There is the sound of thunder to the West. The Bangkok sky is ghoulish gray. Outside my window the motorcycle taxi boys are scanning the sky. Inside their offices, workers are scanning the Internet and Thai TV for news. Petitions have been lodged with the Thai judiciary. The government has requested an injunction and for arrest warrants naming five mob leaders.

If Arthur Krystal’s collection of essays titled The Half Life is anything like the one posted on Harper’s, Sentences it is worth reading. Krystal has a masterly voice like a student from the back of the classroom shouting that the teacher’s panty line is showing.

 

Here’s an excerpt:

“Writers who scrabble for a living come in three denominations: the midlist writer who generally writes better than the big-name writer but has a much smaller following; the even less well-known experimental writer who refuses to sell out and publishes in out-of-the-way journals with names like Egg or Behemoth; and the somewhat successful writer who publishes in all the “right” places, but never really breaks out. To fall into any of these categories is to encounter neglect, rudeness, and indifference.”

 

And

 

“There are, it should be said, some good points about being a freelance writer: You can sleep late, set your own hours, work at your own pace, and not worry about someone looking over your shoulder. On the other hand, you tend to sleep late, you have to set your own hours, you work only when you feel like it, and there is no one looking over your shoulder. Lest you think I’m cranky, let me say that I don’t mind writing; I just mind writing for money. Yes, I’m aware that Dr. Johnson thought that “no man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” But I take a different view. Writing for money is work even when you’re writing what it is you want to write. And if you’re writing only for money, even a lot money, it’s a tough way to make a living.”

At the dawn of the industrial revolution, London was awash in gin. Getting drunk was a collective (and very public) way of spending free time. After the 1950s, TV was the new ‘gin’ for the masses in many countries. Bored with all that extra time? Turn on I Love Lucy. Buy the stuff hawked on the advertisements. It became a way of life. A free-time life that most people continue to accept without much thought.

I recently gave an interview with the Dutch author Jochem Steen who is the man behind the Son of Sam website:

Yesterday morning I emerged from the MRT (subway/underground) only to find a virtual wall of police and police dogs at the stairs and more police at ground level. Another coup? I wondered. I asked one of the motorcycle taxi drivers what was going on. They often prove to be the most reliable source of information. The driver knows me. He smiled, “George Boossh.” He made the name “Bush” sound like air escaping from a punctured tire and delivered with the famous Thai smile showing no hint of irony. Seems the President was on this way to Father Joe’s Mercy Centre in Kong Toey, and later the President delivered a speech at Queen Sirkit Centre across the street from where I live.

Waking up on a Monday morning in Bangkok to find Spirit House on amazon/kindle’s website is a great way to start the week. The price for the book is certainly right. It is a free download for Kindle owners. The promotion will last until the 15th August.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 304 KB
Print Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic (August 1, 2008)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B0013TPWXM
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Mystery & Thrillers
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Genre Fiction

Thomas Schmid wrote “Introducing Bangkok’s seamy side: Christopher G. Moore” in the Macau Times on Sunday 3 August. He writes about the publishing background of the Calvino series and the film deal for the books. “His hero Vincent Calvino accomplishes a carefully choreographed balancing act between eastern and western values, which is testimony to Moore’s thorough understanding of cultural differences, an ability which he has nurtured during his many years as a Bangkok resident.”

Most authors understand that without awareness of a book it is difficult to reach readers. Bloggers, some of whom are authors, offer suggestions as to how to break through the noise of the marketplace and attract the attention of readers. It is hardly a science and opinions differ on what works and what doesn’t. The reality is that most books pass an anonymous life to a quiet grave. That fear drives authors to try ways at marketing. I’ve tried as well with my books over the years. An interview here, a review there, and there is a bump in sales. But what all authors wish for is not a bump but a mountain.

My publisher along with Amazon has given me that rare chance to breakout a crime fiction series. The month of August will be a telling one for SPIRIT HOUSE. I could consult a local shaman to read the tealeaves. But tealeaves are better left to brew and the tea drunk. As what happens next no one knows for sure. It is a new experiment. I am told this is the first joint venture of its kind. And it is also an exciting and creative one, finding a way to bring together a traditional literary publisher and with the most significant provider of new technology for reading books. They can see a common interest, and a way forward that honors books and uses technology to expand readership.

Hopefully the results will demonstrate that publishing isn’t a zero-sum game. That an electronic reading devices like the Kindle don’t kill print copy sales; instead, they increase traditional book sales. Or at least that’s the goal. If this works as everyone involved hopes, then publishers and electronic technology providers will have established a common interest beneficial to both.

The deal is Kindle reader can download Spirit House for free for two weeks from 1st August. The trade paperback edition of SPIRIT HOUSE will be released on 28th August in the US.

This is the press release from Amazon and Grove Atlantic

NEW YORK/ SEATTLE, July 30: SPIRIT HOUSE, a novel by Christopher G. Moore, will be made available free to Amazon Kindle customers before its print publication on August 28. The book, to be published by Grove Press, will be available as a free download for Amazon Kindle customers between August 1 and August 15. Kindle is Amazon’s portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper. For more information on Kindle, or to order a Kindle for $359, visit http://amazon.com/kindle.

“Earlier this year, we introduced this internationally bestselling author to the United States,” said Morgan Entrekin, President and Publisher of Grove Atlantic. “We think this innovative partnership is a great way to expand Moore’s audience even further.”

"Amazon is pleased to work with Grove to make Christopher G. Moore's SPIRIT HOUSE available one month in advance of print for Kindle owners," said Ian Freed, vice president of Kindle. "We continue to offer unique benefits for Kindle owners while adding to the Kindle catalog of over 140,000 books."

SPIRIT HOUSE is the second of Moore’s “Vincent Calvino Crime Novels” to be published in the United States. Another book in the series, The Risk of Infidelity Index was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in January 2008.

In the nearly twenty years he has lived in Bangkok, Moore has written nine novels starring the Calvino character, a disbarred American lawyer working as a P.I. in the dark and steamy Thai capital. Internationally acclaimed, the prize-winning novels have been translated into ten languages. Publishers Weekly called The Risk of Infidelity Index a “complex, intelligent novel,” and according to Kirkus, “the darkly raffish Bangkok milieu is a treat.”