Chieh Chieng discusses his book, “A Long Stay in a Distant Land.” He begins by sharing that the book explores the life of the protagonist Louis Lum who is a recent college graduate and working at a hot rod magazine. Louis’ family seems to be cursed by premature and unusual deaths, specifically his mother, Mirla, who was killed in a car accident when a tired medical student, Hersey Collins, fell asleep behind the wheel. Chieng shares that he grew up in Orange County and how much of his own experiences and life influenced the book and it’s eccentric characters. He goes on to read aloud from his work. Later in the interview he discusses his writing process and how he wrote most of the book out of sequence and later pieced the parts together.
Chinese American families - Fiction Americans - China - Hong Kong - Fiction Mothers - Death - Fiction Missing persons - Fiction Young men - Fiction Orange County (Calif.) - Fiction Hong Kong (China) - Fiction
Time Period
Twentieth century
Place
Hong Kong (China) Orange County (Calif.)
Source
Betacam tape: Excerpt of show with Martinson interviewing Chieh Chieng before the break and Rob Kendt after the break.
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