Collin’s books

Books by Collin Piprell  (publication details at the end of the page):

Collin's bookstore.

1. MOM

MOM 10pp sample.

Buy MOM. (Self-published through CreateSpace. Author retains all rights, and is looking for a mainstream publisher.)

Science-fiction fans and mainstream readers alike will enjoy this character-driven, darkly comic excursion through a bizarre yet plausible world set 50 years in the future. The story unfolds in the malls, where New York and Bangkok used to be, and in the gray badlands outside. What little is left of humanity has withdrawn into the malls, hermetically sealed against each other and against the world outside, including the PlagueBot, a superorganism composed of feral self-replicating nanobots.

MOM, the malls operations manager, is a machine intelligence recently awakened to self-consciousness and suffering serious psychiatric problems.  Cisco Smith and Dee Zu are test pilots for realities generated by Worlds UnLtd. Cisco is in love with Dee Zu at the same time he has become obsessed by illicit rendezvous in the Worlds with Sky, failing to recognize her as an MOM avatar. (Turnabout being fair, Dee Zu is meanwhile engaged in an affair with another Sky manifestation.)

For his part, Cisco is one of MOM’s favorite channels for humanly sensual delights. He’s also a trojan sleeper -- an unwitting agent for Brian, self-styled “The Evil Canadian” and the last human mall operations manager. Embittered, his job usurped by the current MOM, Brian intends to destroy her and most of what else remains of civilization. MOM is aware of the threat. Before Brian was retired, however, he managed to install subtle fixes in MOM’s source code, managing among other things to render his hideout effectively invisible to MOM and her orbiting monitors. She recruits Cisco, Dee Zu and two others to escape rapidly disintegrating malls on opposite sides of the planet in a last desperate attempt to zero in on Brian and neutralize him before all is lost.

As much as helping avert the apocalypse, Cisco’s quest becomes a matter of his own personal salvation. At the end, he rejects virtual immortality in a qubital approximation to Paradise, choosing instead to return to the ravaged planet to rescue Dee Zu. The conclusion points beyond their reunion to the evolution of a novel mutualism between humans and machine, setting the stage for a sequel.

2. Kicking Dogs

(available from Amazon in print and Kindle editions)

Cover illlustration by Colin Cotterill, writer & artist (www.colincotterill.com).

Jack Shackaway has a talent for annoying the wrong people.

3. Bangkok Knights

(out of print)

A sweet and sour chronicle of male expat life in Bangkok

A few of the issues addressed in this book:

• Will Trevor Perry ever find his perfect soulmate? In three separate trips to Bangkok from Kuwait, this young traffic engineer trys to interview dozens of prime candidates for dinner—maybe even for good times to come in Kuwait and Norwich. But he keeps falling victim to targets of first opportunity, including the legendary Legs, a.k.a. “Long Tall Lek,” who used to be the star dancer at Shaky Jake’s, way back before her feet started acting up and she had to retire. Some things just seem to resist engineering.
• What is Leary’s Law, and why should every single male visitor to Thailand be aware of it?
• Under what circumstances was a gentleman named Sid “Siddiqi” Davis crushed to death by a falling bargirl known as Big Toy?
• Why is a hangover like sticking your tongue on a doorknob?
• Why would a local expat women’s club even want to talk to “Billboard” Coburn, much less rent out his backside?
• What’s this strange fascination Bill Baxter from Seattle has for a young lady with a reputation for “feeding the ducks”?
• What is the Swollen Pig-Head Syndrome, and in how many ways is it going to ruin our narrator’s love-life?

3. Yawn (A Thriller)

(out of print)

Radical therapy for suburban life gone stale

4. Bangkok Old Hand

Take the “Bangkok Old Hand Quiz.” How does your own expertise stack up against that of the legendary Ham Fiske?

(Originally published in 1993 by Post Books; now out of print.)

· What’s the real story behind the Thai smile?

· Where do hangovers come from?

· What is a traffic jam good for?

· What is the essence of the Thai massage?

· Who is Ham Fiske?

This book provides authoritative answers to these and many other questions.

5. xxxxxx

Books by Collin Piprell:

* MOM, a novel (complete, seeking a publisher).

* Kicking Dogs (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2000; bookSiam, 1995; Editions Duang Kamol, 1991), a novel. Out of print.

* Bangkok Knights (Bangkok: Asia Books 2001; Bangkok: Editions Duang Kamol, 1989, 2nd ed. 1991; published as Too Many Women by bookSiam, 1995). Out of print.

* Yawn (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2000), a novel. Out of print.

* Bangkok Old Hand (Bangkok: Post Books, 1993), a collection of stories and essays. Out of print.

* Thailand's Coral Reefs (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1995). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd. Natural history and conservation of reefs. Out of print.

* A Diving Guide to Thailand (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, USA: Hippocrene Books, 2000; Singapore: Times Editions, 1994). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd.

* Thailand: The Kingdom Beneath the Sea (Bangkok: Artasia Press, 1990). Photos by Ashley J. Boyd.  Out of print.

* National Parks of Thailand, in collaboration with Denis Gray and Mark Graham (Bangkok: IFCT, 1991; 2nd ed. 1994). Out of print.

I’ve also had several hundred features appear in publications that include The Bangkok Post, Asia Times, International Herald Tribune, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asian Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, ShowBoats International, Boat International, SEA Yachting, Southeast Asia Diver, Action Asia, Arts of Asia, Asia-Pacific Tropical Homes, Discovery, Sawasdee.