Fear and Loathing in Bangkok

Christopher G. Moore-creator of the internationally acclaimed Vincent Calvino crime-fiction series-turns his sharp, compassionate eye toward the moral undercurrents of modern Thailand. Fear and Loathing in Bangkok collects Moore's most provocative essays on crime, corruption, superstition, and survival in a city that both seduces and shocks.From "I Am Awesome," the story of a hapless Thai outlaw with five wives and a hole in his leg, to "Speeding Red Bull's Hit 'n Run," "The Tragedy of Elephants," and "Ghostly Crying Babies," Moore dissects the collisions of wealth, power, and fate that define contemporary Thai society. Equal parts reportage and literary noir, these dispatches trace the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, law and impunity, compassion and absurdity.Witty, fearless, and deeply humane, Fear and Loathing in Bangkok captures the rhythm of a metropolis where anything can happen and usually does. It stands as both a chronicle of Southeast Asia's cultural contradictions and a mirror held up to every society wrestling with inequality, corruption, and belief.For readers of Graham Greene, Pico Iyer, and Hunter S. Thompson-Moore's essays remind us that the wildest frontiers are often inside our own moral imaginations. Heaven Lake Press was founded in 1998. The mission is to publish authors whose books focus people, events, culture and history in Southeast Asia. In the past five years, we have been recognized as a publisher of quality books. We put a great deal of care in the production of our books. We have worked with some of Thailand's leading translators and are proud of our relationship with the Thai writing community. We have also have licensed German translations in exciting, modern fiction set in Thailand.Heaven Lake Press is a small team of professionals who run a small Thai publishing house. We have a growing list of authors. Our authors include Canadian, American, Cambodian and Thai writers. We hope to expand our list of authors and titles in the future. Our offices are located in Bangkok. Our hardback and trade paperback books are distributed to leading bookstores in Thailand, including Asia Books, Bookazine, Kinokuniya, B2S, The Book in Phuket, and Suriwong in Chiang Mai. Amarin is our distributor for our Thai language titles which can be found in over 150 bookstores in Thailand.We specialize in fiction – literary and crime fiction, as well as books on history, language, culture and relationships. Our list of non-fiction titles is quickly expanding. We are publishing three memoirs in 2006. Our books are published primarily in the English language, although we have started to publish books translated into the German and Thai languages.