(But I'll do anything for publicity)
Shamini Flint
Wrath
Hell hath no fury like a woolly, feminist, atheist, liberal living through the Blair-Bush era. I have written countless angry letters to the newspapers ('Irate from Kuala Lumpur'). The failure to get them featured probably led directly to this writing career.
Pride
I take some pride in the number of times I have re-invented myself. I've been a lawyer, a stay-at-home mum, a teacher, a university lecturer, a seller of coffee (that no-one wanted to drink) and an author. As a lawyer, I helped trigger the Asian financial crisis. That wasn't a proud moment exactly but certainly a noteworthy moment.
I have also, finally, this week, learnt to juggle a football. This is not unrelated to all the failed career attempts above as my childhood ambition was to be the first Malaysian, female, global, football superstar.
Lust
Harrison Ford. Always.
Note to JJ Abrams: Any resemblance to any character living or dead in any future books of mine is purely coincidental - and if you believe that I've got a script to show you!
Gluttony
Like my character, Inspector Singh, I have a penchant for cold beer and hot curries. My research for books is usually done in pubs and restaurants (which is why I enjoyed writing A Frightfully English Execution so much). It is comforting to have an excuse to abandon the latest fad diet in pursuit of authenticity in my art!
Envy
JK Rowling.
More seriously, I envy (and admire) anyone who has changed the world for the better. I have two children and I am constantly trying to find a way to make the future less awful for them and so far I've achieved zip and I'm not getting any younger and time is running out … and HELP!!
Sloth
This is the only sin that I can safely say I don't have. However, I have contrived to turn myself into a workaholic, anxiety-ridden, somewhat manic forty-something trying to see the humour in an increasingly not-at-all-funny world so maybe I should have just gone with sloth.
Greed
Seriously? Isn't that the same as 'gluttony'? Didn't they have a thesaurus in the old days? Why do I have to count my fondness for food twice? Bother, now I'm hungry.
In the circumstances, I have no choice but to add my own sins to the list to make up a round ten.
Revenge
My writing is motivated almost entirely by a desire for revenge. As I am too afraid to bump people off in real-life in case the cops are more competent than I give them credit for, I murder people in books (or, in case the body count is mounting too quickly, I murder their characters. I'm looking at you, JJ.) It says everything about the people I know that most of them are still delighted to be featured.
Fear
As an Asian author writing about politics, law and society, I expect to go to jail some day. Sadly, as a Malaysian, I will be in good company. Ideally, prison will be a consequence of shining a bright light on dark places but it might also be for my collection of unpaid parking tickets.
Hope
The ultimate foolishness, a tiny sliver of hope, that some day, I'll reach into the back of a cupboard and find a way to a better place. I've been checking wardrobes for Narnia since I was nine and no luck yet, so in the meantime, I'll just keep writing and working on the world we have now, pausing only for beer, curry, afternoon naps and books.
