Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
Two 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 ReadingMy novel The Man with the Golden Mind, out later this month with Exhibit A Books, gets a great review at Looking For A Good Book. The second Maier Mystery takes the German detective to Laos and back in time to the CIA’s secret war in Indochina in the 1960s and 70s. “This novel is […]
Continue ReadingVery happy to travel to this year’s Irrawaddy Literary Festival in Mandalay, Burma from February 13th to 17th. Crime Wave Press will set off with a small delegation – author Jame DiBiasio, co-counder Hans Kemp and myself will be giving readings and participating in panel discussions. Looking forward to meeting lots of other authors, and […]
Continue ReadingThe second Bangkok Night of Noir had a fantastic line-up of mostly Asia based crime writers: Cara Black, James Newman, John Burdett, Christopher G. Moore, Dean Barett, John Marango and painter Chris Coles. Great start to 2014!!! I read a chapter from The Man with the Golden Mind, which is out with Exhibit A in […]
Continue Reading“Tom Vater is apparently well-travelled and his picture of Cambodia is as compelling as it is scary. The country is poor and civic institutions ill-organised and riddled with corruption: life is cheap, and everything is for sale. Even the roads are lethal, driving licences apparently unknown and traffic rules non-existent or ignored. And close to […]
Continue Reading“This is noir at its grittiest, most graphic best. There is a lush complexity in the narrative that Mr. Vater has brought us readers.” The Cambodian Book of the Dead is reviewed at Fresh Fiction!!! Read the full review here.
Continue ReadingSometimes the same is different, author Tom Vater reminds us to impressive effect in his second novel, THE CAMBODIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD writes Kevin S Cummings in The Chiang Mai City News. Read the full review here.
Continue ReadingI somehow overlooked this excellent review of The Cambodian Book of the Dead at A Writer’s Side Quest from back in August. “I was left astounded by The Cambodian Book of the Dead. It defied and often surpassed my expectations of the genre…” I am currently in the last stages of editing the second Detective […]
Continue ReadingThe main theme of the book is the nature of barbarity and genocide. Stands to reason when a German detective visits a country that has just emerged from complete social and cultural collapse and mass murder. That said, The Cambodian Book of the Dead is also an entertainment and I use Cambodia’s freakishness and culture […]
Continue ReadingDirector and photographer Gerhard Joren has produced a 7 minute short film of myself reading from The Cambodian Book of the Dead, my new novel out with Exhibit A Books now. The film was shot in Bangkok in May 2013. It’s release coincides with the publication of The Cambodian Book of the Dead in the […]
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