Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
Far too many of you have read the ‘City of Joy’ by Dominique LaPierre. The book has sold more than eight million copies, put Calcutta on the map as both the world’s saddest and happiest place and got rave reviews by the pope. Yes, that dead POPE. Dominique LaPierre continues to come to Calcutta regularly. […]
Continue ReadingSpotted a couple of books of mine in a second hand shop in Banglamphu, Bangkok, the other day. My first nonfiction Beyond the Pancake Trench (2004) and my second novel The Cambodian Book of the Dead (2013).
Continue ReadingVery pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to perform at the next Bangkok Poetry event on Saturday, July 21st at Opposite in Tong Lor. The event starts at 8pm. Bangkok Poetry is a reading series devoted to the lyrical, the risky, the unexpected. Happenings are every six weeks. Check out the fb page for […]
Continue ReadingI used to work with the British Library’s Sound Archive a decade ago and collected and documented music from around Asia for the library’s International Music Collection. Several ethnographic CDs of this work were released in the 90s, the rest sits in London and is accessible to researchers. The music of the Moken Sea Gypsies […]
Continue ReadingOn a recent trip to Cambodia, I noticed that my first non fiction book Beyond the Pancake Trench is still being sold as a bootleg photocopy in Siem Reap bookshops. I was browsing the shelves of a pirate DVD shop in Phnom Penh a couple days ago, when I found, much to my surprise, that […]
Continue ReadingJust passed through Siem Reap International Airport in Cambodia today and spotted my new book Sacred Skin in the airport bookshop, displayed prominently next to Birds of South East Asia and Ferns of the Tropics…hm, topical. Spent a week on assignment in Siem Reap before returning to a flooded Bangkok. Sacred Skin is the first […]
Continue ReadingThe following text is an account of a journey to the grave of Pol Pot near Anlong Veng, Cambodia in 2002. It is part of my non fiction book Beyond the Pancake Trench – Road Tales from the Wild East, published by Orchid Books in 2005, which made Book of the Week in the South […]
Continue ReadingWhile I was in Cambodia last week, I noticed that my 2006 non-fiction title Beyond the Pancake Trench is still available as a photocopied bootleg in several outlets around the country. My very own work, pirated by nefarious greedy people, does not sell nearly as well as the multitude of Lonely Planet titles that are […]
Continue ReadingAus dem Englischen übersetzt von Walther Schütz Sechs Uhr morgens. Bahnhof Phnom Penh, Kambodscha. Etwa 15 Wagen sind am Gleis eins aufgereiht. Fahren wird heute nur ein einziger Zug. Die Khmer haben nur einen Zug in Richtung Westen. Morgen wird derselbe Zug zur Hauptstadt zurückfahren. Die Passagiere drängen sich um die Wagen. Die Fahrkarten sind […]
Continue ReadingEvery year in March, thousands of Buddhist devotees gather at a temple an hour west of Bangkok to worship and celebrate one of Thailand’s strangest cults: At Wat Bang Phra, Buddhist monks use long needles to tattoo magic images and prayers on the believers’ skin. The tattoos are believed to give the wearer protection, especially […]
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