It’s been a more than two years since Bangkok Shadows was released on Amazon as an e book and print on demand. It was my first novel, as well as my first run at self-publishing. I learned a lot about marketing, and hopefully used what I learned about writing and promotion in Bangkok Whispers.

Bangkok Whispers features the same characters as the first book, and introduces a few new faces, two very intriguing and very strong women for starters. The protagonist is once again American expat criminal lawyer Glenn Murray Cohen, and he’s still smoking weed, brewing gourmet coffee, and looking for love in all the wrong places. His main man, Sleepy Joe, still looks like a left-over hippie, but fights like Bruce Lee. Oliver, the all-knowing Australian partier, the conniving and controlling General, and the understated Wang the Cook are all called back into action when Glenn’s life is placed in danger because of Gordon. 

This novel is somewhat darker than Bangkok Shadows, but  retains a similar sense of humor, irony and sarcasm. There is more violence, though it is still a book that tries to hold readers by plot, pace, characters, dialogue, and of course, background.

No spoilers allowed, but I can say that the story revolves around the troubles of Gordon Planter, a mysterious grifter from Glenn’s past, running from peril in America that follows him to Thailand, and which he will not honestly disclose. Glenn and his friends are dragged into a nightmare involving drug dealing,  North Korean spies and hitmen, and questionable allies from the CIA, as they duck bullets, find love, and seek the answers to the many questions raised about Gordon and why and from whom he is on the run.

I started writing Bangkok Whispers shortly after Bangkok Shadows was released. I enjoyed the constructive critiques of the writers at Keybangers Bangkok, my favorite writing group ever. While in Tampa, I was able to have several thousand words critiqued by the Tampa Writers Alliance, a truly fine group  of serious writers. 

I’ve been pleased at the number and level of ratings and reviews Bangkok Shadows received on Amazon and Goodreads, and for all the comments and e mails sent my way. I only wish more people would do the same. Writers will only learn how their work is received when someone tells them. Even sales or other distributions do not provide those answers; every reader owns or borrows books they never read. One reason why we  independent authors periodically offer our e books for free is the hope that some folks will feel it’s only fair to leave a review. (It doesn’t really work.)

So what will I do now that Bangkok Whispers has been published? Start writing something new, of course. I’m taking a break from the NJA Club, to work on some short stories, and the start of a different kind of novel. Do not despair, fans of Glenn and company: a third novel is in the works as soon as Americans are allowed back into Thailand! (For these books, I have to be there to get the gears turning. But I love Tampa as well, and there will be some stories set right here on the Gulf Coast, with steamy intrigue and mysteries of its own.)