By
Adam Mann (Guest Blogger)
About
twenty years ago I was just finishing working on a project in Sri
Lanka when I came across a book in Colombo entitled “an
historical relation of CEYLON” which had been written and
published in 1680. I’m not a historian, but the title intrigued me
and led me to find out about the history of that area, and I also had
the time and facility to visit some of the places mentioned in that
book. It was a bit like surfing the web – one place led to
another, and some of the recorded history in that region went back
thousands of years!
The
descriptions of people at those times – both men and women –
began to make me think about their real personal lives. They must
have had families! But recorded history is usually very quiet about
their wives, concubines and mistresses, or indeed their husbands and
lovers.
At
that time I was living on the edge of a coconut estate in North West
Sri Lanka, just before I moved to a new project here in Vietnam.
What
a change!
I
was suddenly confronted with hoards of beautiful ladies, who did
nothing to hide their shapes and everything to make themselves more
attractive, presumably to the opposite sex.
I
had started to write novels based on the history I had discovered
about the Indian sub-continent, and I was trying to find a
traditional publisher, and fortunately managing to avoid the vanity
press. So I still had my manuscripts intact.
I
read the books again, and began to wonder again about their social
and family lives. I also managed to “surf the web” as then the
internet was slowly developing, and I found that people were writing
about anything!
Now
I’d better explain. My parents and their parents weren’t
Victorian, but pretty close to it. Sex was a taboo subject. Simply,
one didn’t talk about it – although they all must have
participated in it or their children, including me, wouldn’t have
existed.
This
intrigued me and I must confess I wanted to dip my “finger” into
the local society with all those lovely ladies, and I wasn’t short
of volunteers!
I
thought that language would be a problem, but in that climate nobody
needed to talk about anything.
I
steered away from people in my office, and friend’s offices. I
also stayed away from the ‘red light’ areas. I was working in an
agricultural area where reproduction is fairly close to the surface,
and people are more than happy to talk and joke about it. But I was
too busy working to manage to meet any participants for what I had in
mind. In fact I was too busy for the next fifteen years before I
completed my first manuscript.
I
wrote my first adventure novel based on a man meeting several ladies
at an embassy reception, which is also a location where ladies dress
to kill!
I
arranged for my hero in this book to meet his heroine several times
socially before either of them decided that closer inspection, with
or without clothes, would be a good idea.
Then
I found online that several “on line” publishers had emerged, and
the electronic novel had been developed – now called an eBook. I
needed a front cover and again the web came to my rescue as I managed
to buy several pictures of semi-dressed or undressed ladies. I
taught myself to add the title of the book and the name of the author
to the cover.
I
also found several publishers who offered eBooks and printed
paperbacks on the market, and they also had art departments who
produced much better book covers than me. They also employ a team of
the essential editors and proofreaders.
Today,
with the New Year upon us I have looked back on my life and
productivity over the last twenty two years:
Three
murder or mystery novels.
Three
historical novels.
Ten
novella eBooks from on-line publishers, like eXtasy, Phaze and
Global
Publishing and,
Twenty
two eBooks that I have self-published using the name Butterfly
Books
as I couldn’t wait for the publishers to make a decision.
If
you’ve read this far please take a look at some of these books:
From
a personal point of view I did mention that I lived and worked in
Vietnam, but not in Hanoi. I have always preferred mountains to the
coast, and I’m not too far from the highest mountain in Vietnam
known as Fansipan, which is 3,143 meters, or 10,312 feet,
above sea level, and is a favourite destination for tourists. At
this mountainous location the residents are from ethnic minority
groups, like Huong or Dao, who actually account for
fifteen percent of the total population, but many don’t speak
Vietnamese as their family language.
On
recent visit to Sa Pa with my wife we stopped at a restaurant in the
town for dinner, and I was momentarily delayed in the restaurant
paying the bill. When I went outside I saw my wife was buying a
locally made memento. The vendor was a local Huong lady
wearing her traditional and colourful clothes, and my wife who is
from the ethnic majority Kinh, both Vietnamese, but both
haggling the price loudly in English!
Excerpt
from my latest eBook:
I’m
often asked to leave an excerpt from one of my books. I like
offering these and the following is extracted from the beginning of
one of my latest novellas:
It
was very early morning when the flight finally arrived in Taipei, and
Charlie walked with Sue-Ling to the Arrivals Hall.
“Wait
a minute,” she said and disappeared into an airport shop.
“Here,”
she said a few minutes later, “something from Taiwan so that you
remember me!” and she laughed.
He
handed him a small locally made toy farmer.
As
she was standing close to him he kissed her forehead, and she
blushed, but made no effort to move away.
“Bathroom,”
said Charlie, and Sue-ling took his bag and said, “I’ll wait for
you,” which was kind of her.
She
watched him walk away, and made a mental note.
Tall,
she decided, probably six feet, brown wavy hair, slim build,
intelligent and with a lovely smile. She guessed he’d be late
thirties.
She
knew he wasn’t married as he’d told her during the flight, as
she’d told him she was nearly thirty and single, but she had also
said there was an old boyfriend waiting for her at home.
Charlie,
for his part, thought about this charming and attractive lady he’d
met on the flight. She was quite tall compared to other Taiwanese
ladies, kept her black hair shoulder length, wore thin gold ring
earrings, and was still very slim. But with winter clothes covering
her he could not tell anymore. Still she did have a lovely smile
with sparkling black eyes.
Sue-ling
was waiting for Charlie, and she gave him her bag as she in turn went
to the ladies washroom.
“Wrong
way round,” thought Charlie, “I should have asked her first!”
And
he admonished himself, and when she came back she was a bit deep in
her own thoughts. They walked on together.
“You
have to go that way, but I’m going over there,” Sue-ling
indicated the overhead signs, “Oh yes, here’s my mobile phone
number so if you give me a ring sometime, and then I’ll have your
number,” and she handed him a small card.
“Good-bye
Sue-ling,” said Charlie, “thanks for your time and help on the
flight.
Sue-ling
smiled and on tip toe kissed Charlie on his right cheek, and she
walked away.
Charlie
followed the signs leading to the Departure Hall, but was still
thinking about her.
He
dialed her number in his mobile phone, and it rang;
“Is
that the attractive lady I met on the flight from Vancouver?” he
asked into the phone.
“No,
sorry, I can’t see her around here,” she replied, “but I’ll
give you a call if I do.”
Links
to all Adam’s books:
And
at Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other eBook retailers.
Contest:
Readers
are probably aware that most of my books are based in Asian or
African countries where I have lived and worked.
Please
send Adam the names of any country from Asia or Africa and the
correctly spelled names of ONE of the languages that they speak,
apart from English.
The
author will send free copies to the first five readers in any
format they like: epub, mobi (Kindle), lrf, pdf, pdb.
Don’t
forget to send the author your email address, or you can send a
Direct Tweet to @adammannauthor
Good
reading and please have a happy and successful 2018.
