I was happy and content playing Little League baseball, hunting, fishing and generally being a good ol’ boy in the making. Then, my father came home one day and said we were moving. Some move. From the sticks of Greenville to bamboo reeds of Bangkok, Thailand. I was devastated — but as children so easily do, I soon adapted to my strange new home. There were still lots of sports to play at my melting pot junior high school — The International School of Bangkok — and I became best friends with Danny Unger, the son of the American ambassador. I used to spend the night at the Ambassador’s mansion in Bangkok almost every weekend. Those were the days!

In Grand Slam, the opening manuscript of The Chandler Chronicles series, I set the first segment of the story in Bangkok. It’s a part of my life I intend to explore in greater literary detail down the road. The photo, circa 1967, shows me standing in front of a “spirit house,” the small, ornate mini-buildings Thais place in front of their homes to provide shelter for good spirits. I was 12 and in very good spirits.