Ask the Author: Isham Cook
Answered Questions (11)
Isham Cook
No, because to be frank I don't often read translations of Chinese literature in English. I'm actually more interested in Chinese authors who write in English (e.g., Han Jin, Xiaolu Guo) and expat authors writing about China.
Isham Cook
No, not into horror. There's enough horror in reality.
Isham Cook
I would love to travel to the village which is the setting of Kafka's The Castle, and see if I could find a cafe there.
Isham Cook
I don't have a summer reading list. I just have a reading list and hope I can get everything on it read before I kick the bucket.
Isham Cook
My latest novel, The Mustachioed Woman of Shanghai, is a mystery from my own life.
Isham Cook
No, not at the moment.
Isham Cook
Living in the interface of clashing cultures. Involving myself erotically with people of different cultures.
Isham Cook
My fourth book, At the Teahouse Café: Essays from the Middle Kingdom.
Isham Cook
Live life to the full, take risks, throw yourself into experience, and use that as the basis of your writing. Listen to others' advice, but forge ahead on your own regardless.
Isham Cook
You can exorcise your demons and trap them in bound paper.
Isham Cook
I call it "writer's logjam"--too many ideas get tangled up and need to be painstakingly sorted out. It's hard work at times, more with argumentative than narrative writing. I need to devote a whole morning or afternoon exclusively to breaking up the logjam. No other way around it.
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