Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 3

STOLEN WATCHES Six months after his father died, Lucas started buying stolen watches. The old man had chased scum selling stolen stuff or fakes out of the shop with a wooden table leg. Worse still, with a few exceptions, Lucas was buying from foreigners: a Paraguayan, a Senegalese, and assorted others. “Foreigners?” his father would … Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 3

Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 2

THE TARGET Exiting the plane and walking down the steps to the tarmac, Diana felt a thrill at being outside, but then she saw the line stretching out of the terminal. She didn’t understand what was going on at first – was this the line for immigration? With his hat in the checked luggage, her … Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 2

The Dragonhead

The Dragonhead: The Godfather of Chinese Crime–His Rise and Fall by John Sack My rating: 5 of 5 stars As others have mentioned, “The Dragonhead” is a great read taken as a novel but doesn’t hold up as a true story. The Dragonhead himself, Johnny Kon, crosses over into Hong Kong in the 60s as … The Dragonhead

Delivery

They sent me to Wellington for training. Two nights in a hotel room with Sky TV and meals paid for. What else could I have wanted? After a good night’s sleep, I reported to the depot. The muscular Norm waved at me from the other end of the aeroplane-hangar space. Norm was staying in the … Delivery

Interview with Radio Qué Onda

I was interviewed by Wellington’s Spanish language radio program Qué Onda. I talked about China, including my time in Wuhan, Argentina, and my book Buenos Aires Triad.

Sexual Fascism

In ‘Civilization and its Discontents,’ Freud tells us that civilisation necessitates the curbing of the natural expression of the libido, and this repression leads to neurosis. The answer is to redirect the libido into work or artistic expression. For author Isham Cook, the state keeps us in fear of our libido as a mechanism of … Sexual Fascism

Unwelcome

Unwelcome by Quincy Carroll My rating: 5 of 5 stars In ‘Unwelcome’ we follow Cole Chen through his awkward misadventures in California and Changsha, China. The twenty-three-year-old has come back from his second stint in China and is crashing on his brother’s couch. Our introduction to Cole is through the eyes of his more successful … Unwelcome