'How I Wrote a Dystopian, Eco-thriller about a Talking Raffles’ Banded Langur'
Gus appeared in the NTU School of Humanities magazine in 2023.
You can read the full article on page 16 here.
“In early 2021 during the dark days of the pandemic, I started to write a novel narrated by a traumatized talking Raffles’ banded langur finding his way home to the jungles of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve at the end of the world.
In order to avoid coughing and coffins I walked and cycled a lot along the Rail Corridor. As I enjoyed the constructed green, several questions leapt into my thoughts and drove me into the
arms of this novel.
The first question arose because of rejection. I had been chastened and humbled by an editor responding to a short story collection I’d sent him six months before. Not for him my bleak
solipsism. He told me that my stories were well written and “somewhat” engaging, but they were also “relentlessly sombre” in pace, tone, and sentiment. So, what on earth could I write next? Clearly, I needed to take a turn and write something fun.
But we were in a pandemic. People were sick. The borders had closed. We were alone. The climate was in crisis. Obviously, I thought why not write an action-packed, dystopian novel that had hi-jinks and hope at its core?”