no freedom here

[realthog]

Here's the kind of story you expect to find associated with tyrannical hellholes like Zimbabwe or North Korea, not supposedly benign Thailand:

Writer jailed for Thai 'insult'

Australian writer Harry Nicolaides has been sentenced to three years in a Thai jail for insulting the monarchy.

Nicolaides wrote a novel four years ago, which contained a brief passage referring to an unnamed crown prince. It sold just seven copies.

He admitted the charge of insulting the royal family, but said he was unaware he was committing an offence.

Criticism of those in authority is the lifeblood of democracy; closer to home, we've seen the cost of its lack as loyal Bushies for several years did their best to smother dissent by stigmatizing all critics as traitors, terrorists or worse, thereby stampeding us into two unnecessary and almost certainly unwinnable wars, possibly fatal delays in tackling global warming, vastly increased environmental pollution, a surge in the rates of not just poverty but gross poverty, a slew of war crimes, the abolition of habeas corpus, and the worst global economic crisis in at least generations. Thailand's draconian laws persecuting anyone who offers even the most tangential criticism of the royal family are an obscenity, making a mockery of all other claims -- and there are many -- that the country has to democracy. Shame on them.

Comments

[realthog.livejournal.com]

That's a thought. I've just checked Amazon but there's no listing; I suspect the novel started life as this (http://www.amazon.com/Concierge-Confidential-Stories-Harry-Nicolaides/dp/1877029246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232381888&sr=1-1), but that's as far as I can find.

I've also checked Lulu, just on the offchance he self-published through their service, but no such luck. I did, however, come across this appetizing blurb for a different author's book:

This Amazing Poetry Book was put by the authour's master piece after many years of work. This Book is the solely labor of his. Inside you should find all topics, encompasses all subjects we are facing today in America and as a society as a whole. Many believe Mr.Theodore Regis is a gifted writer,and an extraordinary Poet. They see him as a second Shakespeare who resurrected to breathe poetic words at a greater skills. This book is a work of an artist, it may be bitter, soft, fun, sweet, enjoyable, sad, hopeful, but it is a work of a Poet. Transcendental Simulacrum is written to portray to the world pains,sorrows,and agonies facing all earth's citizens in the early twenty-first century.Its mission is to heal and cure the world malady.

Sounds like a must-buy to me!

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

I found it when I first read your post and I googled around a bit -- it's called ... dang it escapes me for the moment, it begins with a "V" like "Vituperation" or something like that. But he's taken it down from his self-publisher website, one of the things he did to try and get out of jail. hopefully some publisher in the states will pick it up. sad thing is, i'm sure it's awful.

Concierge Confidential was his first book, which was a self-published collection of his adventures working in a hotel.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

The title's Verisimilitude.