Author of Legless in Thailand
Legless author in Thailand - British expat - John McMiken
Legless HQ
"Welcome to the real me" My real name is Ian Reed. I chose the pseudonym of John McMiken for my writing for two reasons. The first reason was in memory of my late mother, who's maiden name was McMiken. The second reason was personal, I didn't want people who know me, to read my book and then when they meet me again think that they know more about me than they already do. There is a third reason now, because there is already a well-known author named Ian Reed and I wouldn't want to confuse any of our respective readers. The name Ian is also the Scottish equivalent of John, so the name John McMiken just came to me easily. I am actively trying to promote my 'Legless' book on the internet at the moment, I am not looking for sympathy or celebrity status, I am just trying to share and sell my story, so that at least something positive can be gained from my unfortunate experiences.
I am originally from St Helens in England, but have lived in Thailand for 20+ years now. I had a very serious road traffic accident here in 2001, which almost killed me, put me in a coma for 3 weeks, broke almost every bone in my body and I also lost one of my legs. This is covered in my first book 'Legless in Thailand' which begins with me waking up from my coma.
I first started to write when I was recuperating from my accident in a small town in the North East of Thailand, I was not only physically hurt, I was also going through psychological torment because of the subsequent actions carried out by my partner at the time. I never set out to write a book, but I had my computer in front of me and I just found it mentally therapeutic to write down the thoughts that were driving me more and more insane, torturing me and going through my head every minute of every day. Even after I finished writing the first draft of my first book, when I looked at my life in the pages from the past and what lay ahead of me now, daydreamingly, I just thought "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to return to the past and correct the stupid mistakes that you made in your life, I wouldn't be here now feeling sorry for myself, I would be in a much better place with someone who I now know actually cares for me." That is where the idea for my book 'Ex Post Facto' came from, just wishful thinking and daydreaming for a better present and future and a fairly unusual way for me to try to achieve this.
My life has been far from normal since I have been in Asia, now legless, the legless fool, but not intoxicated legless, well, only on special occasions. Many unusual things have happened to me here. I have now written some short stories about some of the unusual incidents that I have been involved in, if you would like to read my stories then click anywhere on this highlighted line: expostfacto/shortstories/shortstories.html
Well! I think I have written enough about myself for now, if anyone sincerely wishes to know more, then you can send me an email and make my day fool@leglessfool.com
Ian Reed / John McMiken (The Legless Fool)
