Welcome - The International Writers Magazine - Editorial 2011
Welcome to the October edition of Hackwriters.

October 28th 2011 -
We live in the land of smoke and mirrors. Euro Crisis Solved screams the headlines. But I am reminded of that scene in the Edward Norton movie 'The Illusionist' as he grows an orange tree from a seed to full bloom with complete edible oranges in a matter of minutes. You stare at the 250 million Euros in the bank and watch it grow to a trillion Euros before your very eyes. You can see it's a trick, you know it's a trick, but you don't know how it's a trick. 17 Euro currency countries will have to bend down on one knee now to a new fat controller who will dictate their politics, their taxes, their rules - you think this will actually happen? And who will the fat controller be? It's like Belling the Cat a play performed by kindergarten children.
Celebrations will be short I think - especially when you realise that the average wage for a railway worker in Greece is still 65,000 euros a year! Oh to be a railway worker in Greece.

Oct 20th At last Col Muammar Gaddafi is dead, killed after an assault on Sirte. Here's to a peaceful transition to democracy in Libya for all men and women there on an equal footing.

Blimey - almost half way through the month already. Thanks for emails re the ending of Hackwriters. November will be the last full issue. It's kind of curious to think of it as a black hole suddenly appearing the web. OK there are bilions of web pages out there and we figure particularly small in the galaxy - not really visible to the naked eye - but nevertheless when we go - six thousand articles will suddenly disappear. Almost thirteen years of work vanished forever (Well not forever as the British Library has archived it digitally up to 2010).
Nevertheless it makes you think about so many other things that will vanish without trace in this digital world. (Let's leave Blackberry out this). We rely on the web for everything but it could ALL disappear in a trice in global blackouts, wars, or state terrorists like Syria and Iran turning it off etc. Future historians will wonder where the 21st Century went. It will become like the dark ages, all speculation and few facts. Just our mountains of waste to mine for corroboration that it ever existed.

6000 articles on average two or even three pages long - 16,000 pages about to vanish. It almost feels like vandalism. Don't do it I hear you mutter. Then again 'All things Must Go'.

By some quirk of chance this October I began it in a Chateau in Belgium, then on to Lille in France for further research on a possible story I want to write there.  It is buried deep in the main art museum.  Of course my publishing editor says there is no market for historical novels for kids - but I hope she is mistaken.  The only snag with this plan is that I would have to move to Lille for at least six months to write the first draft.  Let alone find a ‘plot’.  It is often the dilemma of a writer that you can quite clearly see something exciting laid out before you but crafting it into a novel of say 90,000 words is something else entirely.  Then when you say it’s set in the year 1600 eyes glaze over.  Nevertheless I am thinking seriously about it.  Despite the world going to hell in a hand basket.
           
I don’t suppose the Euro will survive in its present form – certainly not with Greece in it.  But if they go out, attacks on Italy, Spain and Portugal, even France will gather more strength until everything collapses.  It is worth noting that the only people who gain from all this is the speculators.  Just a few thousand people holding 600 million people to ransom and they risk taking down the whole world economy with it.  But read James Skinner's latest article on Spain if you really want to be frightened. That's the real problem in Europe. Read it and Weep.
           
Like many people, I am trying to sell my house.  Only ten whole months now.  Gone are the heady days when I bought it (in two weeks).  Now it seems that there is always a chain somewhere that never quite completes.  Be good if we had the Scottish system in England where one has to honour deals and deposits are actually paid.  Why don’t we have a deposit system in the UK anymore?  That would deter people from backing out, right?  I can barely force myself to look at houses on Right Move anymore and certainly intend to buy a lot cheaper so I won’t be caught out again. 

Congratulations go out to Diane Farris who now opens her new virtual art gallery in Vancouver. Check it out. Diane has recognised that the world has gone digital and art galleries no longer need to be 'fixed' in place. So best wishes to her and her new venture.
           
Meanwhile life goes on and here is the October edition of Hackwriters.  Varied, wide ranging and eclectic as ever.   Scary times.
Oh yes, Sam Hawksmoor recently joined CWISL - somehow pronounced Quizzle.
They will be publishing a magazine called SHOUT SOUTH and working with kids to help their creativity in South London. Check it here SHOUT SOUTH
Sam North – Editor
You can submit to the November edition via our submissions page
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© Sam North Oct 14th 2011
Editor – Hackwriters.com
Author of 'Diamonds - The Rush of '72'
The Fantastic True story of the 1872 Diamond Rush in the USA
'If you liked Butch & Sundance - you will love this' - Nick Strange
also available as an e-book on iTunes

Please note you can buy my Sherlock Holmes novel The Curse of the Nibelung as an e-book direct from iTunes now or from Barnes and Noble

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Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this October edition from all over the world. Many thanks too to those who have bought my books recently (Discounts now available via Lulu). Another Place to Die has passed the 3000 figure now and that cheers me up and is now available as an e-book. Now if I could get Mean Tide or Diamonds to sell as well, I'd be really happy you can now download them as e-book on iTunes or Lulu. It really does help keep Hackswriters going. Take care out there.  Get writing.

* The good news is my Sherlock Holmes novel The Curse of the Nibelung is now available as an e-book on itunes. Download here or Here

Mean Tide by Sam North *Buy now and get 25% off (Now a Young Adult Mystery e-book) Mean Tide - a tale of spiritualism and a young boy's fascination with a murdered man. Lulu Press - ISBN: 978-1-4092-0354-4 http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/mean-tide/15665337 Review: 'An engaging, unusual and completely engrossing read' - Beverly Birch author of 'Rift' His father has disappeared, his mother is sick. Oliver, recovering from chemo, is sent to live with his psychic Grandma by the river in Greenwich. Oliver quickly discovers he is living with a world of strange people. When he finds a dog with its throat cut on the riverside, everything changes. Oliver wants to find the people who did this terrible thing and discovers the terrible truth about himself.

The Curse of the Nibelung - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Sam North *Buy now and get 25% off e-book ISBN: 13: 978-1-4116-3748-1 302 pages - Lulu Press USA 'Chocolate will never be the same again' - Sunday Express Buy from your favourite on-line retailer * New revised ebook edition now available June 2011 here - Amazon UK Amazon USA Barnes and Noble & Waterstones

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