Harvest Season
"A gust of cold air announced their arrival. It was harvest season and the ganja was coming down off the mountain slopes in baskets. At that time of year the warmth of the days gave way to frigid cold with nightfall and a chill seeped into the bar every time the door swung open. He had pale, watery blue eyes and a punch-drunk nose; he entered the bar as if he owned it, dressed in a hoodie and faded jeans. She glided in behind him with a faraway gaze."
Harvest Season, a novel set in China, is published by Earnshaw Books. Buy it online at Amazon. Download free e-reader version here. Contributions welcomed:
About Harvest Season: When a former guidebook writer retreats to an idyllic valley in the mountains of Southwest China where the weed grows wild on the mountain slopes, he soon finds his vision of Shangri-la pitted against a new breed of travelers who want to bring the party scene to town. The new arrivals include the Family of Light, a New Age tribe of hippies who believe they are living out an American Indian prophecy, and who bring with them a host of synthetic highs. This in combination with China's first Burning Man party at a new guesthouse and the Family's gathering on a nearby mountainside proves too much for the locals and for the local police, who have both long profited from tourism. The scene is set for a clash that will change the town forever.
Praise for Harvest Season:
"A great character study as well as being timely and political, this explains in detail ... the urban topic of "gentrification" and applying it on a truly global scale." – Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
"...single sentences in limpid simplicity become illustrative of individual character, to make the people on the pages archetypes of people we know in life." – Bangkok Post
"...reads like a fun beach novel, but raises larger issues that provide food for thought long after the last page is turned." – Beijing City Weekend
One of Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler's Top 10 picks for 2010