Journeys Series Re-released

I’ve just completed a refresh and re-issue of The Journeys series. This includes my very first fiction book, “Journey to Angkor.” Back when I wrote these in 2009 through 2012, the only tools writers had were basic spell checkers. Now we have much more sophisticated tools that can check grammar, syntax, and a whole range of issues. They aren’t perfect, since they rarely understand context or dialog, but they can help a writer identify a lot of things that editors and proofers can easily miss. As a result, the re-issued series features an improved text, hopefully free of typos and much more readable.

Editing these books triggered a lot of memories. The idea for Journey to Angkor came to me at a time when I was traveling a lot around Southeast Asia for work as well as to gather information for my online travel guide, AsiaForVisitors.com. I always enjoyed digging into the historical background of the places I visited and wrote about, so naturally I had heard of Henri Mouhot, the nineteenth century Frenchman who first publicised the existence of a sprawling Angkor temple complex in the jungles of Indochina. I thought that Mouhot’s adventures, as documented in his journal published as Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia and Laos, would make an excellent basis for a historical novel. I changed Frenchman Henri to Italian Piero but otherwise kept closely to Mouhot’s journal. As this was my first attempt at full length fiction, it went through several drafts, from an initial rewriting of the journals to a more novel treatment.

I didn’t originally plan on writing a series, but as many authors will tell you, characters can take on a life of their own once you give them space in your head. Henry Carter was originally supposed to be a cast-off character; a way to get Piero out of England and on his way to Siam. However, Henry took up residence in my head and I couldn’t just leave him languishing in England while Piero was exploring Siam and Cambodia. Thus, Journey to Rai-Lay was needed, which in turn required a few pre-publication changes to the first book.

So, once I finished the second book, I had both Piero and Henry living their happy endings, but not with each other. To neatly wrap up the series, I needed to get the two men back together, if only briefly, to tie up the unresolved things in their past. Journey’s End not only allowed me to put to rest the two hero’s pasts, but it also gave me the opportunity to slip in a few more references to some of my favorite places in Southeast Asia.

These updated ebook editions are available now at all major online book sellers. Click through each volume for buy links.