writer – Tom Vater

Next Chapter publishes three Tom Vater novels in one volume

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023tom

My publisher Next Chapter has released yet another blockbuster anthology of three of my novels thrown together as The Edge of Darkness. This collection includes my first novel, The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu, my most recent novel, The Green Panthers and the first part of my acclaimed Detective Maier series, The Cambodian Book of the […]

All my fiction available at The Independent Bookstore

February 11, 2023tom

I occasionally get letters from readers telling me that they loathe throwing money at Amazon to read my work. My publisher, Next Chapter, no longer exclusively deals with Amazon when it comes to ebooks (or any other format) and my books are more widely available now. All my fiction, 5 novels and a novella collection, […]

The Green Panthers – Special promotion at Kobo

November 28, 2022November 28, 2022tom

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 […]

The Best Books on Thailand

November 30, 2021tom

What do you make of my favorite books on Thailand? Check out my latest rundown for Shepherd.

Monsters of Rock & How I Started to Write

October 7, 2020October 8, 2020tomLeave a Comment

I reviewed Van Halen opening for AC/DC in 1984 in Karlsruhe for my local paper. It was the Monsters of Rock festival tour and one of my first writing gigs and first mega rock shows (I had already covered Supertramp and a line-up of similarly easy on the ears performers at the same venue). I […]

Interviewed on Bangkok crime fiction at Strange TV

September 24, 2020September 24, 2020tomLeave a Comment

JD Strange aka Bangkok based writer and film producer James Newman interviewed me on Bangkok crime fiction for Strange TV. This is a segment from a longer documentary on Bangkok fiction, currently in production. Thanks, James! Watch the interview here. All my crime fiction titles are currently published by Crime Wave Press.

Guidebooks in the Age of Covid in the Nikkei Asian Review

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020tomLeave a Comment

I had just reached Don Sak pier, a coastal Thai ferry port for boats to the tourist islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, when I almost lost my mind. I was at the end of a 10-week, 80-destination travel stint for the British publisher Rough Guides, researching the Thailand chapter for the […]

Interviewed about Kolkata on Talk Travel Asia

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020tomLeave a Comment

I am talking about Kolkata, a city close to my heart, to Talk Travel Asia this week. I was in Kolkata as a participant of the Indo European Artist Residency last year. The Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan invited me to write crime fiction set in the West Bengal capital. The result, a series of novellas […]

Cambodia: Jouney through the Land of the Khmer 2nd edition bestseller

October 11, 2019tomLeave a Comment

Cambodia: Journey through the Land of the Khmer with photos by Kraig Lieb and my text remains a bestseller in Cambodia. The second edition came out late last year. There’s currently a great light display for the book at Phnom Penh airport.

Past Masters

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019tomLeave a Comment

Spotted a couple of books of mine in a second hand shop in Banglamphu, Bangkok, the other day. My first nonfiction Beyond the Pancake Trench (2004) and my second novel The Cambodian Book of the Dead (2013).