Review: Duck!
My rating: 
I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up on my own, but it was so highly recommended by several people I follow on Twitter that I decided to give it a try, and I’m very happy I did. It’s a lovely story, told in full. So many books I’ve read lately have been under-developed, but “Duck!” is very well fleshed out, and written in a very easy to read style that makes it a real page-turned (although, since I no longer read dead trees, I guess that makes it a “thumb-tapper”).
Published: The Naga's Treasure
The Naga’s Treasure has now been published at Smashwords. The book is an erotic fantasy set in the twelfth century Khmer empire of Angkor, telling the story of an unusual way that one of the kings of Angkor serves the guardian spirit that protects the ancient kingdom. As a special introductory offer, you can buy The Naga’s Treasure from Smashwords for just $0.99 until the end of August 2011. The book is also available from Goodreads.
Tags: Naga's Treasure
Review: Test of Faith
My rating:
I’m surprised there aren’t more m/m books set in the crusades. It would seem to be fertile ground. “Test of Faith” was quite a refreshing change from the Regency/Victorian setting of most historical romances these days. It doesn’t have a happily ever after ending, which is disappointing but true to the characters. There are a couple of reasons I didn’t give it four stars: The point of view flip-flops between the two protagonists - Abdul and Thierry.
Background: Ancient Angkor
My next book, The Naga’s Treasure, is almost ready for release. I have to make one last edit and also create a cover that I'm happy with. The Naga's Treasure is a bit of a departure from my two "Journey" books. For starters, the new book is fantasy, based on the idea that the old myths and legends of ancient Angkor are true. Specifically, the book was inspired by the following tale related by the Chinese emissary to Angkor, Zhou Daguan:
Tags: Naga's Treasure
Sorry About the Mess...
It has been a few weeks since my last post, and while that’s bound to happen from time to time, in this case there was a reason other than simply having nothing to say. It recently came ot my attention that the hosting platform I’m using is actually no longer supported, and so I’m moving all my sites (there are nearly ten in all) to new accounts. This one, since it’s new and doesn’t get that many visitors, was my test case.
Siamese Men of the Nineteenth Century
Siamese boatman of the nineteenth century In the "Journey" books, I've struggled a bit to describe the typical dress of the men of Southeast Asia, particularly Siam, in the nineteenth century. I've seen plenty of descriptions and illustrations, but how to describe it? It's a bit more than a 'loincloth' but not quite trousers. As luck would have it, in my other role as a travel writer I recently came across a rare nineteenth century photograph of a commoner.
Journey to Angkor - Second Edition
I’ve just uploaded a new version of Journey to Angkor to Smashwords. I received a lot of good feedback from a few readers, and have corrected a number of word usage and grammatical mistakes. There’s been no major change to the story, but I did extend the ending by another chapter to better match up with where the third book in the series will pick up. This is, in part, preparation for the publication of the sequel, Journey to Rai-Lay.
Tags: Journey to Angkor
Phallic Shrines in Thailand
One of the charming things about Thailand, and much of Asia for that matter, is that they're much less hung up on depictions of the male member. In fact, some religions even venerate a crude representation of the male phallus. I imagine many of you have worshiped at that altar, haven't you? In Thailand, phallic charms and wood carvings are popular. They serve many purposes, such as 'protecting' a guy's real manhood from attack by evil spirits, or to simply encourage, err, propagation.
Background: James Brooke
I just finished the first draft of the sequel to Journey to Angkor, which hopefully means I'm only a month or two away from publishing it. So, I thought it might be interesting to give you some background on the one historical figure I've used in this next book. I first encountered James Brooke when I visited Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia, where he was the first "White Rajah" of Sarawak.
Tags: Journey to Rai-Lay
Coming Soon!
Welcome to the new web site of Michael Joseph, author of the upcoming book, “Journey to Angkor”, which will be published as an ebook on Smashwords.com. Keep an eye on this site, as I’ll update it again as soon as the book can be downloaded.
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