2. Shanghai University (draft) Concentrating on his footing because the drizzle had made the paving stones slippery, Kurt glanced up only to avoid walking into the trees planted in the middle of the footpath. The trunks, white with insecticide paint, glowed in the darkness, and Kurt struggled to believe the skeletal branches would grow leaves … Sulphur Lake Chapter 2
A novel by Anjo Bordell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Tapped out in a mouldy Shanghai apartment, the paranoiac writing in DEFAULT makes me want to tell the author to lay off the weed. But no lazy pot smoker could write such energetic sentences. Impending doom hovers over Anjo Bordell, author and protagonist of … DEFAULT
The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads by Martin Booth My rating: 5 of 5 stars Based on the name of one Chinese secret society, the sanhehui 三合会, triad is the term we use in English to describe them in general. In modern-day China, they are referred to as hei shehui 黑社会 or … The Dragon Syndicates
Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City by Jacob Acerbi My rating: 2 of 5 stars I enjoyed much of this book, and the author’s honesty in showing the less pleasant aspects of his own behaviour and personality should be applauded IMO. I don’t condone his nastier actions, but he … Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City
The Boss A buzzing sound indicated the security door had opened. Gustavo entered and walked across the lobby. Several seconds after pushing the button, the elevator car clanked down the open shaft. He pulled back the old-style iron door and got in. On the fifth floor, a floppy-fringed Chinese youth ushered him through an entrance … Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 5
i) Years ago, coming out of a Shanghai subway station, David passed a man dressed in what looked like dirty blue medical scrubs. Squatting on the pavement, under a street light, the man had a basket of live crabs in front of him. For whatever reason, David looked back and saw him pick up his … China Sketches: Company
Links go to my reviews on Goodreads Sexual Fascism — In these essays the USA compares poorly with China in terms of sexual freedom White Faced Lies — This graphic novel details the rent-a-white-guy in China phenomenon Unwelcome — An anti-coming-of-age novel set in China and the US, gripping in the tear-legs-off-a-spider kind of way Default … Eight indie/small press books I reviewed in 2022
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
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.
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
