Writer’s Quote of the Month
"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."
~ Jane Austen, b. 16 December
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Contents
1. News
2. Guest Speaker – January 2009
3. Amanda Patterson: On Writing
4. Courses & workshops
5. How to Become a Subscriber
6. Book Reviews
7. Author Interviews
8. The Star Struck Writer - Sagittarius
9. Competitions
10. Students Write
11. Classified
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1. News
The silly season is almost upon us...
Does the author in your life want a writing course for Christmas?
Write Co gift vouchers can be purchased by mailing info@thewriteco.co.za
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Amanda Patterson: On Writing
Many Saturn Returns…
“Happy,” I start.
“Don’t even say it,” says Angie.
“Birthday,” I whisper as she rushes past in a whirlwind of Obsession and elvish heels.
It’s not just that Angie has a hangover the size of Canada from last night’s party. Or even the fact that those heels could make a 70’s supermodel cry. She’s turning 30. And she can’t handle it.
I am many things to many people. At work, I am an author, a businesswoman, a teacher and a publisher. At home, I am a partner, a lover and a mother. In my secret life, I am an astrologer. There. I said it. Out loud. In print.
I can’t help it. I dream of suns, moons and stars. I ponder the infinite possibilities that exist out there - the stuff of dreams and nightmares I love the magic of the zodiac and specifically, the magic of Huber Astrology.
And people like Angie constantly come to me for advice. I know their problems before they begin to speak. These women who are frozen in crisis. They’ve overshot their mid-20’s and suddenly realized there’s no turning back. And when society offers no help, they come to someone like me.
Read on
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Thank you
Dear Anthony
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Romance Competition
We are proud to announce the winners:
1st Prize: Bongiwe Perseverance Nsindane
2nd Prize: Annie Hayes
3rd Prize: Shelagh Foster
Read their entries in The ten things every romance writer needs
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2. Guest Speaker January 2009
Ryk Neethling
Date: 28 January 2009
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: The Local Grill
Cost: R280, 00 per person, includes Dinner, Talk, Book, Q & A’s
RSVP: info@thewriteco.co.za
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3. Coming up in Writing
Creative Writing Courses & Workshops - Call 079 875-3719 for queries
Writers Write - 38 published graduates (4 weeks):
19 January 2008: Monday & Wednesday Mornings: 09:00 - 11:00
20 January 2009: Tuesday & Thursday Evenings: 17:30 – 20:00
9 - 13 December 2008: Weekday mornings: 09:00 - 13:00 (Johannesburg & Durban)
Creative Writing One-day Workshops
12 December 2008: How to write for Mills & Boon: Romancing the Dollar: 09:00 - 15:00
11 December 2008: Short & Sweet 2008:09:00 - 15:00
09 December 2008 : Plot LUCK: Learn how to plot a novel on Sunday: 09:00 - 15:00
10 December 2008: Editing Edge: 09:00 - 15:00
Business Writing One-day Courses
January 2009: Send & Receive: 09:00 - 15:00
January 2009: About Face: 09:00 - 15:00
January 2009: Reports & Proposals: 09:00 - 15:00
January 2009: Editing Edge: 09:00 - 15:00
Office Politics: TBA
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4. How to Become a Subscriber
Please click here: subscription form
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5. Reviews
Our reviewers rate books from 1 – 5
1 - For use as a doorstop only
2 - Keep for publishers’ & booksellers’ strikes
3 - A great holiday read
4 - You’ll remember this with enthusiasm a month later
5 – Unforgettable
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Timebomb by James Barrington (Macmillan) R175, 00 ISBN: 9780230714496
Time Bomb is a formulaic thriller. Maverick British agent Richter is the hero. However, the introduction of the junior CIA agent, Kellerman, confuses. He debriefs a deep cover agent named Viper. Kellerman is killed after the debriefing. It’s obvious that this is ‘black ops’ even by CIA standards.
In London, ’spook’ Richter, is sent to Geneva. Police have been tipped off. A terrorist cell is supposed to be linked to the proposed ’big one in London’. They are then double-crossed.
Time Bomb asks too much of the reader. No intelligent reader can suspend belief in this way. The book can’t make up its mind. Is it a spy thriller? Is it a modern day conspiracy theory? The story confuses us even more as fiction and modern tabloid headlines mix. This is no James Bond novel. No girls, no gadgets and no Cold War.
We get the gritty underground cells here. We also get chases and explosions.
All in all there are too many characters and sub-plots. Less can often be more.
Greg de Villiers
2.5/5
Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor (Penguin)ISBN 978 0 718 15373-1 R160, 00
‘... Don’t go of a night into Bleeding Heart Square.’ Phillipa Penhow did and disappeared without a trace in the spring of 1930.
Four years later aristocratic Lydia Langstone takes the same route to escape her abusive husband Marcus. A world apart from Mayfair, cabbage smells and odd people abound in this quaint corner of London.
Taylor is described as the modern master of a Dickensian underworld. Indeed characters like landlord Joseph Serridge, and Lydia’s father, Captain Ingleby-Lewis, could have jumped straight out of the pages of Oliver Twist.
What adds the air of mystery and suspense is Phillipa’s dairy. In second person narrative, the spinster’s sorry tale is revealed.
A cleverly interwoven plot captures the subtle nuances of the time. Set against the backdrop of rising fascism and gothic gloom, it’s historical crime fiction at its best.
A great read that will keep you guessing almost to the end.
Jackie Kelly
4/5
Who do you want to be today? By Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine (Orion) R269, 95
The famous, or should that be infamous, BBC makeover duo have written a book on how to be inspired to dress differently.
You can be the Diva on Monday, the Bombshell on Tuesday and the Rock Chick on Wednesday. If you have 9 other days to fill, there are options for those too. Every look starts with the definition of the look itself, then the wardrobe, the night-time & the day-time versions of the look. Finishing touches are included – the bag, the shoes, the perfume and the makeup.
No woman can be all 12 of these looks, and you’ll know which look is most likely to suit you after reading this. It’s beautifully produced and printed, with excellent photography of ‘real’ women, and the looks they can be. It’s a great birthday or Christmas gift for friends who need a little styling, or for those who are bored with the way they look now.
Recommended
Amanda Patterson
3.5/5
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (Harper Collins) ISBN: 9780007267545
“The nice young fry cook with the occult powers is Koontz’s most likable creation." New York Times
Dean Koontz’s likeable and quirky character, Odd Thomas, returns. This character is a young man who "sees dead people". Don’t be put off by the Sixth Sense overtones. Odd Hours sees Koontz is at his best. He introduces several new characters who are almost as quirky as Odd Thomas. The plot is well-paced and catches a reader from the first page.
Odd Thomas’s is once again caught up in a situation where he is forced to become the reluctant hero. Koontz draws him so well that he becomes endearingly effective in the role. Odd Thomas has to grapple with the concept of reality itself when he finds the veil that separates him from his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn.
Odd had wanted to return to a life of anonymity with his dog Boo. However, even humble heroes must meet with their fate. Odd is drowning in dreams of an all-encompassing red tide. This leads him to the sea, to a small California coastal town. Nothing here is as it seems. He learns that the forces against him share both an official and a hidden sinister thread.
Odd’s dark night of the soul will only come to the light after the most terrifying of revelations. Koontz knows how to construct a page turner. Highly recommended.
Greg de Villiers
4/5
The Writer’s Handbook 2008 Edited by Barry Turner (Macmillan) ISBN: 9780230016378
If you’re looking for an agent or publisher in the UK and the US, The Writer’s Handbook offers advice on how to place your work, and advises who a writer should approach. It then offers tips on how to deal with agents if their books are accepted.
The handbook has grown over the years and now includes different media: Newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, small presses and theatre. Read the advice from well-known authors. It’s updated every year. Included this year: How much people pay, how to crack the American market, understanding e-books, writing travel features and understanding newspaper serialisations. Best-seller lists are included, as are articles written by successful authors. Many writers use the internet to source these publishers and agents. I prefer the hard copy in my hands. It makes the tenuous world of a not very successful industry more real.
Recommended for both wanna-be, and established, writers.
Amanda Patterson
4/5
Players by Paul McAuley (Pocket Books) ISBN 978 1 4165 1140 3
The plot has promise, set in the world of computer gaming with a rookie female detective, Summer Ziegler, as the protagonist. But somewhere it all goes wrong. The bad guy, Dirk Merrick, has had plastic surgery to make him look like an overlord from his game. He enjoys hunting and prefers people as his quarry. The problem is that his driver Carl is almost as sick as he is. Apart from setting up the hunts for Merrick, Carl kills even more people than Merrick does. Too many bodies and not enough suspense lead me to conclude that one bad guy would have been far more effective. Too difficult to keep up with all the characters required for the number of corpses the author produces.
Readers become numb and the suspense is lost.
Paddy McAllister
2/5
Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel by Gordon Burn (Faber and Faber Publishers) ISBN 978-0-571-24026-5
This book was disappointing. David Peace is quoted on the cover saying, “The best British writer there is”. I beg to differ. I picked it up expecting a new, fresh writing style that incorporates the facts of the news and the fiction of a novel. I was intrigued.
The first few pages were slow and descriptive. Nothing worthwhile there. I gave it a chance, but by the time I reached page 41, I could not bear to read another sentence.
The story begins with retired Margaret Thatcher walking in a London park and patting dog walkers’ dogs. Then the murder of a Muslim man and his background are discussed…still no excitement…
It is a dry book, very pedantic, very British, so perhaps the British will enjoy it. I could not persevere to find out if the story picked up the pace and excitement or not. I hope someone can, and lets me know if it was in fact an enjoyable story!
Reviewer: Amanda Blankfield
1/5
Taking the Proverbial by Geoff Rolls (Chambers) ISBN 9780550103352
Geoff Rolls is a lecturer. This book is about idioms and proverbs - the kind we all know. And it seems, according to Mr. Rolls, that ’numerous’ people have made contributions to this work. Apparently his father corrected his grammar. Mr. Rolls sent his students out to do the research, which is what they’re damn well there for.
Indeed it seems that Mr. Rolls has done very little work on this book himself. It seems to me that Mrs. Rockwook his editor who ’gave friendly and enthusiastic support’ did not tell him to write a book that would sell, or at least interest people, outside his psychology department.
I’m not one to criticize against necessity, unless it’s funny or ’character building’ or I feel like it.
However, I do feel strongly about not blatantly lying to your readers by implying that this is an ’engaging … humorous’ read. A man, Mr. Rolls, has taken a subject with no limit to the amount of jokes, humour cleaver observations and profound truths about human behaviour and turned it into a text book on The Lesser Migratory Tit. It has a funny title but you’re bound to be disappointed. I for one am inclined to shove ’Taking the Proverbial’ into a subterranean cavern witch notably is a place where the Sun does indeed not shine.
Chris Dean
2.5/5 for the average biped but 6/5 if your idea of fun is reading "The Lives and Times of the Great Accountants with New Subheadings!" and all the people you meet seem need to ’dash’ off urgently, often.
One Unknown by Gill Hicks (PanMacmillan) ISBN no. 978 1 905744 14 5
Gill Hicks gives a detailed account of her experience of waking up in a hospital having lost both her legs in the London bombings. She takes the reader with her through an emotional journey from oblivion to recovering consciousness, speech and the ability to finally walk. Her spirit is indomitable as she braces each challenge with gusto and enthusiasm. It is an inspiring story of triumph over adversity, though at times bogged down in overly pedestrian text. .
Reviewer: Iza Goldwasser
3/5
Fifteen Men by Margie Orford (Jonathan Ball) ISBN: 978-1-86842-322-4
This is a compilation of stories, poetry and artwork from 15 prisoners. It gives a unique insight into different facets of these all too human beings and their lives. Many have just made a mistake. This book echoes remorse in their writings and regret for a life lost.
This remains a light and interesting toilet read to be digested like the occasional Macdonald’s take-out. It lacks continuity. It is easily read and just as easily forgotten.
Anton Joubert (2/5)
Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott (Penguin) ISBN: 978 1 86842 306 4 R179
When six, Robyn Scott moved with her family to Botswana. Educated at home by her mother, she did not begin her formal education until the age of fourteen.
This is the story of growing up in Africa. It tells of her bohemian family, from her eccentric grandfather to her mother, a woman of strong, if unconventional, beliefs. Her father is a doctor having to deal with the initial onset of HIV/Aids and the difficulty in balancing local beliefs in traditional healing with modern medicine. They are witness to racial discrimination, the unthinking arrogance of ex-patriots and the resistance to change found in all sectors.
This is childhood as it should be, a huge adventure filled with danger, humour and larger than life characters. From the moment it began with the three travel-weary Scott children watching their grandfather feed moths from his mouth, I was hooked. The account is hilarious yet honest and no-one, least of all the author, is spared her fair appraisal.
Jacqui Aldersley
4/5
Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey (Penguin) R160 ISBN No: 978 0 143 0253 6
This is a tale of sexual desire blended into a framework of captivity and limited freedom. The characters, identified only by professional title, continue to serve their master, the president, while the web of shenanigans grows more interesting. Dovey showed descriptive elegance in the sensual detailing of a hair wash, but I found the anonymity confusing and I would not read her again. While intriguing enough to read to the end, the novel was not compelling.
Reviewer: Iza Goldwasser
2/5
Go Make a Difference Think Books ISBN: 9781854250560 R132, 00
A comprehensive collection of tips on how to remain environmentally friendly. From clothes to food, to beauty, to business, this compilation is useful for the layman. Written in the UK for the UK, it holds a universal value for those considering being responsible. It shows how diverse the concept of being helpful goes. It illustrates just how simple it is to make a difference in your daily life.
GMAD is a great companion but not quite the survivor’s guide to the universe.
Anton Joubert
3.5/5
More reviews
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6. Interviews
Jassy McKenzie answers 17 Questions
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7. The Star Struck Writer
Sagittarius
Ruler: Jupiter
Key Phrase: “I Aspire”
Fire Sign, Mutable, Masculine, Positive
Read on...
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8. The Write Co Competitions for Subscribers
Monthly ‘What’s on your mind?’ Competition
Theme for December: Silly Season?
Write 400 words and win!
2 Books from The Write Co and Publication on our web site, in our newsletter and in Off the Cuff.
Conditions: 1 Entry per Person, 400 words.
Closing date: 25th of every month
To enter: Send entries to info@thewriteco.co.za
Winner for October: Renata Dry About Face
Winner for November: Is this real?
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Monthly Poetry Competition
December's theme is: Born free?
Prize: A case of Leopard’s Leap Wines
Conditions:
1. Only 1 poem per month per subscriber is allowed.
2. The poem must not be longer than 30 lines.
3. The poem must be about the given topic.
4. If you are not a subscriber please pay an entrance fee of R50, 00 per entry.
Closing date: 30 December 2008
To enter: Send entries to amanda@thewriteco.co.za
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Winner for Stairway to Heaven is: Dylan Balkind
Winner for Dangerous Liaisons is: Delia Benade
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Choose your winner for: Scary Men & Desperate Women, and Office Politics and send the poets' names in the subject line to amanda@thewriteco.co.za
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9. Students Write
10. Classified
Books need a home too...
Need custom made bookshelves?
Contact Rod 083 750-6854 or mail colleenrw@telkomsa.net
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For logogogs - A word a day makes you a good writer?
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