Synopsis
Kicking Dogs is a comic thriller. It's also an antic portrait of boom-time Bangkok. Bangkok is being transfigured by unrestrained development and corrupted by rampant greed. Meanwhile Jack Shackaway, American freelance journalist and author of such literary masterpieces as *A Dick for Dorothy*, is succumbing to a bad case of culture shock-no matter he himself believes he's adjusting nicely to the Thai Way, learning among other things how to maintain his cool under all circumstances. But every time he turns around, someone is either telling him he's a babe in the woods, extracting money from him, or shooting at him. Jack has no idea who is trying to kill him. But, given his talent for annoying the wrong people, it could be just about anybody. Not only that, if he isn't careful he's going to wind up married to Mu, which might be better than being dead, but not necessarily a lot better. "Easily labelled a comic thriller, and taking Bangkok's underworld for its setting, Kicking Dogs is something deeper, wider-ranging ... and, ultimately, transcending physical place in its theme of coming to terms with cultural alienation." John Hoskin, *Outlook* "The market being sated with farang-written books about Thai prostitutes, it was a pleasant surprise to read Collin Piprell's Kicking Dogs." Bernard Trink, *Bangkok Post*
About the Author
Collin Piprell is a Canadian writer and editor based in Bangkok. He has also lived in England, where he did graduate work at Oxford, and in Kuwait, where he learned to sail, water-ski, and make a credible red wine in plastic garbage bins. Before and after the Oxford and Kuwait years Collin was, among other things, a driller and stope leader on mining and tunneling jobs in Ontario and Quebec, a freelance feature writer and editor, and editorial director of a small publishing company with offices in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Bali At the end of 2008 he resigned to devote himself to writing. Over the past years he has produced many articles on a wide variety of topics. He is also the author of four novels, a collection of occasional pieces, a diving guide to Thailand, another book on diving, and a book on Thailand's coral reefs. He has also co-authored a book on Thailand's national parks. He is currently at work on the second novel of a futuristic trilogy. MOM, the first book in the series, is complete. Books by Collin Piprell: * Kicking Dogs (CreateSpace 2010; Bangkok: Asia Books, 2000; bookSiam, 1995; Editions Duang Kamol, 1991), a novel. * MOM (CreateSpace 2009), a science-fiction novel. * Bangkok Knights (Bangkok: Asia Books 2001; Bangkok: Editions Duang Kamol, 1989, 2nd ed. 1991; published as Too Many Women by bookSiam, 1995). Out of print. * Yawn (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2000), a novel. Out of print. * Bangkok Old Hand (Bangkok: Post Books, 1993), a collection of stories and essays. Out of print. * Thailand's Coral Reefs (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1995). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd. Natural history and conservation of reefs. Out of print. * A Diving Guide to Thailand (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, USA: Hippocrene Books, 2000; Singapore: Times Editions, 1994). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd. * Thailand: The Kingdom Beneath the Sea (Bangkok: Artasia Press, 1990). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd. Out of print. * National Parks of Thailand, in collaboration with Denis Gray and Mark Graham (Bangkok: IFCT, 1991; 2nd ed. 1994). Out of print.
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