Nearly sold out

I am pleased when I was informed by the Sales Department of PTS Publications and Distributors that within a period of less than four months, my second novel Transgenesis: Bisikan Rimba is nearly sold out.

Truth be told, it is difficult to penetrate the market with a book with a different genre other than romance. Somehow, most novels that sell well in the country are romance-themed stories. The local science fiction segment is very much an untested and unchartered territory.

While it wasn't exactly a megahit when it hit bookstores last June, I am happy of the fact that my humble attempt at writing science fiction is well-received, if the online comments that the novel generated and the sale figures are any indication. Only about 140 copies are left in the store of PTS at this point in time (and this figure, I was told, is inclusive of returned copies from bookstores).

I hope that the publisher will decide to go for second printing. And in the meantime, I have promised to deliver the manuscript of the sequel to Transgenesis: Bisikan Rimba by January 2009, so that it'll make it just in time for next year's Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF).

Here's hoping for the best.