Author Archives: Andrew

A Theory of Flight will be published on Amazon on Monday, 9th April 2012. For a limited time, it’s available for $0.99 (yes, that’s 99 cents). Normal retail price is $2.99! Yeah! I did it! Andrew Digg this post Recommend … Continue reading →

Culinary Odyssey and our backers are now also backers of HAVEN Restaurant, a Dragonfly project providing training for Cambodian orphans and youths. They do excellent work in Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Cambodia. Please check out their site http://www.havencambodia.com/en/welcome/ and visit for a … Continue reading →

The three personas of the memoirist: The author is the person giving the lectures, doing the interviews, and presenting his work to the public. The narrator is the person in the book, telling the story. He lives forever between the … Continue reading →

Got a request for advice from an aspiring writer. Looking back to my humble beginnings, I can’t recall ever thinking that someday, someone would ask me for advice about writing. Here are some points I’ve pondered about for a long … Continue reading →

Sometimes, we don’t know if “courage” is even the issue as it’s often mixed up with honor, shame, a skewered sense of right & wrong, and/or a misplaced sense of loyalty. It took me a decade to write these few … Continue reading →

to face and speak the truth at all cost. This is the first requirement of memoir, the hardest and the most important. Without this, a memoir is merely self-marketing fluff. Fulfilling the requirement might cost the author more than he … Continue reading →

If you could send a message back in time, what would you say to your younger self? Senior year. A girl named Autumn. I held her hand twice. We never kissed, but I would have dug a hole to China for her. … Continue reading →

Dear Backers, WE DID IT! A HUGE “THANK YOU!!!” to all my backers. You’ve made this project possible. The stars have, indeed, aligned, and the project is a “GO!” I believe I have personally emailed each and every one you … Continue reading →

with Genevieve Erin O’Brien This interview was done over email. Thanks to Viet Nguyen & Isabelle Pelaud for setting this up just to help promote my project. Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it Subscribe … Continue reading →

Some readers wrote in asking about the scenic photos in the header of my website. These are all taken by me with a $75 camera and trimmed to size (ie. not panoramic). They all have the same theme: the view … Continue reading →

Returns on Investment I learned about this in Economics 101, but I never really thought about it or applied it to my life. As the years passed, I came to understand the value of time and the fickleness of fortune. … Continue reading →

Happy Holidays! I’ve put together a little e-card for the holiday season. Please click on the link below to download the recipes for the meal in the photo. This was what a poor handicapped farmer fed me 17 years ago … Continue reading →

I haven’t been back to Vietnam since 1999. Around 2002, a close relative in Vietnam informed me that I was on a blacklist and should not return in the near future (hence, I wound up in other parts of Southeast … Continue reading →

For the last three weeks, I’ve spent on average 4 hrs./day replying to emails. Since my book launch on Kickstarter, friends and family have come forward to support me. Acquaintances, many I’ve only met through emails, have reconnected with me. … Continue reading →

From Random House’s  Book Page … At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed … Continue reading →

My literary friends debate this one often: Q: Should an aspiring writer get an MFA? A: From all the discussions I’ve had with other published authors, the general consensus is that it depends on a whole lot of things and among … Continue reading →

One question that always comes up during my lectures: Q: You have been earning a living as a writer for twenty years. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? A: Not including my years of freelance work, I’ve written four book … Continue reading →

Hooray! For the first time in my life, I will be going to a designated luxurious haven to write, in a beautiful setting with other writers, artists and musicians and will be entitled to 3 square meals a day by … Continue reading →