My Wicked Cool Overlooked Book is kind of unusual this week as it is a book I have not read. I first heard about Geoff Ryman's The King's Last Song at the Endicott Studio blog. Here's what Terri Windling had to say:

I highly recommended Geoff Ryman's gorgeous (and deeply mythic) new novel The King's Last Song, set in both modern and ancient Cambodia. Strangely, the book hasn't yet found an American publisher -- despite all the awards Geoff's fiction has been winning these days -- but you can order the English edition.

She also referred readers to Ryman's short story, "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" which is available online (and I recommend it as well).

I kept meaning to order the book and actually had added it to my Christmas list for this year when I received a copy of the Small Beer Press fall catalog and there it was - due out September 9th. From the catalog:

An immersive novel of epic proportions that interweaves two Cambodian stories: Archeologist Luc Andrade discovers an ancient manuscript inscribed on gold leaves but is kidnapped — and the manuscript stolen — by a faction still loyal to the ideals of the brutal Pol Pot regime. Andrade's friends, an ex-Khmer Rouge agent and a young motoboy, embark on a trek across Cambodia to rescue him. Meanwhile, Andrade, bargaining for his life, translates the lost manuscript for his captors. The result is a glimpse into the tremendous and heart-wrenching story of King Jayavarman VII: his childhood, rise to power, marriage, interest in Buddhism, and the initiation of Cambodia's golden age. As Andrade and Jayavarman's stories interweave, the question becomes whether the tale of ancient wisdom can bring hope to a nation still suffering from the violent legacy of the last century.

Niall Harrison reviewed the British publication for Bookslut back in 2006. As usual he gave a deeply thought out read to this novel and overall seems to have been impressed. Here is a bit:

As it happens, Luc's gut instinct is right. But Ryman puts himself in a position that invites such misunderstandings. The King's Last Song is a book that would speak for a nation; it forces the (presumed Western) reader into the role of an observer, a tourist. For the most part this works: Ryman ensures we never forget that we're (inevitably) placing our own interpretation onto the story, even as he makes it clear just how responsible such tourism is for Cambodia's current state. This is a novel, then, that instead of focusing on individual responsibility for historical atrocity explores -- often brilliantly -- how a society can be twisted, and how in turn it can twist its members.

There are other reviews out there, many of them uncertain as to how Ryman's novel will be received by readers who might be expecting a more obvious sort of heroic fantasy - or at least a heroic fantasy that plays by established rules. I find what Ryman does to be fascinating, especially the way he mixes eastern and western sensibilities and old and modern myths. It's very unusual writing and I'm quite happy to be able to look forward to the US publication of The King's Last Song from Small Beer.

Finally, Ryman did a great interview with SFF Chronicles a couple of years ago and this bit about his writing process really cracked me up:

Ryman: I stare at a wall in despair.
Sometimes it's for years.
Suddenly I get inspiration.
I write the first chapter in blinding inspiration.
Then I sit and wait in despair.
IF something magic happens and the idea suddenly clicks I write the first draft as a sketch in a haring great hurry warts and all.
I have first draft!
I read it. I sit and stare at the wall in despair.
Gradually ideas for new and better scenes or stories flow in.
I start to revise. I think I can do it in three drafts. It takes 8.
By the 8th draft I know it doesn't work.
I sit and stare at the wall in despair and consider giving up writing.
I grind out the revisions, reading the text aloud and polishing, polishing.
If the text suddenly reads well, I'm getting there.
If after all that revision, it still doesn't click, it means there is a plot problem.
There is always a major plot problem.
I re-imagine at least a third of the novel or simply cut 30,000 words.
I sit in despair.