Before the protagonist was Blake Deco, he was Drake.
Initially, the idea was to steal King Tut’s dagger, not the Deringer.
The story is inspired by a real-life actress.
I couldn’t decide on a title for the book. “Sun Kiss,” “Gun Boulevard” – the list went on. I finally decided by playing with the Californian orange brand, Sunkist and came up with Gun Kiss.
After changing the protagonist’s name to Blake, I contacted an expert in San Diego on skydiving who coincidentally is Blake.
The cat in the story is based on my tuxedo cat.
The Besame Mucho scene is based on my own experience with someone as we were driving to Malaysia.
Got bitten by a relative’s horse recently after taking a selfie with it. Laceration on my right arm. I ended up at a Malaysian polyclinic for treatment.
The medical service in Singapore is very slow. So you’d expect Malaysia to be much slower. I mean really sloooooooow, plus their reputation for being too lax.
But I got the surprise of my life. I walked into a crowded polyclinic in a small Malaysian town. Lots of patients already. The staff seemed very calm (humored by my incident, of course).
So I registered, got an injection,met the doctor, ended up in another room for a dressing, got some medication after — and I was out in less than half hour. I guess they won’t cast me as the next Lone Ranger.
Did I ever tell you about the time several Singapore and Malaysian police officers were looking for me?
They went searching porta porta for me in Arab Street, a neighborhood famous for cafes, restaurants and sheesha bars.
I had waiters and customers rushing toward my face telling me several squad cars had arrived with men carrying Heckler & Koch sub machine guns, and it was an APB for a certain “Khaled Talib.”
Well, they found me – and it was a riot.
What did they want? An officer approached me and said he heard about my reputation in making good sheesha. So he wanted me to concoct a good one for the visiting Malaysian police commissioner.
I got permission from the cafe owner to serve the commissioner a specialty – apple and grape. He enjoyed himself.
Got bitten by a relative’s horse recently after taking a selfie with it. Laceration on my right arm. I ended up at a Malaysian polyclinic for treatment.
