Another Farewell to Another Fine Friend

For what would have been Melanie Klimchuk’s 60th birthday this year, which was commemorated by an event in Toronto, I wrote this appreciation of her and our four decades of friendship.  In the early 1980s, I was hosting a music-comedy show on the University of...
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Time’s Arrow: The Death and Rebirth of Martin Amis

Upon the passing of the noteworthy author, Martin Amis, Jim Algie recalls his favourite novel by him, Time’s Arrow, which unfolds in reverse and leads back to the Nazi death camps. That period also inspired a more recent novel called “The Zone of...
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Bidding Adieu to Gordon Lightfoot, a True Troubadour

Jim Algie salutes Gordon Lightfoot, a true Canadian titan, who wrote some of the only good songs on AM radio when I was getting into music. In the early and mid-70s, Gordon Lightfoot was this lighthouse whose vision and voice were so powerful that they illuminated...
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Algie Bloodlines: From Italy to Mexico in Five Centuries and Back

Jim Algie looks back on some of his family history that dates back to Italy, where his distant ancestor worked as a scribe  for the Vatican. Words and pics by Jim Algie.  Many towns and villages in Mexico are named after Catholic saints. Our patron is Saint Catherine...
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Bangkok Prison Visit with a Convicted Killer

To get a glimpse of Thailand’s dark side and its Third World injustice system, no daytrip is more illuminating than a Bangkok prison visit, writes Jim Algie. Opening the back door of a pink taxi, I told the driver in Thai that I wanted to go to Klong Prem Prison. I...
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Jack & Jim of Many Writerly Trades
and Semi-Master of Some

On the Night Joey Ramone Died

The expanded edition of the book for 2018 features a non-fiction section of “Rock Writings and Musical Memoirs” containing real-life encounters with rock stars from Eddie Vedder to Joe Strummer, the Pixies, Soundgarden and Leonard Cohen, as well as a front-cover blurb from the acclaimed author and hit songwriter Timothy Hallinan: “The funniest sad book and the saddest funny book I’ve read in a long time.”

Thailand’s Sustainable Development Sourcebook

This 416-page hardback provides an incredible array of information, ideas and inspiration through more than 60 succinct articles, written by experts in the field, on subjects as diverse as energy and income inequality to education, corruption, organic restaurants, culture, Buddhism, female empowerment and climate change, in eye-catching layouts with many telltale photos and infographics.

The Phantom Lover

To travelers the world over Thailand is one of the most exotic places on earth – naturally lush, deeply spiritual, and hedonistic. In The Phantom Lover and Other Tales of Thailand award-winning author and longtime Thailand resident Jim Algie taps into the country’s fascinating culture in a way that Poe and Lovecraft fans will love.

Bizarre Thailand

A celebration of the country’s weirdest wonders, strangest museums, wackiest celebrities, sexiest ghosts, and nastiest serial killers, this non-fiction collection ventures off the well-trodden tourist trails and into the darkest and sexiest hinterlands.

Americans In Thailand

They arrived with printing presses and telescopes, religious fervor and guns. They advised monarchs and trained teachers and doctors. They paved roads and paid vast sums to expand their military operations for a controversial war. They brought new trade, training and theories to villages, classrooms and boardrooms, along with bottled water and pizza.

Thailand Travel Pack

In the first ever boutique traveller’s guide to Thailand, veteran author Jim Algie has condensed Thailand’s greatest experiences, sights, and dishes into the best of the best. Gone are the days of dragging a cinder block-sized guidebook around that could double as a dumbbell. Written in stylish prose and with much humour, this is all you need to come to grips with the kingdom’s intricacies.

E-pistles

Happy to hear from any other writers, readers, rockers and wanderers. Let’s exchange cordial emails or get really sycophantic and trade links, or just continue to ignore each other with cautious indifference. Your move…

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