Of Birthdays and Betas


4 February 2024

Happy Birthday, everybody!

According to tradition, the 7th day of Chinese New Year is everybody's birthday. Which... is just an excuse for me to send another sporadic newsletter because I skipped all the other big days.

But hey, here's your excuse to eat more cake. Or have a party.

Looking for Beta Readers

As part of my glacial revamping efforts, I've been working on a new story that I'd like to give away as my updated newsletter reader magnet. After all, When Winds Blow Cold is about a decade old now! Also, I haven't written in the fairy tale style for a long, long time.

(I'll also send this to all existing subscribers once it's finalised, don't worry!)

Honour is a prequel to Amok, and follows Garett's journey from Raja Muda of Bayangan to servant in Maha. The story is just slightly over 10k words (if that makes sense to you!) or about 33 A4 pages (double spaced).

What does a beta reader do?

A beta reader reads a pre-final draft of the story and provides feedback. This could be just your general impressions of the story! Tell me what you liked about it, or what you didn't or maybe what really, really confused you. I'll also send along a few questions for you to answer.

Feel free to share this link around if you have friends who would like to have an early preview of Honour too!

I hope you're having a wonderful Lunar New Year, no matter where in the world you are.

anna

Check out Anna's Books

The Absolution Series

​Amok (#1)​

​The Tale of the Hostage Prince (#1.5)​

​Absolution (#2)​

The Fairy Tale Series

​Coexist​

​Dongeng​

The Painted Hall Collection

​The Painted Hall Collection consists of 4 short stories that are also available as singles, plus an exclusive short story set in the Absolution world:

Standalones

​A Spoonful of Malaysian Magic: An Anthology (ed.)​

​The Making of a Jurusihir​

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Anna Tan

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She writes fantasy stories and fairy tales, puts together anthologies, and helps people figure out their publishing goals at Teaspoon Publishing. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersections of language, culture, and faith.

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