Simon Elegant

Times and.

I guess it just got into my blood, both Asia, China in particular, and, you know, journalism, being a foreign correspondent, looked like a lot of fun.

I mean, I was there reporting it.

I did some stories on the ground and I just got fascinated by, I mean, effectively, I had stopped being a reporter for a while.

I was the bureau chief for Time in Beijing and I love journalism, but it can get a bit, how should we say, bricklaying.

It develops into an element of bricklaying.

It can be a bit humdrum.

And I didn't want to leave China, so I did other things.

I started a restaurant with a friend.

I did some teaching, that kind of thing.

But when I went back to these extraordinary protests, which is basically the city trying to throw off their fate.

I mean, they were destined to be ruled by Beijing, and they didn't want to.

They wanted to keep their rights and so on and so forth.

freedom of speech, stuff like that.

They'd got used to it, and it was coming down.

Basically, the city was crushed by the wheel of history, unfortunately for them, but they were resisting, and they knew it.

Everybody I talked to was extraordinarily idealistic, and I just thought, yeah, it's just not going to fit in.

There's a different truth to be had and a different way of approaching that truth, and that, I think, benefits better through fiction, and I hope to...

I guess I could write a regular novel, but I love crime novels anyway, and I thought I could have a pretty great way of approaching it.

I mean, the book is a mystery.