Sam Manicom has done it again, producing an excellent collection of writing from some motorcycle travellers you may never have heard of, until now. The Moment Collectors Asia is the second of its type, following the original release pre-covid of The Moment Collectors - 20 Travellers' Tales From Around The World, but it's December, so read on for reasons why you should buy this for someone you know!
It’s always a risk buying a motorcycle travel book because, let’s be honest, advances in self-publishing have meant that there are a lot of books available in this genre that really shouldn’t be. That’s why I’m so pleased that Sam has gone and done the work, researching authours and spending time deciding which tales should be included in this collection of tales from Asia, ‘the most diverse continent on earth’, to quote the book cover.
Varying in length, these stories let you escape momentarily to countries as different as Iran and Russia, or Burma and Mongolia. There’s excitement and jeopardy here of course, whether instigated by weather or road surface, but there’s also some lovely stories of human kindness. In The Jeffrey Franz story about riding solo in Mongolia you get both in buckets!
Some of these stories, or parts of them, have appeared elsewhere, like in Overland Magazine, but many are being published for the first time and they demonstrate the wealth of writing talent that seems to spend hours perched atop a motorcycle saddle.
As a reader of this collection you can sample writing styles and decide of whose writing you might like to find more, locating books they have already written. Or perhaps it’s a case of which stories have left you hanging, hoping that there’s more to come, eh Fern Hume, when’s your book coming out? Surely there must be one! Either way you are bound to start thinking about where you might plan to head next on your own bike, as the pages ooze inspiration.
Physically the book also contains 20 colour photos, and 70 lovely line-drawn illustrations by Simon Roberts, who also writes beautifully about the serendipity resulting from a breakdown in the Baluchistan desert.The last few pages of Moment Collectors ASIA contain contact info and useful links.Highly recommended, and if not for yourself get one for that friend who often mutters about maybe taking a trip somewhere. reading this will probably make it happen!
ISBN: 978-1-7398888-1-7
403pp, 20 colour photos and 70 B&W illustrations
Paperback £14.99
Published by Adventure Motorcycle Travel Books (2024)
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