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Posts from the ‘Writing’ category

Henry Miller Quote of the Month – July 2014

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 Henry Miller at Big Sur in the year 1950

“If it be knowledge or wisdom one is seeking, then one had better go direct to the source. And the source is not the scholar or philosopher, not the master, saint, or teacher, but life itself – direct experience of life. The same is true for art. Here, too, we can dispense with “the masters”.
― Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

And a bonus quote:

“Actually we are a vulgar, pushing mob whose passions are easily mobilized by demagogues, newspaper men, religious quacks, agitators and such like. To call this a society of free peoples is blasphemous. What have we to offer the world besides the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment?”

Henry Miller
“Air Conditioned Nightmare” 1945

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GOD of DARKNESS by Christopher G. Moore – A Crash and Burn HiSo Thriller – Review

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There has been a military coup in Thailand. Martial law is in place. Tough decisions have to be made. Like what to read? My most recent choice was GOD OF DARKNESS by Christopher G. Moore (Heaven Lake Press 1999 – 2nd Edition, Amazon 2010). The Canadian born author is best known for his Smiles trilogy beginning with A Killing Smile, first published in 1991 and his Vincent Calvino crime series now going 14 strong – the most recent being, The Marriage Tree (Heaven Lake Press 2014). Moore’s stand alone fiction is worth consideration.

When it comes to fiction or movies there is no shortage of choices out there, with many of them being bad or mediocre. As for cinema, you can stay at home and watch an HBO movie, go out and catch a blockbuster with a matching McDonald’s plastic cup or head down to your local art house and view a foreign produced film. Reading GOD OF DARKNESS was like watching an art house film, for me. And that wasn’t always good. Because I have the attention span in those films to wonder if they are still selling the buttered popcorn at the 1/2 way mark or why all theatres don’t save on labor by having the same person who sells you the ticket tear it in half also? I found either the book or my mind meandering at times during my reading of G.O.D.

And yet, just as when you walk home after the conclusion of a good art house film that confused you for a scene or two, I was completely satisfied at the end of this 320 page novel, which I would categorize as both a thriller and historical fiction. What Moore does so well is, like a paratrooper, parachute the reader into hostile territory that would otherwise be inaccessible. In PATTAYA 24/7 Moore takes you into the lush estate of a wealthy concert pianist and the lifestyle that goes with it. In ZERO HOUR in Phnom Penh you are admitted into the despair of a Cambodian prison. In GAMBLING ON MAGIC you are inside the heads of bookmakers, winners, losers, high rollers and low rollers. In G.O.D. you are behind the high walls of a wealthy Thai family compound. One that just happens to make frequent offerings to Rahu, the God of Darkness.

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RAHU – THE GOD OF DARKNESS

GOD OF DARKNESS is set in 1997, mostly in Bangkok, during the Asian economic crisis. Thailand is no stranger to crisis as the current times reflect. Moore has written a wonderful time capsule of this roller coaster, crash and burn period. You land in a Bangkok high society family compound where the central character, Hurley has been convinced by his girlfriend’s family to leave the comfort of Seattle, Washington to become part of something he had not anticipated and never experienced in his young life. The drama unfolds when Hurley moves out and it is unclear whether he will return and marry the beautiful May under the heavy handed influence of powerful, potential in-laws. Additional characters include Hurley’s 73 year old former professor flying into Bangkok in order to find a Thai wife, a masturbating monkey, a cold blooded hit man and a ditched mia noi. Moore is not a cookie cutter writer. He takes chances. An example would be his use of settings. A short time motel room is not particularly clever for Bangkok fiction. But Moore chooses to use that scene. Twice. Two years apart. The same mirrored room. Once for the scene of a murder and a great education for the reader in the realities of privilege, face, ranking and Thai Criminology 101. A second time the unlikely room is used as a safe house, a rapid fire courtship and a marriage proposal. It is all believable in the good times and bad times of anything goes Bangkok. Another strength of Moore is examining what is right in front of us every day in Thailand. An example: Ancients. Moore’s term for old people. He uses the word with aplomb dozens of times and each time it seemed better than before. I never tired of it. Moore gives us some of his best writing for last. As Moore puts it: “Life is swimming to shore with cowboy boots on.” We get a good slice of that life in GOD OF DARKNESS. It’s a bit of a reverse Cinderella story with plenty of good intentions and malfeasance to go around.

GOD OF DARKNESS is not for everyone. If you like your protagonist to be 6’5″ and 250 lbs and roam around the United States a lot in lonely fashion only to be played later by a 5’9″ ex high school wrestler on the big screen then there are other choices for you. If, on the other hand, you prefer accurate interpretations of Thai behavior and want insight into the Asian economic crisis of 1997 or just want to know what goes on behind those high walls in those expensive Bangkok neighborhoods while getting a good thriller of a ride then read GOD OF DARKNESS by Christopher G. Moore. You’ll be glad you did.

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Henry Miller Quote of the Month – June 2014

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​”A world torn by indescribable upheavals, a world preoccupied with social and political transformations, will have less time and energy to spare for the creation and appreciation of works of art. The politician, the soldier, ​the industrialist, the technician, all those in short who cater to immediate needs, to creature comforts, to transitory and illusory passions and prejudices, will take precedence over the artist. The most poetic inventions will be those capable of serving the most destructive ends.”

Henry Miller on Writing. First published in 1964, now in its 18th printing.

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Exiles: An Outsider Anthology is only 99c/ 77p

By on May 31, 2014

I don’t make a habit of making commercial endorsements on this blog, but I am making an exception with EXILES. It includes three authors I like and have read: K.A. Laity, James A. Newman and Paul D. Brazill. Plus many more. All stories written from an “outsider” angle. Give it a go. It’s less than a black coffee, only 99 cents. And the profits go to charity benefitting those afflicted with Marfan’s disease. A win / win.

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14 Ways of Looking at Thailand’s Military Coup

By on May 30, 2014

A reblog from Smoke and Mirrors on Thai politics and culture. He had me at, smoke and mirrors …

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Smells like a coup, tastes like a coup, looks like a coup

By on May 22, 2014

While I take a break in the USA here’s a good blog post re the Thailand political situation from Ugly Truth Thailand. I’m just the messenger.

uglytruththailand's avatarUglytruth-Thailand

Giles Ji Ungpakorn

Today Thai army general Prayut Chanocha declared martial law without consulting the caretaker government or any other elected representatives. Troops took over all radio and TV stations and are positioned along major road intersections in Bangkok.

Despite the fact that he claimed that “this is not a coup”, Prayut’s actions smell, taste and look like a coup. This is from a man who has blood on his hands. Four years ago to the day Prayut oversaw the shooting down in the streets of almost ninety Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstrators. Before the elections in the following year he made public statements against the Pua Thai Party. He had previously been a key figure in manoeuvring Abhisit’s anti-Democrat Party into an unelected government in 2008. He has never been brought to court for his crimes and was on the list of those who would be given total amnesty in…

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Taking a Break …

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For the same reasons my dog scratches his ear with his hind leg, I’ll be taking a break here at Thailand Footprint. Because I have a bit of an itch to do so and because I can. It also follows a good prescription by Henry Miller, which you will find at the end of this post.

We’ll be headed back to the USA in about a week for a four month trip so it seems an appropriate time to focus on a couple of other priorities. A full schedule of posts should resume in the Fall. In the interim I will continue to post the Henry Miller quotes once a month, the occasional book review and travel post as long as I can figure out a Thai-centric angle. A few choice reblogs may go out as well.

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I am also pleased at this time to announce a three book deal with Spanking Pulp Press. The deal is, they’ll publish my first book in the Fall of 2014 if I agree not to write three more. It seems more than fair.

Here is a sneak peak of a small portion of the cover art for the book cover, done by Colin Cotterill. There is a lot more of the Cotterill brilliance where this came from:

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The book will be a collection of essays and interviews, many of which have been previously posted here and at Chiang Mai City News. In addition there will be new material including a proper history of the Check Inn 99 Cabaret Bar owned and operated by Chris Catto-Smith and his wife, Mook. For those who have never been, do yourself a favor and check it out. It is located between Soi 5 and Soi 7 on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, Thailand. Smack dab in the middle of the Zone.  Spanking Pulp Press and I wish to do a good job representing Thailand and Check Inn 99 so the time away from the blog should be a boon for that purpose.

Thanks again to all the regular and irregular readers.

As the former Governor of the great state of California once said, “I’ll be back.” I hope you’ll return in the Fall and for the monthly Henry Miller quotes. A bonus quote from Mr. Miller, here:

“To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.” 

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. For dramatic exit effect, click the link below to get a nice short video about the Spanking Pulp Press logo:

Spanking Pulp Press Logo

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A Spirit House for Stirling …

Spirit House

 

Last week I wrote an essay titled in part, WHAT IS A WRITER? If you had to choose a picture of someone to put next to the definition of writer in a dictionary one choice could very well be, Stirling Silliphant, the Oscar award winning writer for the screenplay, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Stirling was, in a word, prolific.

In television he wrote for shows from The Mickey Mouse Club, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66 and The Naked City to name just some. He worked with dozens of Hollywood legends including Bruce Lee.

 

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Stirling was also the creator of LONGSTREET, which I remember watching as a kid. It was unusual in that it featured a blind detective played by James Franciscus.

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His movie credits are equally impressive.My favorite Hollywood story about Stirling was when he was the screen writer on Route 66. They were shooting in San Antonio, Texas and the producers told Stirling if he could come up with another episode set in San Antonio, they could save $100,000 instead of returning the whole crew back to Dallas, Texas. In short order – hours that never reached 3 figures – Stirling wrote a new episode of Route 66. They flew in the guest star, shot the episode where they were and saved a huge sum of money, at the time, in the process. Stirling to the rescue.

Route 66

Stirling Silliphant left large footprints wherever he lived and he chose to live in Bangkok, Thailand for the Third Act of his life. A quote by Stirling Silliphant is featured in one of my favorite posts, NEVER GO TO THAILAND … And The Reasons I love It. The quote comes from the excellent book by Jerry Hopkins featuring legendary Bangkok expatriates titled BANGKOK BABYLON. It’s a great quote and it is worth repeating here:

I came to Thailand to die. I needed to be surprised. I wanted to be shocked. Bangkok is unpredictable and it delivers if you give it a chance. Even the small adventures are memorable. – Stirling Silliphant   

SilliphantStirling Silliphant – Born January 16th 1918 Died April 26th 1996

Stirling did die in Thailand 18 years ago today of prostate cancer. There are many things I love about Thailand and Thai people. One of them is their beliefs about death and spirits. It is not my desire to make an argument for or against those beliefs, I choose only to celebrate them. My own personal beliefs are that Stirling Silliphant had a spirit and it is plainly evident to me that his spirit lives on.

It got me thinking about what kind of Spirit House Stirling should have? He earned a classy one if my opinion matters, like the Chris Coles image of a Spirit House above. In memory of the life of this talented writer, who set out to die in Bangkok and lived an extraordinary life for 78 years before he did, Thailand Footprint celebrates the spirit of Stirling Silliphant on the 18th anniversary of his death. It occurred at a Bangkok hospital. Everyone dies but not everyone lives like Stirling did.

So today I am going to imagine some things that might be useful to place in a Spirit House custom built for Stirling.

Whether a Spirit House is seen as containing the actual spirit of a loved one or as a nook for honoring the still-fresh memories of the family is just a matter of vantage point. – Alasdair McLeod, Bangkok writer, photographer and videographer

These are some of the things I would place in my imaginary Spirit House for the spirit of Stirling Silliphant to enjoy for eternity:

1. A miniature Smith Corona typewriter and a mini-pallet of typing paper.

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2. A mini stretch limousine to represent his Hollywood days, with a fully stocked mini bar in the back.

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3. A small notepad and a good pen. One that can handle the heat of Bangkok City.

4. A miniature statue of Oscar. Why not?

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5. A memento of the Little Oscar mobile, a car driven by a dwarf named Little Oscar, which Stirling must have seen often in his Southern California days in the 1960s, as I did growing up there during that time.

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6. His own personal 7 11 Convenience store because I want eternity to be convenient for Stirling’s spirit.

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7. A bottle of good drinking water and a Coca Cola placed out front every day. It’s important to keep hydrated even for spirits. None of that red Fanta stuff for Stirling.

8. A good neighborhood bar for Stirling to meet up at. Something likes Joe Jost found in Long Beach, California that attracted working class people and celebrities alike.

Joe's Jost

9. A mini tuk tuk for the shorter trips.

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10. Figurines of Thai ladies from all classes, upper, middle and lower. This will create a little tension from time to time and perhaps some conflict, which is good for any writer living forever in the Big Weird.

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11. A mini pool table. I don’t know if he played pool but I bet he had friends that did and the spirits of Stirling’s friends will no doubt drop in from time to time.

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12. A box of matches. The good kind with the wooden sticks to represent the creative flame of Stirling that still burns on.

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13. A good book to read, which he couldn’t have read before, to remind him a bit of The Naked City on those hot Bangkok nights.

For The Dead

So that’s my baker’s dozen items and thoughts on the life and spirit of Bangkok expatriate, Stirling Silliphant. If you have something you’d like to add to Stirling’s House, feel free to drop a comment here. Space is still available. And eternity is a long time.

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This post also appears at Chiang Mai City News and may be found there by clicking the banner below:

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Anzac Dusk Music Salute at Check Inn 99 Bangkok – Friday 25th April at 8:00 P.M.

Anzac Day

 

In two days a special day at a special place: Anzac Dusk Music Salute. I fell in love with the country of Australia on my first visit in 1986. I’ve visited there a total of six times now. The national spirit of mate-ship is not an advertising campaign. It is real. As is the Anzac Spirit. If you are an Australian or New Zealander living in Bangkok and would like to pay your respects to the fallen, you will not find a better place to do so than, Check Inn 99. And if you are just an Australian or Kiwi at heart, join in too.

I don’t publish a lot of videos on this blog. Conventional wisdom says, “Don’t.” Sometimes you have to say, the hell with conventional wisdom. The above video was filmed at the 2013 Anzac Day at Check Inn 99. I also recommend the YouTube video of Chris Catto-Smith singing, “And the Band Played Waltzing Mathilda.” This post is out of respect for the fallen of one of the historically great allies of the USA. The fighting men and women of New Zealand and Australia. And to all the fallen of all colors and countries.

 

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Making Tracks in The Kiwi Zone with John Daysh – Author of Cut Out The Middleman

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The Commonwealth of Nations have been well represented at Thailand Footprint with authors from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia written about and discussed here often. Author, John Daysh from New Zealand becomes the first Kiwi to be interviewed at Thailand Footprint but he will not be the last. John is a sixth generation New Zealander through his maternal blood lines and the Great, Great, Great, Grandson of John Daysh whom arrived in New Zealand in 1841 from Hamshire, England. Just two years after the Treaty of Waitangi which granted Britain dual sovereignty (with the indigenous Maori) over New Zealand. He is a proud New Zealander who knows Thailand well. The setting for his backpacker/crime/love story novel, Cut Out The Middleman is southern Thailand and London, based, in part, on John’s own exploration and extensive travels. Thailand Footprint is pleased to have John Daysh here today checking in from God’s country on Easter Sunday:

TF: Why is New Zealand known as The God Zone and how is it different than the zones found in Bangkok?  

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JD: I guess it comes from a mix of arrogance, honesty, pride and naivety.  NZ is a lovely country to live in.  Stunningly beautiful and wonderfully uncomplicated.  But it is also incredibly detached and insular.  That is where it is similar to Bangkok; or how Thais are similar to Kiwis.  The vast majority of Kiwis wouldn’t be able to determine the difference between a Korean, a Thai, a Chinese or a Japanese.  Same as most Thais can’t tell the cultural difference between an American, a Swede, an Aussie or a German.  New Zealand has always been geographically isolated from the rest of the world and that has insulated the minds of many in that there is a sense that we are untouched or unsullied by the problems that face the rest of the world.  It is as if our clean, green, unpolluted environment mirrors our mentality.    I remember coming home for a holiday when I was living in China and the lead story on the 6 o’clock news was about how a postie (mail delivery dude on a bicycle) was refusing to deliver mail to a particular street because he felt intimidated by the dogs barking at him from behind their fences (a legal requirement for dog owners).  I didn’t know whether to be annoyed, amused or envious.  On the most popular news website in New Zealand, World News sits below National News, Sports News, Weather, Entertainment News and What’s on TV.  Ignorance is bliss. And it is.  Living in New Zealand has been compared to living in England in the 1950’s.  It is a fair comparison outside the big cities.  And I guess that is what I love and hate about living here.  Beautifully simple but agonizingly unsurprising. It is the perfect place to raise a family.

TF: What books influenced you growing up?

JD: I read everything Hemingway wrote by the time I was fourteen.  I had read everything Stephen King had written by the time I was fifteen and I have read every book of his since.  Hemingway’s stoicism and concise style resonated strongly with me and King’s wild imagination and amazing characterisation captured me completely.  From there I moved onto Kerouac and the Beat Generation and then Kesey introduced me to a mode of critical thought that sent me towards dystopian literature.  George Orwell and Aldous Huxley became my new champions.  That all happened before I went on to study literature at university and all of those writers still influence me today in the way I see the world and interact with it.

TF: Is there a book out there or laying around your home that you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to it yet?

JD: Christopher G. Moore’s ‘The Marriage Tree’.  Reading is such a guilty pleasure at times.  Mostly I am reading submissions or editing novels (or reading articles on the bloody internet) and it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for reading for pleasure.  Maybe tonight.

TF:Complete this sentence: Amazon.com is …

JD: A vast jungle full of beauty, adventure, danger, and fecal matter.

TF: Make the case for fiction over non-fiction in 100 words or less.

JD: Fiction is an escape and it is limitless but it is more real than non-fiction.  Fiction explores experience and tells stories and opens doors to the imagination and infinite creativity.  Fiction exposes the reality of individuals in boundless form.  It delves and depicts and infuses our lives with the truths of others.  Fiction is a gift from the storyteller to the reader.  Fiction is more honest than non-fiction.

TF: Tell our readers about your last novel, Cut Out the Middleman? 

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JD: It is the story of a disillusioned traveler who ‘finds’ himself in Thailand and ends up running a beach bar on a remote island where he gets caught up in the drug trade.  He tries to navigate a safe path amongst psychopaths, drug addicts, whores and hippies in attempt to heal himself and find love.

TF: Please tell me your three favorite dead authors? Or if you are feeling confident you can throw some live ones into the mix?

JD: Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley.  James A. Newman, Stephen King, James Austin Farrell.

TF: Tell me about your publishing house. What excites you about it? What about it is a drag? 

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JD: Spanking Pulp Press is something that James Newman and I cobbled together out of our frustration with the world of publishing and our love of pulp fiction.  Our primary aim is to support promising writers and bring pulp fiction back into the mainstream.  The excitement comes firstly from being able to work with James Newman who I consider to be one of the finest gentlemen I’ve met and one of the finest literary talents around.  The man is a pulp genius. Secondly, it gives me the chance to work with some fantastic writers and also hone my editing skills, and hopefully make me a better writer.  The opportunity to be James’ editor and co-publisher was just too good to pass up.  Then I got to work with one of my heroes, Phillip Wiley, and James Austin Farrell who I truly believe will achieve literary greatness in time.  Plus hanging out with Thailand’s most famous private eye, Warren Olson, has been amazing as we work on a set of four novels and his upcoming memoir, The Private Detective.  Then from old hands to young bucks; Simon Palmer is our latest signing and he is going to turn some heads for sure.

What is a drag?  Only having so many hours in a day.  We have been very lucky in that we had an influx of quality submissions quite early on.  But that means that some good books and writers have to wait while James and I take it one book at a time to ensure we are putting out the best books we can.  My biggest stress is knowing that some damn fine writers are waiting on me to get to their book.  I wish time would drag so I could get more done.

TF: What does the The Year of the Horse have in store for you?

JD: Editing, editing, editing.  We aim to have another ten books out this year.  Plus I’m trying to finish a novel I’ve be in and out of over the past few years.  “Like a Moth to a Flame” will be ready by the time I hit Bangkok in December/January for a book signing and the next Bangkok Night of Noir at the Check Inn 99.  Fingers crossed.

TF: Thanks, John. I look forward to that happening. In the meantime, good luck on lowering that golf handicap of yours between books. 

 

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This interview may also be seen at Chiang Mai City News by clicking the above banner.

 

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