Opus 50 — S.P. Somtow

S.P.Somtow has assembled a collection of essays, poems, and fiction - and tells all about his first published poem from 1967, which earned a lengthy shelf life when it was used as the epigraph for a best-selling autobiography by Shirley MacLaine - to his first professional fiction sale in 1977 - to stories that won major awards like the World Fantasy Award. Here, also, are some of his acerbic commentaries from Thai and US magazines, which rarely shied away from controversial subjects.

S.P.Somtow's fiftieth book celebrates a lifetime of achievement as the internationally acclaimed author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

"...the most well known expatriate Thai in the world." - International Herald Tribune

Preface by the Author

This is a book that looks back, so I think I will begin with the present, and slowly work my way back to the past.

This book is a bit of indulgence. You see, I realized recently that I have two completely different sets of friends, two completely different lives -- two countries. Trying to bring these two worlds together, I suppose, is the aim of Opus 50. I wanted a quick way to explain to each set of friends what I do with my other set.

We'll start with a little speech I gave in late 2006. It's an impromptu thing; we had just had a coup, and the scheduled speaker, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, decided not to show up “for political reasons” -- in a typically non-Thai misreading of the entire situation.

Later, it would transpire that I, too, had perhaps misread the situation. But of that, more later.