BOOKISH ASIA with Plum Rain Press

New Zealand writer Frank Beyer (who goes under the name F.E. Beyer) talks to John about novels featuring a much maligned creature: the Western English teacher in East Asia. Frank is something of a connoisseur of these stories, and his latest novel, The Crushed Can, adds to the canon. This fun page-turner is set in Shanghai in 2002, where a young protagonist called Kurt has just made his life more complicated by taking in his friend’s former girlfriend, a Chinese woman called Ronghua.

Exploring the tropes of the foreign English teacher in China, Japan, and South Korea, Frank talks about: Tuvalu by Andrew O’Connor; White Monkey by Carlos Hughes; Foreign Teachers by Sam Wade, American Fuji by Sara Backer; and River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure.

Other titles discussed or mentioned include: Peter Hessler’s acclaimed River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, which gets some good-natured ribbing (and is the subject of a running joke in The Crushed Can, where it appears as Lake Town by Paula Hess). Also mentioned are Hessler’s Country Driving (2010) and Other Rivers: A Chinese Education (2024).

John mentions books he’s been involved in publishing: The Cuttlefish by Chris Tharp, Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside by Quincy Carroll, and Tom Carter’s An American Bum in China. He also praises John Dalton’s Heaven Lake.

To learn more about or purchase The Crushed Can (and Frank’s first two works, Buenos Aires Triad and Smoko) visit Amazon. You’ll find some of his articles and book reviews at www.febeyer.com.

John chats with Jenna Cody about some of her favorite works of Taiwan fiction. Jenna, an American based in Taipei, is the author of the long-running blog Lao Ren Cha (now on Substack). Lao Ren Cha (“Old Man Tea”) is the most popular English-language blog on Taiwan; it focuses on Taiwan culture, politics, and books. In this Bookish Asia episode, the four main works discussed are Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan (2016), The Butcher’s Wife by Li Ang (Chinese 1983; English edition 1986), Migrante by J. W. Henley (2020), and Taipei People by Pai Hsien-yung (Chinese 1971; English edition 1982). Jenna is known for her strong opinions and she doesn’t disappoint in this wide-ranging discussion. Make sure to listen to the very end to hear about the Plum Rain Press book giveaway.

The first emperor of China dispatched a Taoist priest named Xu Fu to bring back the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu and his fleet vanished. Some legends say he settled in Japan. In Tim McGirk's novel, Xu Fu goes beyond Japan, traversing the Pacific Ocean and landing upon the shores of the land of the Maya. In this fun conversation, John Ross and Tim McGirk discuss Xu Fu, Tim's novel and his work as a foreign correspondent for Time magazine. Note: John also talked with Tim on the Books on Asia podcast, but they cover different ground in this Bookish Asia episode. Learn more about the novel at Amazon.com,  Plum Rain Press, or at Tim McGirk's website.
A video version of this chat is available on YouTube.

Busan-based author Chris Tharp chats with John about The Cuttlefish, his hilarious novel set in the fictional East Asian island nation of Sukhan. The protagonist, an American called Zach, finds himself in Sukhan’s toughest prison: National Correctional Facility Number 4, nicknamed “the Cuttlefish.” That might sound bleak but this story is a huge amount of fun. Listen and learn what the the author and the main character have in common – and whether the miraculous gayabonga is an actual Korean delicacy.

China Running Dog by Mark Kitto
Controversial China figure and author Mark Kitto chats with John about his new novel, China Running Dog, set in the days of peak Shanghai Fever. It’s a brilliant novel and arguably more revealing than Kitto’s excellent memoirs; China Cuckoo and That’s China.