My Rocky Story

A shy student’s manuscript, a midnight bus to Singapore and an email sent on the night he nearly gave up. Gerald’s memoir follows the long road to Jacqueline Stallone’s 2007 launch—and his return to that dream at sixty.

A dream that would not let go

At sixty, Gerald returns to the dream that shaped his life. Long before the book launch, a shy young student pinned Sylvester Stallone’s words to his dormitory wall and began writing. Letters to Hollywood came back stamped received. He became a journalist, spending years telling other people’s stories while his own manuscript waited.

In January 1997, he took a midnight bus to Singapore for the opening of Planet Hollywood and placed his manuscript in Stallone’s hands. The PR company had given him the green light the previous evening; Syed Yusof Syed Nasir made the introduction and handed over the manuscript. Publication remained a long way off.

On 12 December 2006, close to giving up, he sent an email to Jacqueline Stallone. She replied within half an hour. On 22 January 2007, she stood beside him in Kuala Lumpur to launch In the Eye of the Tiger.

This memoir follows the fear, the setbacks, a printer who let him down and a woman who kept her word. It is Gerald’s tribute to Jacqueline—and an invitation to ask: What is your Rocky story?

Behind the photographs

Discover the personal story behind the archive: the years of waiting, the people who helped, and the courage to finish a book before knowing where it would lead.

Explore the hand-drawn illustrations by Chuah Ghee Hin ↗