The International Writers Magazine Editorial MARCH 2021

TRAVEL

COMMENT

LIFESTYLES

REVIEWS

FICTION

Welcome to this MARCH 2021 edition of Hackwriters. 22 years on-line, 7779 + articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on.

Covid has reached 127,847,121 cases worldwide and 2,797,435 deaths. Source: Worldometers. March 29th 2021
Covid USA: 30,962,803 infected with 562,526 deaths

The saddest day is when you no longer love your bears. Dumped on the sidewalk as if no one ever cared. But then again - maybe they found their way to a child in need of someone to hug. We can only hope. It's a rule people - never surrender your bear. You never know when you might need a bear again.

EDITORIAL: Staying Positive

March 29th - We can finally meet six people at once - take it slow - don't hug!

One year ago - 23rd March - we went into lockdown (at least two weeks too late). 126,515 deaths in the UK later we are still at home. Things are looking up, more than fifty percent of the population has had it's first vaccine dose but the third wave is sweeping Europe and the utter chaos and mismanagement of Covid in Europe will bring trouble this way. Even though they denigrate the Astra vaccine and won't take and store it to prevent anyone using it in Europe, they are restricting doses to the UK of both Astra and Phfizer vaccines. It's war by other means. Meanwhile Britons are desperate to go on vacation in Europe and don't seem to grasp the dangers or the fact that they need the second dose. Does no one read the news anymore? France had 42 thousand new cases of Covid yesterday, Poland 31 thousand. I think this virus (or variant) will be with us next March 23rd as well. Whether people will be quite so patient and polite by then I am less sure.

The container ship stuck in the Suez Canal might be the next Black Swan as ships line up behind it. We don't know what to stockpile but my guess is a lot of PPE is on board which might be an issue.

Meanwhile the Army is killing protesters and children in Myanmar who don’t want to live under a military dictatorship once more. The $1.9 Trillion Stimulus is now getting paid out across the USA. James Campion has a few thoughts about that and now Andrew Cuomo who has one or two problems or three, I've lost count.

*Welcoming Roen into the world 3.23.21 - Born in Nanaimo, BC to Tasha (who suffered 42 hours in labour).

Returning from my daily walk to the park and back (couple of times around the park admiring the crocuses and avoiding packs of dogs on leads) and back to a healthy mushroom stew in the oven.  Blosom is beginning to show. Hooray.

Actually I was thinking about that stew as I walked down in the sunshine. It takes around fifteen minutes to prepare, chop onions, peel sweet potatoes and potatoes, add mushrooms, some broccoli and spinach and two carrots, a handful of wild rice, herbs and boil up water for a veg cube.  Slam in the oven on a low heat for two hours.  Fifteen whole minutes to make something that will serve at least three meals or four depending on appetite.  Or you could defrost a ready-made meal loaded with salt or order in a pizza.  The cost of a stew excluding electricity would be around one pound, tops ($1.40).  I’ve no idea what it costs to have a Deliveroo meal or a Domino’s pizza delivered plus the food, but I’m guessing it's more than a quid.  Sure you don’t have to waste fifteen minutes preparing food but the satisfaction from eating a meal you prepare yourself must outweigh all other considerations. And yes, once lockdown is over I'd love to eat out again, just to hear other voices, but right now we should be eating healthily at home.

How do I know people aren’t eating healthily – well I’m so old fashioned I still walk to get my paper every morning and the amount of litter piling up on the roads and pathways is beyond disgusting now.  Plastic bottles, smashed glass bottles, Kentucky boxes, Macdonald cartons, fish and chip wrappers and one can guess the age of these consumers from the amount of sugar in each abandoned plastic bottle or metal can of Red Bull.  I can easily predict a massive rat problem come spring, as no one is picking anything up.  Your local council wants to raise your taxes by 5% but won’t pick up litter and no one else is picking up, so welcome to the apocalypse.

So it seems, even if you don’t want to write about politics, the budget or Covid – one is surrounded by the consequences of the above.

Spring is here – chickens are probably coming home to roost debt wise but so nice to see the blossom...

© Sam Hawksmoor March 2021
Read Sam Hawksmoor’s new novel  ‘We Feel Your Pain – so you don’t have to’.  Order now!

We Feel Your Pain Hammer & Tong ISBN-13: 979-8699087693 Review: 'I really enjoyed living with Delaney, Asha and Maria. And I particularly revelled in that obedient and loving dog, Rufus.  They were lovely characters and it was a good story. The author evokes amazing, vivid pictures of St. Joes with human misery and the beach and Jasmina’s neighbourhood and the apple farm'. B. H. February 2021 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? We Feel Your Pain is available in print and as a download.

All pain teaches us something - it is for you to understand what that lesson might be.
- Guru Gurajani

* Keep abreast of the latest virus numbers here. Source:

The Sam North Novels - still available to order Amazon or Lulu
Another Place to Die: Endtime Chronicles. A definitive pandemic novel.

Read Girl with Cat (Blue) - 'funny, scary and full of surprises - a must read' LD

*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

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