The International Writers Magazine Editorial JUNE 2023

TRAVEL

COMMENT

LIFESTYLES

REVIEWS

FICTION

Welcome to this edition of Hackwriters. 24 years on-line, 7,931 + articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on. June 29th 2023 - Previous Editorial on Paris here

Editorial: Slow Mo to Hell That was the shortest Coup in history. More fizzle than fizz. Putin is diminished, the rebel Prigozhin is going into exile, his 'private army' to be joined with the main Russian Army - should they wish to take the pay cut. But Putin will want to prove he's still in charge, so expect a lot of people to fall out of windows in Moscow and the war against Ukraine to become even more lethal. Not a happy time. Photo of the Humber Estuary one stormy day © S.Hawksmoor

Russia blew up a huge dam in the Ukraine and thousands of people have been evacuated. The same water is used to cool nearby nuclear reactors 90Km upstream. Animals will die due to breeding grounds being destroyed. Ukraine is facing a future of inevitable drought and starvation in the region (due to water contamination). War is also climate change by other means. This was an act of ecocide by Russia. Say a prayer for Ukraine and send them victory against Putin.

I was reading about Nepal in The Times recently. (Mt Everest is located between Nepal and Tibet). 70 years have passed since Tenzing and Hillary first conquered Everest.  Now, thanks to climate change, thousands line up in the summer to stroll up there and claim a spot for their ego. Naturally they leave their tents, garbage and empty oxygen tanks up there in a huge pile. Not an evironmentalist among them it seems. It would appear that none of these people have noticed that all the glaciers in this region are melting fast.  They make no connection to their contribution to that problem by flying there, for example.  Of course, there’s no direct link between mountaineers ticking their boxes and glaciers, but the melting is emphatically linked to all the vast amounts of coal being burned in China and India to keep factories going and, in China’s case, provide power for all those ‘supposed’ pollution free electric cars. Burning coal in massive quantities is literally killing the planet.  Germany has recently swapped nuclear power for coal that makes no environmental sense at all.

These melting glaciers provide water for two billion people in the Indo-China region.  Two Billion.  Ok, they won’t starve today, but in the near future when the glaciers are gone (as soon as 15-20 years) the rivers will die, as will the crops and most of the animals they rely on.  Where do you think two billion people will go when they can no longer eat?  How many wars will this create as social tensions mount?

Simultaneously, the Arctic and Antarctic are also melting and speeding up. That’s a lot of fresh water pouring into the oceans that will kill fish and plankton, make the water more acidic and could cause ocean levels to rise.  The loss of ice cover will mean the oceans warm ever faster contributing to the global rise in temperature. The oceans don’t have to rise much to swamp most major cities in the world.  The saline water will render the arable land around the cities sterile.

If you are under thirty this is certain to happen in your lifetime, whether you stop driving or using electricity today.  De Santis’s Florida will eventually be underwater.  New York is already sinking thanks to the weight of the giant towers.  I live in an endangered area on the East Coast of the UK.  From the Humber to the Thames much of the coast and the habitats are at risk.  Soon it will be impossible to get flood insurance.  As I drive around I see hundreds of new homes being built on known flood plains and I despair.

I’m not one of the ‘just stop oil’ people. We are in an ironic situation that just as petrol and diesel engines reached peak efficiency they will be banned from sale by 2030.  Electric cars are not clean and at the moment are inconvenient for long journeys with huge waits to get a recharge.  If we all went electric the amount of slave-labour produced lithium needed to provide battery power would outstrip world-wide supply.  The huge waste and pollution caused by scrapping petrol and diesel makes no sense at all.  Worse, we are gifting China the right to provide all our future electric transportation as they monopolise rare-earth minerals and in turn they will burn more coal to make them.

I guess we should already know that politics is the art of short-termism and that politicians always fight the last battle rather than face reality. People would rather vote for people who lie to them than others who tell the truth. Hence the rise of autocratic leaders world wide. (See Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, India ... quite possibly the USA in '24).

We are facing global catastrophe in slow motion but people don’t want to see it, although there are enough hurricanes, droughts or floods drastically affecting their lives to make them sit up and notice.  The world temperature is rising and even if the machine stopped today (as it did during Covid) it is more than likely that it is too late to stop it unless you can make China, India, South Africa and many others stop using coal entirely now!  Glueing yourself to a highway or using your bike more often in the UK won’t make a damn bit of difference I’m afraid. Try glueing yourself to a highway in China and see how the cops respond...

We’ve outgrown the planet.  We shall pay a heavy price, as will all the animals for our collective greed.

Maybe we’ll be safer in Europe you’re thinking, but their glaciers will be gone soon and so will the rivers. Take a walk in Switzerland and see for yourself (but go by train, don’t fly). Germany relies on rivers to transport industrial goods and grain for example. Last summer the water levels dropped drastically to prevent this.

Maybe you can afford a ticket on Elon Musk’s mission to Mars, but Mars is no picnic spot either and you’d have to live forever with an alleged megalomaniac. What could possibly go wrong?

Enjoy your Evian whilst it last people and lay in some wine in case. Have a happy June. Meanwhile celebrate that one particular mobster has been indicted by the United States and another monster has died.

© Sam Hawksmoor June 2023
https://www.samhawksmoor.com

Author of Mission Longshot – what happens when we send our best and brightest to another planet to save mankind. Could we save them if things went wrong?

The Book of Ashes • New from Sam Hawksmoor ISBN: 979-8-837434-952 ASIN: B0B85HFK86 Hammer & Tong - print and kindle 'an immensely satisfying story' - Walli Leff on Goodreads. 'a fun read with unique elements ... exemplary in its voice and style' 'Judge, 10th Annual Writer's Digest E-Book Awards An extract from the Book of Ashes		The Book of Ashes - Some secrets are meant to be kept forever The Case: Delaney and Asha run their own investigation company now. Hired to find a writer who stiffed a client of $10,000 - things go bad pretty fast. "This was supposed to be a simple track and trace job. Find the writer, bank the money. Now it's a horror show."

'We Feel Your Pain' by Sam Hawksmoor ISBN-13: 979-8699087693 Published by Hammer & Tong Print or Kindle from Amazon		We Feel Your Pain – So you don’t have to. The Case: Delaney (42) and Asha (22) run the Office of Berg City Oversight. Their role is to expose the scams, keep the city safe from unscrupulous people.  When something looks too good to be true – it’s a scam, right?  But what if the scam works?  What kind of scam is that?

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... 'Climate change, lost alien civilisations, adventures in deep space. Great fun with endearing characters'. Kitty Thomas

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'. * Screenplay a quarter-finalist in the Creative Screenwriting competition 2023

'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' betrayal, revenge, relationships and the laws of gravity. 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 Read Part Two: The Hunting of Genie Magee - the fight for the right to exist

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