Collin’s books, other books

LAYING THE GHOSTS TO REST

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The concluding chapter in this serialization of Kicking Dogs.

Asia Times edition (out of print)

Some previous editions
Current edition

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • UNIDENTIFIED FALLING OBJECTS. This past week a rogue construction crane dropped a 10-ton steel bucket through the roof of the headquarters of one of this country’s most feared ‘dark influences’. The operator subsequently fled the scene, which no doubt seemed a good idea at the time, given that the building belonged to
… Read more

The master plan revisited

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Kicking Dogs
Kicking Dogs * Asia Books edition (out of print)


Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • LOOKING GOOD. Have you heard how the authorities are going to solve Bangkok’s traffic problems for the big upcoming international pow-wow on industry and the environment? First, they’re going to declare a two-day national holiday, just to keep commuters off the streets. This way, the international delegates may be able to get to their nice meetings before the conference is over.
… Read more

Thinking it over

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This week Mu finds a white hair on Jack’s head, and he thinks it might come from writing brochure copy for Fat Fat.

Current edition. Cover by Colin Cotterill

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • BUT DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH. Tests show there are now three more intersections in the city where it is a good idea not to breathe. Not to worry, though: in ten years or so the planners hope things might improve a little and
… Read more

Impressive erections

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This week Jack tells Tommy and Willie what he learned so far about security arrangements at Luckyland.


Current edition. Cover by Colin Cotterill

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • EAT YOUR HEART OUT, SINGAPORE. Various interests have announced plans to build what will be four of the world’s ten tallest buildings right here in Bangkok, all of them scheduled to go up in the coming year. 
  • DESIGNS ON NIC-HOOD. Bangkok is at once sprawling ever wider and
… Read more

Luckyland dead show

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This week Jack receives a gift. Fat Fat also introduces him to the Dead Show.

bookSiam edition (long out of print)

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • APROPOS OF NOTHING. Ambrose Bierce, in his Devil’s Dictionary, defined wealth as impunity. 
  • THEM AND US. One high public official says that the recent raid on the biggest illegal casino ever discovered in the city was a waste of time. Thai people like gambling, he says, and no amount of
… Read more

3.8 billion-year-old gadget lust

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Gadget lust IV

Human beings – evolution’s cutting edge, at least in our experience and overlooking our possible supersession by machine culture – have recently evolved an insatiable lust for gadgetry, much of it iGadgetry. But is this in fact something new? 

No. Gadget lust first emerged somewhere between 4.5 and 3.8 billion years ago. 

Plus ça change

Science has concluded that 3.8 billion years ago or even earlier, life on Earth – a vast variety of microorganisms – … Read more

Fat Fat is a mangda

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Last week we got reason to believe Willie and Tommy had a plan. But this week Hippolyte Lafleur explains to Jack how he’s in even more trouble that he first thinks.

Some previous editions. Current edition here

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • COME SOON, VOICE-OPERATED WORD PROCESSORS. I heard some people talking, and they said one prominent fatcat has promised to have the hands of a certain reporter who has been indiscreet about how the above-mentioned
… Read more

A quiet Sunday at home

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Last week Jack tries to explain to Mu what’s happened. Whatever. This week, Willie and Tommy decide they can come to the rescue.

Current edition. Cover by Colin Cotterill

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • SCORE CARD. There have been 16 elections in Thailand since the Revolution of 1932. During the same time, there have been 14 coups—and that’s only counting the successful ones. Meanwhile the man in the street’s reaction to new governments, no matter where
… Read more

Pandemic digital bugs

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Smartwatch dementia

If her Polar smartwatch tells her she slept like a baby last night, Sara asks, how can she feel the way she feels this morning?

I’ve had similar experiences with my Apple smartwatch. One morning it will report, on the basis of four different measures, I should be all bushy tailed and ready to rock, never mind I can hardly drag my butt to the teapot. The next morning it claims I had no “deep sleep” at all, … Read more

Good help is hard to find these days

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In the last chapter, Jack had dinner and a few drinks with Fat Fat.

Some previous editions
Current edition. Cover by Colin Cotterill

Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner

  • KEEPING UP. Old men are often moved to appreciate younger women. In spirit, at least, they are often so moved — the flesh sometimes needs kick-starting. To this end an enormous trade in everything from ginseng to snake bile to deer antler and rhino horn flourishes all over
… Read more