Amazon availability

Blacksmith Books celebrates the Year of the Rat by announcing that many of our fiction and non-fiction titles are now available on Amazon’s international network of websites, amongst others. Look below the shopping cart buttons on each book’s detail page to see a list of alternative sources.

The Dragon’s Back

Chinese fung shui tells us there is a dragon inhabiting every green valley, protective of the mountains and its route to the sea.

Hiking into the hills of Hong Kong for a weekend picnic, Siu Ming and his parents suddenly find their path blocked by a forest fire. Can the mountain dragon help? Or is the mythical creature equally at risk from the actions of careless human beings?

With original painted art, and a cut-out dragon for children to make themselves, The Dragon’s Back sends a gentle message of environmental responsibility.

King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong

Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street.

If Peter had been only a little bit different he could have been an important man. But this is a riches to rags to riches to rags story. As we follow Peter’s life – his ups, his downs – we see in sharp focus what it was like to be a Chinese man in the British territory of Hong Kong through most of the years of the 20th century.

And yet this book is not just one man’s tale. It is the story of a time and place – colonial Hong Kong, Portuguese Macau and the South China hinterland – seen from the unique point of view of a man who was at home at all levels of society. This is the bizarre story of a man who really did, for a very short time, once own all the opium in Hong Kong. If Suzie Wong had been a real person, Peter Hui would have known her.

China lifts ban on French Spiderman

Just months after he was expelled from China for climbing Shanghai’s tallest building without permission, a daring French climber is preparing to scale another Chinese peak — but this time at the invitation of the government. Alain Robert, dubbed the French Spiderman for his ascents up some of the world’s tallest buildings without climbing gear, will scale one of China’s best known mountains in the northern province of Hunan on Nov. 18. Read on…

Sketches of Sai Kung

The Sai Kung Peninsula is Hong Kong’s back garden – a place where people go to swim, hike, eat seafood alfresco, and otherwise escape the city. But besides the popular beaches and waterfront restaurants, there is an abundance of hidden attractions, and Lorette Roberts has discovered them for her new book!

Hong Kong On Air… on air

Author Muhammad Cohen appeared on television during September to talk about his new novel, Hong Kong On Air. Click the play button to watch.

Have Camera, Will Backpack

The Shanghai Daily interviewed China photojournalist Tom Carter on 29th August. Read the story here.

Hong Kong On Air

As the Hong Kong handover boom fizzles into the Asian economic bust, a young American couple’s marriage and careers tumble into a maze of television news, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. TV news veteran Muhammad Cohen’s hilarious novel captures the mood ahead of the July 1997 handover when the territory reigned as the centre of the universe, a multicultural melting pot bubbling with pure gold — before mainland China emerged from the Asian crisis, eclipsing Hong Kong. Stay with us as we delve into the backstage secrets of TV news!

Hong Kong Book Fair 2007

Our member presses are exhibiting their books at the Hong Kong Book Fair from 18th-24th July 2007. Come and see us at Booth GHF06, in the Grand Hall of the HK Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai. Full details at the official site.

China: Portrait of a People

American photojournalist Tom Carter today announced the completion of a groundbreaking journey throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, and took his place amongst the few living Westerners able to make the claim.

With limited Chinese language skills and an even more limited budget, Carter backpacked alone across the vast 9.6 million sq. km. Middle Kingdom, visiting over 200 cities and villages.

“I’m exhausted and broke, but it feels good to join the elite ranks of the few in history who have had the ambition and the energy to see China in its entirety – Marco, Mao and Tom!” said the jubilant San Francisco native. Read more…