For every problem there is a solution.

My publisher Heaven Lake Press has announced that it will invite readers to purchase books directly from its office. You can come to the office between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Customers receive a 10% discount. And a 20% discount for a purchase of five or more books. Sorry there is no credit card facility. So you’ll need to pay for the books in cash.

On Wednesdays between 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. I will come along to sign copies of my books purchased from Heaven Lake Press.

Address of Heaven Lake Press

The office in on the second floor.

398/7 Monterey Place Condominium
Soi Rimkongpaisingtoh, Rama 4 Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Thailand
 

It is easy to find. Take the MRT to Queen Sirikit Station, go out exit 4, turn left outside the station and walk fifteen meters, then on your left you will see Soi Rimkongpaisingtoh and a motorcycle taxi queue. The office is a five-minute walk away or a ten baht motorcycle ride to Monterey Place.

Here’s the map

I discuss the background of the Vincent Calvino series, how I came to write the series and create the character of Vincent Calvino.

Also you will find two other videos. I give a description of the story and characters in The Risk of Infidelity Index and Paying Back Jack.

While in Honolulu I’d like to invite friends and fans to come along for a drink that evening and I’d be happy to sign books. And enjoy a free Singha beer.

Place:   Sala Thai Restaurant & Bar 
           1333 Nuuanu Ave 
           Honolulu, Hawaii 96817 
           (Chinatown, Honolulu, Oahu)  Ph: (808) 529-0308

Date: 12^th March 2009

“Bits are already filtered and monitored as they cross national borders. In China, if you want to visit www.freetibet.org (the Web site of a Tibetan independence group) or falundafa.org (the site of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong), you will temporarily lose your Internet connection. The OpenNet Initiative, a partnership of Internet research centers at Harvard University and the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Toronto, documents technology-enabled, fine-tuned censorship all over the world: no sex in Saudi Arabia, no Holocaust denials in Australia, no shocking images of war dead in Germany, no insults to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey. Some of those bans mimic pre-Internet censorship laws, but authorities install harsh new ones in response to internationally significant events, such as the monks' protests in Myanmar in 2007.

“American publishers can be affected by the censorship practices of foreign governments. Australia's highest court found the Web version of Barron's, the financial newspaper, guilty of libel in a case brought by an Australian businessman, Joseph Gutnick, even though the article would not have been considered defamatory under U.S. laws in New Jersey, where the Web servers were located. Web publishers, cowed by threats of legal action, may adapt to the restrictions of their major markets abroad. Happily, Congress has responded by prohibiting American courts from enforcing libel judgments in nations lacking U.S. free-speech standards. But that won't prevent journalists from being detained or publishers' property from being seized abroad to settle such claims.”

Also, I contributed my thoughts about Westlake writing as Richard Stark.

The character of professional criminal Parker was a shot fired by a precision marksman. It still echoes in the ear of many contemporary crime writers. Writing as Richard Stark, Westlake, novel by novel, showed us the rational, calculating, unsentimental Parker, the career criminal, the clear-eyed professional, anticipating the plays of other characters in the novels like a chess grand master. Parker planned his jobs like Special Forces operations, working with other freelance criminals to carry out an operation. In Parker, Westlake created a character who had survived because he understood the weakness of those around him and how ... [they] were held hostage by a combination of greed, arrogance, and fear. The emotional distance between Parker and others was as large as the vacuum of deep space. Even after plastic surgery, the world always hunted him, found him, and tried to destroy him.

He never gave up, he never gave in, and he lived by a personal code that demanded integrity among men and women who had long ago discarded integrity like a worn-out horse no longer fit to ride. Still, Parker never gave up.

In Parker we find clues to our own alienation and existential questioning of whether we can ever know or trust anyone. Donald Westlake and Richard Stark are seemingly gone. Dead. But as long as there are readers on the planet, no one will ever be able write R.I.P. after Parker’s name. In that way, Westlake/Stark will always be with us.

One video was taken at the table headed by Barney on the night of the awards. It ends with a toast to Barney. The second video has Barney talking about his life as we sat in his loft off Union Square in lower Manhattan. The founder of Grove Press, Barney Rossett has had a distinguished and often controversial career. His love of the outsider’s voice and point of view allowed American readers to widen and deepen their knowledge of the outliers world. Without Barney Rossett and Grove Press, the world would be grayer, less interesting and textured.

The last video reminds me why I miss New York. The musicians who entertain subway passengers on their way to the trains have a tough crowd to please. This entertainer had passion that attracted a lot of onlookers. People are attracted to creative artist, especially those who
put their body and soul into their art. There is a lesson for novelist in watching this musician. He brings the music alive and he gather around him those people who are usually in a rush from one place to the next. He made them notice, pause and listen.

It is available through Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, and Borders.

The online websites still show the previous hardback edition cover. That should be changed to the actual cover soon.