Good show, but little passion
The Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, conducted by Bangkok native Bundit Ungrangsee, brought red-blooded performances on the theme “Music of Destiny” to the Thailand Cultural Centre last Sunday, in the presence of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana and in honour of the sixth-cycle birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

SMALL SCREENS: Tata in video shocker
Two weeks ago, singer Amita “Tata” Young launched another scandalous move, with a new music video that featured the female singer and a good-looking Indian guy.

BOTTLE & BANQUETS: Apples in a bottle
Following a late summer lull, the Dusit Thani Wine Club kicked off the autumn season with two events that amplify its position as arguably the best wine club in Bangkok. Its credibility owes much to hosting first-rate events such as last week’s rare and informative tasting of calvados, that exquisite elixir distilled from apples in the Normandy region of France. Christian Drouin, owner of his eponymous company, poured six of his luxurious brandies at a casual presentation held around Dusit’s new lower lobby venue, My Bar.

A gifted first novel
A challenging detective tale that travels from San Francisco to Eastern Europe

PET TOPICS: Cat food, people food and sodium jolts
Among the joys of this column are the letters I receive from readers about their own pets. Some stories are absolutely delightful, and whenever it’s appropriate (and the writer permits), I put the stories in this column.

THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL: Fleas take over Bulgarian university
There’s more bad luck for the students at the American University in Bulgaria: The school has been inundated by fleas and unsightly couches. Student reporters say that rooms in the Skaptopara dormitory are being fumigated because students are being eaten alive by fleas.

A challenging detective tale that travels from San Francisco to Eastern Europe

Antonio Pineda’s novel is advertised as a detective story with a touch of Raymond Chandler brought up to date. This is a book that addicts of the genre will probably find more challenging than normal.

In fact, the cover notes that anyone with an IQ above “gifted” will appreciate this novel and be entertained, absorbed and challenged by it.

But to get the full taste and details of the plot, “The Magick Papers” probably requires reference books on blotter art and the music and theatre of the late 20th century. It also probably needs to be read twice.

A brilliant novel, but only for those who are not intellectually challenged.

Dubbed as possibly “The Great American Novel” – followed by a correction that it was probably “The Great Anti-American Novel” – “The Magick Papers” will likely create controversy for the author and publisher.

Not that this novel is against the US, it is just that many of the cultural elements portrayed can only be regarded as that of a nation in decline.

The author cannot be blamed for portraying the truth. In fact, it is the duty of all authors in a free society to do so.

Publisher IQ Inc goes for books that challenge the conventional perspective and make people think. Another work of “faction” – much of the story being “true crime” – “The Magick Papers” continues that tradition.

Never predictable, this tale of crime and punishment within the judicial system and outside it will keep you guessing until the final pages.

Pineda’s narrative takes us on his hero’s self-indulgent and apparently purposeless journey from San Francisco to Eastern Europe, with prose so descriptive the journey alone is entertaining. But back in San Francisco, murders are taking place which link up with the man travelling through Eastern Europe. What is the connecting factor?

Pineda is a resident of San Francisco and the quality of his writing ensures that the American scenes are absorbing and totally authentic.

Unlike any other detective story that I can recall, “The Magick Papers” has a very strong element of the performing arts woven into the narrative. This reflects Pineda’s earlier life as part of the psychedelic underground in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district when he was one of the founders of the Straight Theatre Group.

Pineda was also an actor in regional theatre, interpreting the works of Artaud, Brecht, Yukio Mishima and Shakespeare. As a professional dancer, he studied ballet in San Francisco with Carlos Carvajal, as well as flamenco with Cruz Luna, Rosa Montoya and Miguel Santos. He continued his studies in Madrid with the maestros Ciro, Maria Madalena and Juan Antonio De Los Reyes. Pineda then returned to California and formed Los Flamenco de Bronce – a popular fixture on the San Francisco scene.

The author’s background in the arts ensures that this book is more intellectual in the way it narrates what at times is a very violent tale revolving around blotter art – artistically created designs imprinted on papers containing the mind-expanding drug LSD. Hence the title “The Magick Papers”.

Eventually, the many attractions of Thailand drew Pineda to its shores. He is now a regular visitor to the Kingdom. It was in Thailand that he wrote “The Magick Papers”, his first novel.

“The Magick Papers” can be found at most good bookstores throughout the Kingdom. A welcome new trend for readers living in more remote areas of Thailand is that “The Magick Papers” and all books published by IQ Inc can be obtained online and postage-free from www.asiapublications.com.

Now, isn’t that magic come true?

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The Magick Papers

by Antonio Pineda

Published by IQ Inc

Available at all bookshops, Bt390

Reviewed by Khanet