September issue

Stoking the

FLAMES THE ART AND PAIN OF

REVISION WE PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON

PETER JAMES AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 1

ditor

A message from the

Spring

has Sprung!

While the Northerners prepare for fall, down here in the Southern Hemisphere, we’re gearing up for Spring. My favourite season by far, there is nothing better than feeling the weather turn warmer.

The smell of freshly cut grass and the bright colours of buds in bloom always put a spring in my step, if you’ll excuse the pun!

This month, I have a stellar line up of books on my bedside table.

First up is the New York Times Bestselling Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, which was adapted into a major motion picture in 2013. Note, I haven’t seen the film. I make it a rule never to watch anything on television before reading the book! I’m also excited to sink my teeth into United as One, the seventh and final book in the Lorien Legacies series written by James Frey, Greg Boose, and formerly, Jobie Hughes, under the collective pseudonym Pittacus Lore. I have followed this series avidly since the release of the first book back in 2010, and, as sad as I am that it has come to an end, I’m thrilled to finally found out how it all plays out.

Speaking of eagerly anticipated books, I also got my hands on a review copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! I did have my doubts about the script format, but according to the reviews popping up on my Goodreads feed, so far fans of the series are impressed.

Last but not least on my to-be-read pile for September is Despite the Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif. You may recall the incredible

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Shamim was our July cover profile and her P.R company was kind enough to send me a copy for review.

As to our current cover, we here at Authors Magazine squealed with excitement at the prospect of interviewing the crimewriting phenomenon that is Peter James. The success he has experienced throughout his career is, quite simply, mind-blowing.

Thirty novels translated into 37 languages of which his Roy Grace series alone has sold over 18 million copies and garnered 11 consecutive UK Sunday Times number ones along the way. He’s had number ones in Germany, France, Russia and Canada and is also a NY Times Best Seller. His works (A Perfect Murder and Dead Simple) have been adapted for stage and enjoyed massive success. And that’s just on the Literary front. To read more about Peter’s achievements, read our in-depth article on page 4.

As always, we have loads of craft tips and fun articles for you, so put your feet up, enjoy the sunshine and read on!

What’s on your TBR for September? Tweet us @authorsmag and let us know!

As always, happy reading!

Much Love

Melissa Delport

Contents COVER FEATURE

04

PETER JAMES Dead Centre

ARTICLES

PUBLISHER

12 18 24

STOKING THE FLAMES EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE The Art and Pain of Revision BIRTH An Honest Guide to Natural, Epidural and Caesarean Choices

Lesiba Morallane EDITOR Melissa Delport COPY EDITOR Ian Tennent ADVERTISING COMMUNICATION Dineo Mahloele LAYOUT AND DESIGN Apple Pie Graphics

REGULARS A Message from the Editor.........................................................02 Sallys Sanity Authors Flash....................................................................................21 I’m an Alien, I’m a Legal Alien........................................................22 Budding Authors.............................................................................28 International Focus Amity Lossiter.....................................................................................30 Justin Fox Island of the Monsoon.....................................................................32 Recommended Reads...................................................................34

Tel: 079 885 4494 CONTRIBUTORS Melissa Delport Tallulah Habib Ian Tennent Sally Cook Justin Fox Cat Hellison

AUTHORS MAGAZINE: PO Box 92644, Mooikloof, Pretoria East Email: team@authorsmag.com To advertise online please email team@authorsmag.com or contact Ms Dineo Mahloele on 084 299 6812 DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are intended for informational purposes only. Authors Magazine takes no responsibility for the contents for the contents of the advertising material contained herein.

All efforts have been taken to verify the information contained herein, and views expressed are ont necessarily those of Authors Magazine. E&OE

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 3

WE PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON

PETER JAMES DEAD CENTRE

by Ian Tennent

Peter James is a crime writing phenomenon. The success he has experienced throughout his career is, quite simply, mind-blowing. Thirty novels translated into 37 languages of which his Roy Grace series alone has sold over 18 million copies and garnered 11 consecutive UK Sunday Times number ones along the way. He’s had number ones in Germany, France, Russia and Canada and is also a NY Times Best Seller.

His works (A Perfect Murder and Dead Simple) have been adapted for stage and enjoyed massive success. And that’s just on the Literary front. His kudos on the filming front are equally as impressive, with his involvement in no less than 26 feature films in a writer/producer capacity, some of which have boasted A-listers such as Peter Sellers, Robert De Niro and Michael Caine. In 2005 The Merchant of Venice, for which he was the Executive Producer, went on to achieve a BAFTA award nomination and, later, a Silver Ribbon. He has collected numerous other awards as well, at regular intervals, everything from CWA’s to Honorary Doctorates, and, most recently, the 2016 Dead Good Readers Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series in respect of his Roy Grace

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novels. No small wonder then that Peter James makes our September cover.

Authors Magazine were delighted to catch up with the highly acclaimed crime fiction writer.

Peter, a quick glance at your website (www.peterjames.com) and the first thing a reader notices is the consistency with which you release books. Your Roy Grace series in particular, has released a book a year since 2005, and always around the months of May or June. Have your readers come to expect a new Roy Grace novel every year, and does this put pressure on you to deliver?

Yes, they have come to expect one each year and yes, there is pressure to deliver, but I think that all my life I have written best under pressure.

I’ve heard that one of the things that sets your books apart from other crime thrillers is your willingness to dust your stories with a smattering of the paranormal. Have you met any resistance from fans or other commentators with regards to combining the paranormal

within a contemporary, police setting?

I’ve only had the paranormal in a very small part of ‘Dead Simple’, it hasn’t been used in any of the other Roy Grace novels so far, but it is a fact that the use of mediums by police in the USA is far more openly commonplace than it is here. That said, I have met many UK police officers, at all levels from Chief Constables down, who are more than prepared to talk to any sensible medium who claims to have information. As one said to me: “If I am in a desperate situation and all else has failed, I would be derelict in my duties if I failed to listen to a medium who claimed to have information.”

On that note, what sparked your fascination with the paranormal?

In 1983 the son of very close friends was killed in a car crash, and they became convinced they were in contact with him. They were very intelligent, rational people, and my starting point was when they invited me along to a séance. This story inspired my first successful book ‘Possession’. It was to lead me, over the next fifteen years to becoming an “authority” on the paranormal. I hosted a show for the BBC and I hosted a regular Friday night radio phone-in show for a couple of years. Of all the numerous hauntings I heard of and some of which I investigated, whilst I became convinced of the existence of many aspects of the paranormal, I came across very few instances where there was any kind of harm to humans resulting from ghosts etc – of the kind for instance in Hamlet with his father. But as we all know from so much horror in the world around us, both current and historic, human beings are capable of even more dreadful acts of evil than most of us can even imagine.

You published your first full-length novel, Dead Letter Drop, in 1981 but it was only

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in 2005 that you decided to concentrate on writing full time. A question that comes up time and again with our budding author readers is, at what point does one consider themselves a writer?

At what point did you consider yourself a blue-blooded writer?

I think you are a writer the moment you start to earn money from writing.

Many authors past and present are both working on books and at the same time have day jobs. It doesn’t diminish them from being writers. I believe in many ways writers are better off to have a job in the real world to keep them rooted in reality and up to speed with changes in office technology, gossip and so on.

Your mother was Cornelia James, former glove-maker to Queen Elizabeth II, while you yourself once worked as Orson Welles’ housecleaner. Yup, that’s the Orson Welles, everyone! I’m sure you get asked this all the time but what was he like?

I only met him very fleetingly but I talked a fair bit to his wife who was absolutely charming! I was too much in awe of him, and too shy, to engage with him at the time. When I started I hadn’t actually realized it was Orson Welles’ house. I was hired by Mrs Welles and at that point I had no idea she was married to the great man… It was on my second day there, when I was on my hands and knees in the hall, cleaning the skirting board, that a bundle of loose mail tumbled through the letter box onto the floor. As I began scooping it up, I saw that all the letters were addressed to Orson Welles Esq. Not always being the sharpest tack in the box, I didn’t connect Mrs Welles who had hired me to Orson Welles! I was wondering why on earth the postman had delivered these here, when in walked Orson Welles himself, in a greatcoat. He smiled, said “Good morning” and stepped over me the way he might have avoided

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a dog turd, and vanished upstairs! There were a million questions I would have liked to have asked him, but I was too tongue tied!

Silence Of The Lambs is a great example of this. Polanski’s early film, Cul De Sac is a wonderful example of tension, terror and pure comedy.

It seems you were drawn to the film industry from an early age. I have no doubt that this experience has helped with your novel writing but are there any areas in particular where your film experience has been an asset to your novel writing?

You have a history of collaboration in all of your endeavours, from co-producing movies to co-founding successful businesses, most of which centred around entertainment. You’re obviously very comfortable with collaborating yet it’s only now in 2016, with the release of Death Comes Knocking, which you coauthored with Graham Bartlett, that you have collaborated in the literary sphere.

Was there a reason for this and how did you find the experience? And can we expect more Peter James collaborations in the future?

I think I have learned a great deal from my start in life as a scriptwriter that helps me to write engaging novels. In screenwriting there are three invisible words in the mind of the author all the way through the process. Three very simple words: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? It is almost like a mantra. For me the biggest lessons I have learned from film and TV production are pacing and intercutting more than anything else. I love using a technique of intercutting between different characters and converging storylines, which is a very cinematic technique and I have always loved reading novels constructed in this way. I like to do scene changes in my books very much in the way that a movie cuts form scene to scene. There is a different experience between film and TV in that because the audience is captive, films can afford to start more slowly than TV dramas. I worked for a time on a sitcom in the US and learned a big lesson from that: In a sitcom the U.S rule is that you must have a laugh every 12 seconds, because they figure otherwise they will lose their audience. I have translated this into my crime writing – not a laugh every twelve seconds, obviously, but the realization that to keep my readers interested and hooked, I need to constantly surprise them. Laughter and fear are very close emotions and they compliment each other. You laugh to shrug off fear. Then when the laughing stops, the fear is even worse. Many of the greatest crime thriller novels and films have humour in them –

There certainly will be! In fact, I have just collaborated on a short story which will form part of an anthology called MATCH OFF, our story is called ‘Footloose’. I paired up with the wonderful Val McDermid and we have Tony Hill and Roy Grace working on a case together. Similarly, I wrote a short story with Ian Rankin in an anthology called FACE OFF, the story being called ‘In The Nick Of Time’ and this compilation was a New York Times bestseller. We had Grace and Rebus working on a case together and it was hugely enjoyable writing it!

I hope to also write more with Graham Bartlett too. For many years David Gaylor was my principal contact in Sussex Police, working closely with me on the planning of my stories and giving me introductions to any officers he felt would be helpful to my research on each successive Roy Grace novel, to lend my books the authenticity I try hard to maintain. When he retired, I was immensely fortunate to have that baton taken on by his good friend, Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett, himself a former senior homicide detective, who then became Commander of Brighton and Hove Police. Graham and

I instantly hit it off and he was an invaluable help to me for several years. When he was coming up to retirement he told me he harboured ambitions to become a published author, and sent me examples of blogs he had written over the years, for me to judge his skills. Then I had a true light bulb moment.

Many people had been suggesting to me, over the years, that I should write a non-fiction book about my research with the police and throughout his thirty year career, Graham had the unique experience of policing Brighton and Hove at every rank and had been involved in many of the cases that provided inspiration both for characters and for plots of my novels. He clearly had writing talent. We decided to collaborate and write a book about what it was really like to be a police officer in Roy Grace’s Brighton and it has just been published and has gone to Number 7 in the Sunday Times Bestseller list! David is still very much a part of Team Roy Grace…when I am ready to start actually writing a new book, I meet with him in a Sussex country pub called The Ginger Fox, take the same table, open a new black Moleskine notebook and work through a basic plot and the high points of the next story. I do a rough treatment and David reads it and comes back with comments. We remain very close friends and he was one of my best men at my wedding last year!

Stepping away from writing for a second (but only a second!), you have a very wide spectrum of interests, from cars, motor racing and flying machines to medicine, criminology and the paranormal. But, with all the writing you do, where on earth do you find time to pursue all these outside interests?

I make the time and I find that I write better for being able to take my mind away from my work and do something totally different for a few hours.

You are frequently at the cutting edge of marketing when it comes to your books. Your branding is incredibly strong but it goes much deeper than that and you’re credited with being the first author to publish a book electronically, when Penguin published your novel Host on two floppy discs in 1994, causing widespread scandal at the time! Did you see the eBook tsunami coming or was this just a throw of the dice? And do you allow yourself a quiet chuckle at all who vilified you back then for ‘destroying the novel’?

It always seems to me there was nothing sacrosanct about paper and the printed page but actually it was merely the most convenient way of distributing the book. I always said that the day an eBook became as nice to read and more convenient to read than a paper book is the day it would take off, which is

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 7

what has now happened. Yes! to your second question. I remember being in the green room at Sky Books with novelist Graham Swift, and when I showed him a copy of ‘Host’ he looked at me as if I was mental. I’m sure he looks at his eBook sales today and feels differently!

On the topic of marketing you’ve fostered a unique relationship with the Sussex Police by donating two police cars to them, that carry the jacket of your latest Roy Grace release (alongside the police markings) on their livery. This relationship must be an invaluable resource with regard to forensics and correct criminal investigation procedures, but have you ever made a blooper and been ‘found out’ with respect to police work that takes place in your novels?

To my knowledge no – I have usually three or four police officers read early drafts of every book, and every chapter involving any research with the police is always read in advance by an officer. I have made the odd blooper by confusing things like cement and concrete, but so far none on police procedure. I’m thrilled to have the reputation with police officers as the guy who gets it right!

Your latest Roy Grace novel, Love You Dead, published in May 2016 tells the story of Roy Grace’s battle of wits with a Black Widow type ‘gold digger’, while mentioning in the blurb that an ‘old enemy’ is back. Who, in your view, is Roy Grace’s arch enemy?

He doesn’t have an ongoing arch enemy but he’s certainly had several over the years including, Norman Jecks in ‘Not Dead Enough’, Amis Smallbone in two subsequent novels and Dr Edward Crisp in ‘You Are Dead’.

Last of the serious questions. How does

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an indie author starting out at, say, the tender age of 43, with ten quid and a box of cornflakes to their name, go on to sell 18 million copies?

It took me many years to get into the bestseller list and I still have to pinch myself when I see my name and book there in print, or on a billboard or at WHSmith in the airports! Like many budding writers, my first novels were turned down by pretty much every publisher here in the UK, and in the United States, before I got my big break. In fact, it took me 23 years from the time I wrote my first novel to the point where I was able to make a living out of writing novels. I learnt that it is massively important to believe in yourself if you think you have it, and not take rejection as the end of the road.

Links to Peter James on Social Media Peter’s YouTube channel: www.peterjames.com/YouTube Peter’s Website: www.peterjames.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/peterjames.roygrace Twitter: http://twitter.com/peterjamesuk Instagram: https://instagram.com/peterjamesuk

FUN FACTS

about Peter

James Bond or Jason Bourne? And Why?

Bond. Far more style.

Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot?

And the good news is … if you look at the bestseller list in any given week of the year – the majority of authors tend to be 50+ ….so keep working hard!

Merlot. I prefer the roundness and softness of it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat to us, Peter, and we wish you even more success in the future.

Flipflops or black leather Armanis?

Thanks so much! Great questions! ....................................................................

Peter James currently resides in Brighton, UK with his wife Lara, where, alongside his authoring, he is patron to many organisations, from the Sussex Police Charitable Trust to Crimestoppers to the Brighton Greyhound Owners Association, and many more besides. Apart from his website he also has his own You Tube channel PJTV where you can find out more about his fiction, his films and his action adventure life. He shares many writing tips on the channel and it will feature interviews with a huge and varied number of authors. You can subscribe for free at www.peterjames.com/YouTube

Greatest achievement outside of writing?

Sussex Police Outstanding Public Service Award.

Black leather Armani, I don’t get on with flip flops.

Who is your personal favourite amongst your own characters?

Roy Grace, there’s a lot of myself in Roy so I feel very connected to him.

Ernest Hemingway or Edgar Allan Poe?

Hemingway.

Firefox or Batmobile?

Batmobile.

Which author would you most like to meet? And why?

Graham Greene because he is my favourite author and I’d love to ask him why he liked playing Russian Roulette.

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 9

Read an excerpt...

It happened nineteen years ago, but Jodie could remember it vividly and always with a massive grin. It was funny. Whatever her parents thought, Jodie found it funny. Almost hysterically funny. It still brought a big smile to her face. A smile of glee, a smile of satisfaction, a smile at the whole ridiculousness of it all.

But of course she hadn’t dared to smile at that actual moment. She’d managed to look every bit as shocked as her parents.

It was the first anniversary of Cassie’s death. Her sister was receding into the past in both her memory, as well as in the photographs around the house. She was pleased to see that the really big portrait photograph of her sister, the one that sat in its frame on the windowsill in the lounge, the one in which she looked so truly beautiful, was starting to fade significantly.

There were so many photos of Cassie that the house had the feeling of a shrine. A shrine to Cassie. Beautiful Cassie. Daddy’s pet, Mummy’s pet, teacher’s pet. Perfect Cassie. Jodie often wondered whether, if it had been her instead of her sister, would there have been this same outpouring of grief? This same kind of shrine?

She didn’t think so.

Neither of her parents noticed that she had discreetly moved the big photo from its original shaded position into the bay window that got direct sunlight for hours. Already the colour was starting to leach out of her skin.

In a while, Jodie thought, She’ll just look like a ghost. And that will be one less picture of her to haunt me!

The family went to visit Cassie’s grave that afternoon. Her father took the day off work. Her mother hadn’t been back to work since Cassie died, she was still too distraught, still recovering from her breakdown from the shock.

Come on woman, get over it! Jodie thought, silently. You believe in God you go to Church every Sunday, so what’s your problem? Cassie’s in Heaven.

She’s probably the Angel Gabriel’s pet. Jesus’ pet. God’s pet!

Not that Jodie believed in any of that stuff. She didn’t think her sister was any of those things. In her view, Cassie was just a bunch of rotting, desiccated skin, bone and hair in a fancy coffin that was rotting too, six feet under, in the huge cemetery off the Old Shoreham Road.

Best place for her. Good riddance, she thought, privately as she stood, sobbing and sniffing and pretending to be all sad that her sister was gone, cruelly snatched away – just as the wording said on her neat white headstone with the fancy carved script.

Cruelly snatched away from us.

Cruelly snatched – well that bit wasn’t strictly accurate, she thought. Fell to her death whilst walking along a coastal cliff path on a family holiday in Cornwall during the October half-term. Pushed actually. But that was another story - best not to go there.

Later that evening, home in bed, Jodie wrote in her diary: We went for a pub supper after visiting the grave.

Mum was too upset to want to go home right away and the poor thing was in no fit state to cook. So we drove out into the country to a gastro pub that mum and dad like, which serves the most horrid prawn c0cktail I’ve ever eaten. Tiny little things, not much bigger than the maggots that are eating Cassie, and a lot of them still half frozen – and all smothered in a Marie Rose sauce that’s had a flavour bypass. Mum has it every time and insists I should have it too. ‘It’s a very generous portion,’ she always says.

A very generous portion of cold maggots in ketchupflavoured mayo.

I can’t believe I ordered it again tonight. It was even worse than before. Even though he was driving, Dad drank two pints of Harveys and ate a steak pie and beans and ordered a glass of red wine with it – a large glass. Mum had a small sherry and they had an argument about who would drive. She insisted she would drive back. The food arrived but I had to run out of the room and into the toilet, to get away from the nauseating atmosphere.

It was just so ridiculous. The whole day and evening.

Mum’s driving for a start. She drives like an old woman – well she is an old woman, I suppose, forty-six is pretty ancient - but she drives like she’s a hundred and fortysix – at a steady forty-six. She never goes over fifty, not even on the motorway. She never overtakes anything, not even bicycles unless she can see four miles of clear road ahead. She just sits behind them. Irritating me.

But not dad.

He even told her to slow down tonight! We were doing fifteen miles per hour behind a bicycle and he actually said to her, ‘Susan, slow down, you’re too close.’

Cassie Jane Danforth

My family.

Beloved daughter and sister

My embarrassing family.

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The things they say.

But this really made me laugh. Mum suddenly said she wanted to light a candle for Cassie, have it burning on table with us during our meal. So my Dad went up to the bar and asked if they had a candle they could light for his daughter. Ten minutes later the chef and two other members of staff appeared with a small cake, with a candle

burning in the centre of it, and all walked towards us, smiling at me and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! I’m still smiling about that, even though it’s nearly midnight and I’ve got homework to do for tomorrow that I’ve not even yet started.

But honestly, I have to say, I’ve not felt so great in a long time!

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 11

Stoking the

FLAMES

by Tallulah Habib

Romances are meant to inspire passion but when Stephenie Meyer, EL James and Jojo Moyes wrote their bestsellers, they probably weren’t counting on that passion being the violent, pitch-forkwielding rage that has found them online.

What’s so bad about these books? And how is it that like some woebegone heartthrob, they are still able to find love?

Twilight The Twilight series hit bookshelves back in 2005 to a chorus of squeals from teen girls across the globe. In the decade since, it has acquired a dedicated fan base of all sorts. But for every “Twihard” the

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vampire love story has, there’s a critic waiting to give you an earful. Here’s why:

The controversy The biggest controversy surrounding this vampire love story is the role of the main character, Bella. She is passive and indecisive, her whole existence revolves around boys - particularly the rather creepy stalker-type that becomes her boyfriend and later (spoiler alert) her husband. Did I mention he also wants to eat her? Yea, he has to fight a constant battle with himself not to sink his teeth

into her flesh. If that’s not an analogy for spousal abuse, then I don’t know what is.

As if that wasn’t enough, when he leaves her (for her own protection) she falls into a self-destructive spiral to get his attention, bordering on attempting suicide, because her life is just that meaningless without him. The perfect role model for young women, right?

The other thing that annoys Twilight’s critics is how the story portrays the author’s Mormon beliefs. According to

some accounts, the Cullens represent the Mormons and the story is a parable about how great their faith is compared to other Christians (depicted as ancient, evil vampires) and how a non-believer (Bella) can find happiness and love by converting to Mormonism. Was Meyer trying to indoctrinate young minds?

The defense It’s easy to hate something when you look at the surface details, but Twihards are not stupid. There’s a reason that they love this series, despite the avalanche of negative commentary.

“Bella in the books is funny, down-toearth and relatable,” says Cherise SueLeigh, who took Twilight out of the library when the movies were announced to find out what all the fuss was about. “[Bella] was a character I could connect with. I was entertained by her inner thoughts, clumsiness, and connected with her heartache and ups and downs.”

She echoes what many say about the erstwhile heroine: she’s intentionally described in broad strokes, left mostly empty, so that anyone can fill her shoes and experience the story from her perspective. This technique is often used by authors writing in the first person to bring the reader closer to the story.

As for Bella’s relationship with her vampiric dreamboat, some readers see the hardships that they go through (her being his natural prey, for instance) as a pretty decent lesson for teens.

“I guess to me it’s about forbidden love, or socially unacceptable love. But at the end of the day, true love prevails and that’s what’s important. True love, when working together and supported can overcome any challenge,” says long-time fan, Cloe Hart.

Gina Jett read Twilight after she saw a girl being lambasted online for getting a Twilight tattoo. Judging by the all-out rage the novels inspired, she expected the book to be much worse than it was. “So many people say ‘Oh, they are abusive

relationships that set a poor example’, but I frankly find it insulting that people insinuate that any woman (or girl, or boy, or man) would consider any work of fiction a how-to guide of relationships of any kind. Examples of healthy relationships are created at home and in the community, and not by single works of fiction.”

And how do the fans feel about the accusations of the series being a dogmalaced Mormon analogy? Well, for some of them that adds to the appeal.

“Christian values can be seen throughout the books,” says Hart. “Waiting until they are married for sex, their strong views on family, their views on marriage being important (just look at how important it is for Alice and Jasper to be married after high school, every time they graduate).

The books may be based on a dream, but the underlying values of Christianity are still there. I love that it is a fantasy love story, that has enough depth that it could almost be real and that a lot of the values sit well with me, being a Christian.”

Of course, there’s also the argument that all of those critics are completely overthinking it.

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“I see the Twilight books like junk food,” says Stacey Anne, “Generally falling on the bad side of the literary spectrum and not something I read all the time, but nice to binge on occasionally.”

According to Laura Carter Tackett, they are the ultimate wish fulfilment. “They may not be the best written novels ever, but they did a lot of things right, and for that I’m grateful to have read them.”

Fifty Shades of Grey Fifty Shades of Grey, otherwise known as the novel that introduced housewives everywhere to the joys of erotica, was initially self-published as an e-book. It was so popular that it was picked up by Vintage Books in March 2012. It went on to sell 125 million copies in 52 different languages in its first three years of publication. Yet, critical reception was terrible.

The controversy One of the biggest complaints about this runaway bestseller is the writing itself.

It comes across as fanfic, because it is. It was initially Twilight fanfic that had some facts and names changed to avoid IP infringement.

Running a close second is the accusation that 50 Shades of Grey of glorifies abusive relationships. According to these critics, BDSM is one thing, but Fifty Shades crosses the line into abuse.

The story is based around the sweet, innocent Anastasia Steele who is pursued by the wealthy but emotionally-broken Christian Grey. He wishes to take her on as his submissive, and as a stranger to any kind of sex, let alone S&M, the thought both excites and confuses her. Some of the books’ most vocal criticism comes from within the BDSM community itself.

“When it comes to the world of S&M, Fifty Shades gets it almost all wrong,” Dominatrix, Lady Velvet Steel, says in

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a Hollywood Reporter feature. She was especially unimpressed with the character of Grey. “He isn’t a dominant.

He’s a stalker. He breaks into Anastasia’s house, he bullies her friend, he buys her expensive gifts. He is constantly crossing boundaries. And S&M is all about respecting boundaries.”

“BDSM is about creating vulnerability, opening yourself up to your partner in a way you can trust them to take you to some of these dark places that are considered taboo overall, but in a loving way,” Mistress Couple, the head mistress at a BDSM training chateau, is quoted as saying in the Huffington Post. “That’s what’s missing from Fifty Shades of Grey.

Christian continuously violates Ana’s trust and her ability to feel safe, and any person in their right mind would get out of a relationship that’s like that.”

The defense “50 Shades is tricky because many people qualify what Christian put Ana through as abuse,” acknowledges Gabrielle de Souza, who enjoyed the books. “For me, it’s complicated. But in terms of their power dynamics she won. She got everything she wanted from him, and she came to enjoy the S&M.” Emily Pickens sees their relationship in a different light. “I like the romantic side, how Ana helps Christian to heal from his past. I like how he wants to give her the world and protect her and, in his own way, romance her.”

Hart concurs, “To me Fifty Shades of Grey is a series of books about the abuse of a young man, and how he learns to cope with that, before he meets the right person to help him overcome and move forward.”

As part of the BDSM scene, Hart disagrees that Fifty Shades is an insult. “This book is very, very tame compared to what really happens. None of it is so much about wanting to hurt the other person,

but rather about wanting to control the amount of pain they receive.”

She says that the books don’t have time to convey everything that would go into the relationship between a dominant and his submissive. “The Sub is the world to the Dom, and their health and wellbeing is a priority.”

According to Hart, BDSM is a way for Christian to deal with the abuse he suffered in his past. “When he meets Ana, she is nothing like he has ever experienced, and he wants to bring her into his world that is safe for him because he can control it, whereas she slowly brings him back into the sociallyacceptable world, where he doesn’t have control but learns to trust Ana.” Then there’s the sex.

“I enjoyed it because, for me, it was the first type of soft core BDSM book I read,” says Phillipa Sadler Carlin. “The BDSM part was built so carefully into the storyline and wasn’t as overbearing as some of the other books I read after 50 Shades.

I know it sounds clichéd, but I enjoyed the fact that she was inexperienced and that he had a lot of experience, it was like bringing together yin and yang. There was a lot of hype about the book being about him overpowering her and taking her choice away, I don’t agree with that at all. I think it was consensual relationship.”

“The kinky bits are fun to read and it gives you an insight into a darker side of sex,” says Pickens. “It’s one of those trilogies that doesn’t require much concentration. but was still fun to read (on Kindle so no one knows what you are reading...). I liked how bits made me smile, bits related to

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me in a sense, they were similar to my own experiences, and I still blushed like a complete schoolgirl in the kinky parts!“

Me Before You Unlike our other controversial authors, Jojo Moyes is no romance novel debutant. She’s had a thriving career since 2002, winning the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Novel of the Year Award twice.

Controversy found her recently because her 2012 bestseller, Me Before You, came out in cinemas (adapted for screen by the author herself). The below is riddled with spoilers, so if you still intend to read the book or see the movie proceed with caution.

The controversy Me Before You is a story about a wheelchair-bound Will Traynor, who falls in love with his carer; quirky small-town Brit, Louisa Clark. Despite this romance, he still goes through with a plan to end his own life through assisted suicide.

Disability advocacy organisations have called the film “ableist” and criticised it for playing into the already dominant societal belief that a life with disability is less worthy and fulfilling and that disabled people are better off dead.

The defense To Hart, who lives with her own disabilities, the story is actually empowering as it shows that sometimes it’s all right for disabled people to be selfish. “We hardly ever get to be selfish, in fact we don’t get to be selfish. Ever. Full stop. It’s just not allowed. Because the minute we are not 100% cooperative or make a decision only in our best interest and not anyone else’s we are seen to be causing an issue, making a fuss, making life hard for those around us who are trying to “help” etc.

This means we sacrifice our wants and needs continuously. It means that a lot of

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us live with feeling like we are a burden, that we hate parts of our life and wish we could change it. To me, Me Before You shows what it can really be like to have a disability. So whilst a lot of people have said Will is selfish for wanting to end his life and following through, I see it as a very brave and courageous decision that he earned the right to make for himself.” de Souza points out that the choice once character makes does not necessarily represent the feelings of all people in the same circumstances, “Me Before You is a beautiful love story that tackles a difficult issue. I don’t think it had to provide a balanced view of every euthanasia choice.

It just spoke about one person’s story.”

All the rage In a 2011 Guardian piece, journalist Tim Adams analysed how Internet anger forms and spirals. The article, How the Internet Created an Age of Rage, reveals that the psychology behind internet rage is the same as behind road rage: deindividuation, the protection offered by anonymity. However, internet rage is an even more powerful beast because of the ease with which one can rally behind those with similar opinions.

These “packs” can become dominant in any conversation, including those about books (and not in the sexy, Christian Grey way!).

In other words: sometimes the hubbub about how awful a book is will rise to fever pitch when it’s really not that bad after all.

Romance books are a favourite punching bag of the literary world and have been for ages. Calling them anti-feminist and scoffing at their lack of intellectual content is nothing new. Is it a coincidence, then, that these, the most controversial books of the last decade, all fall into this genre? Or is it possible that the internet rage machine has intensified a bias that has always been there?

Either way, one thing’s clear: every story has its reader. While no author can predict how the world will react, it’s comforting to know that even these controversial titles have die-hard (or Twihard) fans.

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Everything is terrible:

THE ART AND PAIN O

REVISIO

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OF

ON

by Cat Hellison

Revision. It’s a terrible word; conjuring visions of blood, sweat and trauma, of gathering the remnants of a story thoroughly disembowelled by that mean critique at your local writers group, of trying to stitch together the corpse and jolt some life into it. An ugly, thankless, Frankensteinish task, you think. So why bother? You liked your story the way it was before. You thought the characters were cool—after all, you wrote them.

You’ve gone through the manuscript with your spell and grammar checker. Surely that’s enough?

For some, revision really does means running their novel through spell-check and hoping they caught the worst of their homophone abuse in their twentyminute read-through before they hit upload and publish. And sadly a great many books that could have been good or better than good are condemned to being little more than mediocre (and I’m being nice here, many are condemned to being simply terrible.) This is not revision. And

those writers are lying to themselves.

there to help you.

Revision is not a last-minute process tacked on after you’ve written your novel.

It is one of the biggest parts of writing a good book—as crucial to writing as getting that first draft down on paper. If writing is the stone of the peach, then revision is the flesh and skin. It covers up the heart of the story, plumps it out and makes it feast-worthy.

For big structural overhauls, and for adding depth, layering and general oomph, I recommend Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.

Even if you don’t do the exercises (though working your way through even the first few will be immeasurably helpful) do read the book. It could spark some fantastic plot breakthroughs.

Some people write good, coherent, readable first drafts. These are often the writers who would benefit the most from revisions, because they’re the least likely to do any. They may feel that their work is structurally sound. Their manuscript is free from typos and grammar problems, and the pacing flows and characters are consistent and do what they’re supposed to do for the plot. They think that any more work will be a waste of their time.

Nancy Kress has several writing technique books that tackle different elements of writing and revising a novel. Beginnings, Middles and Ends is a good one to help with structure in particular.

Revision is not simply smoothing down the rough patches. Reworking your novel can build a rich fabric, layer in deeper and more realistic world-building, and braid story threads thicker and tighter. A solid revision can turn characters into people who are completely unforgettable.

When I approach revisions from agents, editors or beta readers, the first thing I do after reading their notes is to let it sit a while. I’m prone to getting defensive about my work and I need a cooling-down period. After the initial sting has passed I go back and reread the editorial letter. It works to focus on what needs to be done by rewriting the notes in a bullet-point list. The act of rephrasing their comments helps me to feel back in control of my work.

Revision also gives a writer a chance to re-examine story choices—to push themselves harder and imagine even more creative “What Ifs”. One of the great things agent Donald Maass talks about is pushing deeper with motivation, to discard your first ideas as surface dross and really trawl your subconscious— because that’s where the amazing stuff happens. If you go back into a story and work on it, you can erase the shallow, more obvious story turns and really push for something with substance.

If you’re a new writer who is justifiably proud of themselves for finishing a first draft only to discover that some person on the internet is telling you that’s only 50% of the job done, don’t panic. While revisions can seem a terrible and daunting task to tackle, there are resources out

When it comes to sentence level editing and cleaning up your prose, Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne is great for pointing out those elements in your writing that are hobbling your novel.

I tackle the big structural changes first.

This means cutting scenes (sometimes whole acts if the narrative is that broken), moving scenes, and making notes about the areas where readers noted that the narrative needed expansion or explanation. I rearrange the skeleton structure of the novel until I’m happy with the new shape.

Once the manuscript is clean, I go back to my notes and use them to add the heavy layering where whole scenes need to be added or expanded, and character motivations and actions must be improved and changed. This is where I

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flesh out the parts that had been scraped down to the bones.

If possible, I take a short break of at least a week after this heavy work so that I can return to the polishing round with fresh eyes. This round consists of a complete read-through, where I catch new typos, smooth in the layers while adding lines here and there for depth and foreshadowing, and make sure that my transitions flow naturally. This is where I concentrate on sentence-level fixes. I set the colour, size and style of my font to something completely different in order to trick my brain into reading properly, and not skimming. I always change it back to a suitable Times New Roman 12 pt black for submission purposes.

This is just one way of tackling revisions and each writer will find a way that works for them.

I spoke to Amy Danziger Ross, whose retelling of Jekyll and Hyde, J/H, is forthcoming in 2018 from Simon Pulse, about how she revises. “When I look at my shambling first drafts, I usually get really daunted by the magnitude of the work ahead of me,” Ross says. “My only hope then is to try to break it all down into more manageable tasks.” Ross and I have some overlapping techniques; she says she can’t afford to get bogged down in sentence-level polishing when she needs to overhaul major structural elements.

“Making to-do lists helps reassure me that I won’t forget about the little things while I work on the big picture stuff.”

There’s one revision mantra Ross bears in mind that all writers should write out and tape over their workplace: “Everything has to get worse before it can get better. “ Elissa Janine Hoole, author of several contemporary Young Adult novels, including the recent The Memory Jar, says, “After I finish a first draft, I am energized, and I think my book is saying or doing something, and I will often take that energy to back up and read, usually

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the final third or so of the book, which is fairly rough because I’ve spent less time rereading and tweaking.” Hoole does a lot of revision as she drafts, frequently reading over the pages before she begins.

She uses this technique to help her get back into her voice after a break, and to add to scenes in places where she can strengthen foreshadowing and build characterization.

Hoole says the next step is the most challenging for her because it involves the ability to see the book as a whole. As a full time teacher and a parent, she doesn’t often get the time to sit down and devote a full day to read through her manuscript.

She solves the problem visually and creatively: “I use a lot of coloured pens, diagrams, and about a million index cards, all different sizes and sometimes colours, all trying to SEE my book. I map out everything—conflicts, connections, character development and emotional arcs, the actual linear narrative. I spend a lot of time with my gel pens trying to make it all fall together.”

This part of the revision process can be the most difficult, and it’s at this point that self-doubt and despair can reach critical mass. It’s also the point where for Hoole, things finally come together and she can see how the book is supposed to work. “This is the best part, filled with possibility and the confidence that yes, this thing is completely broken at the moment, but it’s okay because I can see where to begin trying to heal it.” She tugs at the threads to be sure they won’t unravel and spends hours trying to knit together the parts that already have. If she needs to, she rips out whole sections.

“I make notes on separate cards of things that are messed up and then I type long, rambling stream-of-consciousness notes to myself about how they might be fixed,” she says. Once she has all her own notes, she adds these to her editor’s notes, along with her own responses and thoughts. Hoole then works from issue to

issue, rewriting, deleting, and massaging the text. A process she claims is fuelled by several tons of chewy candy and strong coffee.

Not every technique is going to work. You need to find a way of tackling your first drafts and turning them into marketable, top-notch fiction that suits your style.

Some people work best from lists, others from diagrams, some paper their walls with mind maps, while others have stacks of file cards. How you approach your rewrites is up to you—just know that what you’re doing, hard as it is, is only going to benefit your writing.

Finally, after a lot of hard graft and moments of gut-wrenching despair, the day comes when you find that all you’re doing is changing the occasional sentence, or catching stray typos. You’re not revising, you’re fiddling. This is when you know you are done.

So what happens next? If you’re happy with your novel as it stands, the time has come to look at submitting or publishing your work.

And there’s another story ready to be written, so you start all over again, and it’s hard—harder than ever—and that’s when you realise that every project you ever do is going to be the hardest one. Until you’re done. You look at your beautiful, revised, rewritten novel and compare it to the tosh you’re throwing on the page now, and you want to weep.

“I’ve forgotten how to write,” you wail.

“Everything is terrible.”

I’m here to tell you that it’s not - what you’re seeing is the difference between a first draft and a polished manuscript.

That’s when you know the hours spent on revision were worth it.

Every month we feature 250 word flash fiction pieces as submitted by our readers. If you would like to submit a flash fiction, please email us with “Flash Fiction Submission” in the subject line.

Bad Wolf

Henry

By Cara Van Heerden

By Pete Holliday

The trees looked down at their thin bases as a curious figure walked between them. The sway of their leaves seemed to follow her, unseen eyes attempting to peer under her red hood.

She kept her face in a shadow and left no easy tracks, her steps as precise and graceful as a dancer.

Henry’s pills and a glass of water were on his side table next to his chair. His dinner plate, empty except for an unbroken chicken’s wishbone, lay on the coffee table.

The plate he would take to the kitchen when the sitcom ended.

Deeper in the forest, she suddenly halted and looked back. The sun caught her face and the wind howled in shock. Her royal features appeared calm as she scanned for danger. No sight of another but she stayed still, waiting until a faint breathing confirmed her suspicion.

The cold wind howled outside his 22nd floor air tight apartment like a hungry wolf. He settled into his easy chair to watch television; comfortable, cosy and alone. It was the way he liked it.

“I know you’re here,” she said. “I know you used to work for my mother. She promised you peace as long as she reigned... She reigns no more and peace is a fleeting luxury.”

A snarl came from behind her, close. A shiver cascaded over her.

“I need your help.”

A wolf-like grunt replied and she spun around. A man stood two paces away, head and shoulders above the tallest she’d ever seen. Wolf skin was strapped around him and his back hunched like he’d become the animal he’d slaughtered.

“Princess,” he growled. “Your mother was wise to leave me be.

Why should I help you?”

“Because war is here and fighting together is our only chance.

They had a name for you before. Maybe it could now bring hope rather than fear. If you will agree to it?”

He smiled, bloodlust soaked into his words. “Bad Wolf returns.”

In the morning he would take an easy stroll to the coffee shop nearby. Mandy the cute waitress would smile and say hello and then bring his cup of coffee and a buttered scone. It was always fun to look at the people and read the newspaper.

He knew no-one; he was too old to be bothered with talk.

Annabelle had left him thirty five years ago and had taken the children to Canada. Mark would be forty-three and Holly forty. He hoped all had gone well for them. That’s all he could do – hope. They never called.

Mandy had missed him for the first three days, after that she forgot about him.

The television stayed on night and day and his pension began to mount up in his bank account.

Henry’s pills and a glass of water were on his side table next to his chair. His dinner plate, empty except for an unbroken chicken’s wishbone, lay on the coffee table. The sitcom had ended over three months ago.

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I’M AN AL

by Sally Cook

I’m a Le

So I’m South African. Born and raised. I carry with me a distinctive green passport and I speak with flat vowels and use the words “hey” “yah” and “bru” a lot. Most of my loved ones live in the land of green and gold, I get choked up when I hear Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and I often dream of the rolling hills of KZN. I’m undeniably South African, however I am not a resident of South Africa. I am a resident of Britain. But I am not British.

I am able to vote in both countries.

I pay taxes in both countries. In my homeland though I’m a native. I can get a mortgage. I have a credit rating.

In the country that I’ve chosen to make our home, I’m a migrant and I tick a box for ethnicity that reads “White Other”. I cannot get a mortgage. I have no credit rating.

My children attend a British school, speak with a British accent and learn about the 66 monarchs spread over a history of 1500 years. They are being raised in Britain by two soutie Saffas whose only previous experience of royalty was an encounter with a queen in a pink feather boa and silver stilettos in Greenpoint, Cape

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LIEN

egal Alien Town. There was no castle either, except of the lager kind.

I instinctively refer to South Africa as “home”. It’s my default setting.

It’s not correct though. The UK is technically home. It’s where we are. It’s where we live. Even though our resident status is currently subject to a visa. Even though we can be asked to leave our home.

“Pak jou goed en trek” would be the Afrikaans version of the UK Border Agency’s courteously worded instruction that would most likely come via same-day recorded post. The British do love their Royal Mail.

Three and a half years in, I feel slightly at odds with where I belong. I’m having what can only be described as an immigration identity crisis. On the one hand, we haven’t lived here long enough to warrant citizenship. And on the other hand, we’ve been away from South Africa long enough to feel out of it.

Sting wrote a song about being an alien. A legal alien. An Englishman in New York. I’m neither English, nor am I in New York. But I can

understand those lyrics. I feel a lot like a legal alien. I stand out in my Saffa-ness. The way I raise my children with little respect or regard for health and safety. How they run kaalgat like mountain goats in the garden. How we all like to go barefoot. The braais we have in the depths of winter. I’m proud of my heritage, but having to constantly link the dots for people gets tiring. “Why are you here?” they ask. “How long do you plan to stay?” The former is easy to answer. A career opportunity for my husband and an adventure for our family. The latter – not so much. I leave things open and vague. The Brits are happy with that. It’s just up their street of aloof where you turn right at polite but stop at over-share.

Being as I am a human being who needs a piece of paper backed by a very good business reason to live in this country, this whole Brexit debacle struck a chord.

It seems crazy to think that in a world intrinsically connected by trade, technology, knowledge and so much more – it’s still perceived as good governance to impose borders to restrict the freedom of movement for people who seek to work, study, travel or gain asylum.

Borders intended to block those who simply aspire to their best life. I still think of the majority of humanity as good. Some may call that naïve. I call it being a South African who lives with hopeful heart and a spirit full of Ubuntu.

As Madiba famously once said: “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community

lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.”

Every human being is searching for a place to call home. No government should have the power to intervene in this pursuit.

It’s a basic human right as far as I’m concerned. I am not alone in my quest for a sense of belonging or in my feelings of unsettledness it appears. It’s a problem very close to home at this moment in time.

And so for now, I shall make like a local and with a stiff upper lip live with my head in one country and my heart in another and hope that the two are reunited soon. And I’ll look to Sting and his wise lyrics for guidance and “Be yourself no matter what they say.” There’s got to be something in that. I mean look how well it turned out for him. Alien and all. *Originally posted on So Many Miles from Normal

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BIRTH: An Honest Guide to Natural, Epidural and Caesarean Choices

The subject of birth choices should be added to the list of taboo topics to avoid; right after politics, religion and money. While it usually results in emotional disputes, it is an important aspect of our society that seems to be on a downward spiral.

When South African author Sonia Killik fell pregnant with her first child, she was certain of the natural birth she would have, prior to any advice her obstetrician might give. She was in for a shock when out of the four gynaecologists she consulted; three of them pushed her to have an elective caesarean. In her quest to find a caregiver who was both experienced of and supported natural birth, she was exposed to the birth industry and the tactics it employs to keep the business of childbirth profitable.

experienced the most intensely beautiful moment of my life. My motivation for writing Birth did not stem from anger (although I do hold some towards doctors who bully their patients into unnecessary interventions), but rather from a place of sadness. It truly breaks my heart that so many women and new-borns are denied the experience that I, and other women have had. I am sad that childbirth has become something to fear and distance ourselves from, I am sad that babies need to suffer because of the interventions forced on their mothers.”

The private sector in SA has caesarean rates as high as 90%, with global rates sitting on an average of 50%, despite the Worlds Health Organisation’s recommendation of 1015%. The drastic increase in this procedure is not as a direct result of women’s failing ability to birth naturally, but rather an indication that childbirth itself, one of the most profound and sacred events in human life, has fallen victim to greed.

“The long-term impact of drastically altering nature’s design can already be witnessed: the extinction of species, global warming, environmental damage. By now we should know that interfering with nature always has consequences – do we really want to remove natural childbirth from our humanity? What is the current and future impact on our selves physiologically, on our society, our cultures and what we value? We have allowed profit to override humanity in almost all areas of human life; childbirth should be protected from that fate. ”

Sonia’s journey into childbirth, her numerous discussions with hospital administrators, medical doctors, midwives and pregnant women, led her to take a stand against this trend. She resolved to educate mothers-to-be about the true risks of medical intervention and the gifts that come with natural birth.

“Many doctors have asked me if the reason I wrote Birth was due to a bad experience. On the contrary, I

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Birth has been received with mixed reviews – there has been opposition by traditional doctors who have defended their practices, some of which have unashamedly stated that they would prefer the caesarean rate to be 100%.

Mothers who had medicated births understandably feel strongly about their choices, in the case of true

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medical need birth interventions can be life saving.

Unfortunately the lines between necessity and convenience have been blurred, making it difficult to trust whether any procedures that were performed where done from need rather than a desire to speed up a birth.

Despite the overwhelming medical proof that an unnecessary caesarean is far more risky to both child and mother, the belief held by both doctors and the public is that a c-section is the safer and easier choice.

It is a contentions topic and one that Sonia is well ready to tackle.

“I gave the entire subject an enormous amount of thought, I realised that the hospital policies are not going to change, I know categorically that doctors aren’t going to change if it means cutting their profits in half – the only factor in the birth industry that can change is of course the consumer itself: the women, the mothers, the ones who are effected most by how they birth their children.”

“It is the reason I sub-titled my book ‘f*ck yeah’ – I want birth to be viewed as something to embrace rather than fear. When a gynaecologist tells a perfectly healthy woman she should agree to a c-section, epidural, episiotomy or induction, I want her to be able to make her own informed decisions that are not influenced by a scheduled golf game.”

Sonia has never been afraid to stand against injustice; her past careers have had her founding a non-profit organisation, life coaching women and running workshops. Her plans for the future of Birth are public seminars and activism. There is a large movement within South Africa by women who are just as fed-up with birth practices as the author, and it is with this support and team work that Sonia hopes to bring the issue into the larger public domain.

All paperback copies of Birth {f*ck yeah} An Honest Guide to Natural, Epidural and Caesarean Choices have been sold out; it is currently available through all online e-stores and should be restocked in shops by the end of the year. Stay in touch with the author via her website www.soniakillik.com and her social pages on facebook, twitter and goodreads.

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Birth Extract: Why is the topic of birth and the method you choose so important?

Why the controversy and heated arguments? Why all those emotionally charged decisions?

For the simple reason that birth is important – it’s important for your baby and for yourself. It has far-reaching consequences, not only for your own physical wellbeing and your emotional transition to motherhood (no easy thing), but it also builds the foundation for your child’s lifelong health.

The most important element of birth – which sadly seems to have been forgotten by women and doctors alike – is that it is a deeply spiritual experience for both of you. It’s the turning point from maiden to mother, and the grand entrance into this world for a brand new human being.

No matter what, after this moment, you will never be the same again. Even if you do everything your doctor tells you to do, you’re

still exercising a choice, and you’re doing it for two human beings.

So yes – it is important, and there are decisions to be made, which is why you are reading this book.

Having a baby is a big big deal.

My purpose in writing this book is to share information with you that is not readily available.

Which is pretty ridiculous if you think about it – we shouldn’t have to turn to doctors and to the internet to help us make informed choices.

Modern women, for all our accomplishments, have lost the one unique, beautiful ability that is our birthright – knowing how to bring our children into the world with courage, strength, wisdom and compassion. Over the last few years it has become almost unheard of for women to birth naturally.

The medical industry is just that – an industry. Like any business its goal is to retain customers and make money. Don’t kid yourself that your individual wellbeing will be put ahead of the needs of this voracious monster.

There are many facts that doctors won’t tell you. They will not share with you the enormous risks and side effects associated with a medicalised birth. They don’t want you questioning the decisions that they make on your behalf.

Your doctor wants you to check into a hospital on a prearranged date and time so he can appear at your side after the hospital staff have prepped you for surgery. He will then slice into your womb, take out a baby that was not ready to be born, hand you that child, and go to another woman lying on an operating table, waiting her turn.

It’s just good business practice.

Most doctors won’t remember the names of the mothers they’ve operated on that day. They won’t know the name of your child. Most won’t know your story, what it took to conceive, how long you waited, how hard it was to choose a name. Most won’t know about the emotional rollercoaster you endured during your pregnancy, about the fights with your partner or mother, the friends you lost or gained. For them you are simply a customer – a name forgotten until they see your folder again, when you arrive for a check-up, six weeks later.

I have one goal – to share with you the facts about modern childbirth so that you can make informed choices. This information will empower you and place you in control, instead of being pushed around by fears and falsehoods, which is sadly the case for most mothers in our modern world.

I would love to live in a world where all children are birthed with gentleness and deep respect, so their first moments in our world are an experience of joy and wonder.

There are many reasons why I am so passionate about this subject. When I became pregnant, I knew from the start that I would have a non-medicalised, normal birth. However, as I journeyed down this road and learned everything I could about childbirth, I was horrified. I discovered an entire world of practices, information and history about birth that seemed to be deliberately withheld from common knowledge by the medical fraternity.

I believe a revolution in birth practices is overdue and inevitable.

However it won’t stem from a change of heart among doctors, but rather from the not-so-quiet courage of women all over the world who reclaim ownership of their bodies and who demand respect from the caregivers assisting them.

Just as we respect the progress of science, which has provided lifesaving interventions for both mothers and babies, it’s time that science learns to respect women’s ability to birth without interference.

I wish you only magic on your journey into motherhood or, if you are having another child, an even deeper and more rewarding experience. I write these words from my heart, and I have tried to be as honest and real as possible. Which means I will probably swear when I feel strongly about something, which I often do.

But it’s high time we as women claimed all of ourselves, is it not? Claimed our magnificent femininity, our unique strength, our quirky habits, our bad moods, our innate love of dance. . . and yes our foul mouths and love of sweat pants and slippers.

Because when we teach our daughters how to be women and our sons how to love them, we want to show only truth. And truth encompasses all: The poised and the sweaty.

The pain and the love.

We are women. And we are awesome.

F*ck yeah!

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budding AUTHORS

Here at Authors Magazine we celebrate Authors young and old! Our Budding Writers section is a showcase of young talent across the globe. We accept poems and stories from children aged 5-12. To submit, please contact us through our website.

The Unicorn Once upon a time there were two little girls that were wondering in the forest, their names were Chloe and Hannah. As they strolled through the forest , they heard a woosh! They were terribly frightened.

When they crept closer and then they saw some movement in a bush, when they got close enough Chloe moved the bush aside and you will probably never believe this but she saw a UNICORN! They were still in shock of what they saw, which was a baby unicorn curled up in a ball . It was very cute and all, but what will they do with it? They said that they will take it home but their mom and dad can’t know about it.

It was really light to carry since it was a baby so they made it home safely with a baby unicorn, their mom and their dad were watching TV so they quietly crept up stairs with the baby unicorn.

They were thinking what should they feed the poor thing? They tried so many things for example lettuce, cucumber, carrots but one thing she really loved was Hannah’s sweets from school.

They thought that this unicorn needed a name so they named her Spark because she had a tint of sparkles on her. They made a warm little bed for Spark they led her there with Hannah’s sweets , they slept nice and cuddled but they didn’t think about school the next day…what were they going to do with the unicorn? Just then, they heard a noise by the window. It was a Pegasus staring at them! The baby unicorn ran straight to the Pegasus and they knew right then that it was the mother. We watched them fly off peacefully.

Kyla Pechey, Age 11

Happynes Happynes is the colour pink Happynes tastes like cake Happyness smells like flowers Happynes feels like sliding down a slide Mackenzie Delport, Age 9

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ROSA ANNOUNCES

NY TIMES BESTSELLING ROMANCE WRITER MARY-JO PUTNEY AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT ROSACON 2016

28 July 2016 - Bestselling romance writer, Mary Jo Putney will be the guest speaker at the ROSA (Romance Writers of South Africa) Annual Conference (ROSACON 2016) to be held on 24-25 September 2016, in Melrose, Johannesburg. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday bestselling author, Mary-Jo Putney writes novels which include historical and contemporary romance, fantasy, and young adult fantasy. Winner of numerous writing awards, including two RITAs and two Romantic Times Career Achievement awards, she has had books listed among the Library Journal’s top five romances of the year five times, and three times had books among the top ten romances of Booklist, the magazine of the American Library Association.

Romy Sommer, ROSA Chairperson said: “ROSA is delighted to have Mary Jo Putney as our keynote speaker at ROSACON 2016. She’s a multi-award winning, and bestselling novelist of over forty books and counting. Her stories are noted for psychological depth and unusual subject matter such as alcoholism, death and dying, and domestic abuse.”

Mary Jo will present the first ROSA Imbali Award for Excellence, an award that recognises and rewards excellence in romance writing for African writers, at the Conference’s gala dinner.

Other guest speakers include self-publishing expert David Henderson of My eBook, successful indie authors Carlyle Labuschagne and Joanne MacGregor, Erika Bester of Firequill Publishing, editor and writing coach Sarah Bullen, Afrikaans editors Marlies Haupt of Lapa Uitgewers and Carolyn Meads of NB Uitgewers, as well as a host of internationally published authors, including Rae Rivers, Joss Wood and RITA nominated Romy Sommer.

ROSACON 2016 is an invaluable opportunity for both established and aspiring romance novelists, with sessions devoted to the craft of writing, marketing, self-publishing as well as how to research. There will also be an opportunity for delegates to pitch to both publishing houses as well as literary agents, including Loose ID, Boroughs Publishing and Harper Impulse.

More information about the speakers and the conference can be found at: www.romancewriters.co.za.

Contact Details For ROSA Romy Sommer 082 414 7552, romy@romancewriters.co.za Suzanne Jefferies 084 710 4184, suzanne@suzannejefferies.com

About ROSA ROSA (Romance Writers of South Africa) is a non-profit organisation that provides support, encouragement and professional development to romance writers, especially to those writers resident in Southern Africa. ROSA has a number of chapters around the country and an active online community. Website: www.romancewriters.co.za.

About Mary Jo Putney Mary Jo Putney is a hybrid author these days, meaning she writes new romances for her New York publisher, Kensington, but she also is an indie publisher of many of her backlist books, including the Fallen Angels series, the Silk Trilogy, and her contemporary Starting Over trilogy, as well as several stand alone novels and many shorter works.

She has been a ten-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA, she has won RITAs for Dancing on the Wind and The Rake and the Reformer and is on the RWA Honor Roll for bestselling authors. She has also been awarded two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards, four NJRW Golden Leaf awards, plus the NJRW career achievement award for historical romance.

In 2013 she was awarded the Romance Writers of America Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is currently writing the Rogues Redeemed spin-off series of the New York Times bestselling Lost Lords historical romance series. Website: http://maryjoputney.com AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 29

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

AMITYLASSITER

by Melissa Delport

USA Today bestselling author Amity Lassiter loves critters, coffee, and cowboys – and she still believes in unicorns.

Amity has loved telling stories her entire life and even before she could write could be found in her grandmother’s basement, reciting fiction into an ancient cassette recorder. Inspired at a young age by Peter S Beagle, she has always written poetry and fiction, but in recent years her efforts have been concentrated on contemporary western romance fiction. She draws inspiration from her real life and small town childhood, and takes great joy in including realistic and authentic scenes with horses in them to complete the ‘cowboy’ picture.

Her first series, Hearts of Three Rivers, revolves around a group of families in a small ranching town in Colorado and has been described as ‘feel good’ and ‘classically romantic’.

Amity currently lives on a hobby farm in New Brunswick, Canada, with her husband and a small menagerie of animals.

To find out more, please visit her website at www.amitylassiter.com

Excerpt from...

SECONDHAND HEART Finn watched his brother’s back as he disappeared into the horse barn, leaving him alone with Lily and the memory of the kiss they’d shared not twelve hours earlier. She’d been so soft, so willing, and tasted so damn good. It felt strange to want someone, for the first time, since Sunny. And wrong. A double-headed churning of guilt and desire rose up in the pit of his stomach.

Oh, but he wanted Lily. He swung his gaze back to her, all dark brown eyes and sun-streaked hair and curves poured into jeans that fit just right. He knew by day’s end, they’d be a little dirty on the knees because if capturing the right shot meant lying on her belly in the grass, that’s what she’d do. She slipped between the rails of the fence and Encore dropped his head, pressing his forehead against her chest. It was comical, the difference in size between the two of them. Stroking his jaw lightly, she dropped her lips to his poll for a second, then blushed when she realized how closely Finn was watching her.

“Hey, you kept a saddle on him today, that’s a bonus.”

“Yeah, you missed the bronc show.” He glanced at the horse, quiet as a lamb now, his head cradled in her arms. The pair had an undeniable 30 | AUTHORS MAGAZINE

bond, but he had no idea how he was going to make that translate back into the saddle. If nothing else, it would be a much longer endeavor, involving work on both sides, individually, and then together, than he had originally planned. There would be snow on the ground well before they were finished. The idea of being cooped up in his cabin with her during a snowstorm terrified and thrilled him all at once.

“Good,” she said, and he patted himself on the back for the decision to try and avoid her witnessing too many more of the coming sessions.

Sooner or later, he was going to have to try to get into the saddle, and if he made it that far, it would be neither easy nor pretty; it would be tough for her to stomach.

“It’s a start.”

“Good,” she repeated.

He watched her as she continued to dote on the horse, something stirring in him that had been gone for a long time. I should tell her, he thought. Spill his guts about the way he’d hardly been able to sleep last night, thinking about her soft curves under his hands, knowing she was just in the next room over. At the very least, he could tell her he didn’t know what he could offer her, but he wanted to kiss her again. He lost his nerve when she twisted and smiled at him. Not the expectant, eager smile he might have expected, but something a little sadder, a little softer. Something he didn’t deserve.

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 31

Monsoon ISLAND OF THE

For the sultans of Arabia, Zanzibar was a tropical paradise where they could play out their fantasies and make untold fortunes. Justin Fox dons has caftan and steps into the pages of Empires of the Monsoon.

Some years ago, I was involved in writing the script for a documentary series on the history of the East African coast. I spent three months in Wits University library devouring the narratives of trade, slavery, gold and spices. One book in particular captured my imagination and gave the best take on the complicated history of that corner of the continent.

Empires of the Monsoon, by Richard Hall, charts the history of the Indian Ocean, the people who have lived around its shores, and those who’ve

32 | AUTHORS MAGAZINE

conquered it. Hall’s story is one of war, betrayal and colonial ambition. This is popular history told with the gift of a born storyteller.

I recently returned to Zanzibar, an island central to Hall’s narrative and to the history of East Africa. His accounts of the slaves, sultans and spices of this island make for compelling reading. As I was visiting the island as a guest of Andgo.com, it was perfectly appropriate that I be given the full sultan treatment.

Who wouldn’t choose a lush island over the hot, desert wastes of Arabia?

Such was the thinking of many sultans, but Hall describes how one of them took this a step further. After years of futile struggle for dominance in Oman, Sultan Seyyid Said decided to shift his capital to Zanzibar in 1840. It was a brave move, but an inspired one.

Immediately, his fortunes changed.

Said’s control of the regional slave and ivory trade brought him great wealth.

He instituted the large-scale cultivation

of spices, especially cloves, which were an important meat preservative in Europe before the advent of refrigeration. Zanzibar rose in fame, power and prestige and, for the wealthy patrician families, became an island of plenty.

Today’s visitor can experience something of that plenty, even if it’s only for a few, packaged days. And that was exactly my intention, I mused, as our flight descended towards the island. Through the porthole, Zanzibar looked like an emerald set in a quilt of turquoise, flecked with the white sails of dhows. Perhaps I, too, could give up my flat in Cape Town and acquire a little island such as this?

Our first destination was Azanzi, a beach hotel that was all wooden decks, makuti (palm-frond) roofs and hammocks set on a sweep of beach with ngalawas (outrigger canoes) drawn up on the sand. It was easy to get into the sultan’s groove with days of lounging by the pool sipping freshly-squeezed tropical juices and rereading Hall’s gripping tale.

Even more reminiscent of Omani

heritage is Sea Cliff, our next port of call. The design of this resort, with its airy white towers, was inspired

by Arabian wind catchers. The food, too, was a reminder of cultural ties that have, for centuries, bound Indian Ocean communities together in the vast trading networks so well described

by Hall. There were curries from India, local cassava-coconut dishes, peri-peri from Mozambique, date dishes and halva from Arabia, romazava stew from Madagascar.

We finished our journey at Zanzibar Serena Hotel, which occupies a prominent position on Stone Town’s waterfront. Reminiscent of a sultan’s palace, it offered gracious, old-world hospitality, with dark-wood interiors, vintage ceiling fans, antique furniture and waiters all got up in colonial whites.

We wandered the narrow lanes of Stone Town, bargaining for fabrics, exploring the 18th-century Omani fort, sultan’s Palace of Wonders and slave market. In a shop selling spices, we saw the legacy of the sultans’ plantations in packets of cloves, cardamom, turmeric and cinnamon. Little boys in white kanzus

walked to Koranic schools; the call to prayer echoed from the town’s spindly minarets. It’s here that the presence of the Omanis is most apparent. Their language, religion, architecture, food and crafts had mixed and mingled with African traditions to forge the Swahili world of which Stone Town is a golden example.

In the evenings, we sat on Serena’s deck, G&Ts in hand, watching the coming and going of the dhows, their graceful lateen sails filled by the monsoon wind. The sultans of Arabia had come to Africa on this steady and reliable wind, and the winds of time had blown them home again. I was never going to properly get the hang of the sultan thing … but this was near enough, I thought. Just then, a dhow crossed the scarlet disk of the sun as it kissed the horizon.

Justin Fox was hosted by andgo.com, a tour operator specialising in local, African and Thailand travel.

Tel 021-556-5884, email info@andgo.com, web www.andgo.com.

AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 33

Reads recommended

Title: Truly Madly Guilty Author: Liane Moriarty Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Title: The Black Widow Author: Daniel Silva Thriller and Suspense

In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty turns her unique, razorsharp eye towards three seemingly happy families.

Bestselling author Daniel Silva delivers another spellbinding international thriller—one that finds the legendary Gabriel Allon grappling with an ISIS mastermind.

Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there’s anything they can count on, it’s each other.

Clementine and Erika are each other’s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don’t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid’s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.

Two months later, it won’t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can’t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn’t gone?

In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.

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Gabriel Allon, the art restorer, spy, and assassin described as the most compelling fictional creation “since Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond” (Rocky Mountain News), is poised to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again.

Acclaimed novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled, entertained and educated readers with eighteen thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring a diverse cast of compelling characters and ingenious plots that have taken them around the globe and back—from the United States to Europe, Russia to the Middle East. From its shocking opening to its explosive denouement in Washington, D.C., The Black Widow reveals itself as Silva’s most timely and powerful novel yet. Following the success of his smash hit The English Spy, this electrifying thriller showcases Silva’s consummate skill and brilliant imagination, and is sure to be a must read for his multitude of current and future fans

Title: It Ends With Us Author: Colleen Hoover Contemporary Women’s Fiction The newest, highly anticipated novel from beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author, Colleen Hoover.

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant.

He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt.

Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

Title: The Underground Railroad Author: Colson Whitehead Literary Fiction Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hellish for all the slaves, but Cora is an outcast even among her fellow Africans, and she is coming into womanhood; even greater pain awaits. Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, and they plot their escape. Matters do not go as planned Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her - but they manage to find a station and head north.

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is not a metaphor - a secret network of tracks and tunnels has been built beneath the Southern soil.

Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, where both find work in a city that at first seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens - and Ridgeway, the relentless slavecatcher sent to find her, arrives in town. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing journey, state-bystate, seeking true freedom.

Like Gulliver, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey - Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in states in the pre-Civil War era. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage, and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

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DIANECHAMBERLAIN NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR

Photography © John Pagliuca 2013