Welcome - The International Writers Magazine - September 2007

Emilie Dequenne
The Great British Summer Washout has ended. we can't be disappointed anymore. Holidays over, it will probably be sunshine every day just to annoy us. The great British institution of queing takes a new twist as thousands line up outside the Northern Rock Bank across the UK. As I write this people are walking out with thousands of pounds of cash to stuff their mattreses with,and this is the first bank run in 100 years (we are told). I'd queue up too, but hey I prefer to keep everything in overdraft - saving is for wimps. America's sub-prime problem has been exported to the UK and the next leg to fall off Gordon Brown's chair will be property prices. It is nice to be right I guess, but I'm five years off, having been predicting everything would end in tears for years now, it is rather an anti-climax when it actually happens. By chance walking through Petersfield on Sunday came across the rather sweet bookshop there that leaves it's books out for anyone to browse after it is closed and you can pay just 50p in a slot if you want to buy one. Everyone is scrupulously honest and pays up. The book I noticed was Paul Erdman's 'Crash of '79' , a nice rememinder of another age when inflation was the big bugbear, Saudi Arabia the enemy and the threat of oil prices reaching $50 dollars a barrel was too fantastic to bear and would cause a finincial meltdown. That partuclar scenario didn't happen, but as the oil price has gone past $80 now and some folks are predicting $150, it is good to be reminded that pundits can always get things wrong. Only two years ago oil was les than $20 a barrel and only a two months ago people were buying houses assurred they'd go up 10 percent or more a year. Who knows what will happen, but one thing is sure, you can talk yourself into a recession more easily than out of one.

I am back from Biarritz where I visited the rather smart Pôle Metiers de l'image (Lycee Cassin) BTS TV school. It is all new, with vast studio space, dedicated staff and the students are fun, bright and learn to make documentaries and news programs for two years. I was guest of Professor Lionel Darmendrail who teaches English and documentary technique there and to be honest, it's depressing to see how much and how well the French invest in their students. They have brilliant state of the art equipment and and an excellent mediatech next door. There is a new University going up in Bayonne too, carved out of the old military barracks. Couldn't think of a better place to be a student. You have history, best beaches in Europe and wonderful food and wine. Sigh.

The French do know how to live so much better than the British, make better movies too. Recently Kit and I tramped all over the City of London to find the Rich Mix cinema - close to Brick Lane to see Ecoute Le Temps. Directed by Alante Kavaite starring Emilie Dequenne. It's a small film, but much more satisfying than so much dross seen this summer. Are you really emotionally engaged by Knocked Up, did Transformers have a plot at all? Ecoute Le Temps is a new take on 'Blow-out' for film buffs. A young girl's mother, the local witch is murdered, she goes to the big spooky house in the country to discover why. Only she is a sound recordist for documentaries and she uses her skills in sound to ferret out the murderer. It builds slowly and is wonderfully crafted, anyone with an interest in sound or witchcraft would be fascinated. Emilie Dequenne is curiously ugly/beautiful, differing from shot to shot, a fascinating study of obsession.

By contrast I went to see Flood. A British movie made by Lionsgate. A disasterous movie predicated on the premise that London will be flooded thanks to climate change and the Thames barrier will be overwhelmed. It stars Robert Carlyle and Tom Courtney and it is quite possibly one of the worst films ever made, risible dialogue, unbelieveable characters, all the 'action' takes place in the Cobra Control room where the Deputy PM (David Suchet) and the Police Commissioner (Joanna Whaley) wrestle with the flooding. Rent 'Day After Tomorrow' and just don't bother with this film at all, you will be so embarassed. It's hard to beleive that Lionsgate financed it and quite why they had to shoot it in South Africa beats me. I guess this is why there is no real British film industry. Note that they shot it in SA, which is great, but that they didn't notice how totally sucky the script and story were. Where is the original programming that gives us such good TV as Heroes? There is no shortage of good writers in the UK, just Directors and Producers with any style or vision. (As well as agents who will take anyone new on.)

So here we are with the September Edition of Hacks. Slim, but as ever, international in scope. This month we feature India in various guises. Meera Manek is new to us, Marwan Asmar tells of his disappointment at working in Dubai, Eric D Lehman recalls a moment fgrom his youth and Marianne de Nazareth wants us all go hiking in India. John A Cook tells of his first trip to Goa but A.T. Allan takes us to the Philippines for light relief. Natalie Neville profiles Cuba today as the power of Castro dwindles. James Campion keeps up to date on US politics and Colin Todhujnter is still bitter about UK politics. There's a lot of new fiction to explore and there will be more to come mid-September.

We have a new semester starting at the University of Portsmouth in October so we shall soon discover new talent in our own slush pile. Take care and enjoy.

Did you enter the short story competition yet?
Conan Doyle Collection: New Fiction Prize
Four Categories:
Detective: Contemporary or Historical
Amazing Adventure
Young Sherlock Holmes: 14-17 age group
Go here for details: Nov 2007 deadline
Enter Now or miss out

The MA in Creative Writing at Portsmouth University starts another year this October. Apply now for 2008 entry: The current students have all got their major projects under way now. Novels, screenplays, children's fiction, speculation fiction, crime novels, you name it... If you need support and like a good encouraging peer group, join us. Might do you good to live in Portsmouth for a year but you don't have to. Students come down from London once a week and further afield. Apply now to avoid being disappointed. You do not have to be published to join us, but you do have to have a portfolio of some interesting writing already to hand. *Hackwriter published writers especially welcome. Come to Sherlock Holmes country (yes this is where it all started on Elm Grove in Southsea).

Meanwhile, you worried about your health this winter? Read my book '‘Another Place to Die'' . If you have the slightest worry about how to survive the coming flu pandemic, you need this book and all the proceeds go to keep Hackwriters going. In the UK newspapers 31.08.07 they were quoting a Home Office paper called: Planning for a possible Influenza Edpidemic and predicting 650,000 'extra' deaths this winter in the UK if it breaks out. There will also be a shortage of coffins, not that you need them in a mass grave. It's all in my book, you don't need this report. Another Place to Die is a guide on how to survive the pandemic. So order now for your autumn reading. (Maybe Amazon will do you a deal on a coffin too!) You will not be disappointed.
See the review from Ian Middleton.

Someone who just read it described it as: ‘Thought-provoking, horrifying and moving’ It’s essential reading for anyone who wants to survive the next flu pandemic. You just might want to be prepared. The Government is taking it seriously. Are you? Order the book now. If you want to be prepared for the coming flu pandemic you will need 'Another Place to Die'
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© Sam North September 17th 2007
Editor
We at Hacks are self-supporting and if you want to support us, buy Sam's books - All the funds from the sale of the books go back into the site. If you live in New York they can be ordered at the Mysterious Bookshop at 58 Warren Street. These titles are able to be ordered at Amazon who keep stock see below and can be ordered from Waterstones all over the UK and Hatchards in London and for less cost direct from Lulu.com in the UK and USA

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Another Place To Die by Sam North ISBN: 978-1-84753-899-4 The Next Great Flu Pandemic is coming. Are you prepared? Reviews: 'It will keep readers in suspense, laced with gritty-gallows humor' Charlie Dickinson 'Beautiful, plausible, and sickeningly addictive, Another Place to Die will terrify you, thrill you, and make you petrified of anyone who comes near you...'. Roxy Williams - Amazon.co.uk Fascinating, frightening and compelling, Another Place to Die is the ultimate page-turner which I guarantee will result in many late nights under the bedside light with you uttering, ‘just one more chapter!!’ Ian Middleton Read the first chapter on line Order Now direct from Publisher : Another Place To Die

The Curse of the Nibelung - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Sam North ISBN 1-4116-3748-8 $19.98 Retail - 300 pages - Lulu Press USA 'Chocolate will never be the same again' - Sunday Express Buy from your favourite on-line retailer Amazon UK Amazon USA Barnes and Noble & Waterstones Or buy direct from Lulu Press plus delivery charges

Diamonds - The Rush of '72 is available also. $19.95 from Amazon.com in the USA or on special offer from the publishers direct - see box below.

Diamonds - The Rush of '72 By Sam North ISBN: 1-4116-1088-1 Buy now from Amazon.com 'a terrific piece of storytelling' Historical Novel Society Review Now printed in the UK and available from Amazon.co.uk & Waterstones

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