Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
My latest story in Nikkei Asia is about Nga Caravan whose band provided the soundtrack for 1970s students fighting military government in Thailand. Really enjoyed writing this one, an indirect look at Thailand’s long struggle for freedom and democratic representation, so timely. And Khun Nga is an absolute gentleman. Thanks to Hugo Chakrabongse for making […]
Continue ReadingGermany’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 ReadingThe Sunday Times has just re-published my Thai Islands hideaway feature. If you have a subscription to the paper you can read the story here. If you don’t, you can see the same story in The Daily Telegraph. The feature also ran as a photo story.
Continue ReadingThe Cambodian Book of the Dead (Crime Wave Press Asia edition), photographed by Eric Nelson.
Continue ReadingThe definitive Bangkok novel has not been written yet. But The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, a dark and fast-moving Sci-Fi novel set following the reign of Rama XII, gets pretty close. Local hacks should take note – this 500 page tome is light years ahead of the rather tepid Bangkok Noir genre. The dystopian […]
Continue ReadingVisionary World Publisher Hans Kemp has created a short film on Khong Khuen, the trance state entered by Sak Yant (Thai Spirit Tattoos) devotees at the anual Wai Khru festival at Wat Bang Phra, a Buddhist temple west of Bangkok, last month. Watch and marvel and travel to the very heart of Thai culture, far […]
Continue ReadingThe Trash Palace The crowd surges forward. The singer, a skinny white guy, screams into the microphone, which has been taped to the top of a camera tripod. The room is so hot that water drips from the ceiling. Strips of linoleum are coming off the floor in long torn rolls of dirty plastic. The […]
Continue Reading