Poagao's Book

actually, i thought THIS was the MONEY QUOTE and worth looking into: “…you can ask a publisher
to have book put on the recommend books [table or display window] for
the bookstore , and of course the publisher has to
give bookstore for some promotion fee . …”

Is this true? Alleycat might know. In order for books in Taiwan to get in the window display or on the front table near the door, the publishers have to pay a special BRIBE (read: fee)? Really? I never heard of this before, so that is why I posted that quote…

I’m almost finished with this one, and it’s been a pretty interesting read. I showed it to my Taiwanese boyfriend this afternoon, and he’s been lying on my bed for the past hour or so reading it and giggling non-stop … he seems utterly fascinated. He hasn’t served in the army yet, though …

A question to Poagao: did you write the original in English and then have it translated to Chinese, or did you write it in Chinese, or a combination of both?

I wrote it in English first.

Well, congratulations, I really enjoyed it!

I’m enjoying it too, but due to time constraints I’m not getting through it very quickly. :cry:

Maybe on the airplane later today…but somehow reading Chinese on an airplane puts me to sleep (which might not be a bad thing, but wouldn’t move me any farther through the book).

I was browsing the Chinese bookstore today and saw your book! It was at a World Journal Bookstore (世界書局). The price here in the states was high – $17.11 with taxes.

I enjoyed it! I thought you were a little expressionless in the photos though. Could have smiled more. Whatever happened to the tall guy? Is he still pissed about his assignment not working out? Did he end up learning an instrument?

[quote=“BAH”]I was browsing the Chinese bookstore today and saw your book! It was at a World Journal Bookstore (

You don’t smile a lot in general. You’d seem a bit deranged if you all of a sudden started to. :wink:

Hey, Mr P, I saw your photo in recent issue of taipei review magazine. 55 dollars at bookstore. said you used the ploy of getting adopted to stay in the country, were those your words, or did they reporter put them in your mouth. lousy reporting. made it sound like you plotted to find a way to stay in taiwan and used the adoption thing as a way to stay. true? I thought from all your other interviews tah the adoption was genuine and heartfelt, and part of that family’s love for you. If the new magazine report is true, it sorta kinda changes things a bit. no? maybe not. the main point is you is here, among us, living and working, and your book became a bess-seller in no time. so for that, you deserve our support, which … you got. just clear up that magazine insuation…or did I read it wrong?

The reporter harped on that point for a while, saying things like “but you couldn’t have become a citizen if you weren’t adopted, right?”

“Right, but…”

“So you did it to become a citizen, right?” And before I could give a complete answer she was already scribbling away. It was a bit annoying, but it’s a government publication after all. They’re going to print what they see as the ‘point’ of their article without being bothered by any ‘facts’ they see as peripheral. I don’t think that many people rely on the GIO’s publications for accuracy or truth.

Still, that’s a horrible thing to say. It’s like someone saying that I got married just so that I could stay in Taiwan.

Bri

But that happens all the time in the US. Of course, who in their right mind would want to marry just to stay here?

But that happens all the time in the US. Of course, who in their right mind would want to marry just to stay here?[/quote]

Well, now that the Taipei Times sucks, nobody. But back in the good old days…

Thanks, Paogoa, for that update on how they screwed you in the GIO interview. wow! that is terrible, to put words in someone’s mouth they didn’t really say. The report on you, the rest of it, seemed sympathetic and positive, but that one paragraph was rather unkind and might I say, xenophobic? on the reporters’ part, that is.

so, did any movie offers come in from Hollywood or London or Taipei yet? Would make a great drama of the week for TV.

I just found that the book is available for order online, for those of you not in Taiwan:

http://global.yesasia.com/en/artIdxDept.aspx/aid-484935/code-c/section-books/

Wooooooooooooooooooooo…

Too amazing… I can never complain my army life to ALL fair skin guys any more. At least there is an exception. I will rush to the bookstore to pick one tomorrow.

Hope your English edition will be ready soon. Then, I will persuade my friends by saying “READ THIS AND YOUR ENGLISH WILL IMPROVE OVERNIGHT.”

As a “comrade”, I’m really curious how you express those ROC Army things in Engilsh.

Attention! Salute crazy monkey(Paogao)

I finish it.

If removing photos from this book, I can’t find out it’s real-life experience of a soldier from a different background. It does portray the real face of ROC army.

I was 1785T and I was dispatched to a tiny island away from MATSU. It’s a long story.

On page 154, 156, there is a militant anthem. Hardly believe that I still know how to sing it. Now I realize how powerful the army’s influence is. (I agree that the song is special and beautiful)

During my PRISON LIFE (that island is like a jail without walls.) it was much more bloody than people’s in Taiwan island. I really should recall how I survive.

Paogao, do you know if your book is distributed in Hong Kong? I will check the book stores and libraries this weekend. I’m hoping that at least one of the libraries will have it. Sounds quite interesting.

I don’t know. I’ve heard of it popping up here and there, but I don’t know about Hong Kong. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Anyone have a copy of the story on Poagao in Next mag recently? Would like to see it. Cheers.