October 16, 2014

Kiribati connection

A few months ago, while planning on how to distribute my copies of The Supernatural Enhancements, I recorded my intention to send one book to the National Library of Kiribati—which, in case you don't know, is a remote island nation on  the South Pacific. ()

For a number of reasons, this mission has been intolerably postponed, until this morning, on a beautiful summer day in mid-October, I woke up with the firm purpose of fulfilling that promise.

 This is the book. (Hi.)

Sorry, I doodled all over it.

This is a letter to the unsuspecting librarians in Kiribati.

 This is the envelope we sent it in.

And this is the whole package standing on a rooftop shouting, baby I'm ready to go.

After a trip to the post office and a brief lesson for the clerk on the history of Kiribati, the package was posted. Here is the receipt.


Which is a good moment to answer the question, "why are you doing this?" Simply put, because I've been fascinated by the Pacific for years, and I want a piece of me to be there. And now it's on its way. Yippee!


(If I piqued anyone's curiosity with all this, allow me to recommend J. Maarten Troost's The Sex Lives of Cannibals: one of the very few books on modern-day Kiribati available, and among my favorite non-fiction books of all time.)

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More news on TSE: it's selling very well, thank you! Also, it will be released in French, Italian and Spanish in the first half of 2015. The Spanish translation has been undertaken by yours truly, together with my friend and long-time collaborator Xavi Morató. A big thank you to all the readers who gave it a chance, and let me remind all those who were left perplexed by it that I remain at your disposition via Goodreads for somewhat less vague explanations. Cheers.