ISHAM COOK

Question everything 切問而近思 – Confucius

Friday, December 19th, 2025|
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My lovely little oriental doll: On yellow fever

By Isham Cook on October 21, 2014 • ( 1 Comment )

On the triteness of the “yellow fever” and “Asian fetish” clichés.

When poets speak of death: 100 aphorisms and epigrams on massage

By Isham Cook on June 30, 2014 • ( 1 Comment )

“When poets speak of death, they call it the place without breasts.”

Men massaging men: Three countries

By Isham Cook on May 20, 2014 • ( 4 Comments )

I am drawn to the seedy establishments, poorly lit portals to the underworld, busy inside with silent activity, chess games of intimate squalor.

In search of Malaysian massage

By Isham Cook on May 11, 2014 • ( 1 Comment )

As obsessed with massage as Malays are, they delegate the business to the Chinese.

Japanese voyeur massage: Theories

By Isham Cook on April 30, 2014 • ( 28 Comments )

The Japanese have come up with a means of catering to women who wish to act out exhibitionist massage fantasies.

Icon, index, symbol, semen

By Isham Cook on April 14, 2014 • ( 5 Comments )

The guilty customer, I displayed the sardonic coat of arms on my clothing for all to see.

Massaging the masseuse in Beijing and Bangkok

By Isham Cook on March 31, 2014 • ( 2 Comments )

“Money is just money. But sexual companionship is priceless.”

The Exact Unknown and Other Tales of Modern China

By Isham Cook on March 15, 2014 • ( 3 Comments )

This pioneering collection of delightfully disturbing tales by one unruly foreigner dredges up comedy blacker than a black hole.

Massaging the Yin-Yang in Pattaya

By Isham Cook on February 22, 2014 • ( 7 Comments )

Learn to cross the divide into the gray wonderland where the Yin and Yang come apart.

The Taiwan massage scene

By Isham Cook on December 7, 2013 • ( 8 Comments )

A Taipei masseuse’s rare combination of expert technique and open-mindedness makes for the most intense of massages.

Yangtze River cargo ship, bats, Agricultural Bank of China (video)

By Isham Cook on June 24, 2013 • ( 1 Comment )

Hypnotic video of cargo ship passing down the Yangtze River in Wuhan at night.

The ventriloquist’s dilemma: Asexual Anglo travelogues of China

By Isham Cook on April 16, 2013 • ( 28 Comments )

The jostling voices and fraught sexual ambivalence of Anglo-Americans writing about China.

Philip Glass and Tan Dun

By Isham Cook on January 18, 2013 • ( Leave a comment )

The two most prominent American composers of our time have more in common than it would seem.

The Chinese art of noise

By Isham Cook on December 21, 2012 • ( 3 Comments )

Putting a song on repeat is as logical to the Chinese as decorating the walls of a room with the same wallpaper.

How to have fun in China’s disposable cities

By Isham Cook on November 10, 2012 • ( 7 Comments )

Chinese cities happily gut their historical districts to rebuild them into cheesy simulacra which in turn will soon see the bulldozer.

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Recent Posts

  • Insights into China, Part 6: An afternoon in a café
  • Insights into China, Part 5: An invitation to a party
  • Insights into China, Part 4: A visit to the library
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  • The Tao of Poison. A novel.
  • Loving many: Polyamorous self-actualization
  • Music for massage, meditation, sex, and psychedelics
  • An alien expat visits post-Covid USA
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  • Insights into China, Part 3: A stay in a hotel

BOOKS BY ISHAM COOK

The Tao of Poison. “An erotic, action-packed historical novel…centered on a powerful heroine.” — BlueInk Review

Sexual Fascism: Essays: “An impassioned, thought-provoking manifesto that’s brave enough to raise scandalous questions.” — Kirkus Reviews

The Mustachioed Woman of Shanghai. A novel: “Readers who enjoy quirky, erotic mysteries will savor this tale.” — BookLife Reviews by Publishers Weekly

Confucius and Opium — China Book Reviews: “An offbeat, erudite work of China-centered literary criticism.” — Kirkus Reviews

The Kitchens of Canton. A novel: “An insightful, unconventional, and risqué view of present-day culture.” — Kirkus Reviews

American Rococo — Essays on the Edge: “Food for thought, elegantly prepared.” — Kirkus Reviews

At the Teahouse Café — Essays from the Middle Kingdom: “Insights into a culture that is notoriously opaque to outsiders.” — Kirkus Reviews

Massage and the Writer: “Fascinating portrait…into the titillating establishments the world has to offer.” — Kirkus Reviews

The Exact Unknown and Other Tales of Modern China: “A surreal compilation of tales about sex, love, and money in the Far East.” — Kirkus Reviews

Lust & Philosophy: “A visceral novel that explores many different lusts and cultures.” — Kirkus Reviews

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