The International Writers Magazine Editorial JULY 2018

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Welcome to this July 2018 edition of Hackwriters. Read our amazing archives. 19 years on-line, 7500+ articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on using the links.
Once again celebrating Hello travel.com - Hackwriters Best Travel blog 2018

Editorial: July 2018

News just in July 20th:

Girl with Cat (Blue) Shortlisted for the International Rubery Book Award 2018

This is welcome news indeed and a very tough judging panel. So we send thanks to the Rubery Awards for shortlisting Sam Hawksmoor's latest book.
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Welcome to the July edition of Hackwriters.com - we build throughout the month so if you have something to submit and it isn't toxic do submit. Meanwhile take a look at us and all the archive material too. Share anything you like.

President Trump visited the UK after causing chaos for NATO on day one and 100,000 + protesters turned out to wave banners in London. He saw none of it as he went everywhere by helicopter. It needed 5000 cops at a cost of £5 million to protect him at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland. I guess in his own mind we should have showered him with roses along the Mall but I suspect that is not what people wanted to shower him with... Anyway it was fraught and asses were kissed. The usual. He certainly speaks his mind and is free with insults and 'suggestions' on how Europe and the UK could be run better. (To be honest in that at least he is probably right). Meanwhile Mrs May released a 'white paper' to explain finally how we are going to deal with Brexit; which turned out to be more of a white flag sadly and I think we can expect a lot more rebellions as the 'city' seems to have been sold down the river. This is significant as all those bankers you hate generate 80 percent of the wealth in the UK and pay our pensions. Without it we will rapidly be reduced in world trade stakes. The latest odds on a hard Brexit remain at 1/1 according to oddschecker 14.7.18 so be warned. The bookies know what is happening.

Happy is the person who lives in histories blank pages.

Right now we are living in the midst of chaos theory put into practice.  President Trump has upended the world and everything is sliding to the bottom, who knows what it will all look like after seven years of Trumpenomics.  Some people say it is a re-run of the 1930’s with dictators on tigers striding the world causing mayhem in their regions that will inevitably lead to global conflict. There is plenty of evidence for that. Dictators now run Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, Venezuela, most of Africa, Egypt, and despotic tendencies are developing in Eastern Europe, some using the cloak of democracy to legitimise their power and of course stuffing the ballot boxes to make sure they ‘win’.  The conspiracy theorists position is this:  Given we have a Manchurian Candidate President in Trump (See Campion's latest article on Treason) – it becomes more and obvious that America First means America retreats from global responsibility to the advantage of Russia or China. (Possibly abandoning NATO and South Korea to make regional defence almost impossible)  All the posturing and tariffs are merely to throw us off the scent.  The worldwide recession that Trump has set in motion might well be the end of capitalism and that is what his masters desire most of all.

Well I think I’m with the conspirators on this.  *Worth rereading 'The Plot against America' by Philip Roth about the Lindberg presidency. Add to the instability that Brexit has brought about and the inevitable diminishing of UK ‘soft’ power in the world – the gaps will be filled by opportunists such as Macron of France whose delusions of power will leave us with a new version of the Maginot line in an imaginary fortress Europe that is unable to control its borders.  He will be opposed by other European countries that resent the power of France and Germany to dictate all the rules.  So Europe could disintegrate as a unified force just as the rest of the world descends into chaos and punitive trade wars.  *In this issue James Skinner writes on developments in newly minted socialist Spain and our USA correspondent James Campion reminds us about Roe v. Wade and women's rights over their own bodies!.

If you are looking for a silver lining in all of this – I’m struggling to find it.  Concurrently we have all the digital changes that are shaping our new world and the power that is concentrated into companies like Google and Amazon and their Chinese equivalents.  Everything is changing.  Banking, the diminishing role of cash, the ultra surveillance society (China has instituted Sharp Eyes, an app that enables China’s 1.3 Billion people to spy on each other and they are enthusiastically taking it up by the millions.)  Sharp Eyes may come to other ‘democracies’ and heaven help their citizens who are already tracked by their phones and every click on-line.  The power to control citizens every waking moment is already frightening and can only get more effective.  Stalin had nothing on what is to come.

I started with a note about happiness is living in histories blank pages.  History records the battles, the famines, the pandemics and economic disasters.  Times of peace and accord are few but are recorded as ‘nothing much happened’.  Perhaps we will never see those blank pages again in my lifetime.

Ah well at least we have a rare summer drought to keep us all occupied.

© Sam North – Editor July 20th 2018
All Sam's fiction - SamNorth2.htm
Meanwhile there's still tons to read in our archives - and it's well worth exploring. You never know what you will find.
Do explore our archives - there is bound to be something you'd enjoy and want to share with someone.

Be one of the first to read: Girl with Cat (Blue)
'London doesn't exist; has never existed and those who say it does are liars... '
review: 'a funny, bloody, colorful narrative that never fails to surprise the reader. Girl with Cat (Blue) provides great entertainment'.

*As ever Hackwriters is supported by sales of our books - so do buy, print or kindle, we aren't picky.
The Sam North Novels - still available to order on Lulu or Amazon
** The Heaviness, Another Place to Die: Endtime Chronicles are recommended also read
The Repercussions of Tomas D

J&K 4Ever - Love and Devotion in the Wastelands Sixty years after the end of everything the city of Bluette survives, controlled by a malignant sect.  A place where men rule, girls receive no education and are matched at 16 to the highest bidder.  No one is ever permitted to leave the city and outside is a murderous wasteland of despair. Orphans Kruge and Jeyna have been devoted to each other through all the years of terror in this harsh regime and sworn never to be parted.  But the beautiful Jeyna has been betrayed by the Warden. Kruge has been swiftly banished to the Scraps, under the control of the Keeper. Jeyna is heartbroken; she will not accept her fate and escapes to find Kruge.  She is pursued by ruthless Enforcers on horseback, whose task it is to bring runaways back, dead or alive. 'A genuine romance in a bleak but plausible and terrifying setting'.

J&K 4Ever

MARIKKA- exclusively on Amazon Print and kindle 2 Based on a tragic real life event, Marikka flees from an arson attack on her home to the sea, where she meets Starfish boy – a runaway working for Jackson, a scarred man hiding a sinister secret from the world. Meanwhile her real father searches for her with the aide of Anya, ‘the girl who can read objects’. More about the writing of this book ‘Long after my tears dried, my heart stayed with Marikka, Starfish Boy and the strange girl who reads objects.’ CT You will smile, you will gasp with shock, and you will struggle to read the words through your tears. Gemma Williams - Amazon.co.uk 2015

The all new edition of 'ANOTHER PLACE TO DIE: ENDTIME CHRONICLES By Sam Hawksmoor and Sam North Could you live in a world where antibiotics no longer work? Print & Kindle Q&A interview with the authors here A city gripped by fear as a lethal virus approaches from the East. No one knows how many are dying. People are petrified of being thrown into quarantine. Best friends Kira and Liz once parted are scared they will never see each other again. Teen lovers, Chris and Rachel, prepare to escape to the islands. Do you stay and hide, or do you flee? Review from the First Edition: 'Beautiful, plausible, and sickeningly addictive, Another Place to Die will terrify you, thrill you, and make you petrified of anyone who comes near you...' Roxy West - Amazon.co.uk

Spy/Romance thriller set during the Blitz in WW2 - Kindle download 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 love story that presents a chilling alternate future for an England that lost the war.' Marcel d'Agneau 'A brilliant imagining of living in the Blitz, well researched.' Amazon UK 'This is Man in the High Castle for teens and scarily plausible with alternative facts ' *download the Kindle version or buy the paperback from Hammer & Tong

'The Heaviness' for any reader who likes to think about such things as betrayal, revenge, relationships and the laws of gravity. An original Genie Magee story Genie & Renée have just 36 hours to save Rian or he dies 'Without a doubt, one of the best YA Sci Fi series out there.' Evie Seo Bookish Kindle & print Thanks to readers who have been buying this title. If you enjoyed it, please post a remark on Amazon or Goodreads. It all helps. * Now published as Rüya by Marti Yayincilik - The Turkish publishers of TOZ & Golge

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