Barry Martinson interview about his time on Orchid Island

In the early 1970s Barry Martinson spent a year living on Orchid Island as a young seminarian. His book, Song of Orchid Island, recently rereleased as an e-book through Camphor Press, is a tender and fascinating account of the people and culture of the Tao tribe who live there. Keith Menconi of ICRT (Taiwan’s English-language radio […]

Japanese Samurai vs. the Chinese Dragon

In the introduction to You Don’t Know China, John Ross notes the plethora of books on China that have “dragon” in the title. Yup, “dragon” has become something of a cliché in books about China, as “samurai” tends to get overused in books about Japan — though at least in the case of samurai they […]

Welcome Home, Master author J.D. Adams interviewed

J.D. Adams, author of the wonderful memoir Welcome Home, Master, was interviewed recently on ICRT, Taiwan’s English language radio station. Keith Menconi discussed the gamut of Adams’ experience as a Taiwan-based journalist, reporting on the Moro insurgency in the southern Philippines and interviewing both the current and previous presidents of Taiwan, alongside more frivolous stories […]

Koxinga vs. the Dutch on Formosa: a book from 1675

This title doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue: ‘t Verwaerloosde Formosa, of waerachtig verhael, hoedanigh door verwaerloosinge der Nederlanders in Oost-Indien, het eylant Formosa, van den Chinesen mandorijn, ende zeeroover Coxinja, overrompelt, vermeestert, ende ontweldight is geworden…. So Camphor Press probably won’t be reprinting it a new English edition. But even so — and even […]

ICRT Interview with Co-founder Michael Cannings

It was a real pleasure to appear on Keith Menconi’s Taiwan Talk show on ICRT, Taiwan’s community radio. The interview, which was broadcast in two parts on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th August, is now available as a podcast. You can listen online to the whole interview (just click play below).   Alternatively, you can […]

The Kiss of Lady X: a new film by Camphor Press author T.C. Lin (T.C. Locke)

This is a busy week for T.C. Locke (a.k.a. T.C. Lin). There’s an exhibition in Hangzhou, China of his photos. Camphor Press has just issued his terrific new book, Barbarian at the Gate: From the American Suburbs to the Taiwanese Army. And, what’s more, his movie The Kiss of Lady X will have its premiere […]