Ten years after the incident happened, Neil ended up right back where he started: introducing a book that includes a semi-naked landlady.
The only difference was there were now three titles in one volume. Released in 2007, Complete Notes From Singapore was the dumpwee box set (read the books for dumpwee explanation).
Neil was reluctant to release an omnibus edition because it had “cash-in” written all over it, but it was reader driven.
The books’ distributor decided to release a few three-in-one packs and they sold in their thousands; sold out, in fact.
Neil was delighted to have his own packet of three, but the packaging was fiddly for the distributor, the book-seller and the buyer, so Neil agreed to an omnibus only if he could offer extra stuff, including a new introduction, an epilogue to bring the story up to date in Australia and some pictures of half-naked ladies.
He believes there is no other series of books that begin in Dagenham, travel through Singapore and end up in Geelong. If there is, he wants to read it immediately.
Neil initially wanted to do a George Lucas and create a director’s cut by beefing up the funny bits and deleting all the crap bits. If nothing else, he was rather keen on removing several of the 27,000 “fucks” littered in Scribbles.
In the end, he left well alone. Why edit stories involving midnight funerals, ‘cuckoo birds’ and killer dogs anyway?
The back cover:
Almost 200 years ago, an Englishman by the name of Stamford Raffles landed on the shores of Singapore and the rest, shall we say, is history.
A decade ago, another Englishman came to Singapore and left behind a wholly different legacy. Notes from an even Smaller Island, Scribbles from the Same Island and Final Notes from a Great Island are three widely-acclaimed offerings by Neil Humphreys detailing his own Singapore story of a man who came, who saw and who fell in love with the tiny tropical nation.
Complete Notes from Singapore: The Omnibus Edition brings together all three best-selling books for an insightful account of one man’s relationship with Singapore and Singaporeans that has spanned an entire decade.
Book bits:
- Colin Goh, the creator of Singapore’s most popular satirical website talkingcock.com and the writer/director of the superb film Singapore Dreaming, wrote the foreword
- The epilogue looks at Neil’s first year in Australia
- The illustrations in the book by Cheng Puay Koon are all based on real incidents
- Neil’s wife took the juggling photo outside their home in Australia. Some people believe he was really juggling those books at the time
- Yes, it was the same shirt as the other three books; Neil plans to be buried in it
What his book distributor/book talk co-host said:
“Of all the authors and books I have had the pleasure, and pressure, of promoting, Neil and his books have been among the most fun.
I mean, how often do you get to do an author talk/tour where you can take the piss out of the author, make him drink piss, err, I mean, NewWater, tell him to shut up and start signing books (while I get to do a talk show).
A dream author, Neil. His books should be made compulsory reading for every Singaporean, expat, tourist and foreign worker (did I tell you I am his distributor?)." - Leslie Lim, Pansing Distribution.
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