A reason to look forward into the future with excitement

Nafis, my office colleague knocked on my door early this morning.

“You used to read the Saga Artakusiad books, right?”

“Yes, I have read all six. I have three of the latter books and even though I have searched high and low for them, I’ve never managed to get my hands on the first three…” I was about to launch into a long monologue of how nuts I was about that particular series when Nafis cut me short

“Well, I have something to show you…”
He grinned, disappeared for a while and returned with a white, not-so-thin book in his hand.

“Taraa…” He passed the book to me…

Oh my god! Oh my god! OH. MY. GOD!

It’s Saga Artakusiad’s seventh instalment!

Saga Artakusiad is alive and re-kicking! After over a decade of waiting – Ahmad Patria is back with “Legenda Numerius”, continuing the story of Artakus and his Arkus where he last left off in “Pedang Aurora”.

It turned out that Nafis’s girlfriend knows Ahmad Patria in person and bumped into him by chance during the book’s launch in KLCC last Saturday. She has always been fond of “Abang Pat” as her senior in silat but had no idea whatsoever that “Abang Pat” has a legion of readers who simply, honestly love his Saga Artakusiad series. The lucky girl got a personally autographed (complete with his phone number) copy of “Legenda Numerius” from the author. However, since she does not dig Saga Artakusiad, Nafis get to treat that autographed copy as his own.

“I thought you might have known about it. There were hundreds of his true fans – many of them donning t-shirts with some lines from his book- 'Untuk menjadi Artakus - hati mesti cekal, jiwa mesti kental'. Anyway, I don’t know that many girls who dig fantasy sci-fi genre and I remembered you admitting that you like Saga Artakusiad, so I know you might be happy to learn about the new book.”

Oh yes - I am happy. Deliriously so. I almost jumped up and down in my office as I stared in half-disbelief at the book I clutched in my own hands!

It's true that I don’t know many girls who are into Saga Artakusiad. But it was Ida, who sat next to me in class, who first introduced me to “Permata Aurorius” when we were fourteen or fifteen. She was also the one who loaned me the second and third instalments of the series – “Kota Arialun” and “Kembar Artakus”. I bought the latter three myself– “Petua Azkram”, “Puteri Alindalia” and “Pedang Aurora” - when I was in college. I even bought Spesimen Alpha – a compilation of Malay sci-fi short stories by Ahmad Patria, but somehow those stories did not touch me the way Saga Artakusiad did.

To those who had never heard of it before, think of Saga Artakusiad as Lord of the Rings-meet-Dungeons and Dragons – a fantasy sci-fi written in Malay with Artakus as the main character, leading the good (Aurorans) in battling the bad (Morroks). Although it is admittedly a story inspired by Lord of the Rings, Saga Artakusiad is unique since there was no other Malay writer who had written such work prior to its birth. When it was first published – most other young writers still preferred writing stories on love, friendship and as such. Ahmad Patria was different, his books uniquely his own – and like all other unique series (although it might not be on similar scale as enjoyed by authors of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter), he began getting a strong-albeit-rather-quiet followers.

“I think you would have enjoyed the launching. Hundreds of fans came to show support – many of them donning t-shirt with the famous line from his book "Untuk menjadi Artakus, hati mesti cekal, jiwa mesti kental""

Nafis told me how humble Ahmad Patria is in person, despite having a Sasterawan Negara as a father (which could be both a blessing and some sort of a ‘curse’ – the way Hizairi felt about being born in a family of writers), despite having thousands of fans waiting breathlessly for the sequel in his Saga Artakusiad series. How he treated every person with respect and patience. How simple and relaxed he seemed despite all the attention he got. How committed and determined he appeared during his explanation of his visions and plans for the whole Saga Artakusiad series.

And I – a real fan of the series - missed the whole launch thingy!!!

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have asked you to straight away grab and buy a copy for me.” Nafis shrugged.

And I would too. After endless and fruitless search of finding the first three books, I have no intention of repeating the same search for his seventh book. And since the seventh book is not published by a major publisher (his previous books were published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, but not one title had ever been reprinted, for reasons known only to the author), I must admit that I do feel a bit afraid of not finding "Legenda Numerius" ever on any bookstore shelf.

“You can always borrow mine after I’m done with it,” Nafis offered.

No, I don’t want to just read it. I WANT to own it. I NEED to own it.

“Try check it out at Kinokuniya. They might have it in store since he did the launching in connection with Kinokuniya"

That's it. I'm definitely going to Kinokuniya. Still, after ten years of waiting – I think it can wait another day...

*03 August 2004 - Additional note: I rummaged through my book shelf last night - just to check on my collection of Saga Artakusiad books. I had forgotten all about it - but it turned out that I do own a copy of "Kembar Artakus". My relief was apparent in the note scribbled under my name in the first page which read - finally I got my hand on one of the earlier Saga Artakusiad series. Now I remember buying it in a Closing Down sale in Pusat Bandar Damansara's DBP in 1999, a few months after my return from UK.