Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic crime fiction and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
Laura Snook, Cambodia’s high priestess of punk, ace magazine editor, and a fantastic, sensitive and kind woman and all round Rocknroll lady. What a huge loss. I wrote the following text for her remembrance concert in Phnom Penh in March. Laura, I’d like to quote from a novel by John D MacDonald: I get the […]
The third updated edition of Moon Angkor Wat, my English language guide to the Angkor temples in Cambodia is out now, both in print and ebook format. Reviewer Janet Brown had this to say: I’m the kind of person who reads guidebooks to remember where I’ve been as well as to plan my next destination […]
Patrick French reports on Drifters, Conspirators, and Noir in Cambodia’s Capital City for Crime Reads and writes… “Hard-boiled and noir is pretty much the only option on the menu when it comes to Phnom Penh crime writing. Tom Vater, a Bangkok-based writer and publisher, wrote The Cambodian Book of the Dead (2013) which sees German […]
Currently in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to research the 3rd edition of the Moon guide to Angkor Wat. Just had a gloriously sunny day amongst the monuments, with few other visitors in sight away from the main sites. Adding a chapter on how to beat the crowds….
Great write-up by Paul Dorsey in today’s Nation newspaper for the Mekong Shadows anthology with praise for The Cambodian Book of the Dead. The anthology’s best episode, hands down, is actually a long excerpt from “The Cambodian Book of the Dead”, a taut and disturbing novel by Tom Vater (“Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos”). […]
Cambodia: Journey through the Land of the Khmer , photographed by Kraig Lieb, with my text, is doing well in Siem Reap bookshops. Blurb: Cambodia: a Journey through the Land of the Khmer throws the doors to this small Southeast Asian kingdom wide open and invites both visitors and armchair travelers on a trip through […]
Asia, mon amour. Every time I go out in the street in my adopted continent, I see something that, by the central European standards I grew up with, is outrageous, logic defying, irresponsible, shocking or at the very least unusual. Sometimes it is terrible, at other times beautiful. Sometimes it is trivial,sometimes sublime, at other […]
My new guide to the Angkor temples in Cambodia, published by Moon in the US is out this month. It’s a completely revamped second edition on the temples and Siem Reap and features Phnom Penh and Battambang. And it’s the #1 New Release in the Cambodian travel guides on amazon where you can pre-order it […]
Enjoyed the book launch for Cambodia: Journey through the Land of the Khmer with photographer Kraig Lieb. I participated in a panel on travel writing with Lonely Planet authors Greg Bloom and Nick Ray in front of an animated audience at Meta House in Phnom Penh. Thanks to everyone for turning up. Photo by Hans […]