I started school when I was 9 in the Malesian town of Seremban (now part of Malaysia) at the time when people were fed up with war and wanted to get on with life. Born to a poor family, but fortunately, musically gifted, I was the drummer (from the age of 12) of the “orchestra” run by my elder brother, who was more than 20 years my senior, that made music whilst Malesians of both sexes made war. I was thus street-wise, from a tender age, in the ways women fought men in the Battle of the Sexes and learnt many of the Malesian myths and legends narrated in the Malesian Tales, in particular, why old rich men desired young virgin girls. And indeed, as the drummer-boy, I rolled the drums and crashed the cymbals at private parties and functions in private clubs and messes when the spot lights were turned on at midnight and the young ladies on stage took off all their clothes.

I studied diligently and read avidly and won a State scholarship at the age of 16 to become a full-time student at the College of Estate Management, Kensington, London (1956-1960), then part of London University, and was thus privy to how women fought men in the Battle of the Sexes during that unique period of post-war England. The Battle was fought to the fullest in those days as everyone wanted to make love, not war and indeed Soho was the hottest place to be at, at any part on the planet : the Windmill Theatre boasted it never closed and Piccadilly Circus was flooded with young au-pairs from all parts of the Continent eager to learn, or practice, their English in a venue milling with just lots of people from all over the world. My professional training entailed being apprenticed for 3 years with a private firm located near Red Lion Square whilst attending night classes and since the College was surrounded by high-rise apartments, everyone was privy to what the various residents did nightly in their bedroom toilets who forgot to lower their blinds or just didn’t care. And indeed, when the Battle of the Sexes turned into War, nobody really cared! All these distractions did not affect my studies however, as I had already learnt my lessons well in the wider university of life, as a drummer-boy. My love for Western culture, in particular, Classical Mythology and Art, was developed during this period, nourished by frequent visits to the museums at Kensington, the British Museum and the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square.

I returned to Kuala Lumpur at the age of 21, to help build the new Houses of Parliament, Kuala Lumpur, in time for the celebration of the formation of the Independent Federation of Malaysia in 1963 from which the City State of Singapore seceded in 1965.

The Golden Age for the Malesians was already in full bloom then and whilst I was still at College in London, many Malesian cities had turned themselves into roaring R & R paradises, catering to sex-starved American GI’s fighting the Korean and later, Vietnam Wars.

I was taken into partnership by an international property/construction management consultancy in 1968 under the watchful tutelage of a caring senior partner who insisted on putting some hair on the chest, as he put it, of a new, and thus, relatively inexperienced, young junior partner by initiating him to the down-to-earth world of health centers and massage parlours. As those were down-to-earth times when Malesians fought the Battle of the Sexes with no holds barred.

30 years later, when I retired as Senior Partner, there was no longer any need for me to take young junior partners to massage parlours as times had changed. The Malesian Golden Age had merged into the global Steel and Iron Technological Age, with Kuala Lumpur sporting the World’s Tallest Twin Towers by 1997, when the Asian Financial Meltdown also put an end to all the fun and games then.

My love for Western culture and education culminated in my sending my children to such typically English establishments as Harrow School, Roedean and Cheltenham Ladies College and thence to Universities at Cambridge and London, and also to acquiring flats at Marble Arch and Westminster, London. But, by then, my interests had extended to include Eastern culture and art as well, and to collecting antique Chinese Classical furniture just when China lifted the Bamboo Curtain and entered the global Market Economy in 1978. (I am now working on my next book which will include the trees that produced the exotic Huanghualis and Zitans loved by the Chinese, inter alia).

I have been told that I have a most inquisitive mind and indeed, all my past 40 years, other than work, have been spent in researching and finding out answers to age-old conundrums, spiritual, mythical, legendary and cultural.

My personal memoirs are of no interest to anyone except myself and thus, instead of my memoirs, I would like to leave on record, my thoughts on matters that others before me have not yet fully covered. And this was how the Milesian and Malesian Tales in the present form, were conceived.

However, should the reader find parts of the stories reminiscent of things he has heard or read about before, it is because all these Tales are not entirely of my own fabrication, and also because, perhaps, all great minds tend to think alike! And should the reader find any technical errors or untruths in the book, please remember that all these stories are only myths and fables. And thus no apologies are offered.

But my humble apologies are unreservedly offered to the great masters who may not have intended that their works be interpreted in the manner expressed in this book and also to the owners of these great masterpieces for any disrespect or unintended faux pas committed. Please note that after all, this book is only a parody. The works used to illustrate the events referred to in the Milesian and Malesian Tales have been mainly downloaded from educational websites and have been included in the book to inform readers and generate interest and appreciation of these highly educational material now freely available on the web. I only regret that I am unable to name all the lovely pertinent websites on Classical Mythology that are available, under “Further Reading”.

Sue-Ann won the Sylvia Faulkner award at Hunter College for her manuscript Seeds in the Wind: from Petit Valley to Staten Island. Academically, and as a writer, Sue-Ann will document her work to impart the knowledge she has gained through her life experiences. She would like to travel extensively, using opportunities in this field for gaining more insight and understanding of the world, but moreover, a deeper appreciation and respect for the sacredness of all life. She has studied at the University of Hilo, Hawaii, and also the University of Shanghai, China. Sue-Ann has received Honorable mention from Writer’s Digest; she has been published by lliad Press, The National Library of Poetry, Serpentine, Ages & Stages, and The Caribbean Newspaper.