful new book What I Wish I Knew About Love.
Anyone who has read Marty's previous book What I Wish I knew at 18 will be familiar with the format. The book is filled with photos of the prominent, the talented and the otherwise interesting taken when they were 18 years of age. Next to these fascinating (and frequently embarrassing) photos is a page of reflections on what they wish they had known about life at that tender age.
Being a part of the book was a lovely process, as Marty nudged my always nostalgic mind down the pathways of love and romance, and I recalled how very tormented I was about such matters at the age of 18!
The book will be available in April, and I encourage you to rush out and get it, if only to see how very pretty Walter Mason was at that age!

Destination Saigon: Adventures in Vietnam, book cover revealed!

Book Cover Revealed! Out March 2010

Destination Saigon to be sold at Frankfurt Book Fair 2009

It was so exciting to see Destination Saigon: Adventures in Vietnam included in the publisher's catalogue for the Frankfurt Book Fair this year.  It was all a rush to make sure it was included in Allen & Unwin's catalogue for the Fair.  Destionation Saigon was only one of nine non-fiction books they're taking to Frankfurt.  It's so amazing to see Walter Mason's book included in the same catalogue as Christos Tsiolkas, Clive Hamilton, Stephanie Dowrick, Armando Percuoco and David Dale.

The Fair goes for 4 days and starts 14th October 2009.

A&U hold the worldwide rights to Destination Saigon: Adventures in Vietnam, by Walter Mason which will be published in Australia in March 2010.   They've been incredibly supportive of Walter and amazingly great at promoting his book

I think everyone has great hopes for it, good luck Walter!

Destination Saigon a book by Walter Mason out March 2010

DESTINATION SAIGON
Adventures in Vietnam
Allen & Unwin
Walter Mason

A personal insight into one of the world’s most popular travel destinations.

This funny, fascinating travelogue is the perfect book for travellers wanting to know more about the people and places they’re about to visit. With Walter’s distinctive voice, knowledge and wicked sense of humour, the sacred and profane meet in a riotous celebration of a remarkable and resilient nation which has become a great tourist destination.

Walter Mason has spent the last fifteen years madly in love with Vietnam. In that time he has made numerous trips to the country, and he has seen the country undergo huge changes. In Destination Saigon, he shares many of the bewildering, frequently funny cultural complexities that face any visitor to Vietnam, and at the same time provides a rare insight into Vietnam’s rich culture.

Travelling to the little-known south-western provinces where the last vestiges of Khmer life is to be found; to far-flung villages where he is imprisoned, and caught up in local wedding celebrations; to experience the Cao Dai religion, made famous in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, where Charlie Chaplin and Victor Hugo are worshipped as saints; these are just some of the adventures Walter will share.

Walter Mason has several blogs, gives regular talks and has a strong feel for popular taste in travel writing.

Category: Travel writing March 2010 paperback