genocide – Tom Vater

Kitty Lisha reviews The Cambodian Book of the Dead

May 28, 2021June 13, 2021tom

Thanks to Kitty Lisha for a fair review of The Cambodian Book of the Dead, the first Detective Maier Mystery, originally published in 2013. This book….this book. Where to begin. It has a lot of facts in it. I didn’t fact check them. Didn’t really have the desire to if we are being honest here […]

North Korea or Putting Up Mirrors In The City Of The Blind

April 28, 2018April 28, 2018tomLeave a Comment

So now that the media is gushing over the fact that there are human beings living in North Korea, does this mean that the reclusive terror state we can hardly point to on a map will soon be another impoverished capitalist nation selling kimchi flavored coca cola toxins to its liberated citizens, producing nothing […]

Burma, a Country United by Hatred and Murder?

September 16, 2017September 17, 2017tom2 Comments

Burmese army soldier in the hills above Myauk-U, Rakhine State, looking for Muslim ‘terrorists’ 400000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma in the past couple of weeks. Overwhelming evidence suggests that the Burmese military, along with civilian militias, is engaging in ethnic cleansing, driving people from their homes, torching their villages, raping their children and murdering […]

THE CAMBODIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD – Reloaded!

February 17, 2016February 17, 2016tomLeave a Comment

I am very pleased that The Cambodian Book of the Dead, the first Detective Maier novel, originally published by the now defunct Exhibit A, is out in a new Kindle edition, with a brand new cover, with Crime Wave Press. The second Maier Mystery, The Man with the Golden Mind, may well follow suit in […]

Burma’s election fever grips Yangon and its foreign observers

November 10, 2015November 12, 2015tomLeave a Comment

I feel incredibly humbled to have witnessed the first semi fair and almost free election in Burma in decades. I was at the NLD’s headquarters tonight where an exuberant and chaotic party atmosphere prevailed throughout. But as one Burmese told me, ‘the military are like chess players and they are planning their next move.’ That […]

Hell in our Time – The Rohingya of Sittwe

June 3, 2015June 4, 2015tomLeave a Comment

Here’s an account of my visit to Sittwe, home of many Rohingya, in August 2012. This is not a particularly hands-on story, nor did it involve any courage on my part. Better reportages on the same subject have surfaced in the media in recent days. But as Sittwe is now sealed off and as no […]

From the Archives: Pol Pot’s Sheet Metal Roof

May 1, 2010May 15, 2011tomLeave a Comment

The 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 […]