B’gosh, the Big Day is here! At long last.

As promised, my new book, In the Shadow of Green Bamboos, is being released into bookstores today. Not without a little hiccup, mind you, but then again this whole year 2020 has been one giant hiccup itself, so I’m just elated to have crossed the finish line. Well—almost, at any rate.

The paperback and eBook editions have been relatively smooth sailing, but the audiobook (my exciting new venture!) is taking longer than expected to get through QA at Amazon ACX/Audible for final approval: more than 6 weeks already since the day we submitted it. All because the pandemic has thrown a monkey wrench into their quality control line, or so I was told. But not to worry. The audiobook should be here any day now; I will certainly keep you posted.

With that out of the way, I can’t wait to tell you a little bit about In the Shadow of Green Bamboos.

It is very much in the same vein as my earlier book, Once upon a Mulberry Field—a composite account of the Vietnam War with its long shadow and lasting impact on the people, both Vietnamese and American, whose lives had been touched by it. The only difference is that I use the short-story format this time, instead of writing a novel as before. This, I feel, allows me to give equal attention to a wide array of characters (rather than to just a few main ones), and to capture a more intimate close-up snapshot of them at a spontaneous moment in their lives.

I’m humbled and grateful to have received some heartwarming encouragement from early reviewers:

“. . . Revolving around the family and the bonding that grows out of dark times into moments of light, these stories journey back and forth between war-torn Vietnam and the U.S., and between the now and the then―a veritable Pandora’s Box of gems that invite introspection and healing.”
 
“C. L. Hoang is a superb storyteller who weaves deeply emotional tales enhanced by rich memories of his childhood in Vietnam. . . . Be sure to have plenty of tissues on hand.”

You can click HERE to read all the reviews in their entirety.

I also invite you to read a short excerpt from In the Shadow of Green Bamboos by clicking HERE.

As I had so much fun doing the audiobook for Green Bamboos, I decided to go back and do one for Mulberry Field as well. And let me tell you straight away: I couldn’t have been more fortunate or picked better narrators to lend me a hand (and their golden voices) in bringing to life the stories in my books. Green Bamboos was narrated by Leyna Nguyen, the popular Emmy Award-winning journalist and TV host from Los Angeles. Mulberry Field was enacted by the multi-talented Treg Monty, a professional actor and musician.

But you don’t need to take my word for it. Just listen for yourself to the two sample audio tracks below (about 3 to 4 minutes each), from the respective audiobooks, which again are due out ANY day now. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.

As you can probably tell, these are my passion projects and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share them with you. Please feel free to share them with your friends and to give me your thoughts and feedback, which are always welcome and appreciated.

Fall seems to have finally arrived in Southern California (until the next heat wave, that is). I wish you and your loves ones a lovely and peaceful weekend!