The International Writer's Magazine - August 2008 - Editorial

Destinations: Travel stories & guides

Opinion: Politics & Issues

Lifestyles: Ways of living

The Drive to Olympos Sean Hastings in Turkey I find myself in the sleepy seaside town of Fethiye. I must yield to the pressure of depleted budgets and depart this country for more financially fertile climes A Dead Sea journey Marwan Asmar In my first visit to the Dead Sea aside from one rest house, there was precious little besides a small village, the blue salty sea, and a long winding road that kept going to Aqaba. Now all is changed Steeped on Santa Cruz Tyrel Nelson with tortoises Life was good. I was recently reunited with my girlfriend, Amanda, who I hadn’t seen in over 5 months, and we were in a place that many people only get to visit in their dreams.

Open Letter to Barack Obama James Campion Keep the chin up and the hands clean and we might survive this weird experiment until mid-September with a puncher's chance Eygpt Waiting Jack Shenker Towering over the polluted chaos of one of Cairo’s main flyovers is a huge advertising billboard. Sandwiched between colourful posters for Pizza Hut, Coca Cola and Doritos, the billboard features nothing but a giant red question mark, accompanied by the words ‘Wait For It’.

Notes from a Café – Zagreb Neha Puntambekar Delicate strings of cigarette smoke rise up in synchrony, like ballerinas magically suspended in mid-air. I'm sitting at a little café in the heart of Zagreb A Wallflower's Rhapsody Piper Davenport I've felt the need to write and re-write and write again. The feeling is getting stronger. I think I'm almost ready to move forward with my own, personal story/stories. Is anyone out there, though? Is anyone listening? Am I ever going to get paid for this? Score Carol Falaki Today we are in Iran. Tomorrow we fly back to England, but first I have a promise to keep. I am waiting for Shahyar. From here I can watch for his arrival.

FICTION plus

FICTION Original Shorts

REVIEWS Film & Books

The Noise "Oh, what great fiction I will mold from such terrible misery..."-- Jim White - Punkerslut What was that noise? Who did it come from -- who was it looking for? Why did it stop? For the first time in my company's history, the workers acted in unision, all slowly edging closer to the windows, regardless of what any other might notice, each seeking to identify and discover that source of such tempered inspiration. Mean Tide by Sam North Linda Regan review A beautifully written, unusual and a good story, one I was sad to finish. The Samaritans of Terror James Skinner Let the good guys win for a change

Private Moments of a Witch Nickolay Todorov Once again, the yearning that had forced Olga Vartolomei to make an anonymous phone call to the home of Tom Baek for seventy-three consecutive days gave her shortness of breath. Giving an outlet to despair was humiliating and it hurt much, and there were important work engagements she was supposed to tend to instead An unusal Sunday in Dagoba Lakunle Jaiyesimi Sundays are unusually hot days! Nature has her ways for perfect orderliness. Or maybe, it’s the Sun god at work, who has chosen that day for itself alone. The god comes out in full armour, with bristling rays poured on all the earth without discrimination. A Puff of Smoke James C Clar Natsuko was reading Paul Theroux’s The Happy Isles of Oceania. She found the author somewhat arrogant and mean-spirited at times but Oh how he could write. And, she had to admit, he did have a wonderful feel for the Polynesian mentality.

This Means War: Sex and the City & the Assault on Modern Man - Kennedy Heather Being that I inhabit the western hemisphere and am either (a) a female or (b) a gay man, one of my central leisure pursuits is, of course watching Sex and the City. The show is definite in its demographic; this is part of its appeal. You wouldn’t invite your dentist bra shopping and by the same token you don’t expect your straight male pals to cosy up for a full-on SATC sesh. Such are the unspoken codes of civil society. The Dark Knight Starring: Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger (RIP), Maggie Gyllenhal Directed by: Christopher Nolan Reviewed by Stephen Doyle I am a self-confessed ‘geek’ and comic-book fan, so I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new Batman movie ‘The Dark Knight’ on the big screen.

Borderlines Vol 2 A Literary Spark - A University of Portsmouth publication from the School of Creative Arts, Film & Media - Buy now - available from Lulu Press & Blackwells, Amazon on-line Borderlines Vol 2 - A literary Anthology of new fiction, travel writing and poetry from the Creative Writing Programmes and invited writers at the University of Portsmouth, UK, under the editorship of Freya Scott, Ryan Sirmons, Aby Davis and Sam North 'An exciting insight into the amazing talent and diversity of new writers out there today' Stuart Olesker - Playwright 'A wonderful collection of vibrant, captivating stories and sweet & lo poetry' Maddy P

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em and little fleas have lesser fleas ...ad infinitum - Augustus de Morgan

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