Yes, as DH pointed out in his comment on my last post (he obviously got up and wrested his Bangkok Post from the hotel-room door-handle before I did), Australian best-selling author (5 copies was it?) Harry Nicolaides coped it sweet with a three year sentence.
From the photo on page 1, he doesn't look too happy about the prospect of more time spent in the "Bangkok Hilton" and I don't blame him...
Because I am actually in Thailand at the moment I've just deleted a large section of criticism of Thai legal stupidity and the anachronistic monarchic systems... The arbitrary way this law is applied is just too scarey - everyone knows what is going on with the royal family, yet the author of an obscure novel gets punished for saying it... Many of the readers comments to the Post article pretty much say how I feel about what a tragic farce this is...
And because I don't want to join him, I'll shut up right now...
E@L
(p.s. I notice that the once ubiqituous yellow t-shirts on Monday have pretty much disappeared as wearing one would be considered a Political statement rather than a royalist one.)
Happy Charliemas
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Well Harry is certainly getting some attention now. BBC News no less.
Yes. Even huge coverage back in OZ!
Maybe now someone from the embassy will get off their ass.
Still he could make akilling publishing the book again now that interest has been heightened.
I hope he finds a competent editor first.
In the opening pages, there is village hidden behind the trees which newcomers can hardly detect. However...
The laughter of children and the fuel-spluterring crackle of an old motorcycle also belied the presence of inhabitants. p3
"Belied"? To belie means "to make a lie of" ... As surely the laughter and crackle actually REVEAL the presence of inhabitants (and hence the village), so 'belie' is exactly the wrong word.
And since the protagonist/narrator arrives at night, how can all that village detail be described anyway?
Swords of light plunged through the cracks between the beams of wood that formed the walls of the house, and slay the nimble shadows of night. p14
Nimble shadows of night? OMFG, no comment.
Well he has a bit of time on his hands. Maybe he'll take a creative writing course.
DH: no, I'm not going to comment. Hopefully he'll get a pardon from the King soon and it will all be over.
"...nimble shadows of the night..." That reminds me of the line "she flailed her arms wildly" in some forgettable novel from decades ago. And that one even had an editor.
On the bright side perhaps his next novel will be based on the "Bangkok Hilton". "...he plunged the sword of his sex deep into the nimble shadows of my arse.."
I feel for the guy, I really do. And I hope the King pardons him soon. I think the King is offended because he's in such a bad novel.
I think you may just have time to pop up to Bang Kwang with a food parcel before you leave.
Diba: shudder...
DH: or a copy of Strunk and White. I am currently having issues in Dubai (like no hotel booking at 4am at the reception desk)
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