10 ratings | 8 reviews | avg rating:4.60

Jack Lourens’s Followers (4)

Jack’s Bookshelves

to-read (3)
currently-reading (0)
read (9)
did-not-finish (0)
historical-fiction (4)
science-fiction (1)

Jack’s Friends (6)

Simon Palmer

43 books | 2,535 friends

Mermaid

95 books | 1 friend

Anthony Whitt

1,190 books | 1,193 friends

W.D. Smart

6 books | 3 friends

Dorothy Wiley

211 books | 474 friends

A.W. Palmer

29 books | 114 friends

Jack Lourens

Goodreads Author

Born

in Walton on Thames , The United Kingdom

Website

https://jacklourens.wordpress.com/

Genre

Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary

Member Since

April 2014

edit data

It's been an interesting ride as an author. I started our by using the pen name of Jack Lourens, as my real name Robert Smith was a bit uninspiring. I published four books under my alter ego Jack's name before publishing under my own name. I live in Thailand and wrote "King Naresuan the Great," a novel on the life of Thailand's national hero. As the Thai's are protective of their monarchy I thought it best to publish under my own name rather than run any accusations of hiding my identity.
Since then I have written a further three novels under the name Robert Smith. "The Kings of Ayutthaya" due to be published shortly by Silkworm Books, "The Tiger King", a novel based on both the actual life and the ficticious life of King Suriyenthathibod, p It's been an interesting ride as an author. I started our by using the pen name of Jack Lourens, as my real name Robert Smith was a bit uninspiring. I published four books under my alter ego Jack's name before publishing under my own name. I live in Thailand and wrote "King Naresuan the Great," a novel on the life of Thailand's national hero. As the Thai's are protective of their monarchy I thought it best to publish under my own name rather than run any accusations of hiding my identity.
Since then I have written a further three novels under the name Robert Smith. "The Kings of Ayutthaya" due to be published shortly by Silkworm Books, "The Tiger King", a novel based on both the actual life and the ficticious life of King Suriyenthathibod, possibly the most notorious of the kiings of Ayutthaya. The novel is currently up and running on Kindle and Createspace.

I started to write about Thai history as I live in Phitsanulok, the birthplace of King Naresuan, and could find out little about him. The reasoning was much the same for "the Kings of Ayutthaya." "The Tiger King" is just a great story, even if I do say so myself!

I have just completed "The Rise and Fall of the Toungoo Empire," another narrative non-fiction work, that tells the story of the largest empire forged in South East Asia, and another book that covers a historic area that should be more widely known. Hopefully it will be released shortly.

Under the name Jack Lourens I have written four books. The first the slightly controversial "1809; The Year They Freed the Slaves," which has generally received good reviews although the first few chapters, which set the scene for the book, prove difficult reading for some readers. The second was the sequel "The Georgia Secession," which is totally different from "1809," in that it is more politically focused and more narrative based. American politics of the period 1809-1815 + those dastardly British making a comeback! Great reviews so far. (By the way, I am one of those "dastardly British.)

"The Annunaki," is my first venture into Sci-Fi. Ten short stories combine to tell the entire history of mankind from 14.2 million years ago to 2022. As with all my books I have tried to be rigorous in applying historical dates and facts.

"The Pastor, The Atheist and the Unbeliever" is a short novel set in the near future. Commencing in 2029 it is a fast paced political thriller where the Muslim threat has receded wordwide, the Christian Right has grown in importance in America and the Atheist struggles to be heard. The three collide against the backdrop of the 2032 U.S. presidential election.

Like all my books released under the name Jack Lourens I like to make the reader think. To entertain is important, to engage the reader and make them think is equally important. I hope all my books do this too differing degrees. Hopefully they are books that you do not instantly forget before moving on to your next read.

My books reflect my own range of reading. From History to Sci-Fi to Politics. I am not a believer in producing the same material in a specific genre. If you want to read on a mix of topics and be both entertained and challenged try my books and let me know what you think!

I stumbled across my old Jack Lourens page. Lots of books since then/ Check them out at www.thekingsofayutthaya.com

...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jack Lourens questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jack Lourens’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 22 ratings · 6 reviews · 5 distinct works

	1809: The Year They Freed the Slaves by Jack Lourens (Goodreads Author), Robert Smith (Goodreads Author) 4.09 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Annunaki: The Dawn of Man by Jack Lourens (Goodreads Author), Robert Smith (Goodreads Author) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Pastor, the Atheist and the Unbeliever by Jack Lourens (Goodreads Author), Robert Smith (Goodreads Author) 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Georgia Secession (Atende #2) 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	King Naresuan the Great by Jack Lourens (Goodreads Author), Robert Smith (Goodreads Author) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jack Lourens…

Series by Jack Lourens

Atende (2 books)
by

Jack Lourens (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 13 ratings

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Authors...: * Author List	7895	21722	Jul 09, 2026 07:34AM

recent posts
Jack’s Groups

Goodreads Librarians Group — 330695 members — last activity 6 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

THE Group for Authors! — 13054 members — last activity Jun 27, 2026 11:15PM
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.

American Historical Fiction — 1595 members — last activity Jun 16, 2026 06:36PM
American history is fascinating and complex, yet it seems the majority of historical novels are based on European history. The purpose of this group i ...more

History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary — 1216 members — last activity Jun 13, 2026 08:53AM
This group is for anyone whose interest in History goes beyond textbooks. While I enjoy reading books that cover actual events and actual people, I al ...more

Thailand — 640 members — last activity May 11, 2020 11:42AM
Thai bookworms, Thai readers, Thai writers, Thai stalkers(?), Thai "pass by"-ers, Thai lit nerds, Thai consumers, this is the place for you. Pretty mu ...more

Support for Indie Authors — 16705 members — last activity Jul 09, 2026 02:17AM
Officially 15k Members Strong & Climbing!! Building and supporting a community of self-published authors dedicated to both sharing experiences and le ...more

How to Promote YOUR book on Amazon — 8801 members — last activity 12 hours, 15 min ago
Are YOU an author? If so I am sure you are aware of how hard it can be to market your book successfully. There is so much you can do on Amazon.com to ...more

Beta Reader Group — 29837 members — last activity 17 hours, 50 min ago
A place to connect writers with beta readers. A cliche is just one of the things to look out for while writing. They can slip in unnoticed and ruin a ...more

Black Coffee — 3079 members — last activity 20 hours, 32 min ago
This group focuses on books written by or about black people from all continents in many different genres though we focus on historical fiction and cl ...more

Goodreads Authors/Readers — 57090 members — last activity 1 hour, 18 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more

More of Jack’s groups…