Through a collection of real letters written to his best friend and father in England, and from his own personal diary entries, the young planter John Dodd has bequeathed us a fascinating, and often hilarious, memoir of what life was really like on Malaya’s rubber estates in the late-1950s. With true stories that would make even Somerset Maugham Read More

Part fishing guide (the first guide to fishing in Thailand ever published) and part quirky narrative set in Thailand, the Disneyland of freshwater fishing, where fish regularly exceed 80lb (35kg). The fishing tourism industry is booming in Thailand and this pioneering guide has already got angling journalists around the world nibbling Read More

Following the runaway success of Growing Up in Trengganu, Awang Goneng now takes his journey further to map out the town where he was born. This book looks at the terrain of Trengganu, the landmarks that are still standing and those that have fallen to rubble at the hands of developers, the winds that bring chill and change to the inhabitants of his coastal town, and people – the important and the ordinary – who walked the streets and breathed the air that is laced with more than a whiff of dried shrimps, the sweat of toil, the aroma of röjök in Pök Déh’s plate, and salt coming in with the spray from the South China Sea.

A Map of Trengganu gives a vibrant and extraordinary topography of the land and its people for the uninitiated and for those who are familiar with the terrain and territory. Time does not stand still in Kuala Trengganu as Awang Goneng notes, but it moves at a different pace in every fascia, and then it is gone forever. So who moved the clock tower from the roundabout in the town centre? You’ll soon be pondering this important question and many more things that you never knew about Trengganu.

About the Author

Awang Goneng moved from Trengganu to Kuala Lumpur to attend the Victoria Institution where he and a schoolfriend (who later became a judge in Singapore) involuntarily broke the school’s medium-distance record while fleeing a gang from a rival school near the Merdeka Stadium. With this newfound talent for power running, Awang Goneng proceeded swiftly into subsequent chapters of his life: first through the doors of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he took a Law degree (from the Academic Registrar’s office one night when the door was left open), and then through an academic career (briefly) and journalism (less briefly) during which time he interviewed, among others, Anthony Burgess, Barbara Cartland and Adnan Khashoggi. He now lives in London as a freelance writer.

Reviews of Growing Up in Trengganu

“Awang Goneng does with words what Lat does with pictures.” Annabel Teh Gallop, Head, Southeast Asia section, British Library

“A trip back in time for Babyboomers who remember P Ramlee movies, kampongs by the sea, and itinerant hawkers. The author now resident in London has a prodigious memory for amusing detail and his food descriptions will make your mouth water.” Lifestyle

“If life in idyllic Trengganu takes your fancy, get insight from a book by a journalist who takes a nostalgic look on his younger years in the East Coast … It is a collection of tales on growing up in a Malaysian village, of small town charm and a sense of pride at being part of it … The book that Hulaimi wrote has become something of a phenomenon. Terengganu recently hosted the return of its prodigal son for a book signing and a reading … The 300-page book reflects the personality of its author superbly. That is, it’s humble, frank and unassuming.” New Straits Times

“Veteran journalist pens bestseller. Veteran journalist Wan Ahmad Hulaimi has compiled his childhood experience in a placid fishing village with a book Growing Up In Terengganu. The former London-based Bernama journalist, better known by his byline Wan Hulaimi, has described the lifestyle in old Kuala Terengganu for the younger generation who would never have seen the good old days of the fishing state and how his grandparents lived. The book became much sought n Malaysia soon after its debut at the world famous Frankfurt Book Fair in October. It is now among MPH’s top 10 in the non-fiction list. Publisher Monsoon Books is making preparations for the book’s second print of 3,000 books. ” The Star

“NORZITA A. SAMAD pays a visit to Terengganu of decades past by dipping into the pages of Awang Goneng’s Growing Up In Trengganu. I COULD almost hear in my mind my Tok Ki relating snippets of his many sojourns in the many isles of Nusantara and Indo-China, sailing in perahu besar earning a living trading sea salt, among other things. Reading Awang Goneng’s Growing Up In Trengganu is a walk down memory lane for me; the book really stirs up countless memories of my own childhood days in the quaint town of Kuala Terengganu in the 1970s. ” New Straits Times

“Melalui bukunya, Awang Goneng alias Wan Ahmad Hulaimi memberikan kita begitu banyak peluang untuk mengenali sosiobudaya Terengganu dan sedikit kesempatan memahami dirinya yang sentiasa nostalgik kepada Terengganu walaupun beliau kini memilih untuk meneruskan hari-hari tuanya di England…” Utusan Malaysia

“Growing up in Terengganu, the book authored by former London-based Bernama freelance journalist, Wan Ahmad Hulaimi, had a sort of spiritual homecoming when it received its Terengganu launch at the Alam Akademik bookshop here Tuesday. Going by the acronym of GUiT and written under the pseudonym Awang Goneng, it portrays the life of a typical mischievous Terengganu boy in years gone by. Terengganu-born Wan Ahmad Hulaimi, 60, who was present at the launch, said: “I regard this as the spiritual home of GUiT. I bought my first books here and my father used to take me here to buy his kitabs (religious books) and newspapers. It is very apt that GUiT gets its Terengganu launch at this shop. My children were all born and brought up in London and have no idea what it is like to grow up in Kuala Lumpur, never mind Kuala Terengganu,” he added. The 336-page book became a much sought after title in bookshops in peninsular Malaysia soon after its debut appearance at the world famous Frankfurt Book Fair in October.” Bernama

“Growing Up in Trengganu karya Awang Goneng mengulit nostalgia zaman kanak-kanak dan remaja pengarang buku ini ketika di Terengganu selain kerinduan kepada kaum keluarga dan handai taulan yang enggan dilepaskan meskipun sudah beberapa dekad menetap di London. Kebetulan tirai buku ini dimulai dengan kisah sambutan Hari Raya ketika negeri yang kaya dengan emas hitam itu masih jauh daripada pembangunan dan suasana Syawal masih hangat diraikan di Malaysia, membuka ruang kepada pembaca meninjau corak sambutan Ramadan dan Syawal pada zaman kanak-kanak Awang Goneng di Terengganu.” Berita Harian (Malaysia)

In 1953, Peter Mooney, an adventurous young Irishman and newly qualified advocate — the Scottish equivalent of a barrister — decided to forsake the stately precincts of Parliament House and the Advocates Library in the historic city of Edinburgh and accept the position of Crown Counsel, Sarawak in far-off Borneo. All thoughts of returning to the elegant world of Edinburgh were soon forgotten, however, as he became Read More

In 1953, Peter Mooney, an adventurous young Irishman and newly qualified advocate — the Scottish equivalent of a barrister — decided to forsake the stately precincts of Parliament House and the Advocates Library in the historic city of Edinburgh and accept the position of Crown Counsel, Sarawak in far-off Borneo. All thoughts of returning to the elegant world of Edinburgh were soon forgotten, however, as he became Read More

Set against a beautifully observed Thailand of the 1950s, this is the story of a young Englishman’s infatuation with a dance-hall hostess named Vilai, who all Bangkok knows as The White Leopard. No ordinary prostitute, Vilai is one of the most memorable in literature’s long line of brazen working girls. An unmitigated liar and brutally transparent about her desire for money Read More

An epic tale of love and loss in WWII Malaya and Singapore.

It’s 1941 and seventeen-year-old Victoria Khoo, daughter of a wealthy family of Straits Chinese, lives in luxury in colonial Singapore. Her carefree days are spent fantasising about marrying Sebastian Boustead, scion of a great British merchant family, Read More

First published in 1956, Han Suyin’s magnificent novel about the Emergency Period in Malaya and Singapore evokes all the colour and conflict of a land where, in the late 1940s and early 50s, a bitter guerrilla war was fought between communist terrorists lurking in the Malayan jungles and British, Australian and New Zealand armed forces. Read More

First published in 1956, Han Suyin’s magnificent novel about the Emergency Period in Malaya and Singapore evokes all the colour and conflict of a land where, in the late 1940s and early 50s, a bitter guerrilla war was fought between communist terrorists lurking in the Malayan jungles and British, Australian and New Zealand armed forces. Read More

Considered one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, the tropical island of Bali in Indonesia has long been the site for Western fantasies about paradise. Millions of tourists visit the Island of the Gods every year, from families treating the kids to a beach holiday to single men looking for cheap booze and sex. And for many young Westerners and Singaporeans, hardcore partying Read More

Considered one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, the tropical island of Bali in Indonesia has long been the site for Western fantasies about paradise. Millions of tourists visit the Island of the Gods every year, from families treating the kids to a beach holiday to single men looking for cheap booze and sex. And for many young Westerners and Singaporeans, hardcore partying Read More

Long-term Bangkok resident and former New Orleans cop Bob Turtledove has a knack for getting people out of difficult situations.

So when a young man from Utah goes missing in Bangkok, his parents are soon knocking on Bob’s door asking for help. But what starts out as a simple missing person case takes a deadly turn Read More

Bangkok expatriate Gary Griswold, a millionaire American of Albany old money, goes missing and his ex-wife wants to know what’s happened to him … and his 38 million dollars. It seems religious dilettante Griswold and his money have disappeared deep into Thailand, where corruption has its own etiquette. Soon, Albany’s only gay private detective, Read More

The surreal true story of how a Western teenager came of age in 1960s Bangkok, turned international drug smuggler and walked the prison yards of Thailand’s notorious “Bangkok Hilton”

It is 1967 Bangkok, the Summer of Love, and for teenager Jon Cole, son of a US Green Beret colonel serving in the Vietnam War, life as a young Westerner in the City of Angels is sweeter than mangoes on sticky rice with coconut milk … until he is introduced to the infamous House of Lek. Drawn to the underbelly of Bangkok, Read More

The surreal true story of how a Western teenager came of age in 1960s Bangkok, turned international drug smuggler and walked the prison yards of Thailand’s notorious “Bangkok Hilton”

It is 1967 Bangkok, the Summer of Love, and for teenager Jon Cole, son of a US Green Beret colonel serving in the Vietnam War, life as a young Westerner in the City of Angels is sweeter than mangoes on sticky rice with coconut milk … until he is introduced to the infamous House of Lek. Drawn to the underbelly of Bangkok, Read More

Edwin Tyler, fired unfairly during the recession, launches a chain of coffee shops with venture capitalist funds. However, his childhood nemesis, Roy, now a powerful businessman with connections to the underworld, Read More

The fifteen seductive sex stories in this steamy first volume of literary erotica from Asia are certain to entertain and arouse. Absolutely nothing is out of bounds, offering readers a glimpse into the erotic lives of Read More

The sixteen seductive sex stories in this steamy second volume of literary erotica from Asia are certain to entertain and arouse. Absolutely nothing is out of bounds, offering readers a glimpse into the erotic lives of Read More

In this first-ever compendium of erotic writing from Singapore, we are presented with a selection of short stories, poetry and narrative nonfiction that is as hot and steamy as the city-state itself.

From the Indonesian maid to the Singaporean prostitute, the local schoolteacher to the American expatriate, the twenty-seven contributions Read More

This is the follow-up volume to Monsoon’s bestselling Best of Singapore Erotica. This time around, there are 19 stories from well-known authors in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Traipsing through the pages of this steamy collection is a colourful cavalcade of adventurers, maids, masseurs, prostitutes, transsexuals, Read More

The 2008 elections in Malaysia saw the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, suffer its worst showing since independence, balancing political power and bringing hope of a more progressive, democratic future. No one expected such a show of support for the untested opposition and a show of dissent against Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s Read More

The 2008 elections in Malaysia saw the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, suffer its worst showing since independence, balancing political power and bringing hope of a more progressive, democratic future. No one expected such a show of support for the untested opposition and a show of dissent against Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s Read More

As the writer Martin Bradley unwittingly discovers, there is nothing quite like uprooting yourself from your home of fifty-four years in suburban, temperate England and transplanting yourself into rural, equatorial Malaysia.

Bradley attempts to make a new life for himself in provincial Malaysia, living with poisonous snakes, Read More

‘Cement, Cabbage and Cars: Cross-cultural misadventures in The Land of the Morning Calm’ is a tale of modern-day South Korea in fictitious prose based on the real-life experiences, travels and adventures of the author and people he has known. The tale takes the reader through a thoughtful yet laughable cross-cultural interchange Read More

From an expat hotel manager to a respected drug baron, a sadistic triad boss to a Thai transvestite, this action-packed novel set in Thailand has them all. At about the same time a Filipino maid is murdered Read More

A sovereign fund, Tengli, loses its bid to buy IndoTel, an Indonesian telecoms player. Russian Mafiya-backed interests acquire IndoTel, pointing to a Mole within the Singapore establishment. Read More

‘Two-timing bargirls, suspicious spouses and lesbian lovers—it was all in a day’s work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson.’

For more than a decade Olson walked the mean streets of the Big Mango. Fluent in Thai and Khmer, he was able to go where other Private Eyes feared to tread.

His clients Read More

‘Two-timing bargirls, suspicious spouses and lesbian lovers—it was all in a day’s work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson.’

For more than a decade Olson walked the mean streets of the Big Mango. Fluent in Thai and Khmer, he was able to go where other Private Eyes feared to tread.

His clients Read More

Country Madness is a delightfully quirky memoir of a Singaporean psychiatrist in rural England that spans five seasons (the fifth season being a Chinese state of mind that might equate to an English “Indian Summer”).

In humorous and insightful Read More

As the Singapore police frequently remind us: ‘low crime does not mean no crime’. But the writers in this book remind us that low crime can definitely mean exciting, imaginative crime.

Strong, riveting stories fill the pages of this volume, the first of its kind in the Lion City. Veteran UK crime and thriller luminary Stephen Leather Read More

As the Singapore police frequently remind us: ‘low crime does not mean no crime’. But the writers in this book remind us that low crime can definitely mean exciting, imaginative crime.

Strong, riveting stories fill the pages of this volume, the first of its kind in the Lion City. Veteran UK crime and thriller luminary Stephen Leather Read More

British agent Daniel Swann fled Thailand after murdering the son of the Kingdom’s top underworld boss. Now he is back, ordered by his government to recover a small black box from the bottom of the Andaman Sea. Business as usual, he doesn’t ask questions. But as his friends are beheaded one by one and he is pursued by CIA agents, Swann realises Read More

British agent Daniel Swann fled Thailand after murdering the son of the Kingdom’s top underworld boss. Now he is back, ordered by his government to recover a small black box from the bottom of the Andaman Sea. Business as usual, he doesn’t ask questions. But as his friends are beheaded one by one and he is pursued by CIA agents, Swann realises Read More

What you don’t see until you read this book: the kennels, the dogmen, the breeding farms.

Coleman Legget, Animal Control officer (aka dog catcher), knows the streets of Palm County: corrupt, fast, and unforgiving. A petty criminal himself, Legget, as he’s called by his friends, learns what real crime is all about. Read More

Klong Prem prison, Thailand. The “Bangkok Hilton”, where 600 foreigners among the 12,000 inmates of this walled prison city also wait and rot. Among the tragic, ruthless and forgotten, one man resolves to do what no other has done: escape. This is the true story of drug smuggler David McMillan’s perilous break-out from Asia’s most notorious Read More

Klong Prem prison, Thailand. The “Bangkok Hilton”, where 600 foreigners among the 12,000 inmates of this walled prison city also wait and rot. Among the tragic, ruthless and forgotten, one man resolves to do what no other has done: escape. This is the true story of drug smuggler David McMillan’s perilous break-out from Asia’s most notorious Read More

‘Living Fast’ Redefined As Bangkok Hilton Escapee David Mcmillan Opens His Past As A Teenage Drug-Trafficker

In this gripping prequel to ‘Escape: The true story of the only Westerner ever to break out of Thailand’s Bangkok Hilton’, drug smuggler-turned-bestselling author David McMillan tells it from the beginning. Throwing away an expensive education as a teenager then a promising executive career, McMillan hits rock bottom only to shake off the dust Read More

‘Living Fast’ Redefined As Bangkok Hilton Escapee David Mcmillan Opens His Past As A Teenage Drug-Trafficker

In this gripping prequel to ‘Escape: The true story of the only Westerner ever to break out of Thailand’s Bangkok Hilton’, drug smuggler-turned-bestselling author David McMillan tells it from the beginning. Throwing away an expensive education as a teenager then a promising executive career, McMillan hits rock bottom only to shake off the dust Read More

Tropical = Paradise, right? Wrong! Travel writer Stu Lloyd simply wanted to enjoy seamless sunshine, frolic in azure waters with dusky maidens, and drink chilled beers in exotic climes—all at the publisher’s expense. Too much to ask? Apparently so … In this riotous romp through The Tropics, Stu often finds more Purgatory than Paradise, more Hell Read More

Tropical = Paradise, right? Wrong! Travel writer Stu Lloyd simply wanted to enjoy seamless sunshine, frolic in azure waters with dusky maidens, and drink chilled beers in exotic climes—all at the publisher’s expense. Too much to ask? Apparently so … In this riotous romp through The Tropics, Stu often finds more Purgatory than Paradise, more Hell Read More

Growing Up in Trengganu started life as the much-celebrated blog of Awang Goneng (the pseudonym of UK-based Malaysian writer Wan Hulaimi) until it was found to be too good to exist only in cyberspace. Through a collection of memories retold in glorious colour, he evokes the pleasures of a kampung childhood for the benefit Read More

In Volume 1 of the Max Krueger Adventure series, Max Krueger, tough ex-British Army officer and a former mercenary from the jungles of Africa is now operating his tugboat from the steamy wharves of Manaha, Read More

“I Will Survive” brings together real-life experiences of love, grace, faith, dignity and courage from 21 ordinary people who have survived extraordinary circumstances. Prefacing these stories are contributions from 5 local commentators Read More

Orphaned as a young boy in the rainforests of Borneo, Bujang is brought up by a family of orangutans, but his adult future has already been decided for him by Sengalang Burong, the Iban warpath god. On reaching adulthood, Bujang must leave his ape family and serve the warpath god as a warrior and a headhunter. Read More

Orphaned as a young boy in the rainforests of Borneo, Bujang is brought up by a family of orangutans, but his adult future has already been decided for him by Sengalang Burong, the Iban warpath god. On reaching adulthood, Bujang must leave his ape family and serve the warpath god as a warrior and a headhunter. Read More

intrepid journalist and bestselling author Gerrie Lim invites you to join him on an unusual road trip, through his adoptive home town of Los Angeles, California, and its deceptively suburban San Fernando Valley—the ground-zero of the ever-booming, US$12-billion American porn industry. His chronicle spans a ten-year cycle, during which he interviewed Read More

intrepid journalist and bestselling author Gerrie Lim invites you to join him on an unusual road trip, through his adoptive home town of Los Angeles, California, and its deceptively suburban San Fernando Valley—the ground-zero of the ever-booming, US$12-billion American porn industry. His chronicle spans a ten-year cycle, during which he interviewed Read More

Stamford Raffles is that rarest of things — a colonial figure who is forgotten at home but still remembered with affection abroad.

Born into genteel poverty in 1781, he joined the East India Company at the age of fourteen and worked his way up to become Lieutenant Governor of Java when the British seized that island for some five years in 1811. Read More

With “In the Land of Living Dangerously”, an adventure travelogue set in Indonesia, author Jay Cowan explores myriad issues experienced during his travels in the Indonesian archipelago from culture and history to politics and anthropology, from exotic endemic wildlife Read More

In Volume 2 of the Max Krueger Adventure series, the war has been over for half a century, but neo-Nazi Ernst Mueller, son of SS Obersturmbannfuher Karl Mueller, knows where four million dollars worth of Japanese war booty Read More

Increase F&B Sales is not a cookbook – it’s a book for managers and owners of F&B outlets. Escalating costs cut into profits. This leads some F&B operators to raise prices, reduce portions, drop quality or resort to a combination of all three. Read More

Stepping off the SS Hamburg on a moonlit night in January 1901, Edwin A. Brown knew little about his new home—the Straits Settlement of Singapore. Through diary extracts and personal memories, this young Englishman brings to life characters and events in a country few would recognise today.

Life for the early settlers Read More

Stepping off the SS Hamburg on a moonlit night in January 1901, Edwin A. Brown knew little about his new home—the Straits Settlement of Singapore. Through diary extracts and personal memories, this young Englishman brings to life characters and events in a country few would recognise today.

Life for the early settlers Read More

When an ambitious, adventurous gent named Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles “discovered” the tiny Southeast Asian island of Singapore in 1819, claiming it for the British Crown, he envisioned it as a geographical gateway between East and West. Now an independent city-state, Singapore is considered an Asian economic miracle, still a strategic crossroads, Read More

When an ambitious, adventurous gent named Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles “discovered” the tiny Southeast Asian island of Singapore in 1819, claiming it for the British Crown, he envisioned it as a geographical gateway between East and West. Now an independent city-state, Singapore is considered an Asian economic miracle, still a strategic crossroads, Read More

In this long-awaited sequel to the Singapore bestseller Invisible Trade, journalist Gerrie Lim seeks to unravel and demystify two major aspects of the sex industry in modern Singapore: the secretive double lives led by the beautiful, upscale escorts and the reasons why men habitually need to spend money to pay for sex. Both, he discovers, involve addictive Read More

In this long-awaited sequel to the Singapore bestseller Invisible Trade, journalist Gerrie Lim seeks to unravel and demystify two major aspects of the sex industry in modern Singapore: the secretive double lives led by the beautiful, upscale escorts and the reasons why men habitually need to spend money to pay for sex. Both, he discovers, involve addictive Read More

Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it.

In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies — ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter — transformed the perception of Bali Read More

Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it.

In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies — ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter — transformed the perception of Bali Read More

Set in Sumatra in the 1950s, Jaipong Dancer is a story of lost innocence and complex moral dilemmas. It follows the journey of Yahyu, a young Javanese dancer, who runs away from a forced marriage and becomes unwittingly involved in the violent struggle for Sumatra’s independence from Jakarta. Read More

Set in Sumatra in the 1950s, Jaipong Dancer is a story of lost innocence and complex moral dilemmas. It follows the journey of Yahyu, a young Javanese dancer, who runs away from a forced marriage and becomes unwittingly involved in the violent struggle for Sumatra’s independence from Jakarta. Read More

Prowling the seedy red-light districts, the underground club circuit and the house parties of wealthy Indonesian society, Moammar Emka offers a unique glimpse into the underbelly of modern, urban Jakarta.

Jakarta Undercover features:
• sex-for-sale in chauffeur-driven SUVs
• sashimi sex
• desperate Read More

Prowling the seedy red-light districts, the underground club circuit and the house parties of wealthy Indonesian society, Moammar Emka offers a unique glimpse into the underbelly of modern, urban Jakarta.

Jakarta Undercover features:
• sex-for-sale in chauffeur-driven SUVs
• sashimi sex
• desperate Read More

After the enormous success of Jakarta Undercover, Moammar Emka is back with more on the seedy nightlife and underground sex servics of modern, hip Jakarta. Delving deep into the city’s karaoke clubs, massage parlours and transit hotels, the author takes it upon himself to experience first-hand the tasty delights on offer and what exactly Read More

After the enormous success of Jakarta Undercover, Moammar Emka is back with more on the seedy nightlife and underground sex servics of modern, hip Jakarta. Delving deep into the city’s karaoke clubs, massage parlours and transit hotels, the author takes it upon himself to experience first-hand the tasty delights on offer and what exactly Read More

When New York chef Frank Visakay traded in the sweaty heat of the restaurant kitchen for the glorious tropical heat of Thailand, he thought he had found paradise. Not only was the lifestyle laid back, the food delicious and the beers chilled but he was even attracting the attention of beautiful Thai women.

Or so he thought. With Jasmine Fever, Read More

When New York chef Frank Visakay traded in the sweaty heat of the restaurant kitchen for the glorious tropical heat of Thailand, he thought he had found paradise. Not only was the lifestyle laid back, the food delicious and the beers chilled but he was even attracting the attention of beautiful Thai women.

Or so he thought. With Jasmine Fever, Read More

From the crumbling backstreets of Chow Kit to the gleaming highrises of Sultan Ismail Road, ladies of all ages and ethnicities patrol the dark alleys, fancy clubs and dingy massage parlours of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Read More

From the crumbling backstreets of Chow Kit to the gleaming highrises of Sultan Ismail Road, ladies of all ages and ethnicities patrol the dark alleys, fancy clubs and dingy massage parlours of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Read More

The tragic irony of America’s military adventure in Viet Nam lies in the fact that the two countires were fighting different wars. The Americans were fighting to sever the head of a communist monster they saw as intent on world domination and enslavement to the State. The Vietnamese, in contrast, were fighting to reclaim their right to self-determination Read More

Love and Lust in Singapore is a vibrant collection of twenty-four stories that delves into the diverse love lives of the city-state’s eclectic mix of inhabitants, from the prostitute to the migrant worker, the guilt-ridden expatriate to the fantasizing heartlands housewife.

Leading Singaporean and Read More

Love and Lust in Singapore is a vibrant collection of twenty-four stories that delves into the diverse love lives of the city-state’s eclectic mix of inhabitants, from the prostitute to the migrant worker, the guilt-ridden expatriate to the fantasizing heartlands housewife.

Leading Singaporean and Read More

In Volume 3 of the Max Krueger Adventure series, Max Krueger’s girlfriend has disappeared, and the tough ex-mercenary is angry. Very angry. What Max and Manaha’s crafty Chief of Police, Colonel ‘Diablo’ Fernandez, don’t know Read More

This is a true story of 1930s Malaysia, of jungle operations, submarines and spies in WWII, and of the postwar Malayan Emergency, as experienced by an extraordinary man. Read More

This is a true story of 1930s Malaysia, of jungle operations, submarines and spies in WWII, and of the postwar Malayan Emergency, as experienced by an extraordinary man. Read More

Singaporean teenager Lee Jun Yong dreams of becoming a pro fessional footballer. Growing up in a family of humble means, in the shadow of Bedok Stadium, the sixteen-year-old is unsure what the future has in store for him. Read More

Singaporean teenager Lee Jun Yong dreams of becoming a pro fessional footballer. Growing up in a family of humble means, in the shadow of Bedok Stadium, the sixteen-year-old is unsure what the future has in store for him. Read More

What on earth is causing the orangutans of Mukada Nature Reserve to fall sick and head to the coast? Romy Alexander—on a visit to Borneo with her scientist father—isn’t convinced by the park warden’s explanation that overcrowding is the cause of the problem.

The eleven-year-old soon Read More

Distraught oafter a shocking turn of events in Borneo, Romy Alexander arrives in China to witess a wonderful and most unusual gathering on the Great Wall. In the second part of the “Magic Magic” series, the 11-year-old embarks on another nocturnal adventure and is drawn into a mystery Read More

This is about how Andrew Hicks met Cat, a ‘Thai girl’ half his age and how they set up home together in her village out in the rice fields of North Eastern Thailand. He’ll tell you of toads in the toilet, of ants’ eggs for breakfast, how they took up Read More

Andy Botts began his criminal activities as a young “car banger” in his native Hawaii before graduating to drug-dealing and trafficking. After a number of successful and highly lucrative drug runs to Asia (though not without some chillingly close calls), Botts was betrayed by a close associate. Arrested in Bangkok’s Don Muang International Airport Read More

Andy Botts began his criminal activities as a young “car banger” in his native Hawaii before graduating to drug-dealing and trafficking. After a number of successful and highly lucrative drug runs to Asia (though not without some chillingly close calls), Botts was betrayed by a close associate. Arrested in Bangkok’s Don Muang International Airport Read More

Dining out on dim sum and looking for the perfect wine to accompany your meal? Wondering which bottle to uncork when serving up Thai? In Pairing Wine with Asian Food, enologist, wine judge, and wine writer Edwin Soon explores the most important theories of matching wine and Asian cuisine. Discover hundreds of inspired food and wine marriages from Cambodia, Read More

Dining out on dim sum and looking for the perfect wine to accompany your meal? Wondering which bottle to uncork when serving up Thai? In Pairing Wine with Asian Food, enologist, wine judge, and wine writer Edwin Soon explores the most important theories of matching wine and Asian cuisine. Read More

When Mahita was 15, her teacher at Catholic school in Singapore said she could see the devil in her eyes. While growing up, then raising a family of her own, she constantly fought to understand and control this ‘devil’ inside her. Read More

When Mahita was 15, her teacher at Catholic school in Singapore said she could see the devil in her eyes. While growing up, then raising a family of her own, she constantly fought to understand and control this ‘devil’ inside her. Read More

Often described as the best book ever written about the Bangkok bar scene, Private Dancer has been a huge hit around the world as a downloadable e-book. According to Leather, the e-book has been downloaded from the author’s website over 60,000 times in more than forty countries. “I have been getting dozens of emails a week asking for Read More

Ignore “affordability” and focus on “fair value” – why pay a $1 million just because one can “afford” it when the property is worth only $750,000.00? This guide helps you value property consistently and objectively using five critical parameters: Read More

On a hot August afternoon in 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (the former name of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five turbulent years. Read More

On a hot August afternoon in 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (the former name of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five turbulent years. Read More

Sexy, entertaining, and thoroughly informative, Red-light Nights, Bangkok Daze is a collection of reports that offers a glimpse into what is enticing, insightful, and possibly unknown about sex in Asia. It looks at the sex scenes and unseens in the ‘usual suspects’ of Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan as well as in less obvious countries such Read More

Sexy, entertaining, and thoroughly informative, Red-light Nights, Bangkok Daze is a collection of reports that offers a glimpse into what is enticing, insightful, and possibly unknown about sex in Asia. It looks at the sex scenes and unseens in the ‘usual suspects’ of Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan as well as in less obvious countries such Read More

‘I’ve not slept for seventy hours or more, walking, watching, waiting, praying for the end of this nightmare from which, at some stage, I must wake. But the reality is beginning to set in and I know only too well that, at least in this life, I shall never speak openly with my son. Never again shall I laugh with him, drink with him, Read More

Written in a fast-paced episodic style that pays fi tting homage to the black-and-white cinema adventure serials of yesteryear, this is an engaging memoir of the unpredictable (and at times perilous) life of the late Wong Kee Hung, an itinerant cinema manager swept up in the postwar cinema industry boom of 1950s and 60s Malaysia Read More

It is the First World War and Julius Lauterbach is a German prisoner of war in the old Tanglin barracks of Singapore. He is also a braggart, a womaniser and a heavy drinker and through his bored fantasies he unwittingly triggers a mutiny by Muslim troops of the British garrison and so throws the whole course of the war in doubt. The British Read More

It is the First World War and Julius Lauterbach is a German prisoner of war in the old Tanglin barracks of Singapore. He is also a braggart, a womaniser and a heavy drinker and through his bored fantasies he unwittingly triggers a mutiny by Muslim troops of the British garrison and so throws the whole course of the war in doubt. The British Read More

It is the First World War and the Flashmanesque German naval reserve captain, Julius Lauterbach, is a prisoner of war in the old Tanglin barracks of Singapore. He is also a braggart, a womaniser and a heavy drinker and through his bored fantasies he unwittingly triggers a mutiny by Muslim troops of the British garrison — the 1915 Singapore Mutiny Read More

Shadow Play is the first in the series of “Kain Songket Mysteries” set in the northern state of Kelantan, Malaysia during the 1970s. Mak Cik Maryam, a smart and take-charge kain songket (silk) trader in Kota Bharu Central Market, discovers a murder in her own backyard, shattering the bucolic village world she thought surrounded her. Read More

Shadow Play is the first in the series of “Kain Songket Mysteries” set in the northern state of Kelantan, Malaysia during the 1970s. Mak Cik Maryam, a smart and take-charge kain songket (silk) trader in Kota Bharu Central Market, discovers a murder in her own backyard, shattering the bucolic village world she thought surrounded her. Read More

This is the true story of a long-vanished Singapore and the dangerous carnival known as Bugis Street.

After four years of romping around West Africa and the Brazilian Amazon, James Eckardt cut a raffish figure as he stepped off a sailboat at Clifford Pier in Singapore on March 30, 1975, en route from Manila to Jakarta. Little did he know that he would become Read More

This is the true story of a long-vanished Singapore and the dangerous carnival known as Bugis Street.

After four years of romping around West Africa and the Brazilian Amazon, James Eckardt cut a raffish figure as he stepped off a sailboat at Clifford Pier in Singapore on March 30, 1975, en route from Manila to Jakarta. Little did he know that he would become Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Previously published in print as “Paranormal Singapore”, the ten stories and letters in this collection of horror are sure to scare the life out of you. Set entirely in Singapore, these accounts of vampires, ghosts, murderers and demons come with a health warning: Read More

Back in January 1995 in Los Angeles, California, a Singaporean pornstar named Annabel Chong took cultural rebellion to an extreme, on terms that had never been negotiated before. She was filmed having sex with a long receiving line of men, Read More

Back in January 1995 in Los Angeles, California, a Singaporean pornstar named Annabel Chong took cultural rebellion to an extreme, on terms that had never been negotiated before. She was filmed having sex with a long receiving line of men, Read More

Former British agent Daniel Swann is living in semi-retirement in Hong Kong when he receives a call for help from his old friend Thai drug lord Sami Somsak. Sami’s stepbrother and his family have been murdered, and Sami’s brainchild, the $6-billion Intella Island project, Singapore’s largest offshore construction, is in jeopardy. When Swann attempts Read More

Former British agent Daniel Swann is living in semi-retirement in Hong Kong when he receives a call for help from his old friend Thai drug lord Sami Somsak. Sami’s stepbrother and his family have been murdered, and Sami’s brainchild, the $6-billion Intella Island project, Singapore’s largest offshore construction, is in jeopardy. When Swann attempts Read More

In So Long! I’ll Be Back in 30 Years, author Margo McCutcheon takes readers on a 30-year journey through expat life in Asia and off-the-beaten-track travelogue: bizarre characters, adventures, disasters and life-changing encounters in remote places across Asia. Open the book randomly and step into the life of a Filipino girl living and thriving in a city garbage dump, Read More

‘I was looked at, criticized, and after much bargaining sold for $250.’

So begins Janet Lim’s ordeal as a mui tsai, or slave girl, in 1930s Singapore. But this is only the beginning of a remarkable journey, which sees the author freed from child bondage to assume a position of leadership, and obtain true happiness, Read More

Employee Capability Factor – Do you know what that means? How do you identify an employee’s Capability Factor, How do you determine your team’s Capability Factor, How do you maintain or better still improve your team’s Capability Factor? Read More

Lawson Banks is terminally ill with stage IV cancer and wants to spend the last days of his life enjoying Thai cuisine on a windy beach in Paradise. It’s the Big Escape so many dream of, but never have the courage to make. But how does he get the cash?

Viatication, also known as death Read More

Perhaps more than any other Southeast Asian city, Singapore has seen tumultuous changes that have catapulted this once-sleepy colonial port into a buzzing metropolis. From its humble beginnings, it has emerged with an identity, social lifestyle and language imbued with the most fascinating mix.

In Stir-fried and Not Shaken, Read More

For newly qualified forensic psychologist Rachel Carson, a three-month tour of Southeast Asia is exactly what the doctor ordered. But from the moment she picks up her first satay stick in Penang, things do not quite go according to plan. Her longterm boyfriend seems more interested in the price of beer than the priceless scenery, Read More

When a frazzled New Yorker who is mad, bad and dangerous to know lands in Asia, life is never quite the same again – for anyone … Fran Lebowitz cheerfully admits that she is intergalactically self-absorbed, Read More

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When travellers Ben and Emma come to blows on the idyllic Thai island of Koh Samet, it’s not long before Ben falls for Fon, a flirtatious but enigmatic beach masseuse, and is forced to come to terms with the darker side of tourism in Thailand.

As Ben parties on Read More

When travellers Ben and Emma come to blows on the idyllic Thai island of Koh Samet, it’s not long before Ben falls for Fon, a flirtatious but enigmatic beach masseuse, and is forced to come to terms with the darker side of tourism in Thailand.

As Ben parties on Read More

For more than a decade, the intrepid Warren Olson trawled the mean streets of Bangkok and the lesser-known corners of the Land of Smiles. His brief? To uncover unsavoury truths about Thai bargirl lovers, philandering spouses, insurance fraud and scam artists of various stripes. He was a private eye prying into nooks and crannies few dared to Read More

For more than a decade, the intrepid Warren Olson trawled the mean streets of Bangkok and the lesser-known corners of the Land of Smiles. His brief? To uncover unsavoury truths about Thai bargirl lovers, philandering spouses, insurance fraud and scam artists of various stripes. He was a private eye prying into nooks and crannies few dared to Read More

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In 1942 a ship carrying 500 escapees from Japanese-occupied Singapore set sail from Padang for Ceylon. Halfway to safety she was torpedoed and sank. Amidst the horror and confusion, only one lifeboat was launched—a lifeboat built to carry twenty-eight but to which 135 souls now looked to for salvation.

For twenty-six days she drifted across Read More

In 1942 a ship carrying 500 escapees from Japanese-occupied Singapore set sail from Padang for Ceylon. Halfway to safety she was torpedoed and sank. Amidst the horror and confusion, only one lifeboat was launched—a lifeboat built to carry twenty-eight but to which 135 souls now looked to for salvation.

For twenty-six days she drifted across Read More

Gardens are magical places – images of Nature and Culture, models of paradise, spaces where plants live in war and peace, co-operation and competition. It is 1942 and Singapore is Syonanto, part of the Japanese Empire, where violence and starvation stalk the streets but in the Singapore Botanic Gardens a bizarre tranquillity reigns between warring nations and even love awakes Read More

Gardens are magical places – images of Nature and Culture, models of paradise, spaces where plants live in war and peace, co-operation and competition. It is 1942 and Singapore is Syonanto, part of the Japanese Empire, where violence and starvation stalk the streets but in the Singapore Botanic Gardens a bizarre tranquillity reigns between warring nations and even love awakes Read More

“There will be the devil to pay … but what price will he demand?” It’s the year 999, and as the first millennium draws to a close, many people throughout Europe are convinced that the world is going to end along with the end of that year. A sudden spate of fearful events makes it seem as if the final end is indeed approaching. Read More

In the year 2025 peace fills the lands, and war is nothing but a thing of the past. With no need to spend on military might, governments and nations have moved on, investing in the discovery of the body. Bryan Yang and his friends were just your average teenagers, until they came across one such scientific discovery. Read More

In the fourth and final volume of the The Straits Quartet, Charlotte Macleod is the English concubine. Her love affair with Zhen, wealthy Chinese merchant, is an open scandal to both the English and the Chinese communities.

Singapore in 1860 is a vice-ridden town filled “with the dregs of humanity from two continents”. Read More

The Flight of the Swans is a rich and fascinating family saga set in British India and Malaya. Cursed, and with blood on his hands, Captain Ramdas Rao Bhonlse is forced to flee Killa Fort, which has fallen to the British. A strange flight of swans signals his flight from Killa; a flight that will drive Ramdas and his family into further adversity. Read More

The Flight of the Swans is a rich and fascinating family saga set in British India and Malaya. Cursed, and with blood on his hands, Captain Ramdas Rao Bhonslé is forced to flee Killa Fort, which has fallen to the British. A strange flight of swans signals his flight from Killa; a flight that will drive Ramdas and his family into further adversity. Read More

In 1880, Isabella Bird visited the Malay Peninsula — romantically dubbed “The Golden Chersonese” — and was still able to refer to it as an almost unknown land. The world’s most famous female travel writer of the nineteenth century set sail from Japan and called at Hong Kong, Canton and Saigon before reaching Singapore. Bearing letters Read More

Packed with 2,000 questions (and answers), The Great Singapore Quiz is a must for all trivia addicts. With ten different subjects to choose from, test your all-round knowledge and earn bonus points with celebrity-endorsed questions. How much do you really know about Singapore, the place you call home? Read More

Young, beautiful and wealthy, widow Charlotte Macleod leaves Batavia in the 1850s and returns to Singapore for the English education of her two young sons. She is determined not to be drawn back into a secret affair with Zhen, the married Chinese merchant, triad-member and man she loves who is, unbeknownst to him, the father of her eldest son, Read More

Young, beautiful and wealthy, widow Charlotte Macleod leaves Batavia in the 1850s and returns to Singapore for the English education of her two young sons. She is determined not to be drawn back into a secret affair with Zhen, the married Chinese merchant, triad-member and man she loves who is, unbeknownst to him, the father of her eldest son, Read More

A mother finds out her son is gay; a daughter finds out her two mothers are lesbians; a niece stumbles upon the body of her dead uncle dressed in his wife’s sarong kebaya; and an old man’s nascent feelings for a Filipino maid lead him back to his suppressed art.

The Lies that Build A Marriage, Read More

A mother finds out her son is gay; a daughter finds out her two mothers are lesbians; a niece stumbles upon the body of her dead uncle dressed in his wife’s sarong kebaya; and an old man’s nascent feelings for a Filipino maid lead him back to his suppressed art.

The Lies that Build A Marriage, Read More

It is 1938 Singapore: a city of sleaze where almost every vice is readily available and crime runs rampant. But one particular crime shocks even the most jaded of citizens: a brutal, apparent robbery–murder with a most unusual cast of victims. Read More

It is 1950 and the Federation of Malaya is in the throes of the Malayan Emergency. The British are struggling to defeat the communist terrorists and deal with rising nationalism in the colony.

Ferdach O’Haney arrives in Malaya as a young Anglo-Irish man to serve the Federation government, and he is plunged into the Read More

It is 1950 and the Federation of Malaya is in the throes of the Malayan Emergency. The British are struggling to defeat the communist terrorists and deal with rising nationalism in the colony.

Ferdach O’Haney arrives in Malaya as a young Anglo-Irish man to serve the Federation government, and he is plunged into the Read More

This endearing nineteenth-century family saga follows the lives, loves and losses of one pioneering family and two escaped convicts as they open up the land in Gippsland, Victoria. The Pioneers won the Hodder and Stoughton All Empire Literature Prize for Australasia in 1915, giving its author one thousand pounds and the opportunity to launch Read More

A tropical paradise. A freak storm. A dead body. Offi cer Arunchit recognises the victim—and fears it is no accident.

Set in Thailand and England, The Rain Tree brings together an unlikely set of complex characters, each the victim of a personal tragedy, Read More

Like Chinese silk, The Red Thread is, by turns, gentle and strong, exploring a love that breaks through the divide of race and culture, a love that is both deeply physical and a marriage of souls. Set against the backdrop of 1830s Singapore where piracy, crime, triads and tigers are commonplace, this cultural romance follows the struggle Read More

Like Chinese silk, The Red Thread is, by turns, gentle and strong, exploring a love that breaks through the divide of race and culture, a love that is both deeply physical and a marriage of souls. Set against the backdrop of 1830s Singapore where piracy, crime, triads and tigers are commonplace, this cultural romance follows the struggle Read More

In this sequel to The Red Thread, Charlotte Macleod is nineteen, pregnant, and alone in 1842. She is fleeing a scandalous liaison with her married Chinese lover, a liaison which would bring ruin on him, herself, and her brother, Robert, the police chief of Singapore. When Tigran Manouk, forty, and the richest merchant in Batavia, Read More

In this sequel to The Red Thread, Charlotte Macleod is nineteen, pregnant, and alone in 1842. She is fleeing a scandalous liaison with her married Chinese lover, a liaison which would bring ruin on him, herself, and her brother, Robert, the police chief of Singapore. When Tigran Manouk, forty, and the richest merchant in Batavia, Read More

Solve the puzzles in this book and win cash prizes totalling US$4,300. Welcome to Toxic Panda — the amazing armchair treasure hunt novel written entirely without the letter E. The first person to solve the puzzle for each chapter of Toxic Panda will receive a cash prize. Read More

In Volume 4 of the Max Krueger Adventure series, Max Krueger, tough ex-British Army officer and former mercenary from the jungles of Africa is once again operating his tugboat from the steamy wharves of Manaha, Read More

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army under General Tomoyuki Yamashita looted untold amounts of gold and other valuables from across its occupied colonies in Southeast Asia to fi nance the empire’s ongoing military expansion. But when the tide of war turned against Japan in 1943, much of this treasure had to be buried in secret. Read More

Weakend by hunger, thirst and ill-treatment, author Charles McCormac, then a World War Two prisoner-of-war in Japanese-occupied Singapore, knew that if he did not escape he would die. With sixteen others he broke out of Pasir Panjang camp and began an epic two-thousand-mile escape from the island of Singapore, through the jungles of Indonesia to Read More