The International Writers Magazine Editorial November 2020

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Welcome to this November 2020 edition of Hackwriters. 21 years on-line, 7700+ articles - reviews - stories - travel - share any feature you like and pass them on using the links.

Covid has reached 63,126,672 cases worldwide and 1,466,049 deaths. Source: Worldometers. NOV 30th
Covid USA: 13,750,608 infected with 273,077 deaths

EDITORIAL:
They say fifty million people traveled for Thanksgiving this year within the USA. Is this madness or what? How many families will be infected? How many lives lost? It seems no one has learned ANYTHING during this pandemic.

Joe Biden has been declared President Elect of the United States. Trump is now the self-destructive loser we always thought he was. I love the meme going around: Live your life in such a way that the entire planet doesn't dance in the street when you lose your job! © Jason

Tensions are high in the USA. Biden has almost 80 million votes to Trump's 73.5 million. In Trump wastelands weapons are oiled and ready, the virus is out of control. 75 percent of Trump voters still believe every lie Trump tweets about the vote. Trump claimed 'victory' and stated that actually counting votes is illegal. He won't concede but has finally agreed that transition can start and he'll go if the electoral college votes go against him. (Is he planning to buy them off? One wonders) It is over and James Campion writes the epitaph Trump is finished .

There will be trouble ahead as Trump and his son Donald Jnr calls for 'war' and Steven Bannon even demanded Dr Fauci's head on a pike (for which he has been banned from Twitter) . There's a reason these people get voted out of office! Trump's idea of democracy is that the only legal votes are the ones for him. That's not how it works. Georgia's 5 Million votes have been recounted by hand (three times) and Biden still wins by 12,000 votes. It will be a major battle to get the two Democrat Senators elected in the runoff however and already $135 million worth of ads have been booked.

The virus is now infecting half a million people a day worldwide (except China) and it’s all around us. Every time we shop for food or go for a walk we are playing Russian roulette with our lives.  They lock us down but still the virus rages and there’s always people who feel invincible out there crowding bars, ignoring rules, super-spreaders, which means we may never manage to contain this thing in the West. The UK is back into lockdown now. Pfizer announces a 95% effectiveness rate for it's vaccine. This is GOOD NEWS. The Oxford Vaccine will be available soon and not require freezing.

Trump has torn American apart as he supports any conspiracy going and exposed so many extremes you have to be worried for all Americans in his dying angry days. Nuking Iran was high on his list they say. Biden will need eight years to repair the damage done by Trump to the environment, justice, world trade, healthcare and reason itself. Will there be civil war? If Trump tries to steal the election by corrupting the electoral vote then yes - it's likely. But one hopes common sense will prevail.

The result of all this is maximum stress for all of us, even if we don’t live in the USA.  We have all been transformed by Covid 19 and just like a hundred years ago 1919-1922 following four years of brutal war and the death of 50 million from Spanish Flu (a SARS virus) the huge changes brought about by war and the missing millions led to extraordinary technical developments in communications, transportation, entertainment and finally politics, extreme politics, as not everyone shared in the new prosperity.

Right now we are all frogs slowly being boiled and we’re beginning to feel uncomfortable.  We read of people fleeing Paris, stripping the supermarkets of everything as they go. But they took the virus with them to the countryside and no police stopped them. 50,000 dead in France now catching up the 56,000 in the UK. We still have 'faith' that a vaccine will save us; we try not to think about the logistics of delivering it to 350 million in Europe or 300 million Americans and the odd billion in the Far East. Who gets it first? Will it work or will we need bi-annual boosters?  And will everyone who takes it be thinking yes – this gives me my old life back.  Maybe it will, maybe it won't. I suspect come 2022 there will be a lot less of us around to witness the great transformation. The Ai and robot revolution will accelerate and fill the gaps. Almost no job or profession will escape it.

The young will inherit the earth, as ever, but at a cost to their liberty.  When in December the numbers rise to a million infections a day and people are still protesting about losing Christmas – and refusing to wear masks - the end game will come swiftly and viciously.  I still remember when researching my pandemic novel Another Place To Die: Endtime Chronicles being shown the places around London's M25 designed for mass burial grounds.  The plans for millions of deaths are still in place. The bulldozers and backhoes are on stand-by. Buy JCB shares.

Happy November

Stay Safe – Stay Sane – Wear the Mask

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

© Sam North - November 2020
The Sam North Novels - still available to order Amazon or Lulu
Another Place to Die: Endtime Chronicles. The 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, also recommended & 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 the 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. Can you get ahead of the virus? 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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