Gary Hurlstone, aka Smiling Knives, is a UK writer and musician based in Shenzhen, China. My first book, 'The Sand Mandala,' is a love/crime-story set in China. To research the book I travelled to Lhasa, lived in a yurt in Mongolia, and got cold, wet and miserable in the mountains surrounding Yunnan. I also spent three years on Xiamen Island, home to one of the greatest Chinese criminal masterminds of all time, Lai Changxing, who pretty much ran the place until he fled to Canada in 1999 (deported in 2012). I am currently writing my second novel, Sheila’s Upside Down Men, and also researching a book about the merits of travel as a way of helping parents to educate and get closer to their children, (Zen on the Road). When not writing I perform music, quirky world crossover, with Chinese, Mongolian and Mexican musicians. My website, http://www.garyhurlstone.com/ has more information, extracts and free downloads—you are welcome to graze at will! Enjoy. Gary