Welcome - The International Writers Magazine - June Editorial 2011

The Repossession - a fast paced edgy romantic thriller The Repossession out now. View the Trailer here 'The Repossession... will blow your mind and keep you guessing until the very end'. A Dream of Books (SJH) '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

*Norah on the soundtrack with Broken Hearts - the more you listen the better it gets.

June 2012 - *July Editorial due Monday July 2nd Welcome to Hackwriters June Edition: Quite an array of topics this month from our writers across the globe. From vacations in Mauritius, to a chilly week alone in Prague, crossing the Netherlands by bicycle and secret places in India, travel is much in people's minds. The disintegration of Spain is James Skinner's worry; he has been warning of this for over two years now. Shame no one listened until too late. We have news of a probable scam in Nigeria (building monorails in Africa is a dream too far in a country that doesn't even produce it's own petrol from all the oil exports). Not to mention James Campion on the Wisconsin Recall Bust. Discussions on heroines in kids books and working practices in care homes - we cover one hell of a range. There's new fiction, a discussion on the merits of self-publishing, and reviews (more to come). Thirteen years we've been on-line and it's amazing the scope of what our writers think about and Dean Borok proves it with his piece on the silent movie 'Docks of New York' from 1928.

Meanwhile:
I took some time to write an extended analysis of what might befall us in June with the fallout following the 2nd Greek Election on June 17th.  About half way through writing it I started to feel ill, by the morning I had developed what turns out to be laryngitis.  Perhaps you, like me might have sniffed at people who have laryngitis, as hey you loose your voice for a few days, so what, it doesn’t hurt…  Dead wrong.  I can’t recall a time when the pain was so bad.  It appears that during the middle of the night someone ran a bolt through my neck aka Herman Munster and swallowing was suddenly the toughest thing in the world.  Add a wracking cough, a streaming cold and a chest like lead and I should be looking out the window for the four horsemen of the acropolis (as they have lately become).  All this from visiting my Ma in hospital.  Dangerous place is Roehampton hospital is all I can say. 

Although I am now almost recovered apart from a cough that seems to have moved in, the thing is – I don’t quite care so much about what happens to Europe as I did before I got sick.  All want to do is stop coughing.  Being ill takes the passion out of everything - adds clarity if you will. Of course the world will still go on - with or without you - it just might not be such a great place for a while that's all. It’s not great being sick when the sky is blue either and that week the British summer passed by in a blaze of glory never to return till next May.  By the time I staggered outside still gargling with Aspro (as advised) it was raining again.

So Greece decides its fate on the 17th of June this weekend in fact. President Hollande of France is already setting the agenda in Europe and people Europe wide have decided that on the whole they prefer debt to reality. This can only ends in tears. (Spain is already in meltdown with their banks holding more than 300 billion Euros of worthless mortgage debts (a conservative estimate) and discussions of a 100 Billion bailout (Surely 200 Billion short!) (Check out James Skinner on Spain to find out how bad it really is). Portugal is holding its breath and Italy still isn’t taking the ‘politics’ seriously enough to reform their hopeless labour laws.  You know, I know, but it seems they don’t that it is all going to end up in one great ‘FUDGE’ where more money is printed, more bonds created and everything is kicked down the road for your children to cope with.  The Euro, and with it, Federal Dreams of a United Europe will be maintained at any cost. That's the real truth here. They will print money until we are drowning in it and then blame us for the mess we are in.

So I am taking a contrarian view.  No collapse.  The oil price is already falling to take account of falling demand. Inflation will disappear (for a while). The Greeks will find a way to elect a pro-austerity coalition and the focus will be on Germany to raise its inflation rate (wages/prices) so it becomes less competitive with all the underperforming countries of the South.  Makes sense.  Eurofudge so nice you can taste it twice. Once going down, twice coming back up. German’s may even enjoy it for a moment – if they spend some of their savings.  Then there will be another crisis and we shall all start again. Will we end up with 'Depression' or ranging inflation? Hard one to call but one thing is for sure, it will be a long nightmare.

To be honest no one knows how to fix Europe since this extraordinary explosion of debt from the start of the Euro project. Corrupt bankers and politicians just dove in and went beserk with greed. (Yes I have seen all those fantastic highways in Spain that go nowhere... the airports with no planes...Concert halls, opera houses - no one ever needs another opera house ever.

The problem is what is safe? Your home? or the Objects in it? All could drop in value like a stone once a rout begins. Imagine if we all hit eBay at the same time with all our possessions. They'll be some bargains to be sure, but even cash might be a problem and then with banks closing and supermarkets running out of stuff to sell (things that are beginning to happen in Spain right now) I am not confident we will all queue nicely come the crunch.

We are all on a cliff edge and can do little but look back to the relative calm of the early nineties and wonder with shaking heads as to how we exactly got here.

In any case no one wants to make a major decision before they know who will be President of the United States in November. (I'll wait for James Campion to let me know if Obama can scrape back).

OK let’s face it we live in a messy world.  Syria gets away with murder because Putin says they can.  Greeks will get away with not paying their taxes because Germany wants the Euro.  China slowly buys up all the worlds’ resources because they can. What can you do about it?  Practically nothing.  Just hope that someone keeps open the Aspro factory apparently.

Happy June.  Let's see if we can get to July in one piece
Sam North - Editor of Hackwriters June 2012

Author of Diamonds – The Rush of 72 (Print)

The Great Californian Diamond Rush of 1872 - ruined the lives of almost everyone it touched
ipad (iTunes version)

Mean Tide - Oliver, aged twelve is sent to live with his only relative. On a foggy day, one bald boy, with his cat, Flop, arrives at his Grandma's house at the water's edge in Greenwich. Oliver discovers to his horror that his Grandma, a famous psychic, hates cats. Her housekeeper, Lena loathes kids, and silent Justine seems to hate everyone. Add crazy Harriet, who has seen every fortune teller in London; Aura, a mysterious, aspiring beautiful actress and Bullet, the homeless kid with a very mean streak, trouble can't be far behind.

& Mean Tide (print)

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