Welcome to Royston Tester's official website.

NEW: Fatty Goes to China

(short stories set in Beijing, Toronto and Berlin)

Written in original, humorous, and innovative ways, these 11 richly varied stories expose the risks in finding shelter in unaccommodating places. Exploring the precarious lives of an accident-prone Chinese construction worker with a dark secret, a fatally ill Canadian artist who remains in Beijing after the 2008 Olympics, a grieving barber who makes a gruesome discovery about his Czech lover, and a couple who make a shocking, last-minute decision about their adoptive child, these unforgettable narratives-both dark and emotional-travel from China to Canada and Europe to convey vivid descriptions and a nostalgic appeal.

Published Spring 2012 (Tightrope Books)
Available to order from: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo.

(image: ‘Car Window - Red Plum’, by Zhang Xiaogang)

Summat Else

(short stories set in England and Spain)

“A devastating debut collection of short fiction, encompassing a young working-class Englishman’s coming of age, written with great humour and pathos.”

Published 2004 (Porcupine’s Quill)

“…a gloriously aromatic stew of comically thwarted desire.”

—Graham Harley, Literary Review of Canada.

“These deftly-compacted stories tracking Enoch Jones from babyhood to his twentieth year are sprinkled with mischief and wit. The writer’s prose is smooth as polished stone. Lust is ever present. Birmingham’s grittiness no less so. […] This is lively, exciting work. Summat Else is a fine book.”

—Leon Rooke

“The writing is stripped and clean and so spare it almost shines. The dialogue sparkles. […] Its seeming simplicity must have been hard won. Tester captures the gritty detail of England’s Black Country with an evocative faithfulness which is convincing and extremely moving.”

—John Metcalf

(Buy from Amazon.com)
(Buy from Chapters/Indigo)

Qingdao: Wind in its Sails

Travel memoir of a Chinese coastal city.

Published 2008 (Beijing Matric Cultural Communications)

“In mandarin, the name of this sailing city can sound like “Please come to…” as well as “green island” — which is a fitting ambiguity — and very much an invitation: Qingdao, Qingdao. Such a beautiful resort on China’s NE coast, yet the spot is little known beyond the mainland and its Yellow Sea reach: Korea, Japan — and is referred to as “Little Switzerland” or “Bavaria” for its unusual, European architecture, mountain scenery, beaches and emerald waters. Greater Qingdao is also home to some remarkable ancient treasures and sites — over 6,000 years old — as well as hot springs, ski-ing, and golf, easily accessible from the urban downtown… Qingdao is a remarkably inspiring green island on the Shandong Peninsula. It will leave you as it did me…with the craving to look again…and a memory of yachts at full sail in Fushan Bay. You, however — with this book in mind — will also see what you see. And far more than I.”

—Royston Tester

Royston Tester has been published internationally in literary journals and anthologies. He is a regular guest-editor (fiction) for Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. The author is represented by Anne McDermid and Associates.