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Just got this week FCCT flyer and it has some interesting nights for any local writers or interested people.

 

 

The Supernatural in Life and Art

a talk by S. P. Somtow

 

Supernatural book - cover

 

Tuesday, March 25 at 8:00 pm

Cover charge for non-members: 300 Baht

 

 

The eclectic and erudite S.P. Somtow, Artistic Director of the Bangkok Opera, is also the only Asian with a book on the Horror Writers' Association's "All-Time Top 40 List".

 

His horror and fantasy stories often tap into Thai preoccupations with the supernatural. In this evening at the FCCT, two days before the official launch of his fiftieth book - the retrospective "Opus 50" - he talks about the supernatural in life and art, a subject of great relevance to anyone with an interest in Thai culture, history and current affairs.

 

Join us for what promises to be a stimulating evening with an inimitable and engaging speaker.

 

 

 

Expatriate Authors in Asia:

 

Writing for a Niche Market or a Wider World?

 

a round-table discussion with Dean Barrett, Christopher Moore,

Stephen Leather, and Colin Cotterill

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 8:00 pm

Cover charge for non-members: 300 Baht

 

 

Once upon a time, expatriate writers in Southeast Asia were known mostly for what came to be called â??sexpatâ? literature. Populated mainly with go-go girls, their lovesick foreign boyfriends and hidden Thai lovers, and winding through plot lines of jealously, theft, betrayal and revenge, it was nothing so much as variations on every manâ??s search for the hooker with the heart of gold, and the ruin that befalls him along the path of that foolsâ?? quest.

 

The novels and short stories were eagerly snatched up from bookstores and airport kiosks by legions of single male holiday makers on their way home from the vacation of a lifetime, wishing to relive in a daydream a little bit of it during the dreary months ahead.

 

And while there is still enough of a sexpat market to keep several authors quite comfortably employed, other writers have sought to step out of the genre and produce fiction to todayâ??s world standards and tastes. Their work may be set in Southeast Asia or built around Asian themes, reflecting their own personal history or perhaps convenience, but the stories themselves could easily be from anywhere.

 

Is this the future of expat fiction in Southeast Asia? More to the point, is it any good? Sexpat fiction didnâ??t need to be good; the theme itself was the draw and it was a nice bonus if the story was well written besides. But writing for a wider world means competing with the literary output of that world for readers and sales.

 

To help answer some of these questions, the FCCT is pleased to host a round table discussion with four of the best known and most prolific expatriate writers living in Thailand today. Each one comes to the craft from a different perspective and having all four together in one place to talk about the present state and future direction of expatriate fiction in this part of the world is a rare treat.

 

Please join us as we welcome to our table:

 

- Dean Barrett. First arriving in Thailand as a Mandarin linguist with the U.S. Army in 1966, Dean Barrett has produced since then a steady diet of fiction and non-fiction set in New York and Asia. Seventeen years living in Hong Kong saw a string of novels about the Châ??ing Dynasty; 14 years in New York as a librettist, lyricist and playwright resulted in a variety of works for the stage. He returned to Thailand for good seven years ago and it here that his recent novels, including the very Bangkokian Skytrain to Murder, have been set. For those who frequent those sorts of places, Dean has been known to have dropped into a go-go bar or two now and then, but does most of his good deeds through the Thailand, Laos and Cambodia Brotherhood, an association of Vietnam War veterans supporting education and disadvantaged schoolchildren throughout the region.

 

- Christopher Moore. Having given up teaching law at the University of British Columbia after his first book, His Lordshipâ??s Arsenal, was published in 1985, Christopher Moore became a full-time writer, now with 17 novels to his credit, including the Land of Smiles Trilogy, a behind the smiles study of Thailand, where he now makes his home.

 

- Stephen Leather. Born in Manchester, Stephen Leather only took up serious fiction writing after a career in journalism working for papers like the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, South China Morning Post and The Times; his first book, Pay Off, was published in 1986 by Harper Collins. His prolific output since then has chalked up more than two million sales and been translated into more than 20 languages. Although primarily a thriller writer, Stephen Leather enjoys stretching his imagination into other genres, to the occasional annoyance of his publisher. One of those stretches, Private Dancer, the story of a doomed relationship between a travel writer and a Thai bargirl, was well known to legions of lonely Bangkok butterflies as an unpublished but free to download manual of what not to do in the pillow world of Bangkokâ??s go-go bars.

 

- Colin Cotterill. Born in London in 1952, Colin Cotterill trained as a teacher, working in Israel, Australia, the United States and Japan before arriving in Thailand to do teacher training here, in Laos and along the Thai-Burmese border. Along the way, he became involved with the issues of child trafficking and child protection, work that became the stimulus for his first novel, The Night Bastard. He has since written nine more books, the last four of which were set in 1970s Laos. His latest, Curse of the Pogo Stick, will be published later this year in the United States. A regular cartoonist for several national Thai publications in addition to his work as a writer, Colin Cotterill recently retired from lecturing at Chiang Mai University and now makes his home in Chumphon.

 

Make time in your calendars if at all possible for what promises to be a fine eveningâ??s discussion on the state and future of expat fiction (and the life underlying) in Asia.

 

 

 

Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand

Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building

518/5 Ploenchit Road (connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)

Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

Tel.: 02-652-0580-1

Fax: 02-652-0582

E-mail: info@fccthai.com

Web Site: http://www.fccthai.com

 

Hours of Operation - All departments are open Monday-Friday and closed Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays

 

Clubhouse

(including Art/Photo Gallery)

10:00 am - 11:00 pm

Restaurant

12:00 noon - 2:30pm

6:00 pm - 9:00pm

Bar

12:00 noon - 11:00 pm

Office

9:30 am - 6:00 pm

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