Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am originally from the UK and I have travelled the world working as a chef in 5-star hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, Antarctic supply ships, custom patrol vessels, rig tenders, and oil tankers. I have has also lived in Jamaica, Bermuda, Singapore, The Falkland Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the USA. I have been visiting Thailand regularly as a tourist since 1983 and I have lived here for six years since retiring and moving from Australia in 2017. Since arriving in Thailand and to keep myself busy in retirement I re-invented myself from a chef to an author and started to write travel books which in turn led to me writing my biography and I then took the next step of writing fiction books. Being a glutton for punishment two years ago I started my own YouTube channel about my life living in Thailand, “Thailand My Land…Retiring Disgracefully”
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lawyers Guns and Money is the third book in the Thai Died series of books that introduces Lieutenant Chai Son Sinuan of the Royal Thailand Police an incorruptible police officer in a police force that is renowned for its unbridled corruption. Because of his stance against corruption many of Son’s fellow police officers resent that he is incorruptible including his commanding officer Colonel Saetang who only tolerates him because of his unprecedented record of catching criminals which the Colonel capitalises on and then takes the credit for. Son is based on the tropical island of Koh Samui where millions of Farang tourists flock every year to soak up the sun, party and visit the lady bars so crime and criminals are never far away.
On the tranquil shores of Crystal Bay on the tropical island of Koh Samui, a woman’s body floats to shore on the afternoon tide. Unnoticed, she drifts close to the many tourists taking advantage of the tepid water to try to cool down in the hot mid-afternoon sun. She is naked except for a Buddhist amulet around one of her wrists and a silk scarf tied tightly around her neck and she has distinctive Sak Yant tattoos down her back. It looked like a straightforward case of a bar girl taking the wrong customer home for the night until a phone call to the police station from an expat husband in Bangkok saying that his wife a high-profile prosecutor had not been answering her phone since the previous evening and that he had contacted the management at their holiday home on the island to check on her when he had entered the house he found an overturned coffee table drops of blood on the broken glass but no sign of his wife.
After the woman’s body is identified as the missing prosecutor, it comes to light that she was building a case against a Russian drug cartel boss operating out of Phuket with links to the Asian underworld.
When pressure from the upper echelons of the Thai government works its way down to the police minister, he contacts Colonel Chief Superintendent Saetang and demands that he make a quick arrest. Knowing that his best investigator had been banished to Koh Phangan, Colonel Saetang recalls Lieutenant Chai Son Sinuan from his exile back to Koh Samui to try to solve the case.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Being of a certain age I didn’t grow up with computers but I have certainly adapted to them since I started writing books. I do most of my writing thanks to the wonders of Wi-Fi sitting on a beach or around a swimming pool in Thailand or some other Southeast Asian country. Quite often when the sun is going down my inspiration is helped along with a cocktail or two.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first books I remember reading were the Just William series of books by Richmal Crompton. As I matured I read everything Charles Dickens wrote and all of The Hobbit series of books by J. R. R. Tolkien, I also loved Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. My daughter was born in 1974, and as she grew older I would read Watership Down by Richard Adams to her at bedtime. Looking back now it was probably a little scary for a little girl, but she loved the book as much as I did. Being at sea for much of my life, books were an important source of entertainment in the few leisure hours that you get working on a ship. I would read everything that I could get my hands on, from Agatha Christie to Ernest Hemingway, from Nevil Shute to Leslie Thomas. My favourite authors of today are James Lee Burke, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Kate Atkinson, and Khaled Hosseini. I also like to read travel-related books especially anything by Michael Palin and Bill Bryson. I don’t think any author actually influenced me, I just loved losing myself in a good book.
What are you working on now?
I am in the planning stage of taking a road trip through the beautiful Eastern area of Thailand for research for my third road trip book in the Just Another Day in Paradise series of books.
I am writing the second book in my Just Another Day in Paradise series. This book will cover Northeastern Thailand on a three-week 900-kilometre road trip from Bangkok to Chiang Rai taking in many interesting and off-the-beaten-track places, places that many tourists miss out on when they come to Thailand as most people only go to the more popular areas of Thailand such as Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Krabi.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have recently published a website as it seems a necessity in this day and age. Apart from that, being a retiree and of that certain age, I am not very knowledgeable about computers and social media, so I rely on word of mouth and hopefully, my publisher getting my name out there. I know I must be missing out on many selling opportunities but I find the whole social media thing rather boring and time-consuming. I also promote my books via my YouTube channel…Thailand My Land: https://tinyurl.com/3t32zprj
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep doing what you’re doing; even if you don’t get published, you’re still improving your mind, enjoying what you’re doing and fulfilling an ambition. My brother John, who was a much better writer than I will ever be, tried most of his life to get his books published and never succeeded. I wrote my second book in 2017 (the first book I wrote was never meant for publication) and I was offered a publishing contract for it within a few months of releasing it on Amazon. What I discovered since becoming an author is that getting a book published is quite often down to luck, being in the right place at the right time and of course writing a great book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Travel to different countries whenever you can. The greatest experiences are seeing other cultures and getting a real perspective on life and the lives that other people lead”. Which is the way I have always tried to live my life.
When I was in Cambodia recently researching my book, I spoke with a lady who was just forty-two years old the same age as my daughter. Her father was arrested, imprisoned and later killed by Pol Pot’s henchmen for the crime of being a teacher. When she was one year old, with her mother, older brother, and sister, they were forced to march 330 kilometres from their home in Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to work on a communal farm. Her mother died along the way of sickness and malnutrition and she was separated from her brother and sister, and she would never see them again. She was taken in and raised in impoverished conditions by another family who had befriended her mother on the long march south. Being born in Cambodia during those murderous days she had not had the opportunities in her life that my children or grandchildren have had. She had no education, no real family, and had been working as a prostitute since she was fourteen years old to survive. It certainly put everything in perspective for me. You don’t see the real world by watching it on Tik Tok or YouTube.
What are you reading now?
I love reading great books but unfortunately living here in Thailand with the many things to see and do here and being an author as well as having to make content for my YouTube channel there are not enough hours in the day for me to sit down and read a good book. I thought that when I retired, I would have lots of time to read but it didn’t work out that way. I don’t mind because it keeps me active and I get to meet many interesting people and make new friends.
What’s next for you as a writer?
After I have published my latest book, I usually take a few months off to travel around Thailand or Southeast Asia to re-charge the batteries and find inspiration for my next book…so that’s the plan.
What is your favorite book of all time?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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