''Two-timing bargirls, suspicious spouses, and lesbian lovers''—it was all in a day''s work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson.” Fluent in Thai and Khmer, Olson walked the mean streets of Bangkok and was able to go where other Private Eyes feared to tread. The stories are based on Olson''s case files, fictionalized (to protect the innocent, and the guilty) by bestselling author Stephen Leather.
This volume - the follow-up to Olson’s bestselling "Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye" - serves up more juicy portions of what goes on under the veneer in Thailand and includes stories deemed too hot to include in the first book for fear of repercussions. It also includes recent cases, where state-of-the-art surveillance devices and other advances in the dark arts of private investigation have made it easier to uncover dirt deep below the surface. This is a book that reads like exciting fiction, with one big difference: every story is true. Only the names and related identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent along with the guilty. These chronicles of a decade lived dangerously in the Land of Crooked Smiles will, by turns, entertain, shock, inflame and inform you.
Pete, a young travel writer, wanders into a Bangkok bar and meets the love of his life. Joy is the girl of his dreams: young, stunningly pretty, and one of Zombie Bar's top-earning pole dancers. What follows is a roller-coaster ride of sex, drugs, lies and deception, as Pete discovers that his very own private dancer is not all that she claims to be. And that far from being the girl of his dreams, Joy is his own personal nightmare.
In this delightful and much buzzed-about essay collection, 26 food writers like Nora Ephron, Laurie Colwin, Jami Attenberg, Ann Patchett, and M. F. K. Fisher invite readers into their kitchens to reflect on the secret meals and recipes for one person that they relish when no one else is looking. Part solace, part celebration, part handbook, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant offers a wealth of company, inspiration, and humor—and finally, solo recipes in these essays about food that require no division or subtraction, for readers of Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones & Butter and Tamar Adler's The Everlasting Meal. Featuring essays by: Steve Almond, Jonathan Ames, Jami Attenberg, Laura Calder, Mary Cantwell, Dan Chaon, Laurie Colwin, Laura Dave, Courtney Eldridge, Nora Ephron, Erin Ergenbright, M. F. K. Fisher, Colin Harrison, Marcella Hazan, Amanda Hesser, Holly Hughes, Jeremy Jackson, Rosa Jurjevics, Ben Karlin, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Beverly Lowry, Haruki Murakami, Phoebe Nobles, Ann Patchett, Anneli Rufus and Paula Wolfert. View our feature on the essay collection Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant.
The riveting account of the O.J. Simpson murder trial is told in the uncensored words of Simpson's closest confidants and attorneys. American Tragedy reveals the answers to many of he case's unexplained questions for the first time. What happened to the missing Louis Vuitton bag? How did Simpson's team stage a deception during the jury's visit to his mansion? You've heard the speculation's and rumors; now read what really happened.
Air America flight crews, hired as civilians, but castigated as mercenaries, malcontents, and psychopaths, operated military aircraft and performed yeoman service for twenty-five years until the war in Southeast Asia ended on a rooftop in downtown Saigon. They have never been recognized for their sacrifices. Author and former Air America pilot Allen Cates cuts through the myths and subterfuge surrounding this elite stealth Air Force used by the United States to fight a secret war in Honor Denied. The culmination of Catess years as a pilot and his in-depth research into Air Americas murky past, this intense study follows his escape from rural, small-town America to the US Marines, as well as his time as an officer and pilot flying combat operations in Vietnam and rescue missions for Air America. Peppering the narrative with vivid personal details, Cates describes the background and purpose of this unique organization and then discloses the startling casualtiesboth those killed in action and those wounded and injured with permanent disability. He shines the light on their cause, long hidden from the general public, and reveals how these brave men and women were denied recognition and benefits by those who knew the truth, including the US President, secretaries of state and defense, and even the director of the CIA. Proud, yet never boastful, Honor Denied tells a story that needs to be toldand heard.
Once or twice a decade, an unknown short-story writer blazes onto the literary scene with work that is thrilling and new. Scott Wolven is such a talent, and his raw, blistering tales of hard-bitten convicts, dodgy informers, and men running from the law make for "the most exciting, authentic collection of short stories I have read in years," says George Pelecanos. Brooding, edgy, and sometimes violent, Controlled Burn's loosely linked stories are each in some way a distillation of hard time -- spent either in prison, the backwoods of Vermont, or the badlands of the American West. Peopled by boxers, drunks, truck drivers, murderers, bounty hunters, drifters traveling under assumed names, and men whose luck ran out a thousand miles ago, these stories feel hard-won from life, and if they are moody and stark, so too are they filled with human longing. Controlled Burn is divided into two sections: "The Northeast Kingdom" and "The Fugitive West." In each, Scott Wolven reveals a broken world where there is no bottom left to hit. In the haunting "Outside Work Detail," convicts stoically dig graves for their fellow prisoners yet reserve their deepest grief for the senseless death of a deer. "Crank" introduces Red Green, a maniacally brilliant addict who brews his own crystal meth in a backwoods lab, and whose high-energy antics inspire both cautious admiration and mortal fear in his business associates. In "Ball Lightning Reported," Red Green's ultimate fate is revealed. In "Atomic Supernova," a revenge-obsessed sheriff deputizes a known cop-killer to help him hunt down a counterfeiter and drug lord. The unexpectedly tender and heartbreaking "The Copper Kings" concerns a father facing the dark truth behind his son's disappearance. And in "Vigilance," a hunted man struggles to escape his past, always yearning for an honorable yet perhaps unreachable future. Powered by a spare, ruminative prose style that recalls the best of Denis Johnson and Thom Jones, Controlled Burn is an unforgettable debut.
When travellers Ben and Emma split up in Thailand, Ben falls for a local masseuse and experiences the darker side of tourism, where farmers' daughters sell their bodies in Bangkok bars. Thai Girl is a thought-provoking adventure novel that explores the problems of prostitution and cross-cultural relationships, and reaches its climax in the sultry heat of Thailand’s exotic traveller beaches.
An expat detective in Bangkok discovers the dark truths beneath the surface of his chosen home in this “fast, bold, and beautifully written” thriller (T. Jefferson Parker). Travel writer Poke Rafferty was good at looking for trouble—so good that he made a little money writing a few offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored. But that was before Bangkok stole his heart. Now the expat American is happily playing family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt. But settling down won’t be as easy as it seems . . . First, Poke takes in Miaow’s friend, a troubled and terrifying street urchin named Superman. Then he agrees to help an Aussie woman find her missing uncle—and accepts an old woman’s generous payment to find a blackmailing thief. Soon, these three seemingly disparate events begin to overlap, pulling Poke into dark, unfamiliar terrain. Poke soon comes to realize that he’s been gliding across the surface of a culture he really doesn’t understand—and that what he doesn’t know is about to hurt him and everyone he loves.
Pop culture/Memoir/autobiography This NEW EDITION contains updates, new information, additional photographs and contributions. This is a significant and very personal book. Dr. Drew Pinsky: "I commend you for having the courage to step up and do it and do it thoroughly and do it properly. I think that's a very good thing." David Carradine, The Eye Of My Tornado has been inducted into the Johnny Grant Hollywood Walk of Fame Library ..".it was one long rollercoaster thrill... Mr. Toad's wild ride...intense passion and emotion. He was the eye of my tornado." Marina Anderson. Marina Anderson was just starting out taking acting lessons at Warner Bros., when she wandered one afternoon onto the candlelit set of a Shaolin temple and met for the first time, the volatile, dark and brilliant personality that was actor and icon, David Carradine. Two dynamic people merging into a karmic-destined, intense and turbulent love relationship. Each struggling with their own demons including sexual abuse and incest. Their private life was replete with love, passion, erotic pleasure and eventually bondage, sexual experimentation, and pain as an avenue to pleasure. Their marriage was marred by a toxic secret that could not be ignored. Her writing speaks to readers universally by focusing on their personal journey, revealing the truth about the couple, addresses conquering fear and overcoming obstacles, self discovery, recovery, re-inventing and rebuilding one's self. It's her personal survival while desperately trying to save the marriage as well as Carradine's constant struggle to be someone he wasn't, but wished he could be. Spirituality, psychic John Edward, other psychics and astrologers who helped her are written about in the book as well. They were married on the Warner Bros. back lot and their six-year relationship was a whirl of auditions, star-studded parties, exotic locations, red carpets and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Marina, who was already an established actress, became Carradine's personal manager and set about rehabilitating the career of an actor who was now known for his heavy drinking. She introduced him to Quentin Tarantino, who cast David in a lead role in the popular Kill Bill films. This vaulted Carradine back onto the Hollywood A-list. After their divorce with the help of re-known celebrity Dr. Drew Pinsky (Celebrity Rehab, Sober House), issues are addressed in the consultation verbatim, occupying an entire chapter. Anderson was able to finally exorcise the demons that have haunted her for so long about their relationship and herself that almost destroyed her. "This book is an avenue for his fans and the general public to know, understand and hopefully accept him as a man, not a celluloid fantasy...to be admired for his talents and the motivations behind certain issues in his life understood. It's also to reveal the very personal interior of a marriage that people can relate to. What we do for love. We are all human beings with our faults. He was afraid people wouldn't remember him. That will never happen. The legend continues." David Carradine's acting career spanned four decades onstage, television and cinema. He became an international sensation as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s hit television series Kung Fu and cemented his cult hero status with his role in the classic movie Death Race 2000. He portrayed Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory and Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. Carradine received four Golden Globe nominations. He was a talented songwriter and musician and performed in a band called Cosmic Rescue Team. He died in a Bangkok hotel room, June 3, 2009, an apparent victim of autoerotic asphyxiation. Amid sensational media speculation, Marina refused to let David's death remain stigmatized like it was and launched her own investigation into the death of her ex-husband. Suicide? Foul play? A sex act gone wrong? Was he alone? Was there a cover-up? Her concl
