Comments on: ‘Brother One Cell’ Writer at Korea Society

By: Random Photos of Pretty Colonial Buildings | The Marmot's Hole

Random Photos of Pretty Colonial Buildings | The Marmot's Hole — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:36:31 +0000

[...] Gould Hunter Thomas, a traveler and Texaco employee who lived in pre-Communist China and, unlike another Long Island writer with the same surname, managed to do so without getting imprisoned for drug [...]

By: slim

slim — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:47:07 +0000

The writing in Cullen’s book was panned by the reviewers I read, who nonetheless admired his fortitude and ability to make lemonade from the lemons he dealt himself.

By: dogbert

dogbert — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:38:46 +0000

Hi Cullen.

Have you met Gabe?

By: Tell22

Tell22 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:32:44 +0000

Once again I am baffled by some of you. Dogbert, honestly, are you THAT concerned with the money Cullen makes off his book? Can it really be THAT much money that it upsets you so? Or are you one of those moral-high grounders that is clean of sin. Whatev.

Part of Cullen’s story, (really just his initial idea to sell drugs and his capture) is now an episode of NGEO’s Locked Up Abroad program. Get all up in arms about this one too Dogbert! He probably made a fortune and now that no-good drug dealer is going to be a movie star!

This guy is a college graduate and a committed professional writer. Go to his journal page on his website and read some of his other pieces if you have any doubts. So, hmmmm, it seems like he wants to profit from his WRITING now, NOT drug dealing. What a criminal!

By: tomcoyner

tomcoyner — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:11:10 +0000

Haven’t read the book, but I did listen to the pod cast. When I discussed his presentation and Q&A session with my Korean wife, she asked, “What’s he doing now?” An excellent question. Probably attending speaking engagements and recording pod casts, would be my best guess beyond asking a lot of folks if they “want fries with that?”

Actually, I recall one or two Peace Corps Volunteers who could gush at the inane, simply because they were “sitting on straw mats in the middle of Asia.” Certainly Thomas got over that, but it was a bit funny and familiar listening to his enthusiastic voice inflections as he recounted making friends and finding himself while in prison. After listening to him, I could easily imagine him talking someone into taking a risk of buying weed in Korea, too.

Well, a man has got to make a living, by hook or by crook…

By: WangKon936

WangKon936 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:21:25 +0000

Hahaha….. yeah, it’s certainly not the highlight of the book.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:17:41 +0000

If you read it you’d understand.

I get the feeling I don’t want to understand…

By: WangKon936

WangKon936 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:08:20 +0000

No… not pillowing… more like “blanketing”…

If you read it you’d understand.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:06:16 +0000

It probably hasn’t sold that many copies and I doubt it’s a big money maker. Unless you are James Cavell, you are not gonna have a best seller on your hands if you write about Asia in America.

Given his circumstances at the time, I’m hoping Thomas’ book has less talk of “pillowing” than Clavell’s.

By: WangKon936

WangKon936 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:00:42 +0000

“Anybody know how well this book is selling outside of the Korean expat and Korean community?”

I don’t think this book is very well known in Korean community circles in North America. It’s not marketed to Asian Americans. Snippets of the book were in GQ magazine.

It probably hasn’t sold that many copies and I doubt it’s a big money maker. Unless you are James Cavell, you are not gonna have a best seller on your hands if you write about Asia in America.