Member: thallinan

CollectionsYour library (201)

ReviewsNone

TagsFiction (133), Asia (54), mystery (32), Travel (13), Japan (13), fantasy (6), Culture (5), travel (5), asia (5), culture (4) — see all tags

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GroupsAsian Fiction & Non-Fiction

About meMy new Bangkok novel, "The Fourth Watcher," will be published in June 2008 by William Morrow. It continues to follow the sometimes rocky life of rough-travel writer Poke Rafferty, who was introduced in last year's "A Nail Through the Heart." The trade paperback edition of "Nail," with a very spiffy cover, will come out at the same time that "The Fourth Watcher" hits the stores.

"Watcher" is my eighth published novel and the ninth published work in all, since I also wrote one nonfiction book.

I divide my time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia and write about both. I suppose I'm fortunate in having two places I love. It sometimes seems to me that many people don't even have one, that they live where they live by default -- they know it, they have connections there, and they stay there. It was my good luck to be dragged around the world in a more or less professional capacity and to discover a region that stimulates me esthetically, visually, and even spiritually.

My favorite reading categories include general fiction; thrillers, both classic and contemporary; travel; and science, especially cosmology and astronomy. I also love Asian literature, especially classic Chinese and Japanese work such as "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "The Tale of Genji."

Almost the only real hassle about my lifestyle is the near-impossibility of finding good books in English in Southeast Asia. The only places worth looking are the backpacker shops where people unload the books they brought with them before they fly home. As a result, I have enriched DHL global delivery by shipping huge cartons of books across the Pacific at regular intervals.

I'm really happy to have discovered this site.

About my librarySee the mix above, plus a lot of books on religion, especially the history of religion, and a whole shelf of stuff on Elizabethan drama, leading up to and focusing on Shakespeare. I'm also fascinated by the history of Hollywood, specifically from the writer's perspective.

And if all the ratings seem high, that's because I only keep books that I really like. Obviously, the problem with a five-star system is that five stars for a thriller means something quite different than five stars for, say, Anthony Trollope's six-novel "Pallisers" saga. But a rating, for me, addresses mainly how well the writer did what he/she set out to do, and how much I enjoyed it. And anyway, this is the only rating system we've got.

Real nameTimothy Hallinan

LocationLos Angeles, Bangkok

Emailthallinangmail.com

Favorite authorsNone

Account typepublic, free

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Common KnowledgeSeries (39), Awards (162), Characters (755), Places (179)

Member sinceDec 10, 2006