The International Writers Magazine Editorial JUNE 2022

TRAVEL

COMMENT

LIFESTYLES

REVIEWS

FICTION

Welcome to this JUNE 2022 edition of Hackwriters. 23 years on-line, 7875 + articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on.

Coronavirus UK: It's not over
*Washington University claims that the true figure of global (excess mortality) is 18.4 million deaths. (Lancet 3.22)
The numbers of Covid infections in the USA are still 110,000 a day now!
More than one and a half million new cases in the UK right at the moment and rising sharply.
June 30th 2022 -

Editorial: Where's the good news?

Women now have more rights in Russia than the USA. Makes you think.

The Supreme Court in the USA really knows how to make America ungovernable. First they say open carry is permitted anywhere, even in New York, which will make The Purge look like a documentary and now they have just overturned Roe v Wade - so womens' rights are gone forever. It's not just abortion they are banning but condemining millions of women to a life of poverty and those unwanted kids too. And Biden is powerless to stop this. Atlantic Magazine is talking up civil war in 2024...

James Campion celebrates Sir Paul McCartney as he turns 80.

I hope all the conspiracy theorists are watching the Jan 6th Investigation Committee on TV. But I guess the truth is not something they can handle. Certainly voters in primaries were still flocking Trumps's way. They are actually voting to destroy democracy come November. Meanwhile we discover more about Trump's criminality day by day.

Filled up my car for £105 - that's five quid more than I paid for my first car. But this is not how it ends. Oil could go a lot higher as Russia's war against Ukraine grinds on. Putin says if he loses in Ukraine he will invade NATO countries next. So naturally the UK Government immediately cuts 9000 soldiers. This makes soooo much sense. Nice to know Turkey has cleared the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO today.
If you are sufering from stress right now, Indiana Lee has some info for you.

Poverty is all relative I’m told.  Being poor in a hot country is likely to be less punitive than being poor in a cold one.  But tell that to my nephew in South Africa who’s had no electricity for the last three days due to the previous President of the ANC stealing all the money that was supposed to go to the power company.  No one in the press here has even thought about all the food going to waste there because there’s no reliable refrigeration anymore in SA.  Add medicines to that thought. Now they say the same might happen in the UK this winter ...

What does it take to survive I wondered? So the average US poverty line in 2022 is $13,590 (Around £10,500) for a single person (two people $18,310). In Alaska you’d need $16,990 to keep warm, which stands to reason. The UK poverty line is extremely hard to assess although they tell us that you are in poverty if your income or pension is 60% below the median income currently £605 a week (The Sunday Times 29th May). People say that 6.5 million are in fuel poverty but I expect that number has just doubled since energy prices will rises to a minimum of £2800 per household from October.  Pensioners will be paying a ‘minimum’ of one third to one half of their pension to heat their homes. They will still have to find money for council tax, food, and clothes.  Pensioners could consider themselves lucky that they still have access to free healthcare (even if it all that means these days is spending their days in hospital canteens just to stay warm in winter).  Certainly they, or anyone else, will not have access to their GP’s, or dentists who are all working from home in Spain somewhere. Or on strike.

And what about Gen Z. You got through covid only for Putin to start a war and trigger worldwide inflation, not to mention possible starvation in Africa. How do you stay positive? How do you plan a future if you don't know how everything will turn out? It might help to say that I too faced a difficult future when I was young. Inflation was nearly 25% and jobs were scarce, rents got ever higher. I was lucky, I escaped to America for a while (in the days when you could) and tried all kinds of jobs to survive. But always I intended to be a writer, come what may and was lucky enough one day to write something someone liked. Dreams only come true if you put the work in. Luck strikes when your ready. Perhaps I didn't get everything I wanted or even the career I thought I wanted but I learned to be flexible and try my hands at many different things and eventually teaching. If you're about to graduate school or uni, believe it or not people are hiring and training. Be ready. You will get through this.

It’s June.  I just had an endoscopy in my bladder. I am now peeing blood and the pain is IMMENSE.
Not a happy bunny.

Enjoy summer it's here.

© Sam North - Editor - June 2022
PS Buy my latest crime novel A Cure for Sceptics to help pay heating bills for this office – pretty please.
'If you like dogs - you'll love this book'

A Cure for Sceptics by Sam North Publisher: Hammer & Tong ( July 2021) Paperback & kindle: 326 pages ISBN-13: 979-8537465874 Delaney and Asha run the Berg City Office of City Oversight. Their role is to expose the shady characters running scams and fraud against the city. 300 complaints flood in for a $30,000 treatment that claims to abolish pain forever. Unfortunately the Mayor himself is touting the scheme. When Delaney finds himself left for dead at the bottom of a cliff he gets the message that he's supposed to leave this one well alone. 'A great human story that wears it's heart on it's sleeve.' Dr Allen Cook - Bridgeport University ‘a brilliant and intriguing tale’ Amazon **Sample Sam North's new novel here.

MISSION LONGSHOT: how far will you go to save one life? Gerry is convinced aliens are going to attack on Millennium Eve - Y2K night. Everyone else is preparing for the end of civilisation. When it happens only Gerry notices aliens land. He and his spacenut pals Jolene and Kali race to be the first to greet them... 'Gripping adventures with highly engaging characters.' W. Leff - Goodreads

The Sam North Novels - still available to order Amazon or Lulu

*Keeping Hackwriters archived is supported by sales of our books - so do buy, print or kindle, we aren't picky.
Magenta - A chilling story of kidnapping, burning and strangeness set in the wilds of Lincolnshire

** The Heaviness, & The Repercussions of Tomas D - 'best time travel WW2 story in a long while'

The new edition of 'ANOTHER PLACE TO DIE: ENDTIME CHRONICLES By Sam Hawksmoor & Sam North There's no safe place to hide from a lethal pandemic Print & Kindle - Q&A interview with the authors here A city gripped by fear. 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. a taster here The Last Ferry Review from the First Edition: 'Beautiful, plausible, and sickeningly addictive, Another Place to Die: Endtime will terrify you, thrill you, and make you petrified of anyone who comes near you...' Roxy West - Amazon.co.uk

Girl with Cat (Blue) - Shortlisted for the Rubery International Book Award 'a funny, bloody, colorful narrative that never fails to surprise the reader. Girl with Cat (Blue) provides great entertainment'.

'This book was amazing! I was hooked from the first few pages and couldn't put the book down.' Judge, 26th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. - Honorable Mention

J&K 4Ever - A post-apocalypse love story 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.   '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

Spy/Romance thriller set during the Blitz in WW2 - Kindle download 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 ' *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. * Also published as Rüya by Marti Yayincilik - The Turkish publishers of TOZ & Golge

Share |

• Back to Index

© Hackwriters.com 1999 - 2022 - (23 years on-line)
We are Carbon Neutral

FICTION . TRAVEL . LIFESTYLES - REVIEWS