Pacific Dash: From Asia Vagabond to Casino King (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780578947129)

​​​​​​​"ENDLESSLY ENTERTAINING! He is 'Dash in a Tropical Wonderland' in this offbeat adventure with equally quirky characters. A fun journey -- don't miss it!" -- James Roby, The UrbanKnights Series

PACIFIC DASH is the offbeat and colorful new novel following the vagabond life journey of Dashiell Bonaventure, a young American who roams Asia for decades to pursue thrills and truth. This is a vivid work of gaudy fiction that will transport readers to foreign worlds of exotic delight, satisfying fans of armchair global travel, adventure fiction and romance, alike.

In 1968, a job transfer catapults the family of young Dashiell Bonaventure across the globe, from the Illinois cornfields to a scintillating, fresh new world in far-flung Hong Kong. Though the innocent teen believes his expatriate high school experience will just be temporary, he is mistaken. For thus begins Dash's lifelong odyssey drifting between continents and crisscrossing Asia in constant pursuit of adventure and self-discovery.

For decades, he wanders through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar and more. Eccentric and flamboyant personalities roll through his unplanned life while Dash roams the jungles, beaches, and cities of the Far East, living out of a backpack and at other times flying in private jets.

Along the way, Dash falls desperately in love but also makes bitter enemies. He saves lives while also nearly losing his own. He backpacks and motorcycles across Indonesia, works in an illegal offshore casino in the Straits of Malacca and later becomes enormously rich in the seedy enclave of Macau as a casino VIP junket pioneer.

PACIFIC DASH is the next best thing to your own journey down the colorful back alleys of Asia. Sparkling with anecdotes and color, it charms readers by parachuting them into festivals, culture, and vice dens of the Far East. The story unwinds at a furious pace, truly a mad dash: From a sudden disaster at international high school in cosmopolitan Hong Kong ... to fantasy years jetting around the globe as collegiate protégé to the world's reigning literary superstar ... From a stunning and dreamlike backpacking idyll through culture-lush Indonesia ... to his unplanned decade aboard a sleazy floating casino in the Straits of Malacca ... finally to Dash's stunning rise to power as the wealthiest Westerner in Asia and king of the casino business across all of Greater China.

With PACIFIC DASH, readers experience life amongst Asia's elite, the young princesses and princelings at the international high school in 1960s Hong Kong. They hang out with Aussie surfer dudes in Bali and go tromping down the 1970s hippie trail to Afghanistan, Nepal and beyond. They thrill to illegal high-stakes baccarat tables on the high seas and gorge on spicy foods eaten by hand off banana leaves. And they fall in love with the gorgeous Fiona Lo Ting-Ting while making friends with intriguing characters like Snakehead Goh, PY (Little Fatty) Lee, Chickie Schmidt and Jackson Toh.

This karma-laced tale is akin to a mash-up between a Paul Theroux travel narrative and Alex Garland's 'The Beach' with a little Forrest Gump tossed in, too -- the latter because amazing, truly unexpected adventures just keep happening to good old Dash.

PACIFIC DASH is the newest offering from BANANA LEAF BOOKS, a new imprint specializing in the adventures of Westerners adrift in Asia