born in the sub-tropical port of New Orleans, Joe Cummings began travelling in South-East Asia shortly after finishing university. Before writing became a full-time job, he played guitar in a succession of bands, volunteered for the Peace Corps, worked as a movie extra, and taught English in Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US. Along the way he earned an MA degree in Thai language and art history.
Thailand, or Siam as it was called until 1939, has never been colonised by a foreign power, unlike its South and South-East Asian neighbours. Despite periodic invasions by the Burmese and the Khmers, and brief occupation by the Japanese in WWII, the kingdom has never been externally controlled for long enough to dampen the Thais' individualism.