I Rivers
Encyclopedia
I Rivers is the pen name of an anonymous Singapore
-born Malaysian
author, whose first novel, Black Magic Woman # Zero Point Negro was published in 2004 by Fugue State Press
.
Although biographical details are scant, an article by Thor Kah Hoong states that Rivers' actual first name is Joe, and that he studied economics in the United States in the early 1990s; he may be presumed to have been born around 1970. He is married and is the father of one child.
His first novel was described by Arnold Skemer
of ZYX Magazine
as follows: "Certainly hallucinatory and oft breaking into song, this novel goes in many directions with names of characters from the realm of fantasy, such as 'Mother Mary,' 'Wild Flowers,' 'Fire Worm,' with verbiage of popular music sprinkled in. Word play is rampant, Greek choruses of extravagant supplications, summonings of imagery, evocations, Q & A of acute tension. The reader wanders on a sea of rhetoric, drifting into ever more colorful tempests of verbal fantasy. In this sea of verbiage, the next plot twist is the next verbal conundrum and spasm of preachment, the next dollop of mad invocation. It goes on from page to page, a never-ending kaleidoscope of story in labyrinths of twists and turns of utterance. In the background is the mad laughter of the funhouse; in the foreground, the strange declamations of disembodied voices that take center stage, then rapidly disappear into the variegated swarm of verbal encounter."
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
-born Malaysian
Culture of Malaysia
The Culture of Malaysia draws on the varied cultures of the different people of Malaysia. The first people to live in the area were indigenous tribes that still remain; they were followed by the Malays, who moved there from mainland Asia in ancient times...
author, whose first novel, Black Magic Woman # Zero Point Negro was published in 2004 by Fugue State Press
Fugue State Press
Fugue State Press is a small New York City fiction publisher, specializing in the experimental novel. It has published twenty titles to date, including work by Joshua Cohen, Noah Cicero, Shane Jones, Ben Brooks, James Chapman, Prakash Kona, Eckhard Gerdes, André Malraux, W. B. Keckler, Vi Khi...
.
Although biographical details are scant, an article by Thor Kah Hoong states that Rivers' actual first name is Joe, and that he studied economics in the United States in the early 1990s; he may be presumed to have been born around 1970. He is married and is the father of one child.
His first novel was described by Arnold Skemer
Arnold Skemer
Arnold Skemer, born in 1946, is an American novelist and publisher. Skemer has operated Phrygian Press since 1985. He also publishes ZYX , a small xerographic magazine that publishes poetry, short fictions, commentary on innovative fiction and small press matters, and reviews...
of ZYX Magazine
ZYX (magazine)
Zyx is a literary newsletter, or zine, edited by Arnold Skemer and published regularly since 1990 by Phygrian Press in New York City. A typical issue will include an essay by the editor around the issues of literary careerism, followed by reviews of recent works of fiction and poetry, and finally...
as follows: "Certainly hallucinatory and oft breaking into song, this novel goes in many directions with names of characters from the realm of fantasy, such as 'Mother Mary,' 'Wild Flowers,' 'Fire Worm,' with verbiage of popular music sprinkled in. Word play is rampant, Greek choruses of extravagant supplications, summonings of imagery, evocations, Q & A of acute tension. The reader wanders on a sea of rhetoric, drifting into ever more colorful tempests of verbal fantasy. In this sea of verbiage, the next plot twist is the next verbal conundrum and spasm of preachment, the next dollop of mad invocation. It goes on from page to page, a never-ending kaleidoscope of story in labyrinths of twists and turns of utterance. In the background is the mad laughter of the funhouse; in the foreground, the strange declamations of disembodied voices that take center stage, then rapidly disappear into the variegated swarm of verbal encounter."