

My Research Process
As you've probably read, I do a lot of research. For my first novel, Ghostman, I taught myself how to steal a car. For my second novel, I moved to China for several months. I've read several books about lockpicking-- I don't have the dexterity to do it myself-- but I know how it works. I played majong with a Triad boss. I played cards with a skinhead gang. For my third book, I'm going to be buried alive. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time exploring the world. I care a lot
Ted Talk: Organized Crime Now Accounts for %15 of the Global Economy
#blatnoy #sovietunion #vory #suka #mafia #tedtalk #research #badguys
The Dying Art of Picking Pockets
Have you never encountered a pickpocket? Ever wondered why?
Small hand legerdemain, or pickpocketing, is largely a lost art in the United States. There are a couple of interesting reasons for this. First and formost, there are severial obvious social factors that make pickpocketing an undesirable profession. Pickpocketing is particularly hard here-- Americans have a very large personal space bubble and little tolerence for casual touching, both traits that make sight-of-han


Ghostman in Japan, Part Two! More Questions from Bungei Shunju
GHOSTMAN is filled with small trivia about criminal life, and that is what makes the novel convincing. Are these small “facts” really true? Or did you make them by your brainwork? If they are true, how did you get such knowledge? First, I should say that not all of the "facts" presented in GHOSTMAN are true. I made many of them up so the story would be more exciting. Only a fool would believe everything in GHOSTMAN. That being said, though, I tried to make the book's details


Ghostman in Japan! Interview for Bungei Shunju
GHOSTMAN comes out in Japan this month, from publisher Bungei Shunju! I did an interview for them that should go on their site sometime in the next week. Here are some excerpts-- Could you tell me how you were “discovered” and finally became an international author? I got my first major break when I was nineteen years old. I wrote a short comedic play that got picked up and was performed at a couple of festivals. I'd written several novels by that point and sent out hundreds
Jon Ronson Provides Some Insight on Psychopathy
#psychopathy #video #research #tedtalk
Pablos Holman, Legendary Hacker, Shows Us How it's Done
Can hacking save the world? Maybe. It certainly can steal a lot of shit. #pablosholman #hacker #tedtalk #research #video
My Research Process
#research #writing #video #interview