As the Hong Kong handover boom fizzles into the Asian economic bust, a young American couple's marriage and careers tumble into a maze of television news, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie.

            Yale/Stanford graduate and veteran broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen's engaging, often hilarious novel captures the mood ahead of the 1997 handover when Hong Kong reigned as the center of the universe, a multicultural melting pot bubbling with pure gold. As the Asian crisis abruptly ends the party, mainland China emerges, eclipsing Hong Kong. For everyone whose job or business falls under China's lengthening economic shadow, Hong Kong On Air presents a fresh angle on how it all began. For media watchers, Hong Kong On Air broadcasts the backstage secrets of television news, how and why some events become headlines and others die gasping for air time.

            During Hong Kong's pre-handover boom, Franklin Global Networks Asia (Fuggin' Asia) becomes a hit, a star is born, and mistakes are easy to overlook. But the economic crisis ripens relationships for treachery, creates opportunities for revenge, and moves China center stage, triggering a great leap forward for some, a long march to failure for others.

            Author Cohen a native New Yorker who cut his journalistic teeth in local papers and the Yankee Stadium press box will discuss his novel along with the political and economic developments behind it at BookCulture, 536 W 112 St, on May 6, 6.30-8pm. He'll also be reading excerpts and signing copies of what one reviewer calls "the great American Hong Kong handover novel."

Learn more about the book at www.hongkongonair.com and about Cohen and his writing at www.muhammadcohen.com.