I don’t know what you think about being open to others, and here I mean strangers as well, but openness of this kind is my natural reaction, much to the distress of my wife, who is Thai. Thais belong to that group of Orientals that we in the West like to describe as inscrutable.
And that is true, they do not give much away on their faces unless they know you, but that is also much like the hierarchy in most countries, I think.
I, however, am willing to tell almost anyone almost anything.
My wife is not the only person in my life who has found this frustrating about me, a lot of people have including my father and several girl friends over the decades. Not that I ever said anything about them, just too much about myself and why I do things. Like writing this post, I suppose.
I have never understood why they object to my being frank though.
I don’t reveal other people’s secrets and I don’t talk about my sex life, so what is the problem with honesty?
It reminds me of those who are less than house-proud and won’t invite anyone in because they are ashamed of the state of the place. I am not ashamed of what I am or do. I am not trying to make myself out to be anything special, because I don’t think that I am, but I am not ashamed of not earning much money, nor of having a Spartan house or not owning a car.
Perhaps, that was an early tell-tale that I would become a writer one day. It certainly seems like it looking back, because all stories have something of the teller in them, but part of the skill of the (self-conscious) writer is being able to cloak the revelations so well that no-one can see them.
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Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
