APSARAS

New outlet

2010-03-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

I have today arranged for a store, situated on Mojácar Playa, to stock my book, 'Apsaras', on a no outlay basis. I have left them three signed copies and if they can sell them for £22, they take £2 or ten percent. Coupled to this they receive a free mention in the Reader.es weekly English Language newspaper under my column.
It's disappointing that I have to charge so much, but with the exchange against the dollar getting worse, and the cost of freight so high, there is little margin to play with.
That said, however, I feel that it is better to try and get my stock of books into the public domain and hope for recommendations. I don't see why not! I keep reading some of my book and have to confess that I find it rather good; but then I would, wouldn't I?
I have also put my name down for a craft fare, where I can again try and sell the books. Not only my books; I shall try and sell some of my games there as well.

Review & Critique of APSARAS

2010-02-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Title: Apsaras
Author: Kevill Davies
Pages: 390 Hardback
Publisher: Eloquent Books, New York
Price: $31.50

It is always a pleasant surprise when an author springs up close to home. Kevill Davies is a well-known contributor to The Reader and local resident who has achieved a great deal in writing this book.
A cocktail of drugs, prostitution, blackmail and corruption, it is an action thriller set in Thailand against a background of the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami. The plot develops in a lively and fast-moving manner. The central character, Jack Benson, is a wealthy ex-banker who tires of life in the City after the unexpected death of his wife whom he loved. He travels to Bangkok in search of a business opportunity and there he meets his Apsaras – two beautiful young Thai sisters - who become his muses and inspiration. Then drifting into his life comes Peaches, an enchanting half-Thai doctor locked in an unhappy marriage ..............
His original intention is to invest in a casino, but following a visit to Cambodia Jack decides instead to set up a refuge for mistreated women who have nowhere else to go. The victims arrive - each with her own history of beatings, drunkenness, poverty and cruelty. Jack feels himself drawn close to them and aspires to be another King of Siam, surrounded by a harem of lovely girls. However, affairs of the heart are rarely straightforward as he soon discovers. This paradise cannot last forever and there are evil forces at work which seek its destruction. The mounting tension is skilfully built towards the final showdown.
The writer has clearly done a great deal of research in Thailand. The text deserves some stricter editing plus greater attention to punctuation, which is sometimes haphazard. One suspects that the human stories he recounts are, in fact, not far from the brutish reality many impoverished people in difficult circumstances endure.

Reviewed by Christine Price
Christine was born in Cornwall. She graduated from the University of London with Honours in Geography and Social Anthropology. She spent 12 years as an expat in Nigeria, Malawi, Qatar and Hong Kong before returning to the UK to work in the financial sector. At present she and her husband, Len, divide their time between a cave in Galera, Granada and their flat in Mojacar.

EBay

2010-01-24T07:50:00.001-08:00

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my book can be found on Ebay. However without reviews I fear it still won't reach my market.
To date I have still not heard from the Bangkok Post or The Nation, the Bangkok English language newspapers. Nor have I heard from the Shangri-La hotel. I thought I might have had a thank you note, acknowledging that they are in receipt of my book.

Passages from 'Apsaras'

2009-08-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

‘Hurry father. It’s coming quickly,’ they exhorted him. ‘Leave everything. Come on.’
‘I can’t leave the money,’ he argued as only those who have suffered penury would.
The wave was preceded by a strong surge of water pushing away everything in its path. It, relentlessly, rose up the beach and hit their bar along with all the other bars and shops that had been busy with the morning trade. Duan chased after the girls stuffing notes of money into his pockets as he shuffled towards the road. He could hear the increasing roar behind him but didn’t stop to look for fear of what he might see. In no time it reached them. They only had time to leave the beach and race across the road, the girls ten yards ahead of their father before the first surge and then the wave hit them.

The tsunami struck the island of Phi Phi, off Thailand’s western coast, just after ten thirty on Boxing Day morning 2004, with waves of up to twenty feet crashing on to the beaches and rushing through and across the island.
The force of the water surge was awesome but the sisters, throwing themselves onto a staircase leading to a first floor terrace were soaked but were able to scramble to safety. Phailin was the first to pick herself up, water pouring from her jeans, and look behind for Ratana and her father. Ratana was right behind her, almost completely drenched, but she could hear her father shouting from below. He was holding onto a telegraph post, thirty feet away with a surging current flowing between them. ‘Hold on father!’ she screamed but could see no way of reaching him. The noise was deafening as millions of tons of water surged passed and the cries of hundreds of people, frightened as they’d never been before, struggling to save themselves and family, rose above the cacophony. Some people were trying to capture the event on their cameras and videos. Mothers clung onto their children for fear of losing them as they watched the water level rise up the building. Men watched, feeling helpless in the face of such a powerful adversary.

When he turned round to see, his eyes fell on, not one but two Thai girls, stark naked, standing by the doorway with the door almost closed and one of the girls looking back along the corridor. They were panting and obviously nervous about being followed. The sight caught Jack unawares and it was a few seconds before he could address them.

‘Can I help you ladies?’ he enquired and regretted it immediately as it was only too obvious they needed help. More aware now, he rushed into the bathroom and gathered two towels and threw them to the girls so that they could cover themselves. They had closed the door behind them, happier that their pursuer had given up the chase, and turned to face the occupier of the room.
‘Sorry,’ said Phailin softly ‘Man follow us, I know not what to do.’ She spoke in English as the man before her was clearly either English or American.
‘I see,’ said Jack although what he was seeing was not that clear. ‘Would you like me to call hotel security?’
‘No, no thank you,’ they whispered together. ‘We not stay here. We not residents.’

Jack was beginning to see more clearly now but he didn’t have time to follow up as there was a knock at the door as his breakfast arrived. The girls became alarmed.
‘Get into the bathroom, quickly and shut the door,’ said Jack, gesturing with his arms and head, ‘and don’t make a sound.’
The twins needed no second urging in case it was their ex client and dashed into the bathroom shutting the door quietly behind them.

At a quarter past seven, a man with a cello took the stage to muted, expectant applause. When he left an hour and a half later it was to a standing reception; a tearful tribute to a very special man on a very special quest.

Dr Beat ‘Beatocello’ Richner performs the free concert at the Jayavarman V11 hospital each Saturday. It is a mixture of music, mostly by Bach, and a talk on the health crisis in Cambodia with special reference to his own field of Pediatrics and the treatment of HIV infected mothers. At the end of his performance he asks the young for blood, the old for money and the “in betweens” for both.

He had worked in Phnom Phen in 1974/5 and was compelled to leave under the Pol Pot regime and returned to his native Switzerland. He returned in 1991 to rebuild the Cambodian children’s hospitals, Kantha Bopha 1 & 2 in the capital and Jayavarman V11 in Siem Reap. He has devoted his working life to saving those of the poorest in this desperately unfortunate country.
Jack was in no doubt that he had witnessed something special that night and although he wouldn’t meet Dr Richner, he would not forget him either. That man deserves a Nobel Prize, he thought.

All the outfits except the exercise dress were to be distinctive Thai style. The exercise dress was a very short dress which came with the neck line cut to reveal a minimum of cleavage. The twins nearly always wore theirs and Jack had an apsara embroidered on their left breast to distinguish them.
The refuge was now run on a quasi-military basis. Jack felt that it was good to give the day structure as it helped introduce discipline to the lives of the Angels; essential, he thought if their personal development was to reach fulfilment.
The daily routine ran as follows:-

6:00 am. Wake up to the sound of beating drums.
6:10 am. Tai Chi. The Apsarases would run the practice of the short routine.
6:30 am. Breakfast.
7:00 am. Studies. Thai language and history, Maths and English.
8:00 am National Anthem, followed by more studies.
9:00 am. Duties.
2:00 pm. Lunch followed by afternoon rest
4:00 pm. Arts and Hobbies
6:00pm. National anthem followed by supper and after dinner entertainment or TV

The Tai Chi routine to start the day was ideal, for like a school assembly, it brought everybody together to go through a routine which apart from the healthy exercise promoted good poise and balance. The concentration needed, put all other thoughts out of the head and allowed the mind to be cleansed ready for the new day.

‘You’re going to take me back to my husband aren’t you?’ she screamed. ‘That’s what all this is about, isn’t it?’
‘Get your shoes on you bitch and hurry up,’ she was ordered again by Aisha, impatient to be away.

Farah walked over to her bed and reached under the pillow for the pistol that Kiet had left her. She had hoped that she would never have to use it, but she had no choice now. As she came up she turned and faced Aisha whose face drained of color when she saw the weapon. Her fear was almost tangible as she realized the danger. She hadn’t expected any resistance and carried no pistol of her own, certainly not expecting Farah to have one.
‘You wouldn’t,’ she said quietly, her menace evaporated.

Farah, who wouldn’t have killed an ant if she could help it, had no compunction in pulling the trigger. She hadn’t liked this woman from the first time she saw her and she now knew that her dislike was well founded. Aisha was there at her husband’s command to take her back to a fate she couldn’t face; a fate that would include her being stoned to death. She would be taken into the country, covered with a sack so that she couldn’t see her assailants or move freely. Her body would be placed into a hole in the ground, buried up to her stomach or neck so that she couldn’t even try to run and then she would be pounded by stones and rocks until finally her body could take no more.

She pulled the trigger and as the startled but now quite dead Aisha slid to the ground, Farah prayed to Allah for forgiveness; not only for killing another human being but for what was to follow.

2009-08-29T03:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 25 April 2009

Press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APSARAS

Fate Connects the Lives of Widowed Englishman and Orphaned Thai Twins in Sweeping Romantic Drama

Tragedy combining with a chance encounter has surprisingly serendipitous results in Apsaras.

At 3:00 A.M. on Boxing Day, 2004, a woman dies in London. At the exact same moment, six thousand miles away in Thailand, a man drowns in the tsunami that sweeps across Southeast Asia.

Jack Benson, a retired banker of 45, has spent the two years following his wife’s unexpected death touring the world to escape his memories and seek a new direction in life. Unexpectedly, he becomes embroiled in the seedy world of the Thai sex industry and encounters the twin daughters of the man who died in the same instant as his wife.

Now with the help of the twins and a lovely American immunologist, Jack finds himself on a new path that transforms life both practically and spiritually. But Jack soon discovers that the course he has chosen is not an easy one and matters of the heart rarely stay simple for long in the breathtaking love story of Apsaras.

Publisher’s website: www.eloquentbooks.com/Apsaras.html

About the Author: As the son of a serviceman, author Kevill Davies grew up in Germany, Libya and many garrison towns in England. Now retired, he spent his career in the leisure industry, owning pubs and a hotel near Abingdon. Kevill lives with his wife Sue in Mojacar, Almeria, Spain and has two grown sons. A sequel to Apsaras is currently in the works.

For media inquiries, appearances, or other publicity — please contact:

Ellen Green — PressManager@aegpublishinggroup.com

AEG Publishing Group, Inc.

845 Third Avenue, 6^th floor-6016 – New York, NY 10022

http://www.Strategicbookpublishing.com - http://www.EloquentBooks.com - http://www.StrategicBookMarketing.com

1-888-808-6190 - Corporate Office

Apsaras Sales

2009-08-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Apsaras update

Hi all,

Copies of APSARAS can be obtained at Amazon books and Barnes & Noble, sometimes at more advantageous prices.

Apsaras Published

2009-08-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 12 April 2009

12th April. APSARAS Published by Eloquent Books of New York.

To purchase, please go to:-

http://www.eloquentbooks.com/Apsaras.html

Apsaras update

2009-08-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, 10 April 2009

APSARAS Update

Terrorist plots to cause mayhem at Easter. Does this ring a bell?

You can read such a plot in my soon to be published novel, APSARAS.

What else can you expect to find there?

Love in middle age
Polyamory, or the loving, emotionally, of more than one person at any one time.
Exploitation of women and domestic violence.
Adventure.
Excitement.
Condemnation of modern day banking
Heroism and evil. Want to know a modern day hero. Check out the website of Doctor Beat Richner at http://www.beat-richner.ch/

Set in Thailand, the action never lets up until the tumultuous climax.

Apsaras Synopsis

2009-08-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

Apsaras Synopsis

NOW PUBLISHED BY ELOQUENT BOOKS OF NEW YORK

http://www.eloquentbooks.com/Apsaras.html

APSARAS
or
“The man who wanted to be the King of Siam”

A Novel by Kevill Davies

SYNOPSIS

A love story set in the Land of Smiles, Thailand.
The King and I revisited.

What’s in a time?
At three am on Boxing Day, 2004 a woman dies in London. At exactly the same time, six thousand miles away in Thailand a man dies at ten o’clock, local time. Two years later the bereaved meet by chance and their lives are changed for ever.

Jack Benson, a retired banker of 45 has toured the world for the two years since his wife unexpectedly died, visiting his substantial property investments, escaping from his memories and seeking the means to fulfilment in life.
In Bangkok to discuss the development of a Macao style gambling resort in southern Thailand he unexpectedly becomes embroiled in the seedy world of the Thai sex industry as he saves twin sisters from their evil uncle.
Ignoring his first instincts to abandon them and conscious of the hand of destiny, he finds himself intrigued and excited to immerse himself in their life and culture, rekindling not only his zest for life but love as well.

The quick moving story starts with the tragedy of the South Asian tsunami, of 2003, and is played out in the beautiful country of Thailand against a background of growing insurrection in the south.

Following a trip to Cambodia, Jack is humbled on hearing of the works of a Swiss doctor and decides to devote his life to helping disadvantaged woman including the twins, who he discovers are not only intelligent but also caring and kind. With the help of Peaches Langer, an American immunologist, he establishes a refuge near the town of Trang, where he is soon involved in transforming lives in both a practical and emotional way.
The refuge, called “Shangri La” after the hotel where Jack met the twins, is busy from the outset and the increasing numbers of “guests” requires that he adopts a more structured daily regime, involving, principally, health, fitness and education.
The story traces how the refuge grows and how he copes with the mental conflicts caused when many of the women he helps, fall in love with him and he finds himself increasingly unable to resist reciprocating their affection. He begins to compare himself with the legendary “King of Siam” and his harem.

When a Muslim girl arrives seeking refuge from a forced marriage to a terrorist leader, Jack and ‘Shangri La’ are forced to the forefront of the escalating unrest in the region. Faced with the decision of abandoning her and saving the home or helping her, Jack has no doubts and as his personal love life becomes ever more complicated the beat of the story rises as ‘Shangri La’ becomes the focus of the world and the story reaches its climax on an Easter Sunday.

Copyright© Kevill Davies 2008

Novel length; 132000 words

If you would like to know more about this novel with a view to publishing, please contact me

Kevill Davies

You can see a video of me describing this novel on You tube.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BF5efXcQluk