The International Writers Magazine JULY 2014

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Welcome to this edition of Hackwriters. Read us and the amazing archives too. 15 years on-line and 7584 articles - reviews - stories - travel share any feature you like. Have a great summer.
Editorial: July 23rd 2014:

Sunset on the River Humber

Russian rebels shoot down a Malaysian passenger plane killing almost 300 people and Putin tries to squirm out of responsibility for giving them the weapons to do it. Flying just got a lot scarier. RT, Putin's mouthpiece denies it, but there is a great deal of evidence of monitored phone calls, eye-witnesses in the rebel held area who saw the BUK missiles in their town etc. It's not a pretty picture and the way the Pre-Russian rebels have handled the fallen bodies is dispicable. But guess what - nothing will happen. Sanctions? Who are we kidding. Hypocrisy rules in Europe. Whilst Iraq melts down and ISIS keeps winning (not so very hard to do since 90 thousand Iraqi soldiers ran away) muddle rules. Northern Iraq is lost for years probably and a few episodes of Homeland isn't going to fix it. ISIS inherited the most sophisticated weapons and communications money can buy - not to mention top of the range tanks and other vehicles.

Never before has a terrorist organisation had such terrififying equipment or the will to use it. Videos of them casually mowing down ex-soldiers and civilians and dragging bodies across fields do not bode well. These are not people who will build a future or grow crops - they aim to kill and frighten all of the Middle-East to do their bidding - think of them as the SS of Islam. Surrounding them are the armies of Turkey, Saudi, Iran and Syria (or the rump that Assad still controls). Will there be a battle knowing that ISIS will kill all the local population as human shields if war happens? And what about Christians caught up in this. Where can they flee? What we do know is that the Maliki run southern Iraq will eventually do nothing - as they prefer to bicker and the militias take up the slack to their own ends. Right now you are probably hiding from the news in the middle-east or Israel. Everywhere you look it is crazy. But don't say I didn't warn you that this is what happens in the Year of the Horse. Six more months of craziness to go. I am sure I should venture solutions for world peace and goodwill in this space – but sadly I have none - disaster seems to loom in every direction. Is this how the world drifted into World War 1 one asks? History now repeating itself as a cruel farce.

So much rain has fallen here this summer at Hackwriters Towers I am no longer doing gardening on the odd dry weekend but wading through bind weed with a machete.  Somewhere in that back garden my tomatoes are growing and where there was one fox, now two seem to have taken up residence.  A cute baby fox is there right now. But there is something uncanny about foxes arguing at night.  It is spooky. Instead I am concentrating on helping my pal paint her new apartment instead and try to catch her from falling when we find faults.  Such as when I removed the kitchen cabinets from the wall to paint before the new ones go up and found a hole that goes right through to next door.  Not just a round hole, a vast cavern well hidden by the cabinets.  Of course you can go sue your surveyor, but he wouldn’t have found this hole without demolishing the kitchen.  Buyer beware never seemed so apt.  Add the fact that the kitchen and bathroom sort of slope - we suspect there is a very large sinkhole under this house.... not good really.

Of course buying a house built in 1901 has its drawbacks, any old money pit, I mean house, does.  But the real shock was to come, pricing up the new kitchen and bathroom came as a stunner.  I just hope it all looks as good as they promise it will.    I thinking of developing an app to record plumbers and builders sucking in their teeth when you ask a price. The bigger the suck the bigger the price. The probably more useless they will be too.  

Buying property in the UK is a nightmare at best.  We do it in the hope that the darn thing will go up in price and there is some ‘ladder’ we can go up to bigger and better things.  This seems to work for everyone else, but in the end a ladder seems to be the one thing we end up with.  My last house went down in value.  Not really surprising with a screaming alcoholic next door who would sometimes be found lying on the road or stabbing people in her front room.  Buyers would come around and hear the screaming through the walls and run…

But just as Kit is embarking on this grand adventure in property speculation – the market is cooling, mortgages are impossible to get and the only people still buying are cash buyers.  Who are these people with so much cash they don’t even care about prices?  The French, the Spanish, and Turks I suspect, the rich fleeing their own countries for the safety of England.  I don’t mind, but they should beware of a new Socialist government may be coming in here next year dedicated to rewarding the feckless and punishing enterprise.  I suspect there will be a few hundred thousand fleeing London all over again next May.

Luckily others are thinking for us this July. (See the article on Ebola in this months issue or where James Campion reminds us that it is 50 years since the Civil Rights Act was signed) and British Liberalism debate with Tom Kilcourse. Or you could just bunk off and retire to the Philippines as Fred Wilson suggests.

*I do have to say welcome to a new arrival. Little Evie West was born to former contributor Gemma Roxanne West a couple of weeks ago and looks very cute indeed. Congratulations to Mamma.

OK.  This is the July edition of Hackwriters and as varied and interesting as ever.  Will there be another?  Probably for now, but things are changing and with luck there will be news of that by the Autumn.  Sam Hawksmoor will be staring a new book and Sam North (moi) will have a new ebook coming out from me this July (Magenta) - it is the final throes of production right now.  It is set in the wilds of the Lincolnshire coast - and there aren't many books set around here - so I am hoping to redress the balance. Meanwhile what next? Nothing decided yet – but it is time to do something different.  Just not quite got it nailed down yet.  15 years running a magazine is a long time.  Anyone want to buy us out? 

Happy reading and share the word if you find something you like.

© Sam North  - Travel Editor July 23rd 2014
author of Diamonds The Rush of '72 and

MAGENTA
new from Sam North
A mysterious, tragic tale from the wilds of the Lincolnshire coast – a haunting story about father and daughter
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Do buy Sam's new book The Heaviness – suitable for any reader who likes to think about such things as betrayal, revenge, relationships and the laws of gravity.  All proceeds from our books go into keep Hacks going. All on Kindle.

The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor a fast paced edgy romantic thriller 'Smart, dark and graceful, this story is sure to send chills down your spine...one of the best, and most fascinating, debut novels I've ever read'. Evie-bookish.blogspot The Hunting - the thrilling sequel - order yours from Amazon, Waterstones or Chapters or your indie bookshop plus Indigo Books Canada or Kindle 'Without a doubt, one of the best YA Sci Fi series out there.' Evie Seo Bookish Now read the final thrilling conclusion to the series 'The Heaviness'

The Repossession & The Hunting by Sam Hawksmoor released across Canada Available in Chapters/Indigo/ Albany Books, Hager and Kids Books Broadway - Vancouver + Bolens Books (Victoria), Mables Fables, Type Books in Toronto, ‘Smart, dark and graceful, this story is sure to send chills down your spine…’ Evie Seo Part Three - The Heaviness now available

If you're looking for an exciting YA book set in WW2 - Kindle download 'The Repercussions of Tomas D' or buy the paperback - All proceeds go to keeping Hackwriters going

The Repercussions of Tomas D
A Hero? Or Englands Greatest Traitor? USA Paperback here
'Disturbing and very poignant YA novel that presents a chilling alternate future for an England that lost the war.'
Marcel d'Agneau

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