Over the years, some of the books by Owen Jones – writer have acquired nicknames or short names. So, as the author of these books, I find it rather nice. In general, people give nicknames to people that (they think) they know, so it’s as if readers have accepted my books. Here are some of the titles published by Megan Publishing Services.
BEHIND THE SMILE – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya
Fans commonly refer to each book in the epic Behind The Smile seven-part series is commonly as Behind The Smile 1, 2, 3 or 4 et cetera. Be that as it may, readers also refer to them as: the Smile Series, Daddy’s Hobby (after the first volume), and the Pattaya bar girl book.
THE PSYCHIC MEGAN SERIES – A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger, and One Scary Mother
This cheerful, folkloric series is often thought of as books for children. This is not quite true. The stories are for anyone who has an interest in Spiritualism, Life After Death, and psychic matters. Readers frequently refer to it as the Megan Series, or the Psychic Series.
THE GHOULS OF CALLE GOYA
Readers usually call this imaginative book simply Calle Goya. The story takes place in Norway, the UK and Spain. BTW, ‘calle’ is Spanish for ‘street’. Goya is the famous Spanish painter. By the way, there are countless streets bearing the name of this master painter around the world, especially in countries where the people speak Spanish.
TIGER LILY OF BANGKOK
The sequel is Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London. Readers have called both novels mysterious and compelling. They tell the story of an abused child eight years after the event. In other words, the aftershock of child abuse, if you like. They call them Tiger Lily, and Tiger Lily London
DAISY’S CHAIN
This evocative thriller tells the story of Daisy, a poor little rich girl living in the rich people’s playground of Marbella, in southern Spain with her family. In trying to prove her worth to her ex-Lo don gangster father, she causes havoc and mayhem. For some reason, people call it the Daisy Chain books, even though there is only one of them.
DEAD CENTRE – NOT ALL SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE RELIGIOUS
This compelling series of thrillers tells the story of The Dead Centre Agency, which gives the series it’s nickname. The Dead Centre Agency is run by three ex-SAS Special Forces operatives. All in all, it is as secretive as The Regiment that they once belonged to.
I hope that you have enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes. If you would like to know more, click the link to the books on this blog in the title bar above or here: Books by Owen Jones -Writer
Over the years, some of the books by Owen Jones have acquired nicknames or short names. As the author of these books, I find it rather nice. I think that people give nicknames to people that (they think) they know, so it’s readers have accepted my books. Here are some of the titles and their nicknames published by Megan Publishing Services.
BEHIND THE SMILE – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya.
Readers commonly refer to each book in the epic Behind The Smile seven-part series as Behind The Smile 1, 2, 3 or 4 et cetera. They also refer to it as: the Smile Series, Daddy’s Hobby (after the first volume), and the Pattaya bar girl too.
THE PSYCHIC MEGAN SERIES – A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger, and One Scary Mother.
This cheerful, folkloric series is often thought of as books for children. This is not quite true. The stories are for anyone whose interests include Spiritualism, Life After Death, and psychic matters. Readers frequently refer to it as the Megan Series, or the Psychic Series.
THE GHOULS OF CALLE GOYA.
Readers often call this book imaginative and refer to it simply as Calle Goya. The story takes place in Norway, the UK and Spain. BTW, ‘calle’ is Spanish for ‘street’. Goya is the famous Spanish painter. There are countless streets that bear his name in the world.
TIGER LILY OF BANGKOK.
The sequel is Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London. Both have been called mysterious and compelling. They tell the story of an abused child eight years after the event. The aftershock of child abuse, if you like. They are called Tiger Lily, and Tiger Lily London
DAISY’S CHAIN.
This evocative thriller tells the story of Daisy, a poor little rich girl living in Marbella, Spain with her family. In trying to prove her worth to her ex-London gangster father, she causes havoc and mayhem. However, people call it Daisy Chain books, even though there is only one of them.
DEAD CENTRE – NOT ALL SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE RELIGIOUS!
This compelling series of thrillers tells the story of The Dead Centre Agency, which gives the series it’s nickname. The Dead Centre Agency is run by three ex-SAS Special Forces operatives and is as secretive as The Regiment that they once belonged to.
As the webmaster of the Megan Publishing Services blog, I have noticed a recent up-swing in interest for English Books Translated into Russian on our blog. This makes sense because we have a collection of six English books translated into Russian for sale at the moment.
Books Translated into Russian
Owen Jones’ books have always been popular. That’s why people have translated them into forty languages. However, this sudden surge in interest is different. The interest in Owen Jones ‘ English books translated into Russian Is being driven by young Russian-speaking women between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four years of age. As a Thai woman, who also falls into that age group, I welcome you to our blog with all my heart.
If you are one of our new readers, I would love to hear from you 🙂
English Books Translated into Russian
We currently have six English books translated into Russian, but since the author studied Russian in his youth, he has a special interest in having all fifty of his novels translated into Russian. A Russian translator is working on a seventh novel on as I write. Anyway, I will give you a brief summary of the six novels we have, and encourage you to follow the link below to read more on the page of translations in Russian.
The Disallowed – «Запрещенные»
An old Thai goatherd finds that he is feeling very weak, so he goes to the local shaman. She tells him that he has no blood, and so begins the humorous story of the founding of the first Vampire Republic. It’s a kind of funny vampire story.
The Psychic Megan Series – «Сериал про экстрасенса Меган»
This series is about the psychic development of a young teenage girl with the name of Megan. She has psychic powers, but doesn’t know how to use them. Megan is encouraged and instructed by her Spirit Guide, Wacinhinsha, and a huge ghost Siberian Tiger called Grrr. Her parents, on the other hand, are of no use in this matter at all.
Behind The Smile – «Что скрывает улыбка?»
This is the story of Lek, a bar Girl in Pattaya. She has had to work in a bar called Daddy’s Hobby, in the sex tourism industry for ten years to pay off family debts, but now she is free. She is in turmoil. Can she ever fit back into normal society again? How will her conservative fellow villagers treat her knowing what she has been and done? Not only that, but could she ever live with those narrow-minded people again?
Andropov’s Cuckoo – «Андропова Кукушка»
Natasha, a naïve, young, patriotic, avid socialist, hatches a plan to help her country, and the working-class of the world. Her mother, a high Party official, passes the idea up the hierarchy until Yuri Andropov himself hears of it. The Politburo sanctions the ruse. However, Natasha, falls in love for the very first time, and everything starts to go horribly wrong for her.
Tiger Lily of Bangkok- «Тигровая Лилия из Бангкока»
Lily is abused as a child, but seems to be able to handle it. However, things change when she moves to Bangkok to study, and eventually Lily The Avenger emerges. Bangkok is frightened, The Avenger is debated in Parliament and on TV, but only men are being killed.
The hunt is on.
Dead Centre – «Мёртвый центр»
A gang of renegade ex-SAS Special Forces sets up a business to help their less well-off colleagues. However, it fall foul of the law. They find themselves hunted by the police forces of seven countries, a group of Chinese government computer experts, and even their old colleagues in the SAS. Time is running out for them to get to safety, but who would have them?
Contact me
Well, that’s it for now. If there is anything that I or Owen Jones can do, please, contact us using the box below.
Daddy’s Hobby by Owen Jones is the first novel from this Welsh writer. It explores why so many girls work in Pattaya and how they fare. It is his best-selling book.
Daddy’s Hobby by Owen Jones is an insightful look at why tens of thousands of young women choose to enter the Pattaya sex tourism industry, and how many of them get on. They and other attractions bring more than a million tourists to Pattaya every year. Most of them are men with money looking for a good time.
Daddy’s Hobby by Owen Jones – Origins.
In the mid-to late Seventies, Owen Jones was working in the south Netherland’s city of s’Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) in Noord Brabant. One day, a popular new bar opened up at the bottom of the street he lived in. It was a ‘Relax Bar’, a concept he didn’t understand, but he liked the sound of the music. One afternoon, he ventured inside. The bar was practically empty despite the fact that the landlord was very friendly and played lots of Heavy Metal, which was very popular at the time.
After a while he noticed a few scantily-clad young ladies looking at him from the darker recesses at the back of the room. When he went to the toilet, he was left in no doubt what a relax bar was. The owner/barman, whose name was Rick, I think, played the Meatloaf album ‘Like A Bat Out of Hell’ from cover to cover three or four times a day and sold marijuana, which had been decriminalised. This record more than any other brought the ‘house dancing girls’ out onto the floor.
The bar was called ‘Daddy’s Hobby’. I liked everything about it including the name, which I thought was very clever. Within a month or two, it was the busiest bar in the city. However, sadly, within a year, Rick had been murdered and his bar burned down. We all thought that it had to do with drugs.
Daddy’s Hobby by Owen Jones – Development.
In the early 2,000’s Owen Jones moved to Pattaya, and started going out with the cashier of the first bar he had a drink in. It put him in a ‘trusted position’ with ‘the girls’. Soon most of the thirty-odd girls who worked there were seeking his advice. Their favourite topic was how best to write saucy texts and emails to their ‘boyfriends’. Most of these had already returned home to their wives or girlfriends in Europe and elsewhere, but mostly the UK. That bar was a more flagrant example of Rick’s Daddy’s Hobby, but without the drugs.
After a few weeks, he had inadvertently collected many scraps of paper with translated messages on them. So, he sought the girls’ permission to write them into a book. No-one disapproved when he promised to use false names. It was funny, he said, because all the girls and most of the clients were already doing that anyway. Everybody was lying, especially the men. He recalls that he had never met so many navy SEALS, SAS, commandos, MI5 and CIA operatives in his life before. Not a one of them was a carpenter or civil servant, and they were all single, looking for a wife!!
There was no other name for the book than Daddy’s Hobby, subtitled Behind The Smile but for various reasons, it took him eight years to self-publish it.
Daddy’s Hobby by Owen Jones – Sequels.
Owen Jones used the name of Lek for his lead female character. She was also the life and soul of the bar, and didn’t mind the author using her real name. She too is sadly long dead. He used the Welsh name Craig for the main male, although there are many other dramatis personae in the novel. When he was writing the book, it was the Lek character that dictated to him in his head what he must write. He had already determined that the book should be 100,000 words long, but when he reached that level, it was clear that Lek hadn’t finished her story. So, Owen closed book one, published it, and started a sequel.
You may be wondering why it took eight years to bring Daddy’s Hobby to market, if it was being dictated.
“Well, when I looked at Craig’s character I could see too much of myself… I just was not prepared to share it at that point”, he says. “I nearly gave up several times, but Lek and I stuck with it and produced a result”.
He did not like the idea of calling the second volume Daddy’s Hobby 2, so he gave it the name of a significant chapter in volume one, An Exciting Future. It now needed a series title to bind them together and that became Behind The Smile. The books are frequently referred to as Behind The Smile.
Lek kept up the pressure for several more years until Behind The Smile consisted of seven volumes, of 720,000 words.
Daddy’s Hobby – the Future.
“Although the Lek in my head was the inspiration of the actual stories, encouragement came from elsewhere. It was also more important”, he says.
“My stepmother hated the book, and two of my three brothers have never mentioned any of my fifty-odd novels. However, one thought it was fantastic though, and asked me to write a sequel. I had also run a competition for a free copy. Coincidentally, the woman who won it was a student journalist, who wrote an encouraging review. I opened the door to Lek again, and started volume two.
“Suddenly, I started to receive encouragement from complete strangers all around the world. Unfortunately, I have still heard nothing from friends and family from my home town. It used to upset me a lot, until I learned that that was quite common in the UK. People seem to resent someone improving themselves”.
He claims to know three readers, who hadn’t read a book since leaving school – one of them being eighty-four! Two others have since written novels, and one has moved to Thailand to see it ‘for himself’! Many readers have sought him out for a drink when they are visiting Thailand, and others went to Spain and Wales to meet him.
Owen says that he hasn’t been back to Pattaya for several years. However, when he was last there tourists and expats knew of his books, and some had read them all. Its particularly affected him when a young Thai woman ran up to him, kissed him on the cheek, and said: “You’re the lovely man who writes nice things about Pattaya bar girls, aren’t you. Thank you very much”.
Every month, he sells several box sets of seven, who can only be going off reviews or recommendation.
Behind The Smile by Owen Jones – Narrations and Translations.
In these days of Covid, it has been difficult to find further inspiration for what he calls the Lek Series. Between 2016 and 2018, he and his Thai wife (that first girl, the cashier, that he met in Pattaya) lived in Andalucía, Spain. From 2018 to 2020, the tried living in Wales. However, Pritti Patel and the Tories made it too difficult for his wife to obtain a residency permit. He says that he will never forgive them for that.
However, while in Spain, Owen started to have his books translated and narrated. Principally in Spanish so that he could sell them to the local Spanish as well as the expats. He soon started to receive offers of collaboration from all over the world in fifteen languages. Since living back in Thailand, and he has been in lockdown in the village because of Covid-related travel restrictions. So, he has been concentrating on these narrations and translations. He now has more than one thousand books in thirty-eight languages registered in his name in the British Library.
“I still would prefer to be writing fresh material though”, he adds with a hint of sadness.
This blog post, Daddy’s Hobby‘s Previews contains previews on Amazon of BEHIND THE SMILE – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya” volume 1: Daddy’s Hobby in all the languages I currently have available: English, German and Portuguese. In some cases, there will be special offers and free audiobooks, while stocks last.
Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family. She did not expect to do anything any different from the other girls in her class in the northern rice belt of Thailand.
Typically that would be: work in the fields for a few years; have a few babies; give them to mum to take care of and back to work until her kids had their own children and she could stop working to take care of them.
One day a catastrophe occurred out of the blue – her father died young and with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and she was the only one who could prevent foreclosure. However, the only way she knew was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.
She went as a waitress-cum-cashier, but when she realised that she was pregnant by her worthless, estranged husband, things had to change. She had the baby, gave it to her mother to look after and went back to work. However, now she needed real money to provide a better life for her child and to make up for spending its whole youth 500 miles away. She drifted into the tourist sex industry.
The book relates some of her ‘adventures’, her dreams and nightmares and her ‘modus operandi’. It tries to show, from Lek’s point of view, what it really is like to be a Thai bar girl – the hopes and frustrations, the hopes and the let-downs, the hopes and the lies and deceit that are part of her every day life.
One day she meets a man she likes and he likes her too. Nothing new there, it had happened hundreds of times, but she feels that it is different. They have a wonderful four weeks together and then he goes home – as they all had, leaving more promises and more hopes.
This one returns, but real life with a real boyfriend is not as easy as she had dreamed it would be. They go through good and bad times, but will they stay together and for how long?
After all she has been through, will she be able to be a regular girlfriend or even a wife again? Will she ever really be able to trust a man enough again either? Or would she be better off giving up her dreams and carrying on working in the bar?
Lek begins to find out that getting what you wish for is not always as good as you thought it would be.
‘Behind The Smile’ refers to the fact that Thailand is known the world over as ‘The Land of Smiles’.
Die Geschichte von Lek, einem Barmädchen in Pattaya
von
Owen Jones
Übersetzt von
Patricia Stroleny
Lek ist als Älteste von vier Geschwistern in eine typische Familie von Reisbauern hineingeboren worden. Sie hatte nie erwartet, dass sich ihr Leben anders entwickeln würde als das ihrer Klassenkameradinnen in ihrem Dorf im Norden Thailands. Normalerwise hätte dies bedeutet, ein paar Jahre lang auf dem Feld zu arbeiten, ein paar Kinder zu bekommen, sie dann zu ihrer Mutter zu geben, um weiter auf dem Feld zu arbeiten, bis ihre Kinder eines Tages selbst Kinder bekommen würden und sie an der Reihe wäre, auf diese aufzupassen.
Katastrophe
Eines Tages passierte jedoch aus heiterem Himmel eine Katastrophe: Ihr Vater starb jung und hinterließ einen Schuldenberg, von dem seine Familie bis dahin nichts gewusst hatte. Lek war zu der Zeit zwanzig Jahre alt und die Einzige in ihrer Familie, die eine Zwangsvollstreckung abwenden konnte. Jedoch war ihre einzige Option, nach Pattaya zu gehen, um dort in der Bar ihrer Cousine zu arbeiten. Sie fing als Kellnerin an und merkte bald, dass sie von ihrem Ehemann, mit dem sie sich zu der Zeit schon längst auseinandergelebt hatte, schwanger war. Nun musste sich einiges ändern. Sie bekam ihre Tochter, ließ sie bei ihrer Mutter, um auf sie aufzupassen und kehrte nach Pattaya zurück, um weiter zu arbeiten. Nun musste sie mehr Geld verdienen, um ihrer Tochter ein gutes Leben zu ermöglichen und die Tatsache, dass sie fast 1000 Kilometer trennten, wiedergutzumachen. So driftete sie in die Sexindustrie ab.
Daddy’s Hobby
In diesem Buch geht es um ihre Abenteuer, ihre Träume und Alpträume, sowie ihren Modus Operandi. Es soll aus Leks Sicht erzählen, wie es wirklich ist, ein Barmädchen in Thailand zu sein – mit allen Hoffnungen und Enttäuschungen, die damit einhergehen und zum Alltag gehören.
Eines Tages lernt sie einen Mann kennen, den sie wirklich mag und der ihre Gefühle erwiedert. Das allein ist nichts Neues, es ist ihr schon viele Male zuvor passiert, doch diesmal fühlt es sich anders an als sonst. Sie verbringen vier wundervolle Wochen zusammen, doch dann muss er zurück in seine Heimat – und wie so viele Männer vor ihm hinterlässt er eine Menge Versprechen und Hoffnungen. Und er kommt zurück. Aber das wirkliche Leben mit einem wirklichen Partner ist nicht so einfach, wie Lek es sich erträumt hatte.
Träume
Sie machen gute und shclechte Zeiten zusammen durch, aber werden sie zusammenbleiben und wenn ja, wie lange? Wird sie nach allem, was sie durchgemacht hat, überhaupt in der Lage sein, wieder eine ganz normale Feundin und Ehefrau zu sein? Wird sie wieder in der Lage sein, einem Mann wirklich zu vertrauen? Oder wäre es das Beste, ihre Träume übe Bord zu werfen und einfach weiter in der Bar zu arbeiten? Lek lernt nach und nach, dass zu bekommen, was man sich gewünscht hat, nicht immer so ist, wie man es sich vorgestellt hatte.
Der Titel “Hinter ihrem Lächeln” bezieht sich darauf, dass Thailand auf der ganzen Welt als das Land des Lächelns bekannt ist.
Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family. She did not expect to do anything any different from the other girls in her class in the northern rice belt of Thailand.
Typically that would be: work in the fields for a few years; have a few babies; give them to mum to take care of and back to work until her kids had their own children and she could stop working to take care of them.
One day a catastrophe occurred out of the blue – her father died young and with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and she was the only one who could prevent foreclosure. However, the only way she knew was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.
Daddy’s Hobby
She went as a waitress-cum-cashier to Pattaya, but when she realised that she was pregnant by her worthless, estranged husband, things had to change. She had the baby, gave it to her mother to look after and went back to work. However, now she needed real money to provide a better life for her child and to make up for spending its whole youth 500 miles away. She drifted into the tourist sex industry.
The book relates some of her ‘adventures’, her dreams and nightmares and her ‘modus operandi’. It tries to show, from Lek’s point of view, what it really is like to be a Pattaya Thai bar girl – the hopes and frustrations, the hopes and the let-downs, the hopes and the lies and deceit that are part of her every day life.
One day she meets a man she likes and he likes her too. Nothing new there, it had happened hundreds of times, but she feels that it is different. They have a wonderful four weeks together and then he goes home… as they all had, leaving more promises and more hopes.
This one returns. However, real life with a real boyfriend is not as easy as she had dreamed it would be. They go through good and bad times, but will they stay together and for how long?
Behind The Smile
After all she has been through, will she be able to be a regular girlfriend or even a wife again? Will she ever really be able to trust a man enough again either? Or would she be better off giving up her dreams and carrying on working in the bar?
Lek begins to find out that getting what you wish for is not always as good as you thought it would be.
Behind The Smile – Daddy’s Hobby: ‘Behind The Smile’ refers to the fact that Thailand is known the world over as ‘The Land of Smiles’, and Daddy’s Hobby was the bar where Lek worked.
Behind The Smile – Daddy’s Hobby audiobook link: Tektime
This review is from: Daddy’s Hobby (Behind The Smile – The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya) (Kindle Edition)
“Daddy’s Hobby (Behind The Smile – The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya)” by Owen Jones is an insightful look into the life of a Thai bar girl. It is a moving story that shines through its exemplary realism. Jones shows real life drama as I imagine it much more likely than stories on the subject that I have read. It tells a tale of tragedy and hope, of love, prostitution and the grey area between without drifting into thriller and political territory, which makes it so much more powerful. Well worth reading.
Owen here, I hope that you are doing well. I have great news for you – Daddy’s Hobby Half-Price !
I have lowered the price of ‘Daddy’s Hobby’, the first in the series of ‘Behind The Smile’, at Smashwords for a short time, so if you were still unsure about reading this trilogy, now is your chance to read the first part at half price.
‘Daddy’s Hobby’ and the other two books in this trilogy are available at Smashwords in quite a few ebook formats, so no matter what you use to read ebooks, Smashwords will have a copy of his book for you.
“Daddy’s Hobby” is the first novel in the trilogy titled ‘Behind The Smile’. It covers that part of Lek’s life where she works in a bar called ‘Daddy’s Hobby’ in Pattaya in the sex tourism industry..
Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family. She did not expect to do anything any different from the other girls in her class in the northern rice belt of Thailand.
Typically that would be: work in the fields for a few years; have a few babies; give them to mum to take care of and back to work until her kids had their own children and she could stop working to take care of them.
One day a catastrophe occurred out of the blue – her father died young and with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and she was the only one who could prevent foreclosure. The only way she knew was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.
She went as a waitress-cum-cashier, but when she realised that she was pregnant by her worthless, estranged husband, things had to change. She had the baby, gave it to her mum and went back to work.
However, now she needed real money to provide a better life for her child and to make up for spending its whole youth 500 miles away. She drifted into the tourist sex industry.
The book relates some of her ‘adventures’, her dreams and nightmares and her ‘modus operandi’. It tries to show, from Lek’s point of view, what it really is like to be a Thai bar girl – the hopes and frustrations, the hopes and the let-downs, the hopes and the lies and deceit that are part of her every day life.
Thailand is often referred to as the Land of Smiles .
From the first pages I was mesmerised by Lek and the other working girls, their hard life styles and thoughts, so different from our own Western way of life and aspirations. Couldn’t put it down till I’d finished.
RLJ, Barry, South Wales
I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it. I like stories that take place in foreign countries, so this was right up my alley. It was an easy read and flowed smoothly. Owen did a great job of creating a character readers could connect with and care about…
Vanna B., Philadelphia, PA.
“I am a big fan of books on Thailand – particularly what some would describe as the darker side. The Thai bar scene is much talked about and generally misunderstood. Many books seem to be written based on a single visit and dwell on the old cliche of sex pervert meets scheming hooker. It is all so much more complicated than that – and this book will give you a rally good insight. Owen Jones knows Thailand and he understands the interaction between the players in Thai bars very well.
“It’s authentic, poignant and very entertaining.”
All the best and have a lovely weekend
Owen
PS: as always, please let me know what you think of any book of mine you have read J
