Who I am and what’s this
I’m a bilingual writer based in Hong Kong. I once used the pen name Guo Du, which means transition in Chinese, but that was only a phase. My linguistic versions are not translations. Human follies are universal; expressions and manifestations are not.
My prize winning novel Man’s Last Song is about Homo sapiens, a self-endangered species. In 2090, remnants of the human race face protracted extinction due to universal sterility. Looking back from the future with clear hindsight, they’re baffled by their forebears’ self-destruction which benefited nobody. Man’s Last Song is a planetary utopian tale, as nearly everything else on Earth benefits from imminent human extinction.
My English short stories have been anthologised by the Hong Kong Writers Circle, Asia Literary Review, Ethos Books of Singapore, Akashic Books of New York, etc. Open Page (http://www.hkopenpage.com/) has published the Chinese version of Man’s Last Song 笙歌 and a collection of my short stories titled 幽靈的獨白 aka Monologue of a Ghost.
Besides books and stories, I write about nearly everything under heaven and above my head in blog posts which are impossible to categorise. I call them Daydreams. I once liked to comment on politics, but have lost interest lately. After rambling about systemic promotion of mass insanity for decades, most of my worries have come true, or are coming true, rapidly worsening. No bragging of foresight intended, just some very simple basic common sense wilfully neglected by the majority. Anyway, no point. Might as well focus on the mysteries and magic of everyday life. Time’s running out.
You can also find me at Substack: https://substack.com/@jamespctam
James Tam 5.2025
【有关】
【过渡】曾经是我的笔名。人生不过一连串的迷惘过渡，偶尔有种清醒的幻觉，写下来希望多看两眼。
我的得奖英文小说 Man’s Last Song 讲的是有关 “智人” 这没人关心的濒危物种的故事。在 2090 年这不太远的未来，人类由于长期不育，面临绝种。在香港，几个“死剩种” 回望 “昨天”，无法理解我们这一代人为何无缘无故将自己逼向绝路。这是个反面乌托邦故事吗？非也！由于人类淡出，整个地球回复健康，生气勃勃。。。
我用中英文双语写作，绝对不是翻译。人类的荒诞不分文化种族，大同小异，但语言上表达不同，直接翻译会不伦不类。如有需要，我会用不同的手法和情节去处理同一情景，以确保异曲同工，和避免翻译作品常有的 “外国口音”。这是 Man’s Last Song 和它的中文姐妹作《笙歌》有些细节不相同的原因。《笙歌》和短篇小说集《幽灵的独白》由中和出版社(http://www.hkopenpage.com/)分别于2020年和2022年出版。
我的短篇故事都曾被香港作家，文韵，新加坡的 Ethos Books，和纽约的 Akashic Books 分别出版，大部分都可以在这里免费阅读。其他的博客文章，拉拉杂杂，分门别类有些无谓，大都随手标签“随笔”。
曾几何时喜欢讨论国际政治，以为嬉笑怒骂可以刺激觉醒。自言自语二十年后，发觉要发生的都已经发生，或正在发生。一切如所料，却绝非由于远见。都只不过是一些明眼人非常易见的危机现象，大部分人不愿看而已。南怀瑾老师几十年前预测21世纪最严重的疾病是精神病，包括集体精神病，简直料事如神。
时间不多，现在更有兴趣观察学习每天围绕着生命展开的奇迹，学习中国老祖宗遗留的智慧。几千年后的今天，不少真言仍然适用，甚至指出了人类自设困局的唯一出路。
谭炳昌 2025年5月
