“But how do you know, you are a foreigner?”
“I know. I am a foreigner, but I’ve been a guest in your country some time. My name is Joe Dylan. I have something for you.” Joe handed her the coin. She picked it up and looked at it. She held the coin to her breast. “The coin is magic,” Joe said, “it will bring you luck.”
The woman’s tears came slowly at first,
then they broke free...
He walked away.
Away from it all.
Back through the shantytown and toward the Red Night Zone.
THE END
About the Author
James Newman was born in 1977 and grew up at first in Catford, South London and then in Kent, UK. His mother a social worker and his father a successful Insurance Broker. Childhood asthma kept Newman out of school for his early years until teachers picked up on his writing abilities and shoved him back into the classroom. Newman’s teenage years were chiefly spent playing guitar in indie / punk bands, recording music, writing lyrics, and dabbling in experimental fiction. Finishing school with disappointing grades Newman went onto to study Business and finance in Bromley college and then Media Arts Technology at Tonbridge, before settling for English literature.
Well into his thirties Newman is currently studying psychology, ‘to help with characterization.’ Newman was by this time reading books at a rapid rate. It was when he read the Beats and especially William Burroughs that Newman realized what was possible with writing. Other writers that impressed the young Newman were Charles Bukowski, Patrick Hamilton, J. P Donleavy, Will Self and many medical and science reference books that he found lying around in the public library.
Newman handed in his notice in 2001 (he had been working as a Lloyds oil and gas broker for five years) and went back-packing around Asia - Thailand - Sri Lanka - India - Nepal - Cambodia - Malaysia - Singapore - Burma - Laos, although it was to Thailand that he would return and live for two years where work began on the first of the ‘Bangkok Express’ crime trilogy. He never looked back and still lives and works in the city describing himself as ‘a reformed casualty of the bar scene.’
Bangkok Express
Thailand After Dark
Lizard City
Red Night Zone - Bangkok City Page 21