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Your next thrilling journey starts here!
- Do you absolutely love travel adventure fiction?
- Do you daydream about the back alleys and cafes you've explored in Asia, Europe or Latin America?
- In between your vagabond trips, do you enjoy immersing yourself in stories set in exotic places?
At Banana Leaf, our primary goal is to transport you . . . One book at a time!
Banana Leaf: Our Books and Authors
Introducing Chet Nairene, Author
Chet Nairene is an American writer who truly qualifies for the honorary title of "Asia Hand".
Chet resided in Southeast Asia nearly three decades, during which time he ran barges and tankers up the coasts of Malaysia and directed retail businesses in the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
During his youth, fresh from college, he worked as a journalist at a midwestern USA daily newspaper.
"We've all read books that were so good that we didn't want them to end," says Chet. " Among my favorites are many by my hero, Paul Theroux, all set in far-away lands. In many ways, he inspired me in life and now, as a writer. My goal is to utterly delight my readers, taking full advantage of the many astounding things I've witnessed during my long stay in Asia. I attempt to parachute my readers directly into alien experiences in those exotic lands and always keep the fascination level high. Here's hoping my readers all enjoy the dash that intrepid young Bonaventure makes across Asia!"
We are delighted to publish PACIFIC DASH, Chet's first novel, and look forward to many more!
Explore Asia's back roads, beaches and vice dens with Dash Bonaventure, a young American backpacker
Don't miss it!
Buy today from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093QYS47V
A restless American drifter spends decades chasing thrills across Asia—until the casino empire he builds becomes the danger he never saw coming.
From Banana Leaf Books and author Chet Nairene comes a wildly entertaining, globe‑trotting adventure through the beaches, back alleys, and casino underworlds of Asia.
Dashiell “Dash” Bonaventure arrives in Hong Kong as a teenager in 1968, expecting a short detour from Midwestern life. Instead, it becomes the first step in a lifelong odyssey through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Thailand, and beyond. Along the way he falls in love, makes enemies, saves lives, nearly loses his own—and stumbles into the high‑stakes world of illegal casinos and VIP gambling junkets.
By the time Dash becomes the wealthiest Westerner in Asia, the trouble he’s outrun for decades finally catches up.
Journey to Amazia, a secret kingdom hidden deep in Southeast Asia's jungles
Totally unplanned, a young American transforms into 'Sister Mari Mango' . . .
Totally unplanned, a young American transforms into 'Sister Mari Mango' . . .
Don't miss it!
Buy today from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXX3CTHQ
A brilliant but shallow New York tech executive is dragged into a hidden Asian kingdom where Western logic collapses—and Lew 2.0 is born.
Lew Clarke is a tech superstar ruling the business universe from his perch at Mega Brands in New York City. He has life all figured out . . . that is, until dangerous Asian occult forces upend his world and threaten everything.
His only hope lies in a desperate journey to Amazia, home to a critical export supplier, a secret hermit kingdom deep in Southeast Asia where nothing works the way he expects and every assumption he carries is suddenly useless.
To survive, Lew must navigate a land ruled by mysticism, ritual, and ethical riddles, aided by a cast of unforgettable characters who challenge everything he believes. And when he meets Miss Nong, the stunning cousin of his guide, the stakes shift from corporate survival to something far more personal.
A sharp, funny, supernatural adventure for fans of international fiction, culture‑clash storytelling, and comic travel writing.
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"A ROCKET RIDE! ‘Poltergeist’ meets ‘Wall Street’ in a remote Asian kingdom. Nonstop fun and exotic glitz as Lewis N. Clarke, a brilliant but shallow American businessman, becomes ‘Lew 2.0 in a Tropical Wonderland’. Don’t miss it!" -- James Roby, The UrbanKnights Series.
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"PACIFIC ODYSSEY is an uncommonly well written and utterly hilarious meander along that borderline where reality and fantasy blur, and particularly here in Asia the actual location of that borderline is always a matter of considerable speculation.” — Jake Needham, Amazon #1 bestselling author of the Inspector Samuel Tay series
Totally unplanned, a young American transforms into 'Sister Mari Mango' . . .
Totally unplanned, a young American transforms into 'Sister Mari Mango' . . .
Totally unplanned, a young American transforms into 'Sister Mari Mango' . . .
Don't miss it!
Buy today from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H5RBWP1R
This third and final novel in THE PACIFIC TRILOGY continues in the same vein of stories about young Westerners adrift in Asia.
"Pacific Dream - Mari Mango & the Accidental Orphanage" is packed amusing misunderstandings and unforgettable consequences as young Marielle Margaux leaves Chicago to search for truth in Thailand, and lelarn about life as well as herself.
Driven by a sincere, nearly overwhelming altruim, Mari departs America for Asia, naively seeking to change the world. But in the process she gets way more than she ever bargained for, starting a small, unplanned orphanage by the sea in rural Thailand
Share Mari's fascinating sacrifices and wickedly funny adventures as she grows and saves lives while also endanging her own, even losing her true identity and any chance at a fulfilling romance.
This exotic thrill ride of a story sparkles with authentic Southeast Asian color, fascinating characters and customs. It is designed to delight any reader ready for an armchair trip to exotic locales.