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October to November 2021 Newsletter
PROMO ROBOTICUS

It's that once in a year event again! Download Homo Roboticus for free from 28 OCTOBER to
02 NOVEMBER, 2021!

It's a big thank you too to the world for COP26, the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow starting 31 October 2021, which many believe is the “world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control.”
Two Years to Top Shelf
(seen in Kinokuniya, Orchard Road)

It took two years for Homo Roboticus to reach top shelf in science fiction at Kinokuniya, Ngee Ann City branch, the biggest branch in Singapore.

Perhaps the topics that I've written in
Homo Roboticus seem more real today than ever before?

A work of fiction, and set in 2072, Homo Roboticus described streets flooded in perpetuity in cities like New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Manila. Forest fires in the Alpine mountains and heat waves in the European cities are a reality. 

Mass migration of people fleeing from environmental disasters have begun in earnest, and countries unprepared for this onslaught will face issues on food and security issues.

Do these issues sound familiar today?This year, there were historic floodings in Germany and the US East Coast was inundated by the waters of Hurricane Ida, flooding basements in Queens and New Jersey.

As of 4 September 2021, there were 48,048 wildfires which had burned 6.5 million acres of land in the United States alone.

Norman Myers, a prominent environmentalist estimates that there will be 200 million possible migrants in 2050 due to inhospitable conditions in their land.

The events in Homo Roboticus were based on books I've read that predicts how Earth "is impacted by each degree of temperature rise."

Is it too late to stop this? One wonders what human beings are capable of to resolve their problems.

The Existential Threat
to Humanity Addressed


COP26, the 2021 United Nations climate change conference, which many believe is the “world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control” bringing parties together to accelerate “action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change” will be held on 31 October 2021.




Hank Ryan Phillips as Masterclass Mentor



Thrillerfest is an annual event for writers of the thriller genre who meet in New York City every year. Organized by the International Thriller Writers, it is a frenetic
7-day event with book signings, pitches with agents and publishers, and about a hundred workshops with fellow writers as guest speakers. 

It was a virtual event again this year due to the pandemic, but as busy as ever for us writers. I was awake from 12 midnight till 4 in the morning to pitch a work I'm currently writing called Source Z.

The most intimidating part was attending a Masterclass with one of the best-selling Thrillerfest authors Hank Phillippi Ryan, winner of 5 Agatha awards plus 37 Emmys for investigative journalism.

I thought the experience was like facing an executioner's gallery, but Hank surprised me when she said that she found my writing "mystical" and "gorgeous" and wondered if I could write other scenes in the same style she had read earlier. Judging from her critique, the next few months will be spent sharpening my editing tools as I take the lessons to heart which Hank imparted during
Thriller Master Class 2021.
Books, Audio & TV


Watch: Squid Game


Unless you were hiding in a rock somewhere, you would have heard of this chilling, thrilling television masterpiece from Netflix with a net rating of 93% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Starring acting genius Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun, a bumbling, debt-ridden absentee father you want to root for as he plays simple childish games with other unforgettable characters, also deeply in debt, to win the cash prize of
$ 38 million dollars.

Directed by Hwang Dong- hyuk, Squid Game is a diabolical, original parable about money and debt—specifically, what the average person is willing to sacrifice in order to earn enough to live a life free from financial obligations—and is, unsurprisingly, resonating with viewers globally.








Read:
Ikigai-
The Japanese Secret to a Long
and Happy Life


When asked their secret to longevity, many residents of this Japanese village, renowned for the world's longest-living people, they had a common answer- ikigai.
- a reason for living.

Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire.



Do you have an ikigai?