All posts by Khaled Talib

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1-8 July, 2018.

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“Is this your Easter egg?” A reader’s message to me after noticing that I had planted a tiny mention in every book of mine. Now he’s wondering where I’ll put the next one. Have you spot them yet?

Personally,  my life wasn’t upended because of Trump and Kim. But I did receive a call from a relative asking me if he could drop off some stuff at my place for another relative to pick up. It seems he couldn’t get to this other relative who was staying near the hotel where Trump resided. The area had been cordoned.

They’ve  blocked some roads starting from the airport from the day the two world leaders arrived, and also created a radius of cordon around the two hotels where Trump and Kim are staying. Apart from heavy police presence, they’ve also got the military out to protect the two big shots, with some stationed on Sentosa Island where the summit is being  held.

It’s a good plug for Singapore; lots of world press etc, but it’s going to cost her $20 million as this article proves. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/trump-kim-summit-will-cost-about-20-million-to-host-says-pm-lee

The doctored image  shows local sentiments.  “Rojak” is a  delicacy of deep-fried dough with chili while “Tek Tarik” is tea with milk made by pouring and pulling between two mugs. You can see how the tea is done here on YouTube.   The servers in the cartoon are the PM of Singapore and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

And of course everyone seems excited about the court jesters (Trump and Kim impersonators, I mean) who are also here. 

The weather has been  topsy-turvy these days. I wish it was snowing. 

From a primary school principal in Singapore after I gave a one-day guerrilla workshop in English some years ago.
No syllabus, no books — nothing. After all, what do I know about grammar and English? I’m not a trained teacher nor am I a language expert.
I just told these kids to use the power of the imagination and taught them some basic writing skills. I was told they all did well in the finals overall.

p.s. ignore the Ikea postcard. Only card they could find at the last minute.

Photo by Alex Hockett on Unsplash

Whenever I used to travel to Sydney, I’d make regular visits to Bankstown, a suburban district. It had a nice Lebanese restaurant. My Australian friends would always discourage me from going there because of the town’s notorious reputation. If you google it, you’ll probably find lots of crime stories involving mob hits. The most recent involved a Vietnamese lawyer who was shot at point black range at a cafe.

If you are familiar with the old Australian TV series, “Underbelly” it is said to be inspired by the famous Muslim-Lebanese family in Australia — the Ibrahims. The most flamboyant of all is John Ibrahim (the king of Kings Cross) who recently had a book out about his life entitled, “Last King of the Cross”. His cousin recently married the sister of Salim Mehajer, another infamous figure, thus cementing the union between two of Australia’s most notorious families.

At one time, John lost his beloved macaw when it flew over the nearby cliffs at his seaside bungalow. The Rose Bay police, along with police rescue, abseiled down and retrieved the bird.

And then there was Mahmoud “Mick” Howie (deceased), who once headed the outlawed bikie gang, The Comancheros. Here’s a news clipping about Mick’s funeral.

The bikie gang was created a couple of decades ago by William G. Ross. He survived the Milperra Massacre in 1984, a shoot-out between rival motorcycle gangs. An innocent 15-year old girl died when a stray hit her.

What was once an all-white-gang, The Comancheros evolved to include several club charters across states. Members now make up different ethnic groups: Lebanese, Samoans, Maoris, Greeks, Italians, Asians, etc.

The Comancheros are not your regular beer-belching bikie gang. These guys are tech-savvy; members include trained military snipers and computer specialists.

So, I thought it’ll be fun to weave a new thriller about an ordinary guy working at a wine estate who finds himself embroiled with a bikie gang. It all begins when a reporter sent to do a feature story about the estate in Clare Valley in South Australia is found murdered.

I am familiar with South Australia, having managed the state tourism’s public relations account for a decade. The SA landscape is gorgeous that it’s hard to pick a favorite location as it changes from place to place. Well, there’s also going to be a bit of Sydney in the story along with other locations around the globe. Honestly, it never occurred to me that I could find more materials to write another novel.

GUN KISS ebook sale

$0.99 

April 1-15. Amazon.

Get your Kindle copy: http://getbook.at/GunKiss

Hope you like it. I made it myself. Took me years to learn the craft. I am a play it by ear person, but I know how to choose the right song for a theme and how to rouse suspense.

It was trial and error but the end result was satisfying. I’m starting small, but what do you think? Should I make a movie? Managing fictional characters is one thing, and managing actors – real people – is another. Richard Gere once said during an interview that a  movie director needs to be “ballsy.” I probably have the patience to manage a fleet, but can I handle a mutiny? Easier to kill a character in a book.

Then again, I don’t know if I want to make movies. I like to write; this is what I want to do more than anything else. Besides, making a movie involves a company, writing a novel relies on your own company. Just you and your mind. Okay, the editor gets involved eventually.

But the one thing creative minds have in common is they are building, a way to show my soul I am listening…

Click to watch the trailer. GUN KISS 

KT

On three separate occasions, I stared at three complete strangers — never having met them before — and guessed their first names. I got all of them right.

One was a boy in Singapore, the other was a young Egyptian woman working for the French embassy in Cairo, and the third was a Malaysian. They were shocked and wondered how I did it.

A friend, who does Reiki, thinks I have a powerful energy. I don’t think so since I’ve also made mistakes.