F.E. Beyer's Blog, page 6

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 […]

The post Buenos Aires Triad Chapter 1 first appeared on FE Beyer.

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 post Argentina Sketches: Story of the Eye first appeared on FE Beyer.

Fashion for Socialist Dictators: Maduro in China

As Venezuela has been the recipient of over half of China’s loans to South America, the ongoing crisis there is of concern […]

The post Fashion for Socialist Dictators: Maduro in China first appeared on FE Beyer.

Chiang Kai-shek on the Forbidden City

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 post Chiang Kai-shek on the Forbidden City first appeared on FE Beyer.

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 […]

The post Argentina Sketches: The Albino Thief first appeared on FE Beyer.

Eyes Wide Shut: Malaparte in China

A former fascist sees only the good in Mao’s China

Curzio Malaparte on the Great Wall of 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 quasi-surrealist WWII novels, ‘Kaputt’ and ‘La pelle’ (The Skin).

In Kaputt, as a journalist and officer in the Italian army, he narrates happenings from behind the Eastern Front. Episodes from the Ukraine, Finland, Romania an...

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 burgeoning social media mentions of a new respiratory illness.”

This is an impressive book. Whether Sharri Markson has got everything right...

Q & A with Michael Botur

Author Michael Botur performing in Auckland

Was a pleasure to do Q & A with NZ author @MichaelBotur. His novel ‘Crimechurch’ was a great read. We discussed my book ‘Buenos Aires Triad’ and stuff related to writing.

Read the full article here.

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 burgeoning social media mentions of a new respiratory illness.”

This is an impressive book. Whether Sharri Markson has got everything right...

Graham Greene Reviews

Poster for the film adaption of Greene’s short story of the same name.

As a teenager, I read ‘The Comedians’ and in my twenties ‘The Power and the Glory’, ‘The Quiet American’ and ‘The Human Factor’. I remember swapping my copy of The Quiet American for ‘Off the Rails in Phnom Penh’ when in Laos. 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 the plot was lost on me. Then I g...