Collin Piprell

I’m in the business of generating alternative realities and then exploring them. This, I claim, is not schizophrenia. A Canadian writer and editor based in Bangkok, I've also lived in England, where I did graduate work at Oxford, and in Kuwait, where I learned to sail, waterski, and make a credible red wine in plastic garbage bins. At the end of 2008, I resigned as editorial director at Dragon Art Media (Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Bali) to devote myself to writing. My chief skills are words and tunnels. Before the Oxford and Kuwait years, my employment experience included, among other things, four jobs as a driller and stope leader in mines and tunnels in Ontario and Quebec. (One of my few regrets in this life is having had to refuse a development mining job in Greenland.) There’s been little call for tunneling these days, but since moving to Thailand I've produced many articles on a wide variety of topics, four novels, a collection of occasional pieces, a diving guide to Thailand, another book on diving, and a book on Thailand’s coral reefs. I've also co-authored a book on Thailand’s national parks. I've taught writing at a local university (Thammasat), and I conduct occasional writing workshops for publishing companies and community organizations. I'm currently at work on a fifth novel, the second of a futuristic trilogy that begins with *MOM,*, now available on amazon.com. Books by Collin Piprell (currently out of print, aside from MOM and Diving in Thailand): *MOM* (http://tinyurl.com/y9am7lq) *Yawn* (A Thriller) Bangkok: Asia Books, 2000 *Kicking Dogs* (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2001) *Bangkok Knights* (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2001) (The previous three titles need a new home.) *Bangkok Old Hand* (Bangkok: Post Books, 1993) *Diving in Thailand* (Singapore: Times Editions; U.S.A.: Hippocrene Books, 1994, 2000), photographs by Ashley J. Boyd. *Thailand’s Coral Reefs* (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1993), photographs by Ashley J. Boyd. * Thailand: The Kingdom Beneath the Sea* (Bangkok: Artasia Press, 1991), photographs by Ashley J. Boyd. * National Parks Thailand* (Bangkok: IFPC, 1993, 1995), with Denis Gray and Mark Graham Prospective agents and publishers are welcome to contact me at collin.piprell@gmail.com.

Jack Shackaway may move to Ontario

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“Thinking about boredom,” Jack tells me, “and the subjective time dilation effect, and thinking I may then live forever, I’ve decided to move to Ontario.”

Other advice on stretching time.

Website dedicated to diversions for the bored.

More fun with boredom; visit Noteable Quotes.… Read more

Imperialists, eh?

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Word “Canadian” So “Reviled in Some Places” that Visiting Canucks Say They’re Americans (read the story).

 

Canada’s imperialistic ways are no longer secret, and people are out to get us, eh? Just the other day, a Canadian friend of mine, not partial to sporting the Stars & Stripes,  sewed a New Zealand flag to his backpack and was badly beaten by a gang of mid-level multinational corporation executives. This world is a perilous place, and it gets … Read more

My list

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I’m going to add yet one more wrap-up list to the long end-of-first-decade of the New Millennium lists. (To the surprise of some, our world has survived to read these lists.) I invite visitors to offer their own notions of what the most significant developments have been—those with the greatest potential to transform our lives.

 As a starter, but not necessarily in the following order, I’d propose these:

         – advances in nanotechnology

         – digital social networking, wikis, etc.

– research … Read more

Buying congressmen, Constitutional conventions, living in China

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This morning’s Slate carries the following item:

A Constitutional Amendment on Campaign Financing?”

“During his State of the Union last month, President Obama voiced his opposition to a recent Supreme Court decision to overturn campaign finance laws. He’s not the only one who doesn’t agree with the SCOTUS decision. Yesterday, academic and political activist Lawrence Lessig announced a call for a constitutional amendment to overturn it, launching the Web site CallaConvention.org. Lessig writes, “We should begin the long discussion … Read more