Photo of our House Dragon, Shu.

orn and bred in Singapore. Singapore = hot, hot and more hot. And yes, the government banned chewing gum in this little island nation - get over it. Most vivid childhood memory: falling on her butt upon a fish tank while trying to climb the pipes ledged onto the ceiling and needing four stitches as a result. Tank and fishes never recovered. Other notable childhood event was the separation and subsequent divorce of parents whereupon everyone involved breathed a sigh of relief including the children (big sister and her) who thought their parents stood a better chance as normal individuals without each other.

Started formal education in Bedok Girls' Primary. Six years in sheer hell then ensued as she had to contend with a monster who named herself Mrs Lee - form teacher in disguise but really was a witch with warts and all underneath. Secondary school was bearable, almost interesting, and college was one long blur where she learnt inexplicable stuff such as Mathematics (x times y NEVER equalled xy for her), Biology (the birds and the bees) and Economics (the GDP output of a country is...duh??) along with the more palatable subjects of History, Literature and Chinese. Upon graduation, she promptly forgot everything she was taught. After which she decides, on a foolish whim, to go work in a library to absorb 'real-life' experiences for a few months and ended up shackled to the bookshelves for a few years. At present attending first year in the Open University of Singapore, trying to get a BA in English Language and Literature, while still shackled to the library where the dusty book parasites draw at least one pint of blood from her per day. Spending her days studying her healed butt off but, much to her horror, she's actually kinda enjoying being back in school again.

Thinks nephews are the sweetest things on earth, love them, love them! Apparently has an attitude problem (said boss). Will revert to a mishmash of gibberish spoken English and Mandarin when hysterically happy. Mood swings unfortunately, sometimes bad-tempered, but generally cheerful. Have a total of three best friends from way beyond who tolerates these mood swings thankfully. Would like to travel the world and not work for the rest of her life and occasionally invests in a lottery ticket in hopes of realizing this futile dream.

Future aims include finishing Katya Dragonseeker's story within this century! Learning how to untangle her two left feet to swing and lindy-hop beautifully. Get that blasted BA and earn oodles of money.

How Shu thinks to look inside... Picture drawn by Enayla.

Odds n Ends : For some reason, when people ask me what kind of books I like to read (perils of working in a public library) and I'd answer blithely, 'Oh, fantasy mostly'. Usually the response I get would be 'Fantasy? Really? You like these kind of books?' in disbelieving tones. And pray tell what's wrong with liking those kind of books? I truly believe that fantastic fiction transcends literary barriers and isn't just limited to the stereotypical idea of knights/heros/wizards rescuing big-chested maidens in distress from dragons/warlords/trolls etc. Fantastic fiction can encompass authors ranging from the classics of Ray Bradbury, the surrealistic magical atmosphere of Isobelle Allende, the delightful and whimsical Victorian fables of E. Nesbitt and George MacDonald, the gothic genre aka Bram Stoker aka Mr Dracula, the haunting world of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and finally mainstream fantasy greats such as David Eddings, Raymond E. Feist, Peter S. Beagle and of course Tolkien himself. And why not? Fantasy is merely imagination, hope, dreams and the willingness to believe even if for a space of a few hours and what are books, whether literary prize-winners or pulp fictions, if not those things?

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