Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
“A new book offers a visually stunning look at the cultural, geographic, archaeological and ethnic diversity and beauty of a country only now stepping out of the shadows.” writes Ezra Kyril Erker in a full page spread in this Sunday’s Bangkok Post. My new book, put together with photographer Hans Kemp is out now. Read […]
Continue ReadingSacred Skin receives a great review from Danny Keens, Producer of 60 Minutes, on Amazon. Wonderful!!! When I stumbled upon this print collaboration between author Tom Vater and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat I was taken completely by surprised and totally mesmerized. You see, I’m not the sort of person who would have considered a tattoo and […]
Continue ReadingThe Orissa Post in India has rerun my very first story on Thailand’s sacred tattoos. The Illustrated Kill Convention originally ran in The Fortean Times (amazingly that story is still online but the first paragraphs are missing, eating by time or digital weasels, one assumes) in the UK in 2003 and subsequently in, dare I […]
Continue ReadingTaiwan’s tattoo magazine Extreme Tattoo featured an 8 page spread on Sacred Skin in its December Issue!!! The spread includes many images from the book and an interview with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat. Sacred tattoos, called sak yant in Thailand, have been around Southeast Asia for centuries and afford protection from accident, misfortune, and crime. Young […]
Continue ReadingSacred Skin, the first English language book on Thailand’s spirit tattoos continues to sell well. Photographed by Aroon Thaewchatturat and written by myself, the book was originally published in July 2011. Copies of the book’s second edition, hot off the press, are out now, as Australian journalist Flip Prior noticed while out shopping in Bangkok […]
Continue ReadingBangkok 101, the Thai capital’s city magazine features Sacred Skin in its December issue. Writer Tom Vater and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat spent a year researching the history and practices behind sak yant, Thailand’s centuries old sacred tattoo tradition. The result was Sacred Skin: a 200-page book packed with over 170 colour photos and insightful text. […]
Continue ReadingA short film shot by Hans Kemp of Visionary World and Crime Wave Press of a talk I gave in May 2011 about my then forthcoming book Sacred Skin, co-authored with Aroon Thaewchatturat, and published by Visionary World in July 2011. The talk took place at the first Bangkok Literary Festival at the Neilson Hayes […]
Continue ReadingThis week, I am at the UBUD Writers and Readers Festival in Bali to present my books Sacred Skin (with co-author and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat, published by Visionary World) and The Cambodian Book of the Dead (published by Crime Wave Press). I will also be taking part in several panel discussions. Owner of Visionary World […]
Continue ReadingPhotographer Aroon Thaewchatturat and myself will be giving a talk on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, sak yant, in Bali at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival next week. We will be presenting our recently published book Sacred Skin on October 6th at Bar Luna, Jl. Gootama at 7pm. Here’s a great article on Indonesia‘s long and […]
Continue ReadingJust in time for our appearance at the UBUD Writers and Readers Festival in Bali, Noir Nation posts a short film interview with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat on Sacred Skin, the first English language book on Thailand’s spirit tattoos, Sak Yant. Watch the clip here! Watch it here!
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