Stephen Shaiken's Blog, page 2
September 5, 2023
CARLOS SANTANA OUGHT TO STICK TO THE MUSIC AND STOP THE ANTI-TRANS RANTS
Carlos Santana, guitar legend and transphobic bigot. Courtesy SF Chronicle. This is the second time in a week we’ve had to endure aging rockers making looney anti-trans remarks to people who hundreds of dollars to see these dinosaurs yet one more time.(Last week it was gender-bender Alice cooper, temporarily forgetting who he is.)Carlos Santana probes again that anyone, even a great artist, can be an a**hole.Alice Cooper proved yet again that anyone can be an a**hole. 
Alice Cooper, gender-bending rock shcok performer and transphobic bigot. Courtesy USA Today US Today CLICK HERE TO READ THE SF CHRONICLE ARTICLE ABOUT SANTANA’S OUTBURST
CLICK HERE TO READ ALICE COOPER’S HYPOCRITICAL ANTI-TRANS RANT
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And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
September 4, 2023
September 3, 2023
MARK TWAIN’S ADVICE ON WHY NOT TO ARGUE WITH IDIOTS
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910). Courtesy Wall sStreet Journal 
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, looking like Pinocchio. Courtesy Getyy Images 
Donald Trump, twice impeached, four time indicted, civilly adjudicated rapist, in his Georgia mug shot. Courtesy Fulton County Jail 
Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Presidential candidate, conspiracy spreader, liar, and always acting like he's just shot speed.Courtesy NBC News '"NEVER ARGUE WITH STUPID PEOPLE. THEY WILL DRAG YOU DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL AND BEAT YOU WITH EXPERIENCE"
August 30, 2023
FIFTH NJA CLUB SERIES NOVEL WILL BE PUBLISHED BY NEW YEAR
Good news for fans of the NJA Club Series: the fifth novel will be released before the end of this year!
After the success of Bangkok Changes, the fourth novel, there was no way I wasn’t writing a fifth. Just like Mick Jagger, wild horses couldn’t drag me away!
I’m still trying to figure out why Bangkok Changes did so well, especially since I did absolutely no paid promotion! That’s right, I did not spend one penny on paid promo sites; I do all its advertising through free FB & LinkedIn groups, on this blog, on my Substack Newsletter, and occasionally on Instagram or X.
Another cost-free way to promote is to give away free e books of the first novel. If a reader likes it, they are very likely to read the others. It works for m every time.
Another interesting phenomena with Bangkok Changes is that while it is outselling all my other books, usually combined, hardly anyone bothers to leave a review or rating. (Those that do seem to like it, and it has good star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads.
No Spoilers, But Here’s Some Teasers:I am continuing with the third person point of view; I switched from first person after Bangkok Whispers, the second novel in the series.
The NJA Club Gang will be present in full force: the irrepressible Glenn Murray Cohen, sophisticated, brilliant, and affluent American expat and former criminal defense lawyer from San Francisco, will again lead the ensemble.
Glenn’s liberal politics have infuriated Trumpies, but have drawn the far-more-numerous Trump haters into my corner, and every time a Trumpie bashes Glenn or my book, I sell a few more. (Fascinating how no other readers complain about characters who present conservative or right wing views. Only right wingers get into political arguments with fictional characters.)
Glenn enjoyed successes in the law and finances, but not in love. All his relationships have failed. He’s an unusual foreigner of his age, as he refuses to pay for sex; he finds the commercial sex scene rather revolting, which definitely makes him the odd man out in many situations. However, it allows me to write about the real Thailand, not the few blocks of sex-themed bars where an increasingly smaller sliver of white men visit.
Of course, when writing about the dark underside of Bangkok, it’s impossible to avoid the red light areas completely, but it’s never pleasant for Glenn.
When I began the series, a few people told me that if I wanted to write a successful novel set in Thailand, I would have to write about evil bar girls ripping off foreigners, or manipulative foreigners trying to take advantage of hookers with golden hearts, or just endless boring monologues and dialogues between sexpats sitting on bar stools. I don’t believe that is true, as I’ve read many books set in Thailand that were nothing like that, and mine are nothing like that either. Besides, the market is saturated with that stuff, some better than others, so maybe it was time for a different type of Thailand-based protagonist.
Also front and center will be the General, the retired Thai military officer who served as a military attache in America and speaks perfect English. He loves Glenn and considers him the best possible foreigner friend he could ever want. The General is now in his seventies, still bragging to Glenn about his young mia noi ( “Minor wife” or mistress) and at any moment is willing to strap on an assault rifle and return to chase communists through the jungles of Isan, as he did in the late 1970’s. His adjutant was Wang, now the owner and cook of the mysterious NJA club, and Wang, also in his seventies, can still kill people and not work up a sweat.
Of course, we’ll be seeing Sleepy Joe, the middle aged man whom looks like when it was in its heyday. Actually, he’s a former member of the Australian Special Forces, a trained killer who works for the General in the latter’s security business. (Specializing in things like recovering kidnap victims, ridding businesses of protection rackets, and otherwise keeping the peace and commerce in his section of Bangkok.)
Joe is Glenn’s very best friend on this earth, and they share passions for classic rock music, good cinema, and smoking weed . (Glenn will drink one martini if the General insists, and Joe will enjoy the occasional Fosters, but they are ganga men to the bone.)
Sleepy Joe’s countryman, Oliver, will also be back. The six foot plus, well-built, shaved headed Aussie still knows how to find out anything that can be found out and remains invaluable to the General. He’s a supporter of the Australian Conservative Party, but he loves Glenn like a younger brother. (You see, in my books, people of different views can get along an be friends, something that drives the MAGA kooks to become even crazier. They really hate tolerance and acceptance.)
I’m not going through all the secondary characters, but readers of the series can rest assured that sneaky Edward the money launderer plays a role in this book, and the gregarious bartender and raconteur, Red, will be back telling great stories.
What about a Plot? Any Hints?
The plot centers around the distant past when the General and Wang were fighting the communist insurgency in the Northeast (Isan) forty five years ago. They believe the appearance of an old communist nemesis from those days is a sign that China is still meddling in Thailand’s affairs and the nation is in danger. Knowing that members of the Thai government, including military and intelligence, have been compromised or bought off by China, the only people the General and Wang can trust besides their own loyal employees, are Glenn, Oliver and Joe, plus another mysterious Thai, an honest and courageous member of the Royal Thai Police, known only as “The Lieutenant.”
I can also reveal that I m introducing two new main characters. At the very end of Bangkok Changes there is a reference to a couple who just started coming to the Club: a Frenchman and his Thai girlfriend. In the new book, we learn their names are Michel and Jing, and they have become good friends of Glenn, because they to share his loves of music, film and weed. They enable him to expand his cinematic horizons thought classic French and New Wave cinema. They are also fascinating for other reasons.
(If you aren’t familiar with the series, hopefully by now you’ve figured out Glenn Murray cohen is not the kind of expat to spend an evening in a go-go bar, drinking overpriced and watered down beer while watching hookers gyrate and hang from poles. None of his friends agree with him, except for the General, who is class conscious and would be appalled at the thought of his sophisticated friend stepping into sleaze, but this does not deter him from constantly badgering Glenn to allow the General’s latest mia noi to find a friend for him. You see, in the Generals world, going to a bar is sleazy, but having a high-class mistress is just fine.)
The NJA Series Can Be Read in Any Order
The highly regarded writer, Jay McInnerney, once said the most difficult writing is when you are doing exactly what I said you can do: read the books in any order. Jay explained how difficult it is to make the novel approachable and understandable to one with no knowledge of the prior books, while at the same time expanding the enjoyment for people who have been following the series and have seen the characters change as events unfold.
The first book, Bangkok Shadows, still sells regularly even after more than five years. An exceptionally high number of readers go on to the next books, for which the NJA Gang and I are eternally grateful.
If you enjoyed reading this post, you can click here to buy me a coffee.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
Above: the author and his faithful greyhound.
August 29, 2023
August 28, 2023
TIME TO REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT-JUSTICE STEVENS WAS RIGHT
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS SUBSTACK POST ABOUT REPEALING THE SECOND AMENDMENT
If you enjoyed reading this post, you can click here to buy me a coffee.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
August 27, 2023
TRUMP LOOKS LIKE AN OLD MOB BOSS FACING LIFE IN PRISON
Courtesy AP 78 years old, morbidly obese, found civilly liable as a rapist, indicted in four separate criminal cases: inciting the January 6 insurrection, stealing and keeping documents which could compromise national security, trying to steal an election, obstructing justice and suborning perjury, lying to federal agents and last but not least, illegally passing off a payoff to a porn star as a legitimate campaign expense.
No wonder he looks like a”Don” enjoying their last days of freedom.
All those Mob bosses went down and most died in the federal pen where they belonged. Just like Trump!
Oh, did I mention he is the leading candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, the darling of “Constitutional conservatives” and the Religious Right?
If you enjoyed reading this post, you can click here to buy me a coffee.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
SIXTY YEARS LATER, THE DREAM IS UNFULFILLED
Courtesy NBC News Today is the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Those beautiful words have become a pillar of the struggle for equality and dignity for all.
Sadly, right wingers have misappropriated Dr. King’s words and used them to promote the very opposite of the ideals for which he died. Chief Justice Roberts has cynically used those words in destroying affirmative action, much of-he Voting rights Act and just about any efforts to seek genuine equality. In a shameless display of offensive sophistry, our Chief Justice argues that the only way to achieve a color blind society is to ignore color completely and never consider it in any setting.
Easy for a powerful white man to say.
Many Americans have listened to the entire speech, not just the one line played for Fox News viewers. We know Dr. King spoke that day of social justice and reminded Americans that Black people were owed a debt, and in fact, were promised this after the Civil War. However, as Dr. King so forcefully stated, when the debt became due, the American government handed Black people a check with insufficient funds.
The debt remains unpaid to this day, thanks to people who think like Chief Justice Roberts.
Those who understood what Dr. King meant and shared his vision of a truly fair and equal society have never given up. These efforts are paying off. We’re seeing Congressional Districts destroyed to promote racism in Congress recreated, we’ve seen literally tens of millions of white Americans protest police brutality and racism. History will surely be on the side of those who fight for equality and social justice. It won’t be very kind to people who think like John Roberts, and wait until you see what history has to say about Trump and DeSantis! (Actually, I think the verdict is already in on these Nazi-loving hate mongers.)
Now that is really taking Dr. King’s words to heart!
If you enjoyed reading this post, you can click here to buy me a coffee.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
August 25, 2023
TRUMP NEEDS A GOOD LAWYER OR A GOOD EXORCIST
Does anyone seriously believe this is helping him? I doubt you are you hearing any Dems or independents saying “You know, I was on the fence about returning Trump to power, but now that he’s been indicted four times, three of them involving sedition and endangering America, I’ve decided to support him.”
This Substack page does not have a subscription fee, because I want as many people as possible to read what I have to say. That’s not to say we don’t accept donations!
If you enjoyed reading this post, you can click here to buy me a coffee.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ‘n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
