A New York publisher who once served in Thailand during the Vietnam War recieves a plea for help from his late brother's Thai widow. When he returns to Thailand after 20 years he finds that the nostalgic portrait he carried of Thailand Past bears little resemblance to reality, and he begins to uncover deception, danger and death. Scenes in the novel range from Manhattan's Greenwich Village to a typhoon-ravaged Hong Kong to Thailand's notorious nightlife and warlord betrayals inside the Golden Triangle. A gripping mystery and exotic thriller, it is also the story of a man coming to terms with reality and himself.

Kingdom of Make-believe: A Novel of Thailand

Literature & Fiction

Barrett, Dean

United States

Village East Book

Set in Hong Kong in 1857, Hangman's Point takes place during one of the most exciting periods in the colony's often dramatic history. Its main character, Andrew Adams, is a ne'er-do-well American ex-seaman who manages a tavern called the Bee Hive in the racous Chinese section of the colony. He lives above a Chinese medicine shop with his American barmaid girlfriend. On the side, he is involved with various underground societies (Triads), clandestine gambling and the smuggling of weapons into China. Adams is framed for murder by a beautiful Englishwoman and, while on trial, will be forced to plan a prison escape. Many events in the novel are based on historical incidents such as the Chinese slave trade, an arsenic poisoning and the massacre of foreigners on board the postal steamer, Thistle. The novel also provides glimpses of "foreign devils" through the eyes of the Chinese.

Hangman's Point; A Novel

Declassified! Yes, Americans did fight another secret war in Asia! Now, at last, the long-suppressed details of that controversial war can be told. The setting is Bangkok, Thailand. The time is the mid-sixties. And the events are incredible. Join Whore House Charlie, Sgt. Jigaboo, Bumbles, Blinky, Agent Orange, Corporal Napalm, Hogbody, Butterball, Good Pork Betty, the Betel Nut Queen, Noy the Laundry Girl, Corporal Comatose, Doc Spitz and Lieutenant Pearshape in the wackiest adventures of the Vietnam or any other war era.

Memoirs of a Bangkok Warrior: A Novel

For several years, Thai women have been well on their way to becoming international celebrities. The cheerful attitude, the graceful movement, the charming smile, the gentle nature, the lovely figure, the total lack of self-pity. All this and more seems to have combined into a Siamese bewitchment captivating men of almost every nationality. For many, the mention of Thai women conjures up the stereotype of unbridled sensuality in the lush Tropics. But in pictures and in text, Thailand: Land of Beautiful Women attempts to delve deeper into the reasons for their phenomenal popularity.
 The author concludes that, from classical dancers to construction workers, from go-go dancers to rice farmers, their charm is far more than merely physical. Thai cultural values and the teachings of the Buddhist religion have endowed the women of Thailand with confidence, grace and intelligence.
 Their attraction involves a vivaciousness, a well-developed sense of humor, and, perhaps, above all, the intelligence to deal with life’s problems while maintaining an almost childlike ability to delight in living. In other words, an attitude toward life which understands that life is meant to be enjoyed.

THAILAND: LAND OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

New York City private detective Liu Chiang-shin, known as the Chinaman, investigates the murder of a high-priced New York call girl, who also caused the break-up of his marriage, and her john, in a posh Manhattan hotel.

Murder in China Red: A Chinaman Mystery

The Boat Girl and the Magic Fish is a tender introduction to one of the lifestyles that has long identified Hong Kong as a place unique in the world. Kum-choi, a boat girl who has grown up on a Chinese junk at sea, must join in the progress and go ashore to school. There she experiences the shock of seagoing fisherfolk as they resettle on shore to learn new ways that will forever separate them from the old ways they know and love.The sea gypsies' junks and butterfly-wing sails are disappearing and a time-honored way of life is passing. But Kum-choi has a friend - the Magic Fish - to whom she can beckon for help in her saddest times. With the help of the Magic Fish, Kum-choi heroically uses her knowledge of the sea to save her schoolmates and in so doing rediscovers herself and her heritage. She cannot again give up the sea and elects instead to stand forever at the shoreline - a kind of goddess for the fisherfolk who must come ashore while still looking back for their roots and the gentle sway of a boat in the ocean. In this, The Boat Girl and The Magic Fish is truly a fairy tale of Hong Kong.

The Boat Girl and the Magic Fish

Children's Books

Animals

Skytrain to Murder is a detective novel set in Bangkok. An American detective and scuba diving teacher chases a murderer through Bangkok's seedy underbelly incuding dangerous slums, high class gentlemen clubs and a house of domination. His Thai girlfriend is a martial arts expert (in muay-Thai) and assists him in rescuing a young girl from slum gangs even while the detective suspects she may in fact be the murderer. Cover will have praise from well known novelists in the mystery field.

Skytrain to Murder

Among several exotic and erotic tales of Thailand, readers are introduced to Bangkok's sexiest, most daring and least principled detective, Harry Boroditsky, who solves not one but two bizarre cases including, Murder at the Horny Toad Bar. Hard Bones Haggerty makes his appearance in a haunting tale of the Vietnam War, and, in Obsession, a man obsessed with his Thai girlfriend seeks revenge. In the non-fiction section of the book, the author writes of searching Bangkok for his Vietnam War-era barracks; he describes his encounters with the Khmer Rouge in western Thailand including a meeting with a beautiful Cambodian woman searching a refugee camp for her mother, and his need to flee a Vietnamese Army; and what happens when a traveler boards the wrong train in southern Thailand.In the section, "Memoirs of an Oversexed Farang," the author writes of his several decades of encounters with the often enigmatic but, always lovely, ladies of Thailand.

Murder at the Horny Toad Bar: & Other Outrageous Tales of Thailand

This volume of poems and ballads on Thailand and other lands offers the reader insight into the Land of Smiles as well as a great deal of pure fun.The main section of the book, Poems on Thailand, includes "Lek, the Farmer's Dark-eyed Daughter," "The Silly Old Man with the young Thai Girl in the Texas Lone Star Saloon," "Noy of the Horny Toad," and "The Kid from Khao San Road."The second section of the book, Poems Beyond Thailand, includes the fall of the gangster "Michael Lee," a nostalgic and poignant remembrance of San Francisco State College during riots in the late 60's in "A Very Special Time," and the haunting ballad of a man doomed by the whims of fate, "The Man They Called 8-ball."The remarkable variety of subjects and styles and moods presented range from the spiritual "The Buddha's Golden Gleam," to the hilarious: "No, I am not in Love with the Maid so put the Knife down now," "The Night Bubba got it for Free," and "Buffalo, Him Die, Send Money."

The Go Go Dancer Who Stole My Viagra & Other Poetic Tragedies Of Thailand

Poetry

Identity Theft is a pointedly unashamed and fascinating novel involving Alzheimer's in America and kinky sex in Thailand.  It is a type of cult fiction novel perhaps somewhat in the style of B.S. Johnson.  It is the story of a man attempting respite from dealing with his mother's Alzheimer's by creating and entering a bizarre world populated with Thai go go dancers, bar owners, and other colorful characters; until his real world meets with his fictional world.

Identity Theft: Alzheimer's in America, Sex in Thailand, Tangles of the Mind

Erotica

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Books by Barrett, Dean