I'm New Here

By: Ian Russell-Hsieh

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Synopsis: Set in the neon heat of a Taipei summer, Ian Russell-Hsieh&’s I&’M NEW HERE explores themes of split racial identity, relationships across cultural lines, self-sabotage, and self-determination, all in prose that is whittled to the bone, that is wry, direct and undeniably fresh. Told by a character in existential freefall, this novel propels you through its pages with a propulsive flair and a confidence that are truly exciting. Fired from his job and dumped by his girlfriend, Taiwanese-British photographer Sean flies to Taipei to find oblivion. But instead of escape in his parents&’ homeland, all he finds is alienation. He spends his first days sleeping feverishly in an anonymous hotel bedroom and his nights chugging cheap coffee and munching on crappy doughnuts at a strip-lit doughnut bar. A chance encounter with a mysterious older man draws him into a friendship whose terms of engagement are quickly blurred, and into a world whose underpinnings seem to be shaking loose. At the same time, Sean embarks on an affair with a local girl, all the while dreaming fretfully of his ex. For every step towards connection, it seems there is a loosening elsewhere in Sean&’s sense of self, as the demands of the past and the present begin to take their toll. As Sean&’s reality comes ever more unstuck, it&’s clear that something&’s got to give.

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