Exiled Buddie has a way with words

Mar 10 2010 by Jeff Holmes, Paisley Daily Express

FROM a writer’s group in Paisley’s High Street to the cover of iconic global magazines, Time and Newsweek.

That’s the incredible leap taken by Buddie Ron McMillan ... and he isn’t finished yet.

His debut novel, Yin Yang Tattoo, will be in the shops in June.

Ron grew up in Selkirk Avenue, Stanely, where his dad still lives, and went to Brediland Primary School and Paisley Grammar.

He told the Paisley Daily Express: “I got the travel bug as soon as I finished studying accountancy at Glasgow Tech.

“I disappeared abroad in 1979 and have worked overseas ever since, apart from a few years freelance writing and photography while my daughter Shona, who is now 21, attended Brediland Primary and Gleniffer High.”

Ron’s creative side led to him attending a writing class at Paisley Central Library where, among the bright-eyed students, sat acclaimed author Ajay Close.

“That was a fantastic group,” recalled Ron, now 51. “It was sad when funding dried up and we had to shut up shop.”

The driven individual soon moved into photo-journalism and spent around 10 years travelling the length and breadth of Asia on many different assignments.

He made his name in the late 1980s and early 90s, when, posing as a tourist, he managed to get into North Korea and photograph much of a country that was alien to the outside world.

He said: “I can honestly say I didn’t ever feel threatened. I was young and stupid then.

“There I was, with three cameras and five lenses draped over my shoulders. Surely I didn’t look anything like a normal tourist!

“But it was a great experience and I repeated my antics another four times.”

Having made the cover of some of the world’s most famous magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, Ron has now moved on from photo-journalism to concentrate on trying to make it in the cut-throat world of fiction.

He describes himself as currently self-unemployed and has had the idea for Yin Yang Tattoo swirling around in his head for some time.

Ron, who married Korean girl, Ae Shim, in Seoul, South Korea, is banking on the book being a success.

He said: “This project has been ongoing for quite some time now. It has died a thousand deaths and been resuscitated accordingly.

“Writing novels for a living is such a tough game but I’m determined to crack it.”

Yin Yang Tattoo centres on Alec Brodie, a photo-journalist who falls upon hard times.

The creditors are closing in and he receives a fat commercial assignment in Korea. Soon, though, he is chief suspect in a murder case, and in Korea, the maximum penalty for murder is death.

Published by Sandstone Press, Yin Yang Tattoo costs £7.99 and hits book shelves on Tuesday, June 1.

For more details, log on to www.sandstonepress.com