Chris Maden
Chris Maden, chairman of Hong Kong Writers’ Circle, self-published his first book last month. Price’s Price is a tautly written novel following the antics of a hard-drinking ex-Rhodesian farmer who discovers the delights of Hong Kong’s underbelly. Stanley Price wallows in sex and booze like a crazed hippotamus. “My name’s Price and I sell dildos” is his pick-up line. It is an entertaining read that Chris says he self-published through his own Mung Cha Cha Press because he got fed up with traditional publishers.
At times Price’s Price reads like it was penned by Clive James. Stanley on his leching: “”I had always been more of a quality than a quantity man, but those first few months after Lily saw me rebound in the opposite direction: round, slim and athletic; frigid, insatiable and the inevitable quota of actors; Filipina, Chinese, English and a memorable night with two Koreans, and once, but sadly but once, a random stranger with a predilection for quickies in public: in our case an upmarket department store where I had been shopping. We caught each other’s eye, played hide and seek through household goods and lingerie; I lost her in bedding only to have her hand snatch me from behind a curtain whence we beat hasty but necessary post-coital escapes in opposite directions before I could get her number.”
Chris Maden is also one of the best writers we’ve seen for a while at dialogue. He quotes an American in the Big Apple. “My Goddamn son of a bitch father God rest his soul gave me dis stupid Guyman name. Ran away from the fuckin Nazis and still he gave it to me. Fuckin guy could never leave Guymany in his head, know what I mean. Son of a bitch. But it aint fuckin nothing compared to Feather . . . stone (Price’s other Christian name) . . . how. Goddamn fuckin —“
“Fenshaw.”
“Fen . . . fuckin . . . what?”
“My middle name.”
“I’ll be Goddamned.”
They’re riding in a well-stocked limo through Manhattan. Price’s friend pours him a whisky.
“You a goddamn Jew with that name? “
“Strictly C of E.”
“What the fuck is that? Some kind of Japanese kinky thing?”
Price’s Price: Chris Maden, Mung Cha Cha Press. ISBN-10: 9887565911, ISBN-13: 978-9887565918
About the author:
Chris Maden, born in Scotland, has lived in Hong Kong for 40 years. He is a self-confessed bookworm, philosopher and outdoorsman who lives on Prince Edward Rd. He says he does blue ocean sailing, high altitude trekking and practises Aikido when he not torturing his neighbours and the local cats by guitar playing. Chris, who also writes for HK Free Press and runs a computer consulting company, has contributed to four other books, including After the Storm, the new anthology from Hong Kong Writers’ Circle.
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