The International Writers Magazine Editorial MAY 2022

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Welcome to this MAY 2022 edition of Hackwriters. 23 years on-line, 7866 + articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on. May 27th

Coronavirus UK:
*Washington University claims that the true figure of global (excess mortality) is 18.4 million deaths. (Lancet 3.22)
The numbers on infections in the USA are over 100,000 a day now!

Editorial: Grumpy Old Man column

UK government is giving away £15 Billion to people to squander on heating bills. They're going to take the money from the evil energy companies who will then promptly stop investing in the UK. You can decide yourself if this is a good idea long term. Thermal underwear anyone?

Alternatively you can ponder why teenagers in America are competing to kill as many schoolkids as they can. It is a sickness, but you need to ask why, in a so called first world country, anyone needs to carry guns at all? Does everyone have a very small penis in Texas I wonder? Ask Ted.

Good to see Australia finally elected a government that realises climate change is real. Now comes the pain of doing something about it. If indeed that is even possible in a world still using coal.

Recently got out of hospital after kidney biopsy. The word 'ouch' comes to mind and buckets of bloody pee are a good reminder of one's mortality. But contrary to media hysteria I got excellent service and care from doctor and nurses at Hull Royal Infirmary. It's important give thanks when due. I'm hoping to find out they have a plan for a cure! + I got to read Murakami's 'First Person Singular' with the immortal lines 'Loving someone is like having a mental illness that's not covered by health insurance'.

Finland votes to join NATO and Sweden also. Another of the unintended consequences of Putin's murderous bullying. Putin has already threatend to respond and menace Scandanavia. Turkey, Hungary, Slovkia, and others under Putin's thrall wants to block this move.

Abortion rights are suddenly big news in the USA again as James Campion observes. We should be talking about womens' rights to choose rather than old mostly white men choosing for them (See Oklahoma for just how extreme the GOP is now). Politics is going backwards in America. What's next? Banning contraception? Abolishing women's right to vote? Or go to school? The Taliban are alive and well in the GOP.
Sam Hawksmoor predicted this in his novel J&K 4Ever .

You might be sick of reading about Ukraine already though you shouldn’t be, they are fighting for our freedom too. I guess we had better get used to things being in short supply in the supermarkets. Russia has just stolen most of Ukraine's grain supplies for example, with the intention of starving them (as they did in 1932/3). That grain was due to be exported to many countries such as Eygpt or Lebanon that won't be getting it now. Rumours say it may be in Syria. Food scarcity this winter will affect millions and inflation in the UK reached 9 percent already.

Certainly, you don’t want to discuss Covid anymore, Denmark has already stopped vaccinating although with whole cities shut down in China they might be regretting not allowing Western vaccines in. You might want to start worrying about BA.4 & BA.5- the new variant already in the USA. North Korea is discovering just how fast a virus can spread in an unvaccinated population! Of course you could worry about Monkeypox instead!

We saw the disappointing Dr Strange sequel this week so don't waste you time and go see Everything-Everywhere (also about the multiverse) instead. We shall see the new Top Gun next, that has got some great reviews.  

There are so many things to make you mad these days. They say democracy is dying. Certainly, the Republicans in the USA are doing their best to destroy it.  Here in England, we have no faith left at all that our representatives in ANY political party are honest and have our best interests at heart. We are all disillusioned and ripe for autocrats promising to fix things – when they actually mean loot the treasury and sorry, we never got around to filling the potholes and stop fly tipping.
 
Luckily, we’ll all freeze to death in our homes this winter because we won’t be able to heat them.  That will teach ‘em.  The rich will survive but their ‘staff’ will be dead.  Going to be a shock for them to learn how to cook their own food, assuming they know how to grow it first.  2023 will not be a happy year I’m betting, what with no one able to harvest wheat in the Ukraine or if it’s radioactive by then. Luckily, we can all eat cake instead, right?
 
I’m in the process of finishing a sequel to ‘A Cure for Sceptics’ and can’t think of a title. It’s either impossible or taken. Maybe 'Thelma and Louise Bounce Back' would be a good one. Download the book now so you're primed for the next Delaney and Asha investigation. It may amuse. Or read Deon Meyer's The Dark Flood. He really knows how to get a crime novel going fast.
 
Maybe I’ll cheer up later as my ankles swell like balloons. Welcome to Mid-May Hackwriters – and go see
Everything Everywhere!

© Sam North - Editor - May 2022

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

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