tiger lily

tiger lily

Tiger Lily 2

Published by Owen Jones on 4 May 2015
Tiger Lily 2 - Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London

Tiger Lily 2 or Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London

Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London

Many of you will know that I have been writing ‘Tiger Lily 2’. It is the sequel to ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’. Well, this post is to announce the arrival of Tiger Lily of Bangkok two.

Tiger Lily 2 or ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London’ to give it its full title is a sequel, but it is not necessary to have read the first volume to read it. It is a complete story in its own right.

Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital

In this much-requested follow-up, Lily has moved to London to continue her studies as a paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in central London. Lily seems to be at peace at last, as she thoroughly loves her work with the staff and the children, and fits in well.

Nevertheless, she still doesn’t have any friends that she can socialise with outside working hours. Unfortunately, Lily is still a loner, as she has been since the awful child abuse that she suffered as a pre-teen.

Old Memories Surface

On one of her day’s off, Lily is reading the Sunday Times, when one of its feature articles incenses her. As she reads on, she learns of systematic child abuse in London on a huge scale. Not only that, but that the trade in minors has been going on for decades in full view of the public and the police. The article reports the epicentre of the trade in children to be Piccadilly Circus in central London. Furthermore, to make things worse, insiders contemptuously knew it as the Meat Rack. Dolphin Square, a residential area popular among politicians and celebrities, is also implicated.

Revenge

Are old demons from the past beginning to haunt her again? Rage and indignation incite her to throw kitchen knives at images of politicians and public figures who purportedly took part in the outrage. So, unfortunately, it looks like Lily is winding herself up again for another bout of blood-thirty revenge!

How will Lily be able to regain control of herself, or is she bound for another mission?

You can read the first chapter of Lily’s controversial story free on this site here:

Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Tiger Lily 2: Tiger Lily of Bangkok in London

Filed under: , , , and Tagged: , , , , ,

Easter Monday

Published by Owen Jones on 7 April 2015
Easter Monday

Easter Monday

Easter Monday

Today is Easier Monday, not in Buddhist Thailand, but there is still something going on and there seems to be every year at Easter. I suspect that it is because Easter is a moveable feast which has something to do with the full moon, and Buddhists celebrate every full moon.
However, I can’t find anyone who can tell me why there was lots of music in the village on Friday, lots of parties on Saturday, dozens of gunshots on Sunday, and music again today.
Not even my Thai wife can tell me, which is why falang husbands tend to ask one and then live in ignorance.
It is easier and doesn’t really matter.
—
It was 46c today, which is the hottest temperature I have ever experienced anywhere. It was so hot, that the birds that sang in our garden, did so from the shade of our outside kitchen and the dog didn’t bother barking at passers-by. Last year, my wife bought me an industrial fan, and I have never used it on settings two or three, but last night, I slid off my damp bed to put it on number two, fearful that it might take off and crash into the ceiling.
The three items of clothing I’m wearing now are all wringing wet, but not in a nice way as if it had just rained.
—
After a slow start, I am getting on well with Tiger Lily 2. I am averaging 2,500 words a day, which is the minimum I feel comfortable with, but since I need to do a lot of research on this one, it is a respectable amount. I am about a quarter through the story on the first time round. If I’m lucky, I may get it on the virtual shelves by the end of the month, but it will be a struggle with seven days of Songkhran (The New Year) starting on the thirteenth.
Fingers crossed.

All the best.

Owen

Podcast: Easter Monday

Filed under: , , , and Tagged: , , , ,

Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2

Published by Owen Jones on 2 April 2015
Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2

Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2

Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2

As I gazed out of my office window this morning, thinking about Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2,  fist-sized balls of candy floss were drifting past. As they snagged on bushes, pieces were torn away by the breeze and so were distributed further afield. Neem says that in old Thailand, people stuffed it into mattresses and pillows.

I have never seen it before.

—

I did start Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2 today, but did not get as far as I had hoped, because an old friend, Rick, brought an infrequent visitor, Joe, to Jem’s for a chat. It was nice to see them both. We had an enjoyable couple of hours banter.

To put such a meeting into context, I’m pretty sure that nothing like that has happened for the last fifteen months.

Such is the isolation of a foreigner in ‘remote’ parts of Thailand.

—

I put Lily in London for Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2, but it has revealed new problems. I never have known London well, but I now live in Thailand, so I will need to do a lot more research than I first anticipated. I don’t mind that, but it will slow me down until I feel comfortable in that environment.

—

I had a chat with a friend, a fellow writer, over email last night. He said that he found credible sequels more difficult than starting a new storyline. I generally find sequels easier, but he is going to be right about this one, I can feel it already. It has to do with the research, and the fact that the elite in Britain would rather the truth didn’t get out anyway.

I am talking about high society child abuse here as has been alleged against residences in Dolphin Square in Westminster, the most desirable place to live in inner London.

Tiger Lily of Bangkok 2 will not make any new revelations, but it might hit a few raw nerves.

Regards,

Owen

Podcast: Tiger Lily 2

Filed under: , , and Tagged: , , , ,

Hung-over and Still Bored

Published by Owen Jones on 2 April 2015
Hung-over and Still Bored

Hung-over and Still Bored

Hung-over and Still Bored

Since it was our seventh wedding anniversary on Monday, I treated myself to a ‘pub crawl’ around the village. I put it in inverted commas because there are no pubs where we live and only six shops where I feel comfortable drinking a beer. My wife had to look after our granddaughter, but she called in her mother to help and joined me at the last watering hole.

It was not very exciting, not a single person spoke to me until she arrived. This is because of the language barrier, not because nobody likes me – I think.

Anyway, I was back at my desk before nine o’clock.

—

I haven’t got much done today. Probably slightly hung-over from last night. I’m getting old. It takes me so much longer to recover from drinking a lot less than ever six months ago. I wasted the whole morning doing nothing, and the next thing I knew, it was four hours later and time to go to Jane’s for a hair of the dog, where I am now writing this to you.

I won’t stay out long today though. I want to do an hour’s promo put two more ‘How to’s’ on Lulu, and prepare a template to write the book in that I intend to start tomorrow. ‘Tiger Lily’ 2 – TL2. I am wondering about relocating her to London, where she could be following a post grad course. It might widen the base of interest for the story.

It will take some research, but I quite like that aspect of writing anyway.

She could go in for children’s ailments – paediatrics, is it?

—

While celebrating yesterday, I forgot to post my diary entry, although I did write one, and while daydreaming my time away today hung-over, I likewise forgot, so I will have to post two messages when I get in.

What do you think of the podcasts? They are an experiment, but poor quality. Perhaps I should read them myself.

—

I saw a photo of the hole in my back just now. It’s about three-quarters of an inch wide, a quarter of an inch deep and looks as if someone has taken a chunk out with an apple corer. Bright red inside, but I guess that’s better than green.

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Hung-over and Still Bored

Filed under: , , and Tagged: , , , , ,

Tiger Lily of Bangkok

Published by Owen Jones on 9 November 2013 11
Tiger Lily of Bangkok

Tiger Lily of Bangkok

Tiger Lily of Bangkok

‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’ is my entry into the NaNoWriMo 2013 challenge. The challenge is to write a book of 50,000 words during the month of November. This is the diary of my MaNoWriMo 2013 experience.

1/11/2013: I have never entered before, but I am ready to write a new book. I decided to go out of my genre and write a book involving murder. I called it ‘Bangkok Lil’ and wrote furiously. In fact, I wrote more words on that day than I have ever done before.

I wrote all night, slept for two hours and wrote all da and night again. My total was 12,136 and that was 3,000+ more than my highest ever.

For the next six days, I hammered out loads more words, but I was expecting a stop. I know abot myself, that if I write at more than 4,000 for a long time, I just dry up.

Sure enough, that happened on the 7th and 8th, but last night, I was able to write again, writing 3,000+ quite easily.

By now I was on 34,077 and due to finish the book on or about the 12th of November, 18 days early. It is not a race and it is not a competition, it is a challenge, but one that I can handle very easily, having written ‘Maya Illusion’ in July and that was 112,000 words.

9/11/13: I wrote my second ever murder scene tonight, the other one was also in this book. I can’t say that it was not nice to do. No, sorry, I can say that it was awkward … No, disturbing to do. Or at least, it was very odd.

It was decidedly odd to put myself in the place or mind or a deranged psychopathic serial killer, plot and carry out the murder (on paper) of a man,. It made it easier knowing that Lily was sure that he deserved it.

I am not happy with the name of the book. ‘Bangkok Lil’ sounds too common. It reminds me of  ‘Fag-Ash Lil’ and Lily is not like that. I tried ‘White Lily of Bangkok’, but that was screaming out for a ‘the’ before it, which I did not want to put for SEO reasons.

I settled for ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’ tonight, I think, but don’t try to hold me to it.

I made it to 38,297 words and the end of the chapter, so we will have to see what tomorrow brings. It is midnight now.

10/11/13: off we go again! Day ten of ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’, as she will definitely be called now.  I got up at 6 AM, which is not that unusual, although I normally start a little later. That should allow me to get most of the 4,000 words I like to write a day done before noon.

I have the next three 4,000-word chapters fixed in my brain now and that will take me over the 50,000 mark to complete the challenge, but I will probably need at least one more and that is swirling about in my head – I can’t see it clearly yet.

So, here we go with chapter 11, which reminds me that I should upload a new chapter to Smashwords in order to release more words to the public to read (they get 20% starting from the first word in the book).

The keyboard on my Asus is lousy today! It seems that most of the keys either don’t work or repeat, meaning lots of needless editing, costing me time. Anyway, back to writing Tiger Lily of Bangkok…

Can’t get started… I’m thinking of promoting this page, but it is just displacement, not writers’ block. I just need to get started and it will flow from there. A concession… I’ll promote this to Facebook and Twitter first and then start – honest.

That’s the first 421 words of the day written, so the ice has been broken!

I did quite well at the end of the day topping my 4,220 daily average by 700 words. That means I have only 6,791 to go to finish the challenge, but not the book.

I wrote with the Bangkok chapter of NaNoWriMo last night for the first time in a few days, but I will go back tomorrow night at 10 p.m.

I am now wondering whether Lily should get away with her murders (five so far).

11/11/13: I have sorted that dilemma out, but I can’t tell you my decision or I’ll spoil the story of ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’.

I have started late today, but I have done all my email, so that is something. It’s 10 a.m. and I’m raring to go with a slight change in plot on the near horizon.

I had a very good day, writing 6,800+ words and completing the challenge by 10:30 p.m.

So, that’s the first 50k done!

However, joking aside, I will add another chapter or two to round it off as Lily has gone and changed the ending again!

12/11/13: starting at 8:30 a.m. today, but been here thinking for an hour.

I have the ending to ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’ but I’m not sure how she gets there from here. Usually, for me, it is bst to just write and see what happens. Just thinking can put me in a tailspin of, ‘yes, but what if’s’. The ending has definitely changed though, but at least I can see that, it’s just how to get there now.

I found a path to the ending!

‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’ is now complete at 53,000+ words and I have started editing.

I bought the URL for the book too – an exact match which shocked me as I could not get anywhere near it on Facebook.

The website is:

http://tigerlilyofbangkok.com

and the Facebook page is:

http://facebook.com/tigerlily.thebook/

13/11/13: I did some moreediting today and I worked on the FB page and website. ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’ is coming along nicely! 🙂

 

Use the ‘Comments’ box at the bottom of the page, if you’d like to say anything about ‘Tiger Lily of Bangkok’.

Please vote for the book’s title in this one-question survey:

http://owencerijones.com/wordpress/

Filed under: , and Tagged: , , , , , , , ,