sayjann Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 stickman i love 'private dancer',a good read. i correspond with a couple of people who have never been to thailand,but are going soon and i always tell them to read it. after all i'm one who has fallen for a BG and things are not good. you say you know stephen leather,is the book written from personnal experience?,or is it just fiction?. if it is fiction then he must have spoken to a lot of people as the book is so accurate in it's storytelling. i can easily change the names from joy and pete to *** and *****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Originally posted by sayjann: ......is the book written from personnal experience?,or is it just fiction?.......... i can easily change the names from joy and pete to *** and *****. Sayjann, take a look at a post by tony chang in the Board Bar Only for the Fact that Leather is still alive you could call it an autobiography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Gun Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Originally posted by sayjann: stickman i love 'private dancer',a good read. i correspond with a couple of people who have never been to thailand,but are going soon and i always tell them to read it. after all i'm one who has fallen for a BG and things are not good. With all due respect, I think they would be wasting their time. It means a lot to you because, as you say, you've been there, done that (ain't we all!?!) but can you imagine reading that BEFORE you ever came here - it would read like the most bizarre science fiction. This is, after all, a very alien world we inhabit. quote: Originally posted by sayjann: if it is fiction then he must have spoken to a lot of people as the book is so accurate in it's storytelling. I think there is an element of autobiography in there and I think everything in the book has actually happened to someone, just not all to the same person! He spends a lot of time in Joolz bar - Fat Sam's or whatever it's called in the book, and I think a lot of the stories originated there. However, the girl in it is real, and I believe Leather was a regular client of hers on his regular 'research' visits here. Whether she also carried out the scams described is another matter - I did hear that she was back working in Voodoo and Leather was still barfining her!! LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Long Gun: .......With all due respect, I think they would be wasting their time. It means a lot to you because, as you say, you've been there, done that (ain't we all!?!) but can you imagine reading that BEFORE you ever came here - it would read like the most bizarre science fiction. This is, after all, a very alien world we inhabit........ LG Long Gun, I fwd'd the link to 2 friends who had never been to Thailand and they loved it, even to the extent one of them coming into work early one morning dying to continue reading it. The other guy became a social recluse for about 2 days as he was totally absorbed in the book. So I have to say anybody can enjoy the book, it's not just the setting, it's also the style the book is written in - original. But knowing the places makes it even better for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Gun Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Originally posted by KhunCoCo: So I have to say anybody can enjoy the book, it's not just the setting, it's also the style the book is written in - original. Fair enough, Coco, I just think it would be hard to accept that a seemingly intelligent bloke could be so absolutely taken in - unless you have some first hand experience of the way this place can fuck with your head and your common sense! Agree totally about the style, I thought it was a rivetting read, but also interesting that his publisher didn't want to unleash it for fear of alienating his loyal readership! LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 I wrote to Mr Leather's publisher. One of the Hodder relatives signed it himself. Usual shit about -"Stephen is our thriller writer and we don't want a change of style- might upset his loayal readers!" Bunch of bean-counting wankers ! They wouldn't know a piece of original creativity if it farted in their rissotto filled wine sodden free lunch faces ! Day of the Jackal-F Forsyth =35 rejections before publication. Wilbur Smith went back to South Africa, about twenty odd rejections. John Grisham- 33 rejections before first pulication..... These twats are supposed to be publishers. 'Private Dancer' must be sitting on book shelves SOON !!!!!!!!!!!!! Rocky.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 well here it is again but I mailed mr leather and had a prompt response though i never knew where the article originated but I will ask "yer man". [stickman also emailed Stephen Leather and it turns out you were lying. Goodbye! -KS] [ February 13, 2002: Message edited by: Khun Sanuk ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayjann Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 thanks to tonychang and longun. but i still do not know the answer,is it a book from experience?. i would really like to correspond with stephen,i have read all his other books and enjoyed them. anyone know of his e-mail so i can talk to him?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 I have to agree with Long Gun's original comment. I would never give 'Private Dancer' to a friend who was visiting Thailand for the first time. It is certainly worth reading for anyone who is at all interested in bargirls and prostitution, but it is extremely one-sided and abuses every possible stereotype. If that book is your only insight into Thai nightlife, you will be sadly misinformed. Reading this board (and others) can mitigate some of the negativity in the novel; I would tell my friends to start here and read PD just as a cautionary tale. I think the author did the right thing by not publishing the novel. I don't think there is a big enough market for it and it would certainly take a lot more editing and polishing to get it into printable shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2002 Report Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Originally posted by FarangDang: I have to agree with Long Gun's original comment. I would never give 'Private Dancer' to a friend who was visiting Thailand for the first time..........but it is extremely one-sided and abuses every possible stereotype. If that book is your only insight into Thai nightlife, you will be sadly misinformed............ Long Gun opinion was based on non-Sanukers not understanding the whole way a BG can effect you. But I'd agree on not giving it to people who know nothing of Thailand because it will leave them with a bad impression. The 2 friends I'd given the PD link to who hadn't been in LOS loved the book. However one of them began talking about some Rich Swedish lad he knew of in Stockholm who brought a Thai woman back from LOS, my friend just talked as if the Swede was a sucker and being taken for a ride like a total fool, maybe he is but the book would lead you to believe that all Thai woman are like that. The other Friend was left with similar misguided opinions. So now I'm reluctant to tell people about the book unless they've been to Thailand. I don't see why the book should be published, the Free download introduced me to Leathers work, otherwise I may never have known it. Also it is quite a short book and maybe not long enough for Publishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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