Tropic of Capricorn Radio
Hi, uh, yeah, here I am. Um, yeah, in the middle of, uh, pretty much nowhere, uh, far north of the Tropic of Capricorn and I'm doing the interview, but sort of a fictitious one based on, uh, prior knowledge of his, uh, of his life and his, his books. And, uh, he's a hard man to access and I'm, uh, recording on my laptop, uh, the voice recorder, uh, that only records in .m4a format.
Do you think I could find one on my galaxy tab? No, it didn't have one on my galaxy tab. No, it didn't have one. And, uh, I've got limited, uh, access here to the internet as there is no internet. Um, all I've got between me and, uh, uh, my next destination is, uh, you know, galaxies and galaxies of stars. So I thought it'd be a good, good night, uh, to have a chat about Jake Needham's latest book.
Uh, THE NINETEEN. Yes. Yes, Jake. Great to have you on the show too. Uh, the last wonderful interview I heard of you, was with the late Baby Whale, uh, who authored WITHOUT FROM WITHIN, I think it was one of his poetry books. I was, uh, lucky enough to actually help him design that cover. He was frustrated no one was around and I was at the bottom of the barrel. There was a sense of urgency about getting that simple cover right so he could get his poetry out to the word, published both in English and French. Uh, he was a busy, busy guy up to his resurrection and ascension up THE SEVEN FISH TREE. And, uh, I read the great blurb you wrote, uh, on THE YELLOW BUS BOYS GO BLUE: CANADA BOUND.
It was beautiful, you know, um, about, uh, another time and, and saying that another time, you know, a more innocent time.
I haven't read the book yet, but, um, I've got a copy of it here. And in the first few pages, I wouldn't give away too much folks. Uh, Jack Shephard's got a confession to make. No, he has a confession.
He's lost, fucked up. But I got a feeling that, uh, the 19 is, uh, it's gonna be a bit of a dark. Uh, it is set 20 years prior to 2022. And no COVID, no masks, unless, unless of course, you go to a beauty salon or, or a, uh, a barber, uh, they may wear masks, but, uh, it's, uh, it's covering, uh, certain, uh, subjects that, that Jake's, uh, known for.
And, and very few writers are actually covering it, uh, except me for course. And that's, uh, terrorism in Asia.
Um, uh , yeah I've been living outta my car for the last six weeks, Jake. Uh, it was like a, a trip, a trip into the past. Uh, 30 years ago I traveled around the States and Mexico in a Volkswagen van. And the Volkswagen was actually a lot, a lot better for sleeping in, than the current Hyundai, i35. In the VW van, uh, you know, you actually almost could stand up in it.
And, uh, It was, it was a lot harder back then, uh, in the States, you know, if you park in the wrong place, say, someone's front yard, you're gonna have the local police rocking up if the home owner doesn't get to you first.
Um, and the local police don't rock up. You're gonna have the locals rocking up and they don't rock up with, uh, uh, cup of tea and, uh, scones. No, they rock up with. Whatever ammunition, they get their hands on, uh, and guns to fire it. So M16s, Magnums, Glocks, anything to protect their property.
There are a lot of badasses in the US. And, um, uh, I was lucky I didn't have my head blown off a few times by both the police and, uh, local, uh, gun owners, uh, but you know, added a little bit of excitement, whereas here in Australia, the only thing you've gotta worry about is, uh, stray kangaroos. I hit one on the first night and, uh, holy shit, I was lucky I was going a good 140 k's an hour.
And, uh, just the side fender, a little bit loose. I say, well, the gods are looking down on me, favourably.
Jake, I drifted a little bit so let's get back on track and talk about the book.
Jake's got a bit of a flair for writing about nefarious subjects, like terrorism, um, terrorism, and uh, terrorism. particularly Indonesian terrorism. The Indonesians, you know, beautiful women, ancient temples, uh, um, but Jake's writing about their darker side. The darker side the Indonesian Tourist Bureau would prefer you not to know.
Jake's pretty much, uh, the only author, uh, tackling these big issues of fanatics in the region.
Muslims do Muslims too. I personally just prefer to fuck them, at Chinese cemeteries, under a full moon, on the grave of Mhe Chunk-ee Kock.
And this is what makes THE NINETEEN so interesting. Uh, a Bangkok we once knew. Beheadings. Characters we love and adore. And Jack even laughs, in this novel. He's not quite jaded, the word cynical is still a few blocks away and there's general buoyancy that only the early 2000s could offer.
Uh, um, the line has gone quiet. I'll take that as a cue to wrap this interview up.
Thanks Jake, for your time, it was a blast. It's nice to be connected when you aren't.
Until next time listeners... don't be dickheads, crikey, or I'll have to crack open a tinny, fair dinkum mate.That was for the Australian listeners out there.
Until next time, uh, stay tuned to Tropic of Capricorn, um, where insects go splat and kangaroos, uh...
