Lived overseas primarily in Thailand with lesser stints in Malaysia and Iran. First introduction overseas was South Vietnam in the U.S. Army. I have been a teacher, government official and also worked in private sector. I served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Thailand for two years and later worked in the U.S. Refugee Program along the Thai-Cambodian border as a field supervisor. Background includes a B.A. in English/Drama/Education and an MBA in International Management. Several websites, such as Truthout, Dissident Voice, HNN of George Mason University and Op-EdNews have published my columns and articles. Counterpunch and Open Salon have republished Lessons from Iran, 77-78
I always enjoyed writing and admired many writers and read many of their works while in high school and have discovered even more since then.
I have published three books,Stellar Energies To America, which includes a war novella, A Final Quietus, Land of the Tuk-Tuk and Thoreau, a play.
I kept a random diary when I was in the army in South Vietnam and used it as a point of departure for the novella. The diary was not a story, but brief accounts and descriptions, but it proved useful to capture the authenticity of war in a particular place and time.
Land of the Tuk Tuk is set in Thailand involving corruption and bribery of multimillion dollar contracts in the international relief effort for refugees and logging concessions within a community forest as well as a love story. The protagonist's girlfriend has a brother who is a monk trying to save the forest for villagers from the contractor who supplies food and transportation to refugees. The forest area will be turned into a golf course and hotel development. Our American hero does not save the day, but the day is saved from an unexpected source that has been there all along.
Review of Land of the Tuk Tuk:
I try to write about the world we live in from my experiences and using my imagination to complement a vision of the world that is realistic (sometimes fantasy), revealing our world and most importantly worthwhile as well as enjoyable.
Tolstoy-Hadji Murad, Master and Man, so many others,Lazarillo de Tormes, Melville-Billy Budd, Orwell-Burmese Days, Hemingway-Short Stories, Chekhov-Short Stories, De Maupasant-Short Stories, Thoreau-Walden and Civil Disobedience, Flaubert-Madame Bovary and A Simple Heart, Somerset Maugham-all his stories set overseas, Lazarillo de Tormes, Hadji Murad-Tolstoy and many more authors
Plays-Arthur Miller-All My Sons, Death of a Saleman
Plays-Eugene O'Neil-Long Day's Journey Into Night, Hughie and many more
Plays of Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov and Tennessee Williams
Hi, Henry, thanks for reading 'Teacher.' Your helpful comment is greatly appreciated. I look forward to reading more of your work, including your longer stories already posted here, which I have looked over but need to read more completely in order to comment upon intelligently. I like your writing style and your topics. You have an interesting background, judging from your wall statements.
You're welcome, Henry. I think that others may not see your work as the style of fiction that's being written today. It's got more of an essay flavor to it perhaps. For example, in this story, there is no ending to the plight of the professor, but rather the focus is on the theory itself, so the character is somehow lost when he could be made so much more vital. But your writing is wonderfully styled and your use of language is excellent. I'm learning that you can't please all the people all the time, so I personally am happy when a few are reached!
Thanks for your comments on "Enemy Camp," Henry!