Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # F.E. Beyer reviews, true crime, history, politics, travel, fiction ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://www.febeyer.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [SMOKO Chapter 1](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/04/smoko-chapter-1/) - Smoko is available on Amazon. I sat on an uncomfortable chair with a thick manual in front of me. As I read about the history of the postal service, two more trainees, a woman and a man, arrived. ‘Cutting it fine, guys,’ Norm told the newcomers, tapping his watch. ‘All right, eight-thirty, let’s get - [The Worm and the Ring](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/30/the-worm-and-the-ring/) - The Worm and the Ring by Anthony Burgess My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Worm and the Ring is remarkable not so much for Anthony Burgess taking a crack at his former colleagues at Banbury Grammar School, but rather for the author's creativity in animating a school serving ‘drearily picturesque towns’. Burgess had already - [Irish Lightning](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/15/irish-lightning/) - Irish Lightning by Travis Lee My rating: 5 of 5 stars Mark tries to relive his glory days as a famous high-school jock in an American small town. Why? Because as an adult he's a failure. The familiar plot and setting contrast with other stories I’ve read by Travis Lee which plunge the reader into - [Spitting Off Tall Buildings](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/13/spitting-off-tall-buildings/) - Spitting Off Tall Buildings by Dan Fante My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bruno Dante is a loner, a guy who wants to spend time in his room reading Tennesse Williams' plays but has to venture out to earn money. He cleans windows, drives a cab, and is an usher at a theatre. He hates - [Butterfly Stories](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/11/butterfly-stories/) - Butterfly Stories by William T. Vollmann My rating: 4 of 5 stars Butterfly Stories is set in the early 90s when the Khmer Rouge was still causing trouble in Cambodia. Vollmann went to Cambodia to cover this trouble, and I'd have liked to know more about his journalistic mission. However, what we get is a - [Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja Reconsidered](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/07/11/off-the-rails-in-phnom-penh/) - Earlier in 2023, I wrote a review based on what I remembered from having read “Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja” in 2003. This book had popped into my mind many times over the years, and with a first-ever trip to Cambodia coming up, I thought - [The Snowman](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/11/the-snowman/) - The Snowman by Jörg Fauser My rating: 3 of 5 stars Blum is selling Danish porn mags in Malta, he eats a nice dinner once a week, but the rest of his time is spent in seedy hotels and bars. Fauser speaking through Blum has an expert eye for little disappointments, the shabbiness of reality. - [Ternate, Indonesia 2016](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/08/ternate-indonesia-2016/) - Hace poco visité una fortaleza portuguesa en la isla de Ternate, Indonesia. El fuerte se llama ‘Kastela’, y hay un monumento allá con escenas que muestran cómo los nativos de Ternate echaron a los portugueses en 1575. Al principio los isleños dieron permiso a los portugueses para construir fuertes en la isla. Luego, se pelearon - [Law of the Jungle](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/10/law-of-the-jungle/) - Law of the Jungle by Christina Hoag My rating: 5 of 5 stars A great adventure involving scientific research, jungle survival and vengeance. In Christina Hoag’s ‘Law of the Jungle’ British scientist Rowena Aldus has been hiding away in the Venezuelan jungle studying spiders whose venom can help with - wait for it - erectile - [DEFAULT](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/08/default/) - A novel by Anjo Bordell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Tapped out in a mouldy Shanghai apartment, the paranoiac writing in DEFAULT makes me want to tell the author to lay off the weed. But no lazy pot smoker could write such energetic sentences. Impending doom hovers over Anjo Bordell, author and protagonist of - [The Dragon Syndicates](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/08/the-dragon-syndicates/) - The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads by Martin Booth My rating: 5 of 5 stars Based on the name of one Chinese secret society, the sanhehui 三合会, triad is the term we use in English to describe them in general. In modern-day China, they are referred to as hei shehui 黑社会 or - [China Sketches: Company](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/06/27/china-sketches-company/) - i) Years ago, coming out of a Shanghai subway station, David passed a man dressed in what looked like dirty blue medical scrubs. Squatting on the pavement, under a street light, the man had a basket of live crabs in front of him. For whatever reason, David looked back and saw him pick up his - [River East, River West](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/06/river-east-river-west/) - River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure My rating: 5 of 5 stars This novel switches between the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Qingdao, and Dandong, and between the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. However, in my calculations, over half of the book takes place in Shanghai in 2007. This was important to me because I - [Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/06/chaos-and-grime-a-year-in-the-life-of-a-chinese-city/) - Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City by Jacob Acerbi My rating: 2 of 5 stars I enjoyed much of this book, and the author's honesty in showing the less pleasant aspects of his own behaviour and personality should be applauded IMO. I don't condone his nastier actions, but he - [Burma Sahib](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/06/burma-sahib/) - Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux My rating: 5 of 5 stars Having lived and worked in the British Protectorate, Nyasaland in the 1960s, Singapore in the 70s and England after that, Paul Theroux is well-placed to write a book on the in-and-outs, snobberies and brutalities of the British Empire. He also has the language of - [White Monkey](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/06/white-monkey/) - White Monkey by Carlos Hughes My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is a hilarious take on the English teacher in a foreign country story. To those who have been there, the stages are familiar. For the rest, it goes like this: A twenty-something with a university education but limited prospects accepts a job in - [American Pilgrim](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/06/american-pilgrim/) - American Pilgrim by Roosh V. My rating: 4 of 5 stars Even in his pick-up artist phase, Roosh Valizadeh’s writing displayed a level of introspection and observation which made his books worth reading. In ‘American Pilgrim,’ Roosh is on the road—giving us his take on worldly issues for possibly the last time. His aim isn’t - [Island of Fantasy](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/03/island-of-fantasy/) - A tightly written, hilarious, and with hindsight tragic memoir of Shawn Matthews’ first three months in Korea teaching at a Hagwon on an island off the coast of Busan. A qualified teacher working as a mental health counsellor for low pay, Matthews is living in Syracuse, New York. He still pines after his ex-girlfriend. He - [Jalan Jalan](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/10/03/jalan-jalan/) - My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a spoiler because it’s made clear early in the book: Mike Stoner’s protagonist Newbie has come to Indonesia on the run from the grief he’s suffering from the accidental death of his English girlfriend. Jalan Jalan is an accomplished entry into the ‘Clueless Westerner in Asia’ genre. Most - [My Book in the News](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/03/21/my-book-in-the-news/) - [Gary Jennings, the Mexican Museum of Anthropology, and my new Mousepad](https://www.febeyer.com/2024/01/18/gary-jennings-the-mexican-museum-of-anthropology-and-my-new-mousepad/) - I arrived at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City two hours before closing, so only had time to see half the items on display. Out of all the amazing pre-Colombian artefacts, my favourite was the 3-metre-tall basalt sculpture of Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the - [MY NEW NOVEL: SMOKO](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/10/31/my-new-novel-smoko/) - Blurb: One day the postal services will turn a buck by using drones to deliver fake Rolexes to citizen slackers on a universal income. But for now, the mail team continues busting arse delivering gym membership promotions to retirement villages. Adopting an attitude of resignation offers comfort to some, but one worker, inspired by Ned - [Cambodia 2023 Trip Report](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/10/01/cambodia-2023-trip-report/) - 1 Siem Reap The City Once out of the airport, your first glimpses of a new country are precious. Hopefully, the sense of novelty causes a dopamine release. As you visit more countries more regularly, the buzz lessens. My first new country in years, I could feel the dopamine buzz in Siem Reap, Cambodia. According - [2003 Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, NZ](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/09/22/2003-laos-thailand-malaysia-nz/) - Phongsaly In 2003, I trekked in the highlands of Phongsaly, the Northernmost province of Laos. The leather work shoes I’d bought in Hong Kong for my six-month stint working in Shanghai didn’t serve me well. Greatly amusing my fellow trekkers, I slipped and fell on my arse multiple times while descending muddy jungle paths. Referring - [Hua Hin](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/09/15/hua-hin/) - I enjoyed the slow train to Hua Hin, the seaside town 200 km south of Bangkok. Scheduled to get there in five hours, the train made it in six. I bought 2nd class sleeper fan tickets and got two wide seats facing each other. Travelling by day, we didn’t fold them out to create a - [More Bangkok Observations](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/08/10/more-bangkok-observations/) - The Grand Palace is a tourist attraction living up to the hype – as in yes, it’s worth visiting. Although other temples around Bangkok Old Town have equally impressive golden buddhas and multi-tiered roofs, not to mention fewer Chinese tour groups, their (cheaper) entrance tickets don't include entry to two museums and a dance show. - [Bangkok Observations](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/07/30/bangkok-observations-danang-to-bangkok-sukhumvit-area/) - We flew back to Bangkok from Danang in Vietnam. Prices at Danang Airport are in dollars. No surprise then that, apart from a family of Chinese tourists enjoying 18 USD dollar combos, Burger King was empty. I felt guilty buying a small bottle of warm Sprite for $3.80. What a waste of money. An odd - [Interview with Radio Qué Onda](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/05/18/interview-with-radio-que-onda/) - I was interviewed by Wellington's Spanish language radio program Qué Onda. I talked about China, including my time in Wuhan, Argentina, and my book Buenos Aires Triad. - [Non-pushy Laowai Reporter Avoids Bad Faith](https://www.febeyer.com/2020/04/11/non-pushy-laowai-reporter-avoids-bad-faith/) - South of the Clouds, Exploring the Hidden Realms of China by former New York Times reporter Seth Faison is a balanced and interesting China expat memoir. Why? Because it includes the background to the stories he reported and also intimate details of his private life. He writes about edgy stuff like dating a transsexual woman - [Thoughts: Netflix, The Serpent, The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis, The Hustler, The Color of Money ](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/05/02/thoughts-netflix-the-serpent-the-queens-gambit-walter-tevis-the-hustler-the-color-of-money/) - I just watched the first two episodes of “The Serpent” and am happy to find another engaging Netflix series. It is somewhat based on a book called "On the Trail of the Serpent", published in 1979. In the quest for hit shows, Netflix writers are scouring non-fiction and novels for exciting (long forgotten) tales. For - [Argentina Sketches: Story of the Eye](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/17/argentina-sketches-story-of-the-eye/) - Lying in bed my eye felt like it was going to explode, finally, after hours, aqueous fluid and pus squirted out relieving the pressure. The pain subsided, but only for fifteen minutes. So began a rewarding experience of the public health sector in Argentina, one winter morning in 2010. After consulting my friend (who I - [Graham Greene Reviews](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/12/13/graham-greene-reviews/) - As a teenager, I read The Comedians and in my twenties The Power and the Glory, The Quiet American and The Human Factor. The Human Factor I read in a hostel in Colombia. In my early thirties, I bought a cheap copy of Our Man in Havana in Argentina. Reading it in Spanish, some of - [White Faced Lies](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/25/white-faced-lies/) - White Faced Lies by Eric Flanagan My rating: 3 of 5 stars An interesting project. 'White Faced Lies' follows the journey of two 'face jobbers' in China. Face jobbers are foreigners who get paid to stand around and just look - well foreign - ideally American, white, tall, good-looking, and with blond hair. It is - [China Sketches: Dalian 2001 skyscraper photo essay](https://www.febeyer.com/2020/04/15/china-sketches-dalian-2001/) - It had passable beaches, a large shipbuilding industry and a lot of impressive skyscrapers; from the top of any of these you could see the port and in the other direction the green hills marking the end of the urban sprawl. At that stage of my life I hadn’t seen Shanghai, Hong Kong or New York. I was overwhelmed by the shiny skyscrapers in Dalian. When I later visited New York, the first museum I went to was the Sky Scraper Museum, my enthusiasm has since waned due to overexposure to tall buildings... - [Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 5](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/06/27/buenos-aires-triad-chapter-5/) - The Boss A buzzing sound indicated the security door had opened. Gustavo entered and walked across the lobby. Several seconds after pushing the button, the elevator car clanked down the open shaft. He pulled back the old-style iron door and got in. On the fifth floor, a floppy-fringed Chinese youth ushered him through an entrance - [Bangkok Days](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/03/30/bangkok-days/) - A great book to read during a time when it's hard to travel. Bangkok Days investigates various nooks and crannies of the Big Mango. Osborne is “on the lam” in Bangkok a place he can live cheaply. (Still possible?) He makes this discovery while visiting to have dental work done. “The days were empty by - [Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 4](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/05/24/buenos-aires-triad-chapter-4/) - HOLIDAY GONE WRONG “I don’t think I set the alarm, did you?” Robert asked. “No dear...you always do it.. ” “I’m not sure I did. Can we go back?” Why is his mission in life to make us late? Jane took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m sure you’ve set it. Shina will be there - [Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 1](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/18/buenos-aires-triad-chapter-1/) - THE SPOTTER A phalanx of drivers waited at the front of the arrivals hall. Standing with the others, Lucas had a sign for a certain Jorge Martínez: a passenger who would never arrive. Lucas was there to make an important decision, not to drive somebody into town. He thought it would be agony to choose. - [Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 2](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/05/11/buenos-aires-triad-chapter-2/) - THE TARGET Exiting the plane and walking down the steps to the tarmac, Diana felt a thrill at being outside, but then she saw the line stretching out of the terminal. She didn’t understand what was going on at first – was this the line for immigration? With his hat in the checked luggage, her - [Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 3](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/05/17/buenos-aires-triad-chapter-3/) - STOLEN WATCHES Six months after his father died, Lucas started buying stolen watches. The old man had chased scum selling stolen stuff or fakes out of the shop with a wooden table leg. Worse still, with a few exceptions, Lucas was buying from foreigners: a Paraguayan, a Senegalese, and assorted others. “Foreigners?” his father would - [A Dead Bat in Paraguay](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/03/27/a-dead-bat-in-paraguay/) - If you take "A Dead Bat in Paraguay" without worrying about Roosh’s subsequent career it’s an enjoyable read - a sort of anti-travel book written by an observant and honest young man. The writing is uneven but has real potential. It’s a shame that Roosh couldn’t have written more along these lines, but books like - [China Sketches: Yixing Chemical Plant](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/04/05/failed-china-sketch-yixing-chemical-plant/) - Through the taxi window tens of identical apartment buildings reflected the pink rising sun. After curving down the bridge interchange and taking a number of lefts and rights, our cab pulled over. The train station would already be crowded despite the early hour, but the long distance bus station was quiet. There were empty seats - [Eight indie/small press books I reviewed in 2022](https://www.febeyer.com/2023/01/10/eight-indie-small-press-books-i-reviewed-in-2023/) - Links go to my reviews on Goodreads Sexual Fascism -- In these essays the USA compares poorly with China in terms of sexual freedom White Faced Lies -- This graphic novel details the rent-a-white-guy in China phenomenon Unwelcome -- An anti-coming-of-age novel set in China and the US, gripping in the tear-legs-off-a-spider kind of way Default - [The Dragonhead](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/12/22/the-dragonhead/) - The Dragonhead: The Godfather of Chinese Crime--His Rise and Fall by John Sack My rating: 5 of 5 stars As others have mentioned, "The Dragonhead" is a great read taken as a novel but doesn't hold up as a true story. The Dragonhead himself, Johnny Kon, crosses over into Hong Kong in the 60s as - [Delivery](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/08/20/sulphur-lake-chapter-1/) - They sent me to Wellington for training. Two nights in a hotel room with Sky TV and meals paid for. What else could I have wanted? After a good night’s sleep, I reported to the depot. The muscular Norm waved at me from the other end of the aeroplane-hangar space. Norm was staying in the - [My list of Argentine Crime Novels on Shepherd](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/06/07/my-list-of-argentine-crime-novels-on-shepherd/) - https://shepherd.com/best-books/crime-novels-set-in-argentina - [Argentina Sketches: The Albino Thief](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/11/argentina-sketches-the-albino-thief/) - She checked in wearing dark glasses. It didn’t seem weird as she had platinum blond hair and pale skin. I put her in a six-bed dorm. There was only one other guest in there, a Russian woman of twenty-five. Dorms were officially mixed but in practice, we generally kept men and women separate. We hadn’t - [Sexual Fascism](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/04/28/sexual-fascism/) - In ‘Civilization and its Discontents,’ Freud tells us that civilisation necessitates the curbing of the natural expression of the libido, and this repression leads to neurosis. The answer is to redirect the libido into work or artistic expression. For author Isham Cook, the state keeps us in fear of our libido as a mechanism of - [Unwelcome](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/02/28/unwelcome/) - Unwelcome by Quincy Carroll My rating: 5 of 5 stars In ‘Unwelcome’ we follow Cole Chen through his awkward misadventures in California and Changsha, China. The twenty-three-year-old has come back from his second stint in China and is crashing on his brother’s couch. Our introduction to Cole is through the eyes of his more successful - [8 great self-published/small press books I reviewed in 2021](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/28/8-great-self-published-small-press-books-i-reviewed-in-2021/) - Links go to my GoodReads reviews. Magical Disinformation: A spy novel set in Colombia. Shades of Graham Greene. Law of the Jungle: Medical research and revenge in the jungles of Venezuela and Colombia. Crimechurch: Psychos and troubled teens in NZ's earthquake-hit city. Teacher, We Girls!: The experience of being a woman from New Zealand teaching in - [Conquerors](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/26/conquerors/) - Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire by Roger Crowley My rating: 4 of 5 stars As Roger Crowley explains in "Conquerors", in the early 16th century Portugal, a poor country on the periphery of Europe, came to control trade in the Indian Ocean thanks to bravery, cruelty, navigation skills and cannons. They fought - [Devil of a State](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/06/05/devil-of-a-state/) - Devil of a State, published 1961, is set in Dunia, a fictional East African state on the verge of independence. In this novel Burgess draws on his experiences as an Educational Officer in the Sultanate of Brunei where the original manuscript was set. Fearing a possible libel case, the publisher, Hutchinson, had Burgess change the - [Eyes Wide Shut: Malaparte in China](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/12/31/eyes-wide-shut-malaparte-in-china/) - Originally published in the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel as When Malaparte Met Mao. A former fascist sees only the good in Mao's China. In 1956 Italian novelist Curzio Malaparte received an invitation to travel to Beijing for a commemoration of the death of writer Lu Xun. Malaparte is most famous for his - [Chiang Kai-shek on the Forbidden City](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/12/chiang-kai-shek-on-the-forbidden-city/) - Originally published in the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel as Forbidden Portrait. In 2016, at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, I saw a black and white photo that didn’t compute at first. The photo featured a portrait of the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-Shek, hung above the Tiananmen gate of the Forbidden City - [Fashion for Socialist Dictators: Maduro in China](https://www.febeyer.com/2022/01/17/maduro-in-china-fashion-fo-socialist-dictators/) - Originally published in the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel as Sartorial Sychophany As Venezuela has been the recipient of over half of China’s loans to South America, the ongoing crisis there is of concern to Beijing. China continues to support the embattled government of Nicolás Maduro and, like Russia and Turkey, doesn’t recognize - [Un Retrato Prohibido](https://www.febeyer.com/2019/10/08/un-retrato-prohibido/) - Chiang Kai-shek sobre la Puerta de Tiananmén Chaing Kai-shek sobre la Puerta de Tiananmén, Wikipedia En 2016 en el Salón Conmemorativo de Chiang Kai-shek en Taipei, Taiwan, ví una foto que mostraba el mismo Generalísimo, Chiang Kai-shek, sobre la Puerta de Tiananmén de la Ciudad Prohibida. Siempre había pensado que era Mao quien primero tenía - [Kaiser and The Minimum Wage](https://www.febeyer.com/2019/01/18/kaiser-and-the-minimum-wage/) - Axel Kaiser reminds me of the wealthy students I taught at the Grange School in Santiago, Chile in 2005. Some good kids among them but a sense of superiority from many. One of the richest guys in Chile, if not the richest, Andrónico Luksic, sent his sons to the Grange. Maximiliano, one of the middle - [Confucius and Opium](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/04/16/confucius-and-opium/) - The American writer Isham Cook is an eccentric who might be telling us the truth - or at least trying to. An open minded reader, who doesn’t mind having their leg pulled a bit, will find the erudite “Confucius and Opium” a rewarding read. This work contains eleven ‘book review essays’ that are in-depth, no - [Wake in Fright](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/05/10/wake-in-fright/) - This is a classic tale of the civilised man from the coast going mad in the barbarous interior. John Grant is a country-town school teacher on his way back to Sydney for the summer. However, because of problems with his flight, he gets stuck for one night in the Yabba, a town based on Broken - [Indonesia Sketches: Good Karma and the Becak Driver](https://www.febeyer.com/2019/01/12/indonesia-sketches-good-karma-and-the-becak-driver/) - A becak is bicycle rickshaw with a covered seat for the passenger up front, the driver sits behind peddling. Solo being flat, drivers don’t have to pedal up hills, however, with their rusty-chained and non-existent brakes, most becaks didn’t get a warrant of fitness from me. After thirty minutes walking around the centre of Solo - [Argentina Sketches: Steal Spike](https://www.febeyer.com/2019/04/08/argentina-sketches-steal-spike/) - Corina, a forty-seven year old teacher, was walking home when a beaten-up burgundy car pulled up beside her. Two men got out, grabbed Corina, forced her inside and put a bag over her head. Corina, fearing the worst, struggled wildly as her shirt was pulled up, then she felt her stomach burning. Her kidnappers used - [Indonesia Sketches: Flag of the Southern Cross](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/04/21/flag-of-the-southern-cross/) - A foreigner with glassy eyes and a gut, par for the course, it was his ears which caught my attention, like classroom models complete with painted on veins. He was with a diminutive woman, hers was an alcopop, his a large bir Anker. A German, who had lived in Australia for twenty years; when he - [China Sketches: BBQ](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/12/09/china-sketch-bbq/) - One of those old guys, hands clasped behind back, pausing every second step to see if there was something to stick his nose into. The way he dressed, grey slacks, polyester polo shirt with sleeveless pullover on top, didn’t indicate money, time abroad, or working in a big company. He had an educated air though. - [Rebellion in the Backlands](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/06/25/rebellion-in-the-backlands/) - In Canudos, a backlands town in the Northeastern State of Bahia, Antônio Conselheiro (Anthony the Counselor) preached against the republic. His followers, leather-clad ruffians or 'jagungos', terrorised the countryside. In the 1890s the Republic of Brazil was in its infancy and insecure, rumours of monarchist plots abounded, troublemakers like the Counselor needed to be dealt - [Harvest Season](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/07/23/harvest-season/) - This novel successfully captures the backpacker scene in China’s Yunnan Province in the 2000s. However, the main characters are not backpackers per se but travellers who never want to go home. The fictional setting, Shuangshan, is – I think – based on Dali, a town by the beautiful Erhai Lake. Yunnan is home to many - [Too much New York](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/07/19/does-it-have-to-be-new-york-again/) - Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg: Five stars for the characters and detailed, but never boring, descriptions of New York in 1959. Harry Angel is a private detective living in the Chelsea Hotel. On the job, he drives and subways around town with soup stains on his tie. Harlem, Times Square, Coney Island, the apartment buildings, the - [A Certain Kind of Power](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/07/27/a-certain-kind-of-power/) - 'A Certain Kind of Power' is an entertaining dissection of corruption, in which Australian author Ryan Butta recreates an Argentina of scandals and cloak and dagger moves. Our guide in the county’s capital, Buenos Aires, is Mike Costello, a jaded American corporate spy. An aging one-time army man, Mike has been in Argentina too long - [The Xiezhi Triad in Argentina](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/08/01/the-xiezhi-triad-in-argentina/) - A few years ago, the police in Buenos Aires busted a Chinese mafia group known as the Pixiu Triad. I wrote about this group and its activities in my article published in the LA Review of Books, China Channel. Inspired by those real events, I chose the xiezhi to be the symbol of the Chinese - [What Really Happened in Wuhan?](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/12/30/what-really-happened-in-wuhan/) - “It began in the autumn of 2019. Months before the first reported case of human-to-human contact, the Wuhan Institute of Virology began to go dark. Publicly available information was wiped from the internet. Staff connected with the Institute disappeared as the scientists fiercely criticised its safety practices and standards. At the same time, there were reviews, true crime, history, politics, travel, fiction - [Teacher, We Girls!](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/09/12/teacher-we-girls/) - In the animated film “The Swallows of Kabul” the Taliban force a man to pray in a mosque and his wife must wait outside in the hot sun wearing a suffocating cover-all burqa. We see the world as she does: through the grill of a veil. And we hear her laboured breathing as she nearly - [A Review of Buenos Aires Triad](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/09/17/a-review-of-buenos-aires-triad/) - A review from Carlos Hughes, author of White Monkey: What's an honest man to do for a living when they live in a country where inflation rises up by 20% overnight and the price of bread becomes an expensive commodity? This is the dilemma of the main protagonist 'Lucas' in the wonderfully written crime noir - [The Sultan and the Governor](https://www.febeyer.com/2021/09/24/the-sultan-and-the-governor/) - In Oct 2016 I travelled to North Maluku in Indonesia. Two islands there, Ternate and Tidore, are the most fascinating places I’ve been to in Indonesia. Not exactly tourist hubs, I had some trouble getting around with my basic Indonesian. The main aim was to climb the summits of these two volcanic islands. I managed ## Pages - [Bio](https://www.febeyer.com/bio/) - F.E. Beyer writes about dead-end jobs, travel, history and crime. He is the author of three books: Buenos Aires Triad, a tale of low-end criminals in Argentina's capital, Smoko, a comic novel set in New Zealand, and The Crushed Can, about a dysfunctional Australian English teacher in China. His articles and reviews have appeared in - [Novels](https://www.febeyer.com/buenos-aires-triad/) - The Crushed Can, available on Amazon Kurt and Reece don't fight the reputation foreign teachers have in China in 2002—they embrace it. Opium, brothels, and booze help them forget unsuccessful classes and long commutes. When Reece abruptly leaves the country, Kurt takes over his apartment and inherits Ronghua—Reece’s ex-girlfriend. Originally from Anhui Province, Ronghua once - [Travel](https://www.febeyer.com/trip-reports/) - 1 Cambodia 2023 2 Mexico 2023/2024 3 Hua Hin, Thailand 2023 4 Bangkok 2023 part 1 5 Bangkok 2023 part 2 6 Vietnam, 2023 7 Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2019 8 Solo, Indonesia 2016 9 Gamalama, Indonesia 2016 10 Sao Paulo, Brazil 2012 11 Barracas, BA, Argentina 2011 12 Argentina 2010 13 Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, NZ 2003 - [Reviews](https://www.febeyer.com/reviews/) - “An American Bum in China” Asian Review of Books “Lust and Philosophy” Bookish Asia “The Worm and the Ring” The International Anthony Burgess Foundation “The Killing Season” Inside Indonesia “The Scientist and the Spy” Asian Review of Books "In the Dragon's Shadow" Asian Review of Books "Resurgent Indonesia" Asian Review of Books "Tokyo Romance" Asian - [Articles](https://www.febeyer.com/published-articles/) - True Crime “The Roba Turistas Gang” Crime Traveller “A Case of Missing Evidence: Rabid Rodents or Corrupt Cops?” Crime Traveller “A Question of Legitimate Defence: The Castle Doctrine and Justice in Argentina” Crime Traveller History and Politics “Memories from Nemesis: Tale of Peruvian Maoist” Imperial and Global Forum, University of Exeter “General Juan Perón” History is Now - [Contact](https://www.febeyer.com/contact/) - Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form. Name * First Last Email * Comment or Message * Submit - [Stories](https://www.febeyer.com/stories/) - “Dog Breeder” Fiction on the Web “New Zealand’s Immortal Citizen” Literally Stories "Smashing the Machines" Headland Journal "A Farewell to Bikes" Fiction on the Web "The Giant Worm" Fiction on the Web "Toilet Paper is Expensive" Fiction on the Web "Steak to Toast" Fiction on the Web "Getting Fired" Fiction on the Web "The Battle - [About](https://www.febeyer.com/about/) - Visitors will want to know who is on the other side of the page. Use this space to write about yourself, your site, your business, or anything you want. Use the testimonials below to quote others, talking about the same thing – in their own words. 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