BLDGBLOG has an interesting post on a ghost mall in China, which caught my interest in part because my new book, The Warhol Gang, features a ghost mall of sorts.

The mall even includes “fake herons in an indoor rain forest,” a scale model of the Arc de Triomphe, a “553-meter flying railway known as Kuayue Shi Kong, or ‘Moving Through Time and Space’,” and, perhaps best of all, an entire wing, modeled after Venice and Amsterdam, whose construction was never completed. The buildings there thus have “ornate, generically European facades, but their insides remain shells filled with puddles, unrailed staircases, and random stacks of tile and concrete. The exotic palm trees lining the sidewalk have been invaded by homegrown south-China weeds.”

The article’s author, Michael Donohue, soon finds himself walking past drained indoor water park rides, bored security guards, and “escalators sheathed in dust-covered plastic.”

“It’s not very exciting,” a 23 year-old shopper comments to Donohue. She is sitting on the edge of a decorative pond somewhere deep in the emptiness.

BLDGBLOG also has a post on City of Shadows, an art project by Alexey Titarenko. Creepy and beautiful at the same time. And perhaps not unrelated to the ghost malls.

Click for larger views.

My writing has appeared in publications across North America. My novel Please won the KM Hunter Award for Best Emerging Artist and Canada’s ReLit Award for Best Novel, and was featured on CTV. I live in Vancouver.

Click here for author photos.

I can be reached at peter@peterdarbyshire.com or by mail at my agent:

Anne McDermid & Associates
83 Willcocks Street
Toronto, ON
M5S 1C9

www.mcdermidagency.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s your next book and when is it coming out?
My new book is called The Warhol Gang and it will be published by HarperCollins in Canada in 2010. I haven’t sold rights anywhere else yet because I want to finish the edits for the Canadian version first.

Will you read my manuscript?
Sorry, no. I’m bombarded with requests to read other people’s manuscripts and I just don’t have the time. I’ve done it in the past, but I find doing a proper job of it means taking time and energy away from my own writing.

Where can I buy your first book, Please?
I imagine the usual places — bookstores, online, S&M clubs. If you’re having real trouble getting your hands on a copy — it is out of print now — e-mail me. I’ve still got a few copies and I’d be happy to send you an autographed one.

Where did you get the ideas for Please?
People I’ve known. In real life, I’m really quite boring. So please don’t knock on my door in the middle of the night looking for excitement. Unless, of course, you’ve brought friends.

Who is your agent?
Anne McDermid of the McDermid Agency in Toronto.

What’s with the Shrapnel comics?
Sometimes I get lines in my head that won’t go away but don’t fit into any of my stories/books. And thus the comics were born.

I’ve added a page of recent author photos for the media or anyone else who may want one.