Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
My first story in 2023 is for Nikkei Asia – about a new espionage novel by a former British secret service agent and journalist who takes a close look at China’s ambitions in Taiwan. In two months, China will attack Taiwan. China’s president has decided on reunification by force. More than 150.000 troops are estimated […]
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The Green Panthers – Ebooks of my new dystopian thriller are currently 99cents at Kobo. Get your copy while stocks last…. Meet Clara Green, Emerald, Chartreuse, Olive, Hunter, Juniper and Forest. They are The Green Panthers: a privately sponsored, multi-national underground army, on a mission to hold corporate polluters to account. During the attempted rescue […]
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The Green Panthers Manifesto The Green Panthers fight against the degradation of Planet Earth by any means The Green Panthers combat the fueling of climate change by any means The Green Panthers safeguard global biodiversity by any means The Green Panthers do not answer to governments The Green Panthers cannot be hired, bought or sold […]
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Known for her “dystopian pop”, Pyra has been driven out by Thailand’s conservatism The video is captioned “UGLY TRUTH ABOUT THAILAND”. Peeralada Sukawat—better known by her stage name, Pyra—looks into the camera and rolls her eyes. “Bangkok babies in Mercedes,” she raps over looping drums and a synth beat. “Rich gets richer, poor gets poorer,/Inequality’s […]
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The Hard Hat Book Site has a wonderful review of The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu/ Thanks! Young hippies growing old! As if it is not bad enough that we lose our youth and can’t go back, we also have to cope with the fact that our youth still reserves the right to hang around and […]
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Thanks for a great review: …The highlights of the novel for me were the unique and crazy characters as well as Vater’s keen eye for details. Vater definitely utilizes impressive descriptions coupled with believable and realistic dialogue to create an atmosphere that completely sucks you in from the very beginning. At times you really feel […]
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Coming soon – A Blackthorn Book Tour of: The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu ‘Acid trips, border crossings, road weariness, the adventurous optimism of youth and the limitations of middle aged wisdom…’ Buy The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu here.
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Writer Isobel Blackthorn dropped a wonderful review of The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu. The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu is as much an atmospheric and absorbing read as it is fast-paced entertainment. It’s 1975, and four young men in an old Bedford van pull up in the Hindu Kush on the Peshawar-Kabul road to follow through […]
Continue ReadingI just edited JD Strange’s Port of Thieves, a brilliant rough ride of a pirate novella and probably the most fun adventure story I’ve worked on. The only way you can enjoy life is to set sail on a ship such as this and leave every idea of normality behind in the dusty city. The […]
Continue ReadingThis recording is part of the Tom Vater Collection (C799) at the British Library. A longer extract has been published on The Moken: sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea (Topic Records TSCD919, 2001). The full collection also includes recordings from India, Laos and Cambodia. It will be digitally preserved as part of the Unlocking our […]
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