Welcome - The International Writers Magazine - July 2010
Welcome to Hackwriters

It’s summer, the UK endures a heatwave and the poor kids are still in school.  They will emerge, as usual, just as the summer rains begin.  I shall try to avoid the topic of football – except to say how quiet my neighbours are now they have taken the St George's flag down.

We are happy that Nadal won Wimbledon though. Much deserved. And by the time you read this you will know if it is Spain or Netherlands that won the cup. Both deserve it and it was great to see that the games went off in South Africa so smoothly, Paris Hilton aside. Hopefully SA has made a lot of news friends that will plan to come back on vacation there in the near future. Let's hope so.

Now all I really care about in sport is whether Hamilton or Button win the World Grand Prix Championship actually. It's been a pretty exciting year in Grand Prix, for once, although the British Grand Prix always spring surprises.

I am off to Bayonne to see friends, then Vigo for a little while to do some writing.  I have never been there, but one of our regular correspondents James Skinner (who writes on the economic life of Spain for Hackwriters) lives there and is always saying how interesting Galicia is – so we shall see.  Sometimes it good to go somewhere completely new to find stimulation.  I am avoiding reality of course, that of my job coming to an end in September.  Sensible people wouldn’t take a holiday.  Sensible people would stay at home and paint the guttering and prune the garden, figure out why my raspberries are going mouldy – but I didn’t get into this mess being sensible now, did I?

I spent yesterday on the Kings Road in Chelsea. London in summer is my favourie time. Met up with fellow writer George to swop ideas for novels in progress, then catch 'White Material' a new movie from Claire Denis. Harrowing but sobering account of a French African Colony disintegrating, much like Zimbabwe or the Congo and others before it. One prays this is not a fate SA would suffer, but with people like Joseph Malema waiting in the wings to take power, the sobering thought is that it could.

The end of June was spent at the Winchester Writers Conference.  It was hot, the crowds were thick with wannabe writers, editors, agents and some actual authors as well.  Aside from one to ones with writers with work in progress it was good to meet up with author Sarah Mussi (Last of the Warrior Kings) and spin ideas for her next novel.  If you haven’t found her work yet, try it.  Inner London kids going a bit wild is her speciality, as well as African history and she knows a lot about it.  Good to meet up with Beverley Birch too, author of (Rift) and discuss new work and the state of the market.  Not sure about the Dawn French lookalike singing Jerusalem at supper, but thankfully we survived the night.  Barbara Large MBE has been running this conference for 30 years, which is amazing and she deserves a big accolade for her sterling effort over the years in bringing writers and professionals together to help give new writers a break.

Hackwriters is now taking a summer break to get some work done.  I hope you all find a place to go and enjoy the summer  (or the rain in Cape Town if you are there) and come back refreshed with new ideas.  I suspect the rest of 2010 might turn out to be difficult, but we have been here before. Most things are survivable. Let's hope they plug that damn hole in the Gulf soon.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this months edition. We really are pretty darn international now. Many thanks too to those who have bought my books recently. Another Place to Die has passed the 2650 figure now and that cheers me up. Now if I could get Mean Tide or Diamonds to sell as well, I'd be really happy. It really does help keep Hackswriters going. Take care out there.  Get writing.

© Sam North July 10th 2010
Editor – Hackwriters.com

Mean Tide by Sam North 'Extraordinary novel about a child's psychic awakening' Lulu Press - ISBN: 978-1-4092-0354-4 Review: 'An engaging, unusual and completely engrossing read' - Beverly Birch author of 'Rift' His father has disappeared, his mother is sick. Oliver, recovering from chemo, is sent to live with his psychic Grandma by the river in Greenwich. Oliver quickly discovers he is living with a world of strange people. When he finds a dog with its throat cut on the riverside, everything changes. Oliver wants to find the people who did this terrible thing. (Young Adult Mystery)

The Curse of the Nibelung - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Sam North ISBN: 13: 978-1-4116-3748-1 302 pages - Lulu Press USA 'Chocolate will never be the same again' - Sunday Express Buy from your favourite on-line retailer Amazon UK Amazon USA Barnes and Noble & Waterstones Book also available from The Nineveh Gallery, 11 The Pallant Havant, PO9 1BE. UK  and to order from Blackwells in Portsmouth

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