The Drain Dwarf of Caringin Barat―Tales from the Ring of Fire

The author of this delightful collection of short stories begins the forward with a confession: “I collect odd people… Much the way other people collect stamps or coins, I collect artists, deviants, egomaniacs, the sexually and morally confused, social faux pas, anarchists, true believers and rabid atheists.”And Indonesia, a land where there is a very porous frontier between the natural and supernatural worlds, provided him with a rich hunting ground.In this collection, the reader will meet Thomas Perkasa, a gentle early childhood teacher with a secret passion for women’s clothes; Maurice de Castillon, an eccentric artist who manages to break the cardinal aesthetic rule; the seductive Dewi Bambridge and her pesky drain dwarf; and Richelle Orlando whose passion for rebelliousness is tempered by an egg named Felicity. The author spent several years living in Indonesia and is quick to point out that the stories themselves are a blend of fact and fancy. What is not fiction is Indonesia where the tectonic plates of the natural and spiritual worlds rub their backs together and create the Ring of Fire.