Publishing Jade Phoenix involved his family, too. Goldsmith's sister, who's an artist in the US, designed the cover, and his son Harrison took the author photo that graces the back cover.
"Jade Phoenix is for anyone who wants to know the soul of Taiwan," he said. "If I can help people overseas understand Taiwan a little better through my novel, I will be happy. I don't think it's going to be a bestseller and I didn't write it with that kind of goal. I just wanted to tell a story about Taiwan and if it adds to readers' understanding of this country, I will be happy."
When asked about the title of the book, Goldsmith said, "Jade Phoenix is the name of the main female character, and Dragon is the name of the main male prota-gonist in the story, and there's a love story. The phoenix rises from the ashes, so the title carries a symbolic meaning. I think expats here in Taiwan will enjoy reading it and if I can find an audience overseas as well, that will be great. The hard part is distribution and sales and getting the word out."
When asked how he feels Taiwan has changed over the years since he first arrived in 1968, Goldsmith said that he sometimes can't believe the difference.
"My feeling is that the Taiwanese have flown through the equivalent of the entire 20th century of development in the US in just the last 20 to 25 years," he said. "It's been an amazing thing to watch. For example, many of my successful Taiwanese friends, from the older generation, grew up in Taiwan literally without shoes and many of them started out selling goods from street stalls."
"The expat community has changed a lot, too," Goldsmith added. "Europeans have come over to Taiwan in force. There are far fewer American general managers of multinational firms now than was previously the case, and this happened after the Americans discovered that there was a wealth of Taiwanese talent here who can do the job without the need for a bilingual support staff and other things like expat housing expenses. So, while there are fewer American senior managers in Taiwan today, there has been a great increase in the number of expats coming to study Chinese, or to teach English, or both."
You can download the novel as an e-book for around NT$200; or buy the paperback book from the publisher and have it shipped to Taiwan for US$30.
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