Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
Germany’s Abenteuer und Reisen Magazine ran an eight page story on Sak Yant and my book Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos – last month. Turned out pretty good. Text by myself. Photographs by Aroon Thaewchatturat.
Continue ReadingA copy of Sacred Skin has found its way into the hands of action actor and martial arts wizard Steven Seagal, via the incredible Sak Yant master Arjanneng Onnut Sakyant!
Continue ReadingMy article in this month’s InDepth Magazine on Thailand’s Sacred Tattoos with images by Aroon Thaewchatturat, co-author and photographer of Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, the first English language book to look at Sak Yant. On a sultry Monday morning, Ajarn Neng Onnut’s studio, known locally as a samnak, which sits tucked away in […]
Continue ReadingI just wrote a new article on Thailand’s sacred tattoos in the Nikkei Asian Review. Photographs by Aroon Thaewchatturat.
Continue ReadingI am interviewed in this month’s Rise Tattoo Magazine from France. Big thanks to Dom Pichard and Laure Siegel.
Continue ReadingTwo friends, Tom Vater and Hans Kemp, recently launched Crime Wave Press, in Hong Kong. Here Tom explains how they began their publishing (ad)venture. “In the summer of 2012, Hans and I were sitting in Bangkok talking about the changing world of publishing and the new challenges facing small independent publishers and writers. We had […]
Continue ReadingSacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, photographed by Aroon Thaewchatturat, gets a couple new plugs/ reviews. The Apsara Diaries write “The book ‘Scared Skin’ focuses on Thai devotees and the Wai Khru; a once a year gathering of tattooed devotes. The book gives you a clear, in-depth understanding of Yantra and its magic.” Over at […]
Continue ReadingJennifer Jerome interviews me about Thailand’s sacred tattoos for The Chiang Mai City News this week. Read her story Ink of the Gods: The Myth and Magic of Sak Yant here. And check out my bestselling book on Thailand’s spirit tattoos, Sacred Skin, with incredible photography by Aroon Thaewchatturat. Sacred Skin is available in good […]
Continue ReadingAroon Thaewchatturat‘s photographs of Thailand’s sak yant wearers, featured in our highly acclaimed book Sacred Skin, published by Visionary World in 2010, are going international. The Gewerbe Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland opens its first TATTOO exhibition today and large prints of Aroon’s images, blessed by eminent sak yant master Achan Neng Onnut, are part of […]
Continue Reading“I tried to capture not just the devotees’ tattoos but who they were. My models were rather shy at first. Most of them were male and taking their clothes off for a female photographer was definitely a challenge for them. But after I had taken a few shots, their confidence increased and they conveyed a […]
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