Author's Note:Thanks to the good graces of Robert Koehler I have also
begun writing straight news for The Marmot's Hole, one of the best
known and well respect blogs based out of the RoK.
By Shelton "Lee" Bumgarner
Ahssa! Author and Creator

First of all, thank you for reading my blog.

I used to have a very long explanation about this blog, which can still
be read here.

Since I wrote that, my blogger self-confidence has grown considerably,
so I will just give you this explanation:

What is Ahssa!?

If Ahssa! were a movie being pitched, it would go something like this:

"Ahssa! is Fahrenheit 9/11 meets The Paper meets Alex & Emma meets The
Great Space Coaster meets Flirting With Disaster meets Kindergarten
Cop."

But I will give a general guide to what I'm thinking about when I write
Ahssa!

Shelton Baumgartner
Shelton is in his early to mid 30s and has worked in the newspaper
business his entire adult life with varying degrees of success. He is
obsessed with the media, politics and the state of affairs between the
DPRK, RoK and everyone else. He also knows a little bit about
everything, or at least enough to get him in trouble. He has had a
life-long interest in Korea and coming to Korea was a chance to see the
place first hand. He stole Coy's girlfriend and the two kinda hate each
other, even though in some ways their each other's best friend.

Coy Askew
Coy is "cloyingly annoying," and is kinda "big boned." He is a little
older and taller than Baumgartner and is even more cynical and
world-weary. He is the copyeditor of Ahssa! but he does such a bad job
of it that Baumgartner is always thinking of firing him. He has known
Baumgartner for years. Coy is something of a loner and can sometimes be
argumentative for no reason other than he wants attention and he wants
to feels the joys of being placated.

Bobby "Soju" Tuttle
Tuttle's grandfather fought in the 6.25 War and married a beautiful
Korean girl. Tuttle is also Jewish and can speaking something akin to
fluent Korean. Tuttle also drinks way too much. Tuttle is about 23,
just out of college and is aiming to get a job at a newspaper somewhere
in Virginia once he leaves Korea.

Remember that some of this blog is fiction, some of it is me just
talking to myself and some of it at least an attempt at some form of
journalism. It's supposed to be funny, self-deprecating, snarky and
post-modernly self-referential. I sometimes find myself just being
randomly creative for no reason, so take much of what I write with a
serious grain of salt. Given how Korea works, even though I experienced
something and believe it to be universal, that isn't always the case
even though I don't know that. I use the newspaper person's
"authoritative voice" when writing, simply because that's the way I
write. YMMV.

I hope you have as much fun reading this blog as I do writing it.