Introduction.

Hi. My name is Jerry. After sixty years living and working across four continents, I am finally writing the novel that has progressed with me all this time.

Tony Shimada is a semi-autobiographical story of dislocation, addiction, survival, and redemption. It captures the raw intensity of expat life in 1990s Asia: from the high-paying world of the Western expatriate to the neon underbelly of vice, addiction and organized crime in Hong Kong and Manila.

This is not just a work of fiction; It is at its core a true story, embellished only to highlight the challenges and lessons that have shaped my life, together with a bit of "Hollywood spice". It explores identity & mental health, and the dangerous choices that can define a lifetime.

I am in the middle of an acrimonious separation from the woman whom I have loved and been married to for over twenty years; whose daughter I legitimized and brought up as my own only for her to be poisoned by her mother and for them both then to take every asset I have accrued for our family, leaving me to descend to the darkest place a human can fall.

Thanks to a handful of dear friends, I have found the strength to recover and with it, the focus and purpose I needed to look forward and tell this story.

I am seeking support to finish this novel properly; Your contributions will help with living expenses in the short term, but then through to editing, formatting, publication and promotion. Every contribution will help me dedicate time to writing without financial strain and ensure that Tony Shimada reaches the audience it deserves.

My hope is that it’s publication will not only entertain but also offer a raw insight into the struggles of identity & addiction and serve as a reminder of how vital it is to hold on to purpose for, without it, the void will be filled by darker forces.

Synopsis

Tony Shimada follows a thirty-year-old Englishman who arrives in Hong Kong with his wife and quickly drifts into methamphetamine use. What begins as curiosity becomes a double life. He adopts the alter-ego Tony Shimada to fit in with Japanese colleagues and to hide the growing chaos beneath his professional face. Drawn into the Filipino drug community, he falls for a bipolar dealer and, through a community matriarch, becomes entangled with the 14K triad. Arrest, a looming court date, and the fear of Chinese authority push him to send his wife back to the UK while the14K helps him flee to Manila.

In the Philippines, he briefly stabilizes. He reunites with his girlfriend, now sober, however old associates arrive, including the matriarch, dragging him back into meth use. A functional addict, he works respectably with international organizations while sinking deeper into Manila’s vice and drug culture. Arrested again in a police setup, he bribes his way free, a turning point that pushes him toward sobriety and remarriage, adopting a one-year-old daughter.

Years pass, and he travels the world with his new family, putting all his earnings into property in the Philippines and funding the development of a boutique resort. Twenty years later, and ten days after he retires to complete construction and run the resort with his wife, she runs off with a younger man. She had been planning this for over five years, and within three-months she has liquidated all the assets, leaving him with nothing but bank debt and the unfinished resort. Estranged from the daughter he raised, he spirals into despair, attempts suicide, and relapses into drugs.

Picking up work in Saudi that allows him monthly returns home, what follows is a destructive cycle: luxury hotel binges in Manila: Sex, Meth, Cocaine, and Kush, until work and money run out. Another toxic affair ends, and once again he contemplates ending his life. Yet old friends intervene, drawing him back to his resort and into therapy.

The story closes with a fragile redemption. Rebuilding his life, he receives a Facebook friend request from a lover of over twenty years ago. The request contained proof that the child she bore, that he denied, was his, together with a photograph of his grandson. After decades of chaos, betrayal, and survival, Tony is offered a chance to reclaim family and identity.

Tony Shimada is an unflinching portrait of addiction, exile, and the long road back to belonging.

What your contributions will be used for

Your contributions will assist with living expenses for the three months I’m estimating it will take to finish the book and also post-write costs such as editing, canvassing publishers and final launch.

Why This Story Matters

This isn’t a recovery memoir. It’s a novel about what happens when recovery doesn’t hold. About what it means to build a life, lose it all, and survive without guarantees. It’s for people who’ve relapsed, been abandoned, lived double lives, or walked the edge — and still don’t have a tidy ending.

How You Can Help

• Donate — even twenty pounds helps. Every contribution counts.

• Share — spread this campaign to friends, artists, readers, or recovery communities.

• Follow — I’ll post regular updates, excerpts, and reflections on the process as I write.

Disclaimer

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.