Gerald Posner's Warlords of Crime - the Chinese New Zealand connection

Found this treasure in my library. Warlords of Crime by Gerald Posner.

I just gave away 700 books. But Warlords of Crime I am keeping because it is so relevant to what I am editing right now: The Jaded Kiwi, a novel about the start of the War on Drugs in New Zealand. In the novel, there is a Chinese family that is growing 4 greenhouses of genetically manipulated sensimilla. Its the start of their bloody dynasty growing marijuana, even though things do not go as planned.

A few years ago New Zealand, with the advice of their Police, legalized prostitution. Last time I was there you could run a brothel with 4 women as a legitimate business. There were brothels everywhere. 4 women could gross over $1.5 million a year. Cash. Chinese businessmen were running these houses, importing young Asian women under student visas and rotating them through different houses around the country. These businessmen controlled the advertising, labor, reinvestment of cash profits, any possible money laundering, in fact they were handed a fully integrated monopoly by the NZ Government. The impenetrable mix of legitimate and illegitimate operations seems right out of Gerald Posner's book about Chinese Secret Societies.

Similar unintended consequences happen in my novel set in New Zealand in 1976. The Jaded Kiwi is coming out in March 2016.

Meanwhile I could not resist posting Gerald's mustache! He is a great writer - and if you haven't read his latest wunderbook: God's Bankers - you should.

Remembrance of George Spill Regimental Quartermaster, Royal Artillery

In honor of my father, the veteran from Burma. One of the few of the original Forgotten Fourteenth Army to walk out of Burma at the end of World War II. He felt guilty about killing so many people and seeing so many men and civilians die. 

He wrote a book about his experiences, some are hilarious, others tragic. I published the book in paperback and e-book versions: Reluctant Q.


Above are the four medals he received in a small cardboard box. To the left was one of the last photos that was sent to his wife, from near Quetta, before the long journey to Burma, where most of his possessions, equipment and war buddies were lost. On the right George salutes when I took to the War Memorial in Auckland, New Zealand. This was one of the few times I had seen him stand tall and proud.

D-DAY in Burma

George Spill, author of RELUCTANT Q, heard about D-DAY a few days later in Burma, where he was stuck in a traffic jam caused by a Japanese ambush further up a hill. A team of Gurkhas dispatched the Japanese but not before George heard the news about Allied troops invading France. This photo was one of the last taken of George. He was in Quetta in his best "Bombay Bloomers" and pith helmet. By the time of D-Day his uniform was rags and an old steel helmet. Despite his skills and cunning as a Quartermaster supplying his Regiment with food and ammunition, any replacement clothing was non existent.
You can read more about the hilarious and tragic adventures of George Spill in his book: RELUCTANT Q.

George before he went to Burma

George Spill in India before the long journey to Burma.

You can read about my father's epic story of his voyage to India, the train journeys to Burma and the actual battles and extreme adventures he endured during World War II in his book, RELUCTANT Q, out now in paperback and as an ebook on Amazon. This is the last photo I could find of him, sent back to his wife before he descended into hell and back and where everything was destroyed by the jungle or Japanese artillery. He was one of the few to walk out of that theater in one piece. Told in his gripping narrative style, George lays bare the sheer absurdity, brutality and heroism of the war in the jungle. As other readers have told me, its a page turner, a must read and a worthwhile addition to World War II history from a very personal perspective. Its also very funny in the most unlikely places as in the opening "Who pissed in the officer's rum!?"