What do you think?
Rate this book
The Disallowed: The Tale of a Contemporary Vampire Family
Heng Lee is a goatherd in the remote mountains north-east of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, very close to the border with Laos. It is a tight-knit community where everyone knows one another. Heng gets sick all of a sudden, but not too sick to take the goats out, until one day he has to go to see the local shaman, because he has started fainting. There are no medical doctors in the vicinity and the Shaman has been good enough for most people for centuries. The Shaman takes some specimens and comes to the conclusion that Heng's kidneys have stopped functioning and so has little time left to live. The battle is on to save Heng's life, but there are other forces at work too. What will become of Heng, his family and the rest of the community, if he takes the Shaman's advice?
- GenresVampires
181 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2014
3 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Owen Jones
317 books66 followersOwen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail, from Barry to Gibraltar, a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of seventeen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
Facebook: AngunJones
Twitter: @owen_author
Blog: Megan Publishing Services
This book is part of the 'How to...' series of 125 manuals by Owen Jones.
The whole series can be found on Megan Publishing Services at:
http://meganpublishingservices.com
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of seventeen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
Facebook: AngunJones
Twitter: @owen_author
Blog: Megan Publishing Services
This book is part of the 'How to...' series of 125 manuals by Owen Jones.
The whole series can be found on Megan Publishing Services at:
http://meganpublishingservices.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 10, 2017
The comedy in this book starts out well, especially when dealing with Den, the teenaged son of the main character Heng. Den is not having any luck with the ladies, and has started having stray thoughts about the family's goats. My only real complaint is the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending which seem out of place in a vampire novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2014
When you see the word ‘vampire’ in a book’s description, it is too easy, in this facile world of the archaic categorisation used by most publishers, to dismiss the work as yet another regurgitation of the popular teen-angst novels of late, or the titillating eroticism that claims to be an update of the original work by Stoker. Well that is a pity because that particular trap will only have you re-reading the same unoriginal works over and over again.
Writing is a creative activity, and with ‘The Disallowed’, author Owen Jones has presented readers with a gem of a tale which sparkles with originality whilst still bringing back a certain nostalgia to those of us old enough to recall the memes created by the Hammer Horror movies of the mid-fifties through to the seventies.
Jones’ take on the vampire story starts with a major break from ‘tradition’ in his setting of the tale. Instead of the tried and tested Transylvanian castle of yore, we have a small agricultural village in northern Thailand in the present day. There’s no Count creeping around dark passageways either. His counterpart is a simple goat-herder, Heng Lee, who, through circumstances never fully explained, experiences a traumatic change that leaves its mark not just on him but, initially, on his immediate family and subsequently on the society in which he lives.
The characters are wonderfully drawn, and Jones’ skill quickly has the reader sympathising with their plight. As Heng Lee overcomes his situation and ultimately turns it to his advantage, many subtle parables regarding the working of our World quickly become apparent. There is also a wicked vein of shrewd humour running through the tale that will provoke many a grin as the reader becomes engrossed in the trials and tribulations that await the protagonists.
Highly recommended to those who dare to read something fresh and vibrant!
Writing is a creative activity, and with ‘The Disallowed’, author Owen Jones has presented readers with a gem of a tale which sparkles with originality whilst still bringing back a certain nostalgia to those of us old enough to recall the memes created by the Hammer Horror movies of the mid-fifties through to the seventies.
Jones’ take on the vampire story starts with a major break from ‘tradition’ in his setting of the tale. Instead of the tried and tested Transylvanian castle of yore, we have a small agricultural village in northern Thailand in the present day. There’s no Count creeping around dark passageways either. His counterpart is a simple goat-herder, Heng Lee, who, through circumstances never fully explained, experiences a traumatic change that leaves its mark not just on him but, initially, on his immediate family and subsequently on the society in which he lives.
The characters are wonderfully drawn, and Jones’ skill quickly has the reader sympathising with their plight. As Heng Lee overcomes his situation and ultimately turns it to his advantage, many subtle parables regarding the working of our World quickly become apparent. There is also a wicked vein of shrewd humour running through the tale that will provoke many a grin as the reader becomes engrossed in the trials and tribulations that await the protagonists.
Highly recommended to those who dare to read something fresh and vibrant!
September 19, 2017
Before I read this I kind of doubted that a story about Vampires could be humorous. Well, was I surprised, happily I might add, that it was! This is essentially the story of how a tiny village in the mountains of Thailand became a village of happy, considerate and prosperous Vampires!
Heng, who is the first to become a Vampire has no idea how it happened. His aunt. the village Shaman, tells his family how to keep Heng alive. They do what she says. Then Heng finds out he can take to the air as a bat! He loves it. His family accepts it.
Then the fateful day when Heng and his son find two hikers hurt and they bring them back to their home.
All I will say is this all ends on an actually happy note--you really have to read it to see what I mean!!
The Disallowed: The Tale of a Contemporary Vampire Family
Heng, who is the first to become a Vampire has no idea how it happened. His aunt. the village Shaman, tells his family how to keep Heng alive. They do what she says. Then Heng finds out he can take to the air as a bat! He loves it. His family accepts it.
Then the fateful day when Heng and his son find two hikers hurt and they bring them back to their home.
All I will say is this all ends on an actually happy note--you really have to read it to see what I mean!!
The Disallowed: The Tale of a Contemporary Vampire Family
February 28, 2025
I loved this book. It's completely off the wall, very well written and thoroughly entertaining. Wonderful book, particularly for anyone travelling or holidaying in Thailand.
January 4, 2025
I enjoyed this imagining of a rural family with a vampire problem. It was imaginative and quite enjoyable. It was nice to read a vampire tale that didn’t end in disaster.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2015
This is not your usual vampire book.
It has nothing to do with Gothic horror or Bram Stoker.
It is funny, provocative, new and refreshing and maybe what vampire stories should be about.
Grass roots vampire story, great for backpacking or travelling, especially in remote places.
I dare you not to like it :-)
It has nothing to do with Gothic horror or Bram Stoker.
It is funny, provocative, new and refreshing and maybe what vampire stories should be about.
Grass roots vampire story, great for backpacking or travelling, especially in remote places.
I dare you not to like it :-)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews