Sleepless In Bangkok

The Thai government’s ‘War on Drugs’, Dark Influences and the alleged extrajudicial killings of around three thousand people suspected of being involved in the illegal drugs trade - events which were part of the original release of ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ - has allowed this novel to update itself. As a matter of record, Prime Minister Thaksin who allegedly initiated the policy, was eventually overthrown by way of a Military Coup and was accused of unlawful acts so corrupt, they would put a mere drug dealer to shame! His wife was found guilty of tax evasion and his defence lawyers were found guilty of attempting to bribe the judiciary. All were eventually sentenced to imprisonment! Fearing the worst, Thaksin jumped bail along with his wife, and skipped it to England. Having allegedly abused so many of his countrymen’s human rights in Thailand, Thaksin applied for political asylum in the UK based on abuse of his own human rights in Thailand! ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ apparently upset Thai and British authorities due to its expose of such aspects of official conduct and by ‘coincidence’, distribution was interfered with. It is not often an author gets the opportunity to update his own novel using real-life events, and for the second time Ian Quartermaine has taken the opportunity to further polish his prose. The result is: ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ - Special Eighth Anniversary Edition. A consistent seller since its initial publication in Thailand, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ obtained to-kill-for reviews; a ‘cult’ following amongst the international gay community; a reputation amongst unreconstructed males; as well as becoming one of the few action-adventure novels which women could identify with - due to a strong female protagonist and the sexual politics theme running throughout. This rare combination has given ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ a shelf-life way beyond the norm. It has sold by wordof-mouth reputation only. A classic ‘sleeper’. 5

‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ is one of a set of six stand alone stories in four books, each with subtle links to the others. Each tale has the author Ian Quartermaine’s fast moving, brutally frank, pull no punches, extremely graphic writing style. An offbeat cross cultural romance wrapped up in a adventure story involving corruption, festering revenge, sexual politics and sex in the raw, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ is based on actual events. NB. ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ contains a considerable amount of expletives and the most explicit scenes of sex and violence. Do not purchase if you are of a sensitive disposition or emanate from a sheltered personal background. Connecting Ian Quartermaine books in this series: ‘For King and Country’ ‘From Other Worlds’ ‘Cybernaut’ Latest Title from controversial author Ian Quartermaine: ‘Siam Streetfighter’ Coming soon: ‘Sleepless in Bangkok 2’: Return to the Triangle. 6

‘The Book They Tried to Ban’ In its initial release in Thailand, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ engendered a tremendous amount of controversy. It was unofficially banned for review in the press on the basis that it was ‘uncensored’. Sex in Thailand - as the world knows - is available in any and every conceivable format, but apparently such goings on cannot be spoken about or acknowledged. Despite this unofficial ban on press coverage nor any review in the Thai press, a handful of freelance reviewers gave the book a set of to-kill-for reviews. Over the years, the Internet added many more. By Thai standards, its fifth pressing has made ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ a best seller and all without one paid advert. The controversy even made the distributor reluctant to put the novel on bookshop shelves, making the book’s sales figures even more astounding - as for half of the time ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ just could not be purchased. Unknown by the general public - as it is something major Western publishers like to keep to themselves - but many well promoted novels from their lists can sell as little as 30 copies in the whole of their Thai release. In comparison, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ is a massive success. Another unexpected factor, was that a character in the book - a British ex-public school type whose sexual tastes ran to dressing up in French maid’s clothing, spanking and paedophilia - gained a lot of flack from expat Brits educated in private boarding schools. These ‘private’ schools are called ‘public’ in Britain to fool foreigners and the working classes into thinking they are available to all, whereas they are only really open to children of the rich and influential. 7

One of this social group - an over-the-hill, small time journalist passing himself off as a ‘foreign correspondent’ (in reality a freelance ‘stringer’ in Bangkok) - went as far as to get his virulent objections in print. Not on purpose, he just didn’t realise that his bitter and twisted behind the scenes comments would be fair game to publish by the journalist he was speaking to. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard, as this former News of the Screws reporter had predominately made his living from digging the dirt on others. The nationally published article confirmed that this frustrated author minus the talent to actually write a book himself, was obsessed with ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ and the character which he apparently considered resembled him. Little did he realise, but his obsession with ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ and a character in it, confirmed the power of Ian Quartermaine’s prose, plot and characterisation - and the author’s ability to involve and affect people. In this case, making our stringer lost touch with reality whilst making him confront his own character flaws. Aptly, the cover of the book carries a warning advising people of a sensitive disposition and those who emanate from a sheltered personal background, ‘not’ to buy it. We guess that a private boarding school in times past would pass as a sheltered personal background regarding almost everything except spanking - the ‘Vice Anglaise’ - and paedophilia. Andrew D, your conduct needed exposing. Appropriately, this Walter Mitty, fake Times of London Foreign Correspondent was later found guilty of libel in Thailand and received a suspended prison sentence and a large fine - which he did not have the means to pay! It’s about time someone finally brought the secrets of the British ruling classes previously private perversions out into the open, and Ian Quartermaine has done it. No wonder ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ gained so much flack. 8

The Story: A discredited, ex-SAS security consultant accepts a covert mission in Siam because he is broke, bored and familiar with the region. Working for a consortium of Western governments - who will take the credit if it works, and if it does not, he will take the fall - provide a treacherous start. Along the way he encounters a young Eurasian woman who is not all that she seems. Concurrent with curves thrown up by the mission, the relationship between the two protagonists is filled with lateral moves and cross-cultural misunderstandings. Festering revenge, sexual politics and sex in the raw, combine to create a narrative that is anything but predictable. As the offbeat ‘romance’ unfolds, the much flawed, un-reconstructed male protagonist almost learns to respect women. Despite what they might say, most guys normally don’t - respect women. Therefore a metaphor is offered to all men who still think in straight lines. Not necessarily to change their ways, but to watch out, women are much smarter than they think. Conceivably of interest to both female and feminist readers, twists in the plot are in opposition to what might have been a conventional, chauvinistic reading of a dramatically drawn story. Not that a tale which unveils some of the deepest secrets of Siam, could ever be called conventional. Described as shamefully readable sex scenes and with the most explicit homosexual rape, the author provides insight into a way of life that is almost totally unknown, and almost certainly alien, to the majority of people in the West. A million miles from the cosy world of Middle England or Middle America, Thailand could be on another planet. Siam has no grasp of the concept that sex is sinful, so although possibly eye opening to Western readers, the content of this book is absolutely authentic. Uncensored, tough, funny, and told in today’s language, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ is based on actual events. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. NB. ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ contains a considerable amount of expletives and the most explicit scenes of sex and violence. Do not purchase if you are of a sensitive disposition or emanate from a sheltered personal background. However, if you wish to learn how to say “fuck you” in Lao...................... 9

Published by IQ Inc. (C) 1990. 2009. International licencing enquiries: [email protected] www.iqincmedia.com (C) 1985. 2001. 2002. 2003. 2005. 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except for brief extracts for the purpose of review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 974-88460-0-8

About IQ Inc. A group of actors, writers, graphic designers and intellectual property licencing executives combined in an informal relationship to write, mentor other authors and package hard hitting, edgy, real life projects for publication as books and movies. The controversial and successful novel ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ was the first project, ‘For King & Country’ the second. Both were superbly reviewed. Two sci-fi novels - ‘From Other Worlds’ and ‘Cybernaut’ - were released simultaneously. These also obtained superlative reviews. ‘The Magick Papers’ is another non-formula literary work from a talented writer, discovered and mentored by the group. ‘Siam Streetfighter’ by Ian Quartermaine, is the most recent release Others projects are in development. Initial print: August 2001. Reprinted: February 2002. Special Edition: October 2003. Special Edition Reprint: August 2004. Special Seventh Anniversary Edition: November 2009. E-Book: 2009. 10

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deepest appreciation to Kevin O’Brien Ray Escobar Ian Smart

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‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ Special Eighth Anniversary Edition A Novel by Ian Quartermaine (C) 1985. 2001. 2002. 2003. 2005. 2009. Edited and Packaged by Jake Anthony

NB. For the benefit of readers from the West, Thai words are spelt phonetically. 16

1 Into the Unknown It was a typical, freezing cold, grey English winter morning and the remains of a slippery white frost spread itself across the runways of London’s Heathrow Airport. Steven John Hunt stepped out from a taxi into the crowded building. Hoping to glean some information about his much too early in the morning travel intentions, he stopped to listen as various announcements droned on through the airport P.A.. “Passengers for Virgin Airlines flight to Los Angeles should make their way to gate number 33. Virgin Airlines flight to Los Angeles now boarding.” It was not his flight, Steven was travelling East, not West. ‘Thai time’ was a kind of Oriental mannana, whereby all matters Thai were regulated by the needs and feelings of the staff. ‘Sanook’ (joy, fun) for them; ‘mai sanook’ (no fun) for the client. Even outside of their own country this relaxed attitude would prevail. Perversely, Steven was relying on Thai people to be unreliable, regarding his Royal ThaiAirways flight to Bangkok. With luck, Thai-time was currently in operation at Heathrow. Or Thiefrow as it was known by experienced travellers, due to the amount of 17

passenger baggage that went missing. Not that such relaxed disorder really bothered Steven. It irritated sometimes, but he’d spent enough time in South East Asia to have gained some kind of immunity to culture shock. The year spent seconded to a Special Services Division of the Australian Army, towards the end of the Vietnam War, had really cemented the change. Working undercover in Lao, [*] warfare in the wet and steamy jungles of the Golden Triangle had irrevocably altered his cultural configuration. ‘Give me the boy and I’ll give you the man’, had proven true in his case. Unlike most of the Anglo Saxon race, Steven’s psyche now had a tendency to react in a more lateral fashion to confrontational conditions. He would no longer swim up river when he could simply float down or leisurely swim across. Not that he did not have what it takes, almost two decades in the armed forces had confirmed that. It was just that discretion is the better part of valour. When the shit hits the fan, don’t be there. Talk softly but carry a big stick. However, Steven’s European heritage and male, ego-testicle character shortcomings still let him down intermittently. But Steven had learnt much in the East, and would find himself watching people for the slightest facial twitch, reading their body language with a subtlety he’d never been aware of before. In many ways he had become inscrutable, like an Oriental. Almost. Maybe. The airport P.A. confirmed Steven’s knowledge of Thailand when a bored, mechanical voice announced a flight delay. His Royal Thai Airways flight to Bangkok had not yet departed, and if the check-in desk was not busy he would probably make it in time. Steven carried just a single leather briefcase, knowing there was little point in taking anything to Thailand other than the clothes you stood up in. Not even an empty case, as everything, including the case, could be purchased for considerably less than it would cost in the West. If emanating from one of the Scandinavian countries, the savings made on a suit alone would pay your hotel bill for 18

a month. For the spouse with a ‘Degree in Shopping’, such Siamese cost saving delights could effectively offer a free holiday. Albeit, no sane man would take his wife to Siam for a vacation. But Steven was not married, nor was he a tourist. As a former officer in the SAS, marriage was not really compatible with life as a state commissioned mercenary! Regarding his current trip to Thailand, it was strictly business. Not that Steven looked the officer type, he was far too casual for that. Although he had enjoyed life in the British military’s fast lane, formality and pretension were not to his taste.As formality and pretention had been a tradition in the British armed forces since time began - kept the masses in order, dontcha know - Steven had not really fitted in. [*]. Lao, as in ‘how’ or ‘now’, is the way the country’s name is pronounced and spelt in South East Asia. Laos is a colonial pronunciation and spelling. Former sleaze and bar girl scene reviewer from the USA, Bernard Trink, whose column was discontinued in the Bangkok Post when he was effectively sacked, may know a lot about bar girls but knows little about Lao. Not even the country’s correct indigenous name. He should check his facts fully and visit the country before dismissing the work of more knowledgable writers on the subject. His published comment on this matter was yet another example of arrogance and ignorance combined, emanating from the American colonial approach to the world outside of North America. Dinosaurs.

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