Iron & Silk, Mark Salzman's bestselling account of his adventures as an English teacher and martial arts student in China, introduced a writer of enormous charm and keen insight into the cultural chasm between East and West. Now Salzman returns to China in his first novel, which follows the adventures of Hsun-ching, a naive but courageous orphan, and the formidable and mysterious Colonel Sun, who together travel from mainland China to San Francisco, risking everything to track down an elusive Buddhist scripture called The Laughing Sutra. Part Tom Sawyer, part Tom Jones, The Laughing Sutra draws us into an irresistible narrative of danger and comedy that speaks volumes about the nature of freedom and the meaning of loyalty.

The author of Iron and Silk returns to China in this highly original novel which follows the adventures of a naive but courageous orphan and the formidable Colonel Sun, who risk everything to track down an elusive Buddhist scripture. "Lovingly drawn . . . very promising and often funny".--Time.

Mark Salzman's Lying Awake is a finely wrought gem that plumbs the depths of one woman's soul, and in so doing raises salient questions about the power-and price-of faith. Sister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life.

Salzman captures post-cultural revolution China through his adventures as a young American English teacher in China and his shifu-tudi (master-student) relationship with China's foremost martial arts teacher.

A comedic take on positions found in the Kama Sutra. This book will guide you through life during the Covid-19 (CoronaVirus) Global Crisis. This easy to use sex survival guide is a must have for anyone. The goal of The Corona Sutra is to bring a smile to your face and a few good belly laughs. With dozens of full color images and descriptions, we will follow Ken and Karen through some of the new ways to attract the opposite sex. Ken and Karen also demonstrate some of the simpler positions. Then move to some of the more advanced and some of the hilarious. I hope you enjoy this book as it was made with a love of making people laugh. Over 25 full color images and a portion of all sales going to charity.

In 1997 Mark Salzman, bestselling author Iron and Silk and Lying Awake, paid a reluctant visit to a writing class at L.A.’s Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for violent teenage offenders, many of them charged with murder. What he found so moved and astonished him that he began to teach there regularly. In voices of indelible emotional presence, the boys write about what led them to crime and about the lives that stretch ahead of them behind bars. We see them coming to terms with their crime-ridden pasts and searching for a reason to believe in their future selves. Insightful, comic, honest and tragic, True Notebooks is an object lesson in the redemptive power of writing.

What is the Kama Sutra? Is it a spiritual text written by a visionary man of wisdom in India almost two millennia ago? Or is it the world's first mucky book? Well, it's the former - it's a spiritual text written by a visionary man of wisdom in India almost two millennia ago. Though shocking for its time, the Kama Sutra has gone on to become the world's most respected guide book on all matters sexual, and is now on top of the wardrobes or under the beds of over sixty percent of the world's teenage boys. It is a common and misconceived belief among the younger generations that sex is something not only void in the minds of our senior citizens, but is most likely physically impossible for those who are at or beyond retirement age. The glorious truth may come as a bit of a shock to the youth of today - it may even conjure up images in their minds best left 'till after lunch! The world's oldies are sexually active. New and exciting research has uncovered startling new evidence that oldies are still 'at it', and still 'do it' whenever they don't have a bad back. Can it be true? Are our most senior citizens getting their wrinkly legs over? If you are an older person, take heart - there's a lot of dusty action out there. Sex in the twilight years, though similar in mechanics to the couplings of youth, is in fact vastly different. This book exposes the secret world of grey love and covers every aspect of senior congress - from geriatric anatomy and attraction, through to mating rituals, sex positions, post-sex heart condition medication and proper service and care of pace makers.