DRAGONS Launch book for SA’s budding and seasoned entrepreneurs
Stephen King
AN INDUSTRY ALL ON HIS OWN Don’t tell my parents...
I WANT TO BE A
WRITER
Gareth Crocker
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR & INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKER AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 1
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Contents
COVER FEATURE
06
GARETH CROCKER Best selling author & international filmmaker
ARTICLES
PUBLISHER Lesiba Morallane ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Sardia Mustapher MANAGING EDITOR Shalate Davhana EDITOR Marion Marchand ASSISTANT EDITOR Joan Hack ADVERTISING COMMUNICATION Dineo Mahloele LAYOUT AND DESIGN Apple Pie Graphics Tel: 079 885 4494 CONTRIBUTORS Melissa Delport Noxolo Chalale Monique Snyman Dave de Burgh Justin Fox Nerine Dorman Ian Tennent
14 16 22 24 26 30 34 44
A BOOKSELLERS ADVICE Selling your book into Exclusive Books I’M IN Dragons launch book for SA’s budding entrepreneurs DON’T TELL MY PARENTS BUT I WANT TO BE A WRITER 9 TROPES TO BIND THEM ALL JOAN DE LA HAYE Horror Author STEPHEN KING ALLOW ME TO WEEP FOR MY SON FROM INDIE TO PUBLISHED: Part 3 My self-publishing experience
REGULARS A Message from the Editor.........................................................04 On the Couch with... Tumi ‘Miza’ Modibedi........................................................................29 International Focus Author David P Permutter..............................................................33 Justin Fox A City built of Words.........................................................................36 Life According to Nox....................................................................38 Recommended Reads...................................................................42 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
ditor
A message from the
Make that ribbon the symbol of
YOUR OWN SUCCESS! Survival is Success. I came across this phrase recently when I met Trevor, one of few young South Africans who have made great strides in designing artwork clothing ranges. It is his tagline and is branded on every item of clothing he designs. Trevor is an exceptional person. He is also wheelchair-bound. His zest for life is far beyond many ‘abled’ people I know. I am not sure what he has survived, as I couldn’t bring myself to ask him such a personal question, but his passion for life suggests that he is grateful to be where he is. We all have our own measure of success. Very often it is measured way beyond survival. Who wants to merely survive when they could enjoy all the pleasures that the world has to offer? Try putting that version of success to someone who has gone through a life-threatening situation, such as cancer. To them success assumes a totally different meaning. Andrea Nugent, an American author and a public speaker, underwent 18 rounds of chemotherapy, a bi-lateral mastectomy with hours of reconstructive surgery, five weeks of daily radiation, and countless other treatments after she was first diagonised with breast cancer six years ago. She has since successfully written two books entitled “Mommy is Still Mommy: Cancer Can’t Change That”! and “The Road to Prosperity: Let Your Passion Lead the Way”. She is quoted as saying: “Cancer is by far one of the worst things that could have happened to me. However, it caused me to truly change my life and reconsider the things that are truly important to me”. She uses her experience to help others to live beyond obstacles. Andrea also publicly advocates for early detection.
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Wendy Nielsens , a writer of a breast cancer advocacy blog, spends her time doing research on and supporting young women dealing with the disease. Her tagline is “Writing a New Story”. She says that it is a reminder that: “Even if life isn’t what you set out for it to be, you can always add a new chapter”. According to the local online health and lifestyle journal, South Africa and the USA top the charts when it comes to breast cancer diagnosis. In South Africa 1 out of 29 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer while in American women have a 12% chance (1 in 8) of developing breast cancer. (www.creatinghealth.co.za) The truth is, not all of us will be diagonised with breast cancer or know someone who has. But we form part of the society that is terrorised by this disease. Besides that, as individuals, we have all come across life-changing obstacles. What determines our success is the extent to which we allow them to kill our surviving spirit! As we put on the pink ribbon this month, let it symbolise every challenge we have survived.
Shalate Davhana
AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 5
COVER FEATURE
Gareth C
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, INTERNATIONA
and yet he can’t keep his
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When I first started researching Gareth Crocker for this interview, it struck me that I might need a little extra magazine space to encompass everything this man has achieved. To that end, I offer my sincere apologies to all the advertisers who were rudely snubbed in favour of my fifteen minutes of fame in interviewing the legend that is Gareth Crocker. Let’s start at the very beginning… Gareth’s career took off in 2008 when his debut novel, Leaving Jack was published in London. After selling out in the UK, it was later published in New York and renamed, Finding Jack, where it went on to achieve international acclaim. That same day, it snowed in Johannesburg for the first time in 20 years. Gareth Crocker takes no responsibility for that fact. Despite the blizzard, Finding Jack went on to sell over a million copies. It was translated into several languages and featured in nine volumes of Reader’s Digest Select Editions. It was recorded into an audio
book and film rights were sold on no fewer than three occasions. Following this international success, Gareth was then offered a four-book deal by Penguin Random House. Finding Jack was followed by Journey from Darkness (2012), Never Let Go (2013), King (2014), and The Last Road Trip (2015). Gareth’s latest novel, Ka-boom! is his first foray into writing non-fiction. Set for release this month, Ka-boom! is a comedy-based “communal” biography, based on Gareth’s own experiences. It’s a story for men and boys about never coming of age, and for the women who want to know why. That’s pretty much all of us... women, that is. South Africa is also waiting for the highly anticipated ‘Jongo’ – Africa’s first super-hero television series, written and co-directed by none other than Mr Crocker himself.
Crocker
AL FILMMAKER …
is swimming pool blue
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Let’s start with the man behind it all. Who is Gareth Crocker when he’s not writing books, making movies or generally over-achieving in every sphere of his professional life? Oh you are far too kind. I’m nothing special. I have a list of failures as long as a giraffe’s neck. I’m just a regular bloke whose swimming pool has been green for the past 11 years. Sell a best-selling book? Sure. Make a superhero TV show? Pfff … no problemo muchacho. Get my pool blue? Forget it. So what do I do when I’m not writing or filming? I’m spending time with my wife and two beautiful daughters, playing football … and tossing a witch’s brew of chemicals into my pool. Rumour has it that you were a professional footballer for a time? Very, very briefly. I turned out a couple times for a few pro clubs, but was never quite good enough to crack it full-time. I discovered I had the heart of Ronaldo, but the feet of Gareth Crocker. However, I now turn out for the mighty Rhodes Old Boys football club. Our league’s a mish-mash of accountants, journalists, authors, marketers, CEOs and dentists. Although some sides clearly seem to have a superior recruitment strategy to us. One team in particular boasts two former Springboks who have both won the World Cup. Not that this affords them any special favours. They get kicked to pieces just like the rest of us. Quite recently I fulfilled a lifelong ambition by scoring a bicycle kick. It only took me 30 years to get it right. There’s another rumour that you once ran 100 kilometres? True. South African readers will know at once what race this is: the mighty Comrades Marathon. It’s normally ‘only’ 90 kilometres, but my wife added
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another 10 kilometres on top of that when she contrived to forget where she parked our rental car and I had to walk around a cricket stadium for two hours on bleeding feet. Damn that Devil woman.
Your publishing story is legendary – fuel for the fire of aspiring South African authors who follow your success and dream of international acclaim. How did your international publishing deal come about?
You started your writing career as a journalist, but left to join a top PR and publishing firm, before becoming a spokesperson for a major company. What brought you back to writing?
Well, I may fall short in many departments, but the one thing I’m pretty good at is to keep going when most people would turn away. Those first three books must have been rejected by more than 500 publishers and agents. Each time I received a rejection note, I would take on board the criticism and try to improve. Eventually – and I’m talking years here – the rejection notes became less scathing. And then, by the time I had written Leaving Jack I decided that I should climb on a plane and try to physically connect with a British agent. After walking London flat and dropping off my manuscript with dozens of agents, I was met with a glorious stroke of good fortune. I dropped my manuscript into one particular agent’s ‘manuscript bin’ which she kept on the patio outside her office (with strict instructions for writers not to knock on the door!). She was out at the time, but when she returned from a meeting later that day she discovered that she had lost her keys and had no choice but to wait for a locksmith. And while she waited, she dipped her hand into the manuscript bin and fished out Leaving Jack. She called me that night and the following day we met and she became my agent. The funny thing is that it would normally have taken her about 3 months just to get to my book (top agents can receive a thousand manuscripts a month). My first international publishing deal was signed a year later.
I never stopped writing. This is what my daily schedule used to look like: - Wake up at 04h30. - Go for a wobble around the suburbs. - Get the rats to school. - Drive to day job. Talk to media about how fantastic my employer is. - Come home. Spend three hours goofing around with rats. - At 10pm, settle down to begin writing. - Cry a lot. Delete what you wrote the previous night. - Go to bed at around 02h00. Or don’t go to bed at all. Fortunately these days I’m now able to divide my time between filming and writing. Which, I know, is a wonderful privilege. Finding Jack was your breakout novel. Was it the first book you ever wrote? Hell no. I wrote three horror novels: Malevolence, In the Eyes of a Child and The Midnight Hour. I can’t begin to tell you how appalling they were. Basically, I just vomited up every b-grade horror film I had ever seen and cobbled them into three novels. I found one of the old manuscripts the other day and could barely make it through a single page. Death by clichés!
Your book, Never Let Go, is currently doing the rounds in Hollywood. Is it
FUN FACTS:
true that Morgan Freeman read the script? Any possibility of a movie in the near future?
Wine or whiskey? Strawberry milkshake.
Um … I’m not supposed to say anything, but … yes. He’s considering potential involvement in the film. I’m a massive fan of his. There’s a fair chance that Never Let Go will hit the big screen. But don’t believe a thing until you see it playing in a cinema. Hollyweird is a fickle, fickle place.
How many animals do you own? Three dogs. Four cats. And a parliament of owls in the tree next to my writing studio.
They say that life imitates art, but I think in our creative field the reverse is often true. Do you draw on your own personal experiences as material for your fictional works?
Most defining moment of your career to date? Hmmm. Maybe breaking a record with Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (today known as Select Editions). My novels have appeared in around 20 of their volumes worldwide which, I’m told, is the most by a South African author.
Do you have a middle name? James. What are you afraid of? What? Novelists aren’t afraid of anything. Except the usual stuff: zombie clowns and comedic royalty payments. If you could be any superhero, who would you be? Why … Jongo, of course.
Oh absolutely. Particularly when it comes to the dark art of creating characters. Let’s talk about the new book, Kaboom!. Why the shift towards nonfiction? Firstly – and just to be clear – I’ll be returning to fiction shortly, but I wanted to have a go at non-fiction for a couple reasons. One, I love writing comedic essays and columns. And two, I wanted to write a book that is just pure fun for men and boys (and women!) and that will appeal to both readers and nonreaders alike. I’ve always felt that we need to have more ‘simple’ books in the market. Basic and straight-forward storytelling that appeals to people who either don’t read books at all or maybe only manage to get through one or two books a year. In other words, the sort of guy who’ll read a car or fitness magazine but baulk at a book. So many people try to read books, but give up because the material is too slow, boring or complex. We could grow our reader base substantially if we offered books that are simple to absorb. It’s something James Patterson realised to
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his advantage years ago. Which of your books is your personal favourite, and why? Oh go away. Ha ha! Okay, moving swiftly forward! Let’s talk about film-making. From what I’ve read, Jongo isn’t your first ‘rodeo’. You’ve made a film before... can you tell us about it? Several years ago, I made a horror film with a few friends. It was called Taken and told the story of a young couple who are abducted in their sleep and thrust into a basement and series of underground tunnels. It was terrific fun. My two partners and I financed the film and did virtually everything ourselves. I wrote the script, coproduced and co-directed the film. If you’re unlucky enough, you can still catch it on television these days. The film has a remarkably realistic feel to it, but that’s probably because we actually abducted two people in their sleep and thrust them into a basement and series of underground tunnels. There is an outside chance it’s not the worst film ever made. Though I wouldn’t bet on it. Not that I would ever bet against you, but I have to ask. After making one movie, what possessed you to take on such an ambitious project as Jongo? It’s a great question. But in truth, we haven’t only made one film. I’ve been working with an existing production company for years and we’ve produced a number of projects together. Having said that, putting a show like Jongo together is massively ambitious. Time will tell if we fall on our faces, but for now things are looking good. We’ve
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sold the show to primetime television in South Africa and should have it running throughout Africa and abroad by the middle of 2016. We hope viewers are going to love it as much as we do. It’s a gruelling writing, shooting and editing schedule but we’re giving it everything we’ve got and are spending millions on the production. In terms of our company’s resources, we’re pretty much ‘all in’. If this fails, I’m coming to live in your garden, MD. I have a tent. Jongo is Africa’s first Superhero television show. Personally, I’m super excited about it, given that I’m a huge fan of superhero shows. Arrow and The Flash are two of my favourites! What sets Jongo apart? A few things. One, it’s an African superhero show set largely in South Africa. So you’re going to see the likes of Joburg the way you’ve never seen it before. Also – and unlike so many South African productions – Jongo is not a patronising show for its local audience and will hopefully inspire young people to lead better lives. Our cameras and filming equipment is world-class and we shoot on a number of spectacular locations. We also want to the show to promote Africa – and to not kick it in its teeth (which so many shows do). Also, while it’s certainly a superhero show, Jongo is largely a comedy-drama at heart and will have something in it for everyone in the family. We’ve unearthed some real stars. When can we expect it to hit our screens here in SA? Between April and August, 2016 on etv. It will also appear on some of the DStv pay channels. But our priority
was on creating a show that would be freely accessible to viewers across the continent. Your professional achievements are nothing short of incredible. What is your greatest personal achievement? My daughters. We had to fight like hell to get both of them. Our eldest is adopted and our youngest only came into our lives because my wife’s a mad ninja warrior who refused to let several miscarriages get the best of her. Family is everything. As you well know! What advice would you give aspiring writers? Be born to a parent who owns a publishing conglomerate. Failing that, try and find out from neutral sources (not your family and friends) if you have any talent. If you do, push like hell and don’t give up. Persistence is everything in this game. Also, stay humble and be willing to learn from others who know better than you. There is no ‘finish line’ in this game. Write. Sacrifice. Never give up. Stay humble. Try not to cry too much. Develop alligator skin. I have to ask... is there anything you CAN’T do? Er … I’m pretty terrible at just about everything. Pools, DIY, accounting, I got an H for maths in Matric, etc, etc, etc. Gareth currently resides in Johannesburg, South Africa, with his wife and two daughters. You can find more information about Gareth and his books at Garethcrocker.com, or look him up on Facebook or Twitter.
Gareth’BOOKS: s Gareth has published half a dozen novels, made a horror film, run a 90 kilometre race in which he bled through his shoes, successfully failed to play right wing for Manchester United, attempted the Olympics at 38, wrestled a ghost, been the spokesperson for a company whose head office exploded, been run over by a Honda, survived two almost plane crashes and is currently filming a superhero TV show.
And yet Gareth’s story is also your story. It’s about the small moments and the big events that make up a life. About the few victories and the many defeats, the adventures and the calamities. The missteps and the madness. From his bumbling days at school, to fumbled encounters with girlfriends and disasters on the sports field and in the office … this is a story for boys and men everywhere. And for women, of course, because contained within these pages are vital clues as to what makes the male mind tick (apart from boobs, obviously). Prepare to laugh a very, very lot.
The Last Road Trip Following the death of a man they barely knew, five friends decide to make the most of what’s left of their lives. Abandoning the humdrum routine of life at their retirement estate, they embark on a thousand-mile road trip that will take them from the furthest corner of the Kruger Park to the blazing stars of Sutherland for the biggest adventure of their lives and one last hurrah together. Along the way, they rediscover things about themselves that they thought had long since been lost. Above all, they discover that it’s never too late to start living. The end of your life doesn’t have to mean the end of your story.
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King Elijah Rolene is a lost man. Following the death of his wife, he quits his job as a police pilot and turns to prescription painkillers for comfort. Not content to watch him destroy his life, his veterinarian sister convinces him to help out at her animal shelter. Soon, they rescue a rare white lion cub from the heart of Detroit’s gangland. The lion is brought to live with them and instantly connects with Elijah’s autistic niece, Harper. As Harper is brought out of her shell, so Elijah begins to heal as well. But something happens that puts their family at risk and threatens to tear their world apart. Elijah is faced with a question that will define the rest of his life: How far would you go if you had nothing left to lose?
Never Let Go As he presses a revolver to his head, Reece Cole sees his young daughter’s handprints on the windowpane. One last, painful reminder of her all too short life. But then he notices something about the handprints that defies belief. Something that verges on the impossible. He spends the next few days frantically trying to make sense of what is happening. Then a stranger arrives at his gate with a small grey envelope. Inside is a single white card, inscribed with six breathtaking words: I can bring your daughter back. If she died … What if you could get her back?
Journey From Darkness Escaping an England crippled by the Great War, twin brothers Edward and Derek Hughes head to South Africa where, soon after their arrival, they discover a rare Desert Elephant – an animal believed by many to be a myth. Following an ancient ghost trail to Bechuanaland, they find that the enormous matriarch is not alone. She is being pursued by relentless shadows, a black light that will stop at nothing to bring her down. To save her, the brothers must journey into the darkness. A darkness, as it turns out, born of the terrible war they left behind. An ancient elephant. A land of killers. One chance.
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Finding Jack After losing his wife and daughter in a plane crash, US journalist, Fletcher Carson, joins the flagging war effort in Vietnam where he hopes to die. However, during one of his early missions he rescues a critically wounded Labrador and helps nurse him back to life. Fletcher names the dog Jack and as the bond deepens between them, he slowly regains his will to live. After several successful operations together they return to base one day and discover that a ceasefire has been declared, officially bringing an end to the war. But it is soon followed by devastating news. As the soldiers celebrate an end to the madness, the government announces that due to the cost of the withdrawal, all remaining US dogs serving in the war have been declared ‘surplus military equipment’ and will not be transported home. For the hundreds of dog handlers throughout Vietnam, whose dogs had saved countless lives, the news is greeted with shock and disbelief. For Fletcher, he knows that if he abandons Jack, then he too will be lost. When the war ends, how do you leave your best friend behind?
Jongo: Africa’s First Superhero TV Show From the pen of Gareth Crocker comes “the world’s first mainstream Africanbased superhero” in a new television show – Jongo. Set largely in modern day Johannesburg – the New York of Africa – Jongo (Season 1) tells the story of a young man, Eli King, who acquires an array of supernatural abilities after an alien crystal is found in a cave at the Cradle of Humankind. The stone is left to him by his father, an enslaved miner who is murdered shortly after escaping from the cave. As Eli tries to deal with the death of his father and sets out to find the men responsible, he must also grapple with the powers of the crystal and how they will indelibly alter the course of his life. What Eli doesn’t know is that the men he is hunting have crystals of their own and need Eli’s stone to fulfil an ancient and devastating prophecy which will threaten the lives of millions. And caught up in the middle of everything is Maya, the love of Eli’s life. Delving deeply into universal themes, Jongo will appeal to families across the globe. The title character, Eli King, is played by one of the world’s top hip-hop dancers and his dancing features prominently in the series.
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ARTICLE
Advice
A Bookseller’s South Africa’s book market is a strange, temperamental beast at the best of times, yet it also offers opportunities for those writers who know their stuff and would like to begin making money from their writing. One of those opportunities is Exclusive Books. If you know how to go about it and what to do, you –being the writer who has just finished writing a book, or the writer who has written a couple of books and hasn’t submitted them to any publisher- can get your book(s) into Exclusive Books, onto their shelves, and hopefully onto the shelves of browsers who have bought your book. This article will explain what you need to know to do that. First off, when you query EB for information on how to go about selling your book(s), this is the answer you will usually get: “Thank you for considering Exclusive Books as a prospective seller of your book/s. Please note that due to the
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SELLING YOUR BOOK INTO
EXCLUSIVE BOOKS by Dave de Burgh
sheer volume of books published every year, and the dramatic increase in selfpublished books, we are not able to deal directly with each author or small vendor. If you have published your own book, or a small publisher with less than 10 books in your catalogue, please contact the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) for a list of registered vendors who sell to the trade. If you are small publisher with more than 10 books in your catalogue, please do send us your catalogue with trade terms and prices.” What does this mean? Well, a couple of things:
Self-published authors need to browse over to publishsa.co.za (PASA’s website) and give the site a thorough readthrough. Not only will it give you an idea of how publishing in works in South Africa but you’ll also realize that there’s a lot you need to do to a) get your book published and b) get it onto shelves so that it sells. **Check out the section, How to get Published (written by Basil Van Rooyen), and you’ll get a quick course on publishing, such as the fact that you don’t need an agent (South Africa’s book industry doesn’t make use of or include the services of an agent, except
if the writer already has an agent; that changes things) and that you can submit directly to a publisher (if this is stated in their Submission Guidelines) through the commissioning editor, among many other points. Now, if you’ve gone the route of submitting your book to a publisher and it’s been published, the process is a bit different. If your publisher has a list of more than ten books on their list, then things become much easier for you. Why? Well, there’s a good chance that your publisher already has a couple of books which they sell into Exclusive Books – meaning that your publisher either sells directly into EB or via a distributor. **To note regarding distributors: these companies are very probably publishers and distributors, and if they agree to add your book to their list, you will be charged for that. It is a service which they offer – just so you aren’t surprised. You will have to sign a contract, and that contract will include terms and conditions. My publisher, Fox and Raven Publishing, had to sign a contract with a distributor / publisher who was already selling into Exclusive Books through its representatives – that’s how my novel got into Exclusive Books. Now, let me take you back to the piece above detailing Exclusive Books’ response to your query – right at the end it is stated: “-please do send us your catalogue with trade terms and prices.” Ignore that. I saw your eyes goggle (not google); yes, I said ignore that. Why? Well, here’s the second part of info you’ll get from Exclusive Books: Good day, Thank you for your query. Please note
that the book buying at Exclusive Books is done by our store managers and not centrally. Store managers can only be approached by distributors registered with Exclusive Books. We currently have a moratorium on new distributors and therefore suggest that you contact Bacchus Books, Blue Weaver, Faradawn, PSD, Phambili, Porcupine Press, Xavier Nagel or Feather Communications, who are all registered distributors. Each distributor has its own trading terms and will be able to advise you on the process of selling your book to Exclusive Books and other book retailers. Their updated contact details are on each distributor’s website. For general information on the South African publishing industry you can consult Basil van Rooyen’s Get Your Book Published in South Africa, The Publishers’ Association of South Africa (www.publishsa.co.za), or Get Your Book Published (www.getyourbookpublished. co.za). Many thanks, Exclusive Books Product Department So, there you have it – remember, folks, Exclusive Books is a business and cannot just accept any kind of book. The store managers have a vast breadth of knowledge when it comes to the South African book trade and book-knowledge, most if not all of them having started in the industry as book sellers. This means that, even should your publisher / distributor be able to present your book to a store manager, there is still the chance that the manager will decide to pass on your book. One thing to remember about books is that one book will sell well in a store in Jo’burg, for instance, and not sell at all in a store in Pretoria. Every Exclusive Books store is situated in a specific ‘market’
and caters to the cultural groups in that market. For instance, Jo’burg stores will probably have less Afrikaans books on their shelves than stores in Pretoria, simply because there are more English speakers in Jo’burg and more Afrikaans speakers in Pretoria. You need to take that into consideration when approaching a publisher / distributor in wanting to make sure that your book sells into Exclusive Books – do some research on the stores that will probably sell your book better (perhaps even visit those stores), and pass that on to your publisher / distributor. In fact, you should have done plenty of research by this point: how do books that will sell in the same genre / category as your book sell? Are there books / authors that you should consider as competition? How will you approach the marketing of your book? This last question is incredibly important to consider, because it’s not the job of a book store to market your book – a book store sells your book. You need to market your book – you need to get the word out there about it. Getting your book published, and then getting it into stores, is the beginning. You, my friends, have to push yourselves to continue on that journey. So, folks, one last thing: getting your book into Exclusive Books is something you should definitely pursue. Your book will then have a much better chance of getting into the hands of more readers, instead of the limited audience you might have selling from your Facebook page or website. Do your research and you can enjoy a very profitable relationship with South Africa’s biggest book-focused retailer. Good luck!
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I’m In AND FOR ALL THESE REASONS...
Being an entrepreneur can be scary, it can be frustrating, the hours can seem never-ending, the stress can be overwhelming, the sacrifices can be huge, and many times you will ask yourself: “What was I thinking?”
Gil Oved, Lebo Gunguluza, Polo Leteka, Vinny Lingham and Vusi Thembekwayo, all of them entrepreneurs, took on the role of the dragons in the first South African season of the hugely popular television reality show Dragons’ Den. Following the show, the dragons realised the need for a book that would assist entrepreneurs on their road to running and growing their startups.
Dragons launch book for SA’s Budding and Seasoned Entrepreneurs 16 | AUTHORS MAGAZINE
Sponsored by Telkom, the book includes topics on sources of funding, networking, the art of negotiating, company culture, systems and processes and the importance of business planning. The book includes QR codes which link to videos recorded by the dragons themselves. In celebration of their achievements, Author’s Magazine would like to introduce you to these five extraordinary people:
n
“Successful small and medium businesses are what South Africa needs to make the economy grow, create decent jobs and encourage the kind of innovation we know our country and its people are capable of,” says Sipho Maseko, CEO, Telkom SA Ltd.
Gil Oved Serial entrepreneur Gil Oved believes the day he can define his business is the day he will be out of business. Gil co-founded The Creative Counsel (TCC), and is the group co-CEO. His chutzpah and business acumen have been instrumental in growing TCC into South Africa’s largest communication and advertising group by billings and staff complement. The past two decades have seen Gil either purchase or start over a dozen companies, spanning digital, brand activations, production and field marketing services. At fifteen years old Gil seemed set for a career in acting. He had already starred in a TV series and presented a youth show. His entrepreneurial spirit and desire to work in a creative medium were the focuses behind his first business ventures, TV production companies GO and Jewazi Productions. For his next venture, he joined forces with childhood friend Ran Neu-Ner. Together they started an ill-fated online stock-broking portal that was a casualty of the dotcom-bust.
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/gil.oved TWITTER: @gil_oved LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/pub/gil-oved/3/910/892 COMPANY WEBSITE: www.creativecounsel.co.za
Whilst enduring the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship, Gil read for two business degrees, graduating with a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) degree and a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) degree cum laude. ‘Bite off more than you can chew… and then chew like crazy,’ is one of Gil’s mantras. Together with his business partner Ran Neu-Ner they did just that in August 2001, when TCC was born out of an idea, one telephone, two chairs and a telephone directory. In fourteen years, TCC has grown into the largest communications and advertising group in South Africa, with an annual turnover of over R600 million, and employing over 1 000 full-time and up to 15 000 part-time staff.
Networking is a passion for Gil and he believes solid relationships in business open doors to many opportunities. He is the Johannesburg chapter chair for the global Young Presidents’ Organisation as well as the Africa regional forum officer. TCC is a first time employer of thousands of people around South Africa in townships, peri-urban and rural areas. These are mainly people who are otherwise unemployed and ‘unemployable’ because of lack of experience and education. TCC sources and upskills such people, giving them employment, a salary, dignity and hope. In addition, due to the nature of the business, Gil has been able to identify many an entrepreneur around the country, mentor them and help set up their businesses to function as agencies that source, place and manage promotions all over the country on their behalf. Gil, an astute businessman, also has style and pizzazz. He was GQ’s Best Dressed Man for 2014. Together with Ran, he has a few accolades under his belt. The duo was awarded the 2013 Absa Unlisted Company Award for business excellence and entrepreneurship and was named in Destiny magazine’s Top 40 under 40 Men in South Africa. In 2014 they won the CNBC All Africa Business Leader Awards (AABLA) Young Business Leader of the Year 2014 – Southern Africa, and also scooped the same award for the whole continent. The AABLA awards honour business leaders who are making a difference through innovation and inspiration in their industry.
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Lebo Gunguluza Port Elizabeth-born Lebo Gunguluza can be summed up in three phrases – entrepreneur, turnaround strategist and motivational speaker. Lebo has made and lost his fortunes in the past, but he is now one of South Africa’s most successful businessmen. He is no stranger to hardships. His father passed away when he was young and his mother, who was a nurse, raised him. Lebo was always committed to his education and attained his Bachelor of Commerce degree at night whilst working in a clothes retail outlet in the day. He started his career at the SABC, where he was responsible for selling advertising space on black radio stations and later worked at Metro FM. ‘I had grown up so deprived that I was determined to make a lot of money and never experience poverty again,’ says Lebo. ‘I set three goals: to become a millionaire by age 25, a multimillionaire by 35 and a billionaire by 45.’ At the age of 27 Lebo became one of South Africa’s youngest self-made black millionaires, without any funding or government tenders.
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/lebo.gunguluza TWITTER: @LeboGunguluza LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/lebo-gunguluza/14/A54/87B COMPANY WEBSITE: www.gemgroup.co.za
His first business was Gunguluza Entertainment, an event-based company which organised club nights and launch parties for corporate companies. From there he branched out into talent management. Corporate Fusion was soon to follow, a business which operated in publishing, media, communications and events, and he soon grew that business to an annual turnover of R14 million per year. A failed event for a big financial client resulted in Corporate Fusion losing clients worth a total of R7 million in three weeks. Lebo found himself R4 million in debt and his newly formed Gunguluza Enterprises and Media Group (GEM Group) closed down.
But he picked up the pieces and was determined to pay off his debt. Lebo and his then-wife acquired a Primi Piatti franchise, which they successfully promoted, and it became a huge success. During this time he started rebuilding the GEM Group. Lebo’s reformed GEM Group was showing consistent growth by restructuring and refocusing the company after he identified media, hospitality, technology and property as the sectors he wanted to be involved in. Through hard work, dedication and wise investment, Lebo rebuilt his company to be a multimillion rand business with more than twelve print publications, and with stakes in numerous hotels. In addition, he diversified into architectural design and construction, and he is also involved in executive travel and transportation, events, manufacturing, and mobile technologies. Lebo joined the professional speaking circuit in August 2011 where his life experience of overcoming tremendous odds to succeed sounded a chord with audiences. By December 2011 he was chosen, by a leading speaker bureau, as one of the top three new motivational speakers for that year in South Africa. He is one of the key founders and President of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum (SABEF), a non-profit company that helps to promote, inspire and grow entrepreneurship in the black communities. SABEF strongly believes that entrepreneurship is a conduit to poverty alleviation, job creation and economic growth in South Africa. As part of his vision to empower young entrepreneurs, on 12 December 2012 Lebo launched his mentorship programme 12-1212, where he committed to recruiting 12 entrepreneurs, over 12 months, to start 12 enterprises. Lebo has been honoured with the Africa Heritage Youth Entrepreneur Award for his dedication and contribution to South African society.
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Polo Leteka Polo Leteka started her entrepreneurial journey selling sweets and snacks at high school to make extra pocket money. While this was not seen as an entrepreneurial activity at the time, it taught her the importance of tracking customer preferences and stocking their favourites, rather than her own. A few years later, while on a business trip in the little town of Ladybrand, Polo stayed at a quaint bed and breakfast. She fell in love with the ambience and the concept and decided that she, too, would own a similar establishment. From the outside it looked lucrative, unique and exciting, so while working full time in Pretoria Polo started her own B&B in Mafikeng. This business was run primarily by her mother and cousin during the week and she would make a 300-kilometre trip twice a month to check on the business. This venture was doomed to fail because, as a lifestyle business, a B&B requires the personal touch of the owner at all times to make it work. The market was there but the operational model was wrong.
TWITTER: @PoloLeteka LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/polo-radebe/12/772/3a6 COMPANY WEBSITES: www.idf.co.za and www.identitypartners.co.za
The key lessons Polo learnt were that no matter how much you love your family, they don’t necessarily share your vision and being family doesn’t qualify them to run your business. It is critical to employ the right people with the requisite skills and expertise and to pay them the right salary in order to make your venture a success. Polo took a break and managed a few private properties that she owned whilst planning her next business venture. Towards the end of 2007 and early 2008, Polo and her business partner, Sonja Sebotsa, together with other associates, conceptualised and established Identity Partners and IDF
Managers. From the outset Polo and Sonja split themselves between these two businesses. They understood the importance of focus and undivided attention. Having just spent three and a half years at the Department of Trade and Industry, being responsible for drafting the very first Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice, Polo was clear that her passion lay in significantly impacting the economic development landscape of South Africa. She was of the firm view that this could only be achieved through entrepreneurship. Polo was therefore tasked with establishing and running IDF Managers on behalf of the Identity Group. Sonja, who brought extensive investment banking experience, was tasked with establishing and running Identity Partners, which is their diversified investment holding company. In 2011 they established a new entity called Identity Resources, which is run by their third partner, Sipho Mofokeng. Since starting the Identity Group in 2008 they have funded in excess (and counting) of 70 small and medium enterprises, and participated in significant transactions across various sectors of the economy. Polo believes that you can achieve anything you want in life if you make up your mind to do it. Her personal motto (borrowed from Nike) is: Just do it.
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Vinny Lingham It’s a long way from East London in the Eastern Cape to Silicon Valley in San Francisco, but it is a journey that the 36-year-old serial South African entrepreneur Vinny Lingham has travelled in less than a decade. Vinny’s first love was always the internet and at the age of nineteen, having dropped out of studying Information Systems at the University of Cape Town due to lack of funds, he moved to Johannesburg to start his professional career. He worked at a number of tech companies in Sandton, including a division of Dimension Data. He started his first technology business by selling his townhouse for a R125 000 profit and then racking up R75 000 in debt on his credit cards to provide additional cash flow to the fast growing technology business.
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/vinnylingham TWITTER: @VinnyLingham LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/vinnylingham COMPANY WEBSITE: www.gyft.com
The year was 2003 and the company was Clicks2Customers (along with its holding company, incuBeta) which he started in the spare bedroom he rented back from the new owner of his former home. At the time Vinny said he would rather be homeless than not start a company because he did not have any finances. Within three years the company was a R100 million per year business with clients such as eBay, Yahoo and Expedia – all while being based out of Cape Town and creating over 50 local technology jobs in the process. Clicks2Customers was the winner of the Top Technology Company in South Africa in 2006 and also won numerous awards internationally and continues to be a market leader even a decade later.
Vinny’s passion for entrepreneurship in South Africa led him to making early stage investments in other local start-up businesses, such as Quirk (recently acquired by WPP), SkyRove, Personera, ChessCube, Runway Sale and SweepSouth. In 2007 Vinny was getting restless and so he stepped down from Clicks2Customers to launch his new venture Yola.com, a company which helped small businesses build websites. He decided he could deliver the vision of cloud computing to SMEs globally and set up an office for Yola in the US, primarily because that’s where the market opportunity was. After securing funding of US$5-million from JSE-listed Richemont, Vinny relocated to Silicon Valley. Since then, Yola has received over US$25 million in further investment and boasts more than 10 million users worldwide with operations and employees in Cape Town and San Francisco. In late 2011 Vinny was restless yet again, and stepped down from the day-to-day operations at Yola. After thinking about the future of payments, in January 2012 he started his new venture, Gyft, again based in the USA. He hired a development team in Cape Town. The product was a mobile wallet for digitising plastic gift cards and selling mobile gift cards. Vinny successfully raised capital from Google Ventures and Ashton Kutcher, and within two years of launching, was snapped up by the world’s largest payments company, First Data, for a rumoured US$54m, cementing Vinny’s status as one of South Africa’s greatest technology entrepreneurs. Gyft has become an overnight leader in the crowded mobile and prepaid space, driven by Vinny’s passion for Bitcoin, his strategic technical and business insight, and his ability to drive user adoption into the market. Vinny views Bitcoin as a technology to enable payments and is widely regarded as one of the best Bitcoin thinkers, globally. Vinny is a sought after technology advisor and investor, with a portfolio of over 40 companies, worldwide.
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Vusi Thembekwayo Vusi Thembekwayo is a global business speaker who has singlehandedly rewritten the rules of success for professional speakers in Africa. He empowers his audience with new knowledge, research findings, models and tools that they can immediately apply in their businesses or careers to achieve leapfrog results. Vusi is known as the Rock Star of Public Speaking and has spoken in 24 countries over the past decade, and in 2013 hosted a soldout show in Las Vegas as part of his Global Inspiration Tour. At the age of seventeen, Vusi was already ranked first in Africa for public speaking and went on to receive third place in the world at the English Speaking Union International Competition. He delivered his first professional talk in 2002 and over the past thirteen years he has been gracing the global stage with his humour, charisma and thought-provoking content. He has the ability to deliver a serious message whilst keeping an audience enthused and inspired. Vusi’s humour is the glue that binds some of his most diverse audiences in the world and his areas of expertise are sales, strategy and leadership. Vusi was forced to drop out of university at the end of his first year because of financial constraints. He walked the full length of two malls in the East Rand, handing out his CV door-to-door, store to store, but after six weeks he still couldn’t secure employment. Ever the solution-seeker, Vusi used his international networks (gained through public speaking) and his cellphone, and began recruiting learners in South Africa for jobs in the UK and Australia. This initiative birthed his first company - GPSA (Global Professionals South Africa) - a global recruitment agency that he ran from his township bedroom. Vusi then sold a portion of his business to a Johannesburg based digital agency in an effort to digitise his company. Too early for the digital revolution and having poorly chosen partners, Vusi was soon out of business and money. FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/VusiSpeaker TWITTER: @VusiThembekwayo LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/vusithembekwayo COMPANY WEBSITES: www.vusi.co.za and www.mygrowthfund.co.za
But at the age of 22 Vusi received a life-changing opportunity – he was offered a position at a corporate finance company. Here he refined his skills in corporate finance and became one of the go-to leverage finance guys in the team. He combined his skills in finance with public speaking and after one speaking engagement he walked away from the event with a job offer. Vusi went on to become an executive at this company - one of the largest consumer goods businesses in Africa - where he started, grew and managed a multimillion dollar portfolio. Today, at 30, in addition to his public speaking, he is the Chief Executive of MOTIV8 Advisory, Chairman of Watermark Afrika Fund – a private equity house with assets in six African countries – and Chairman of the venture capitalist start-up, My Growth Fund. I’m In is published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, and is available in all major outlets nationwide.
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ARTICLE
Don’t tell my parents...
...but I want to be
A Writer by Monique Snyman
WHY WRITERS ARE CONSIDERED THE WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD Writers are the undisputed titleholders of the Worst People in the World award. Politicians often try to sink to that level of douchebaggery, which writers mastered millennia ago, but there’s no contest. The pen is, after all, mightier than the sword, and it makes for a bloody good shield, too. Fortunately, for everyone concerned, politicians
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don’t have the luxury of hiding behind a fictional character when something scandalous is afoot. Most people would argue that lawyers are worse than politicians and writers, combined, but only writers are cunning enough to use a detested profession to their advantage … On a more personal level; writers make horrible acquaintances. In this instance, the word ‘acquaintance’ is not used
erroneously. Writers are writers first and everything else second or third or whatever. Saying something like: “We have a writer in the family.” can only be translated as: “They’re alive, I think. I don’t know. I haven’t heard from them in a while.” Therefore, it should be noted that labels like ‘friend’ and ‘family’ are truly insignificant to a vast majority of writers. A further example of how writers differ
from the rest of the world: Whenever a social gathering takes place, lawyers and politicians will usually mingle for the sake of selling themselves or their services, whether you want them to or not. They are, unquestioningly, a product in the flesh, and thus possess the ability to easily navigate most direct interactions. Writers, on the other hand, are typically inept when it comes to social activities. Some will try to sell their books, after having spent weeks writing and rewriting a thirty second pitch for that particular purpose, but most couldn’t care less what impression they leave you with. To top it all off, the crème de la crème of writers are not simply unapologetic in their behaviour, but are able to make others understand their reasons for being despicable, as stated in the proposed generic scenario. MAYBE MOM AND DAD KNOWS WHAT’S BEST? Perhaps parents are all-knowing when it comes to certain things, especially in regards to the topic at hand. Maybe they know that their beloved child will become a reclusive, sarcastic, and opinionated burden to society, simply for seeing the world for what it really is, and then recording those disagreements for future generations. Or it could be that parents don’t want their child to dream, for fear of them growing up naïve, which is quite honestly a very dangerous state of mind to have these days. You see, many a writer has described the reactions of their nearest and dearest when they uttered that ominous six word sentence: “I want to be a writer.” Some writers were fortunate enough to have grown up in liberal households, where art and culture is appreciated, and were therefore encouraged to
continue following their dreams. Unfortunately, that is not the norm. Most writers’ origin stories sadly begin with a resounding “Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!” causing dead ancestors to throw a few summersaults in their graves. It’s funny, but even now, in this modern era where actors and musicians and artists are celebrated, it is still commonplace to discourage someone from entering a career in writing. Is this reaction due to the fact that writers typically get a rush from killing characters off? Is it because the profession is, dare I say, not respectable enough? Could it perhaps be because the person who is considering a career in writing is a non-conformist? OR MAYBE IT’S SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY … This writer – a sarcastic, reclusive, opinionated, and possible megalomaniac – feels that, at the end of the day, it all still comes down to discrepancies in the socio-economic classes. A simple observation makes it apparent that the upper-classes have the freedom to gamble with their futures. Educational opportunities are higher, exposure to arts and culture is greater, and failing won’t necessarily affect them or their families’ livelihoods. Those stuck in the middle-class and the working-class are less inclined to risk their futures on pipedreams that may or may not pay off in the long run. Furthermore, there are also fewer educational opportunities available, and exposure to arts and culture is limited to graffiti. THE WRITING THING IS NEVER EASY All those fickle things aside, the way you handle “coming out” to your family and friends as wanting to be a writer
determines how you will cope in the business. It’s your first test. If they don’t immediately sneer, laugh, or look convinced by your declaration, then ready yourself for that: “It’s just a passing phase,” line. Then, later on when family and friends come to the conclusion that the writing phase should’ve passed by now, get ready for the constant nagging of: “When are you getting a real job?” It’s inevitable. Needless to say, these are only some of the reasons why writers are considered terrible people. We weren’t born this way; it’s a coping mechanism. It’s because those who should accept us as we are, who should support us no matter what, criticise our choices. This is why writers avoid family events and play wallflowers at birthday parties, because they know there’s a possibility they’ll be coined as being pretentious or just plain rude. It’s not easy being a writer. The obstacles standing between you and a hot meal at the end of the day are unimaginable. Friends, family, and complete strangers will question your decision of becoming a writer, often, and defending yourself will become a part-time job. But it’s worth it. A career in writing is possibly the most fulfilling job in existence, regardless of how many negative connotations are attributed to the position. So, don’t stop writing if you can help it. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s a dead industry, that people don’t read books, or care about your opinions. That it’s all been done before. If you are serious about writing, none of it will matter, not even a Worst Person in the World award.
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9 ARTICLE
Every literary genre has its tropes. I often feel if I see one more love triangle in a young adult novel where there’s a choice between the bad boy with the good heart, and the too-sweet boy next door, I may just … do something I may regret later. Yet, as authors, we feel drawn to particular tropes and as readers we come to expect them. However, it’s not so much the existing tropes but what we *do* with them that matters. In the horror novel, your heroine is downstairs in the lounge, she hears a thump from upstairs but instead of doing the sensible thing and getting the hell out of the big, creepy house, she goes upstairs. Armed only with a candlestick… I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination. It goes without saying that fantasy has a whole caboodle of its own tropes which, if you’re planning on filling Tolkien’s shoes, you should be aware of. In prime spot, we have “Ye Evil Dark Lord vs. Mr Goody Two Shoes”. The Evil
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Tropes to bind them all
Dark Lord resides in the Outer Realm of Darkness, where everyone is mean and wears black (and sometimes, in my not-so-humble opinion, looks far sexier than the good guys). Mr Goody Two Shoes, however, is possibly blond, good-looking in a bland sort of way, is noble, and ugh… Strives to do the right thing *all the time*. The two exist as diametric opposites of each other, to the point where it’s just plain ridiculous. One such combination would be Sauron vs. Frodo Baggins from Tolkien’s Middleearth. We have a world-dominating evil overlord and one gormless country bumpkin who doesn’t wear shoes and begins his journey not quite sure which end of the dagger to hold. I know the recent explosion of GrimDark fantasy is an attempt to rectify the balance, but some may argue that the GRRMs, Abercrombies and Lawrences of our world have possibly also taken it a little too far in the other direction with their protagonists’ moral ambiguity and questionable behaviour. But we’re going to remain with the dark vs. light dichotomy here and touch on “Elves Good, Orcs Ugly” as another trope. Back in the day, we knew who the bad guys were because, you know,
by Nerine Dorman
orcs are ugly, have horns and do bad things. They get names like darkspawn, shadowspawn… You get the picture. Their chief purpose appears to spread the Blight, Shadow, Darkness … while the Men, the Elves or (insert other races of Good) are not only aesthetically pleasing and kind (and could appear in a shampoo advertisement thanks to their beautiful hair – here’s looking at you, Legolas), but exist to fight on the side of the Light. In many such cases there are no nuances, no grey areas either. If you look at any history book, you’ll see that the motivations one force have for doing XYZ to the opposing force, are often complex. While world domination is a fun activity for any aspiring Dark Lord, look a bit deeper than just saying “for the funzies”, mkay? What if the elves ended up resorting to guerrilla warfare (and committed atrocities) because humans wanted to annex their land for mining? What if the orcs were really refugees escaping from the Shadow? What if the supposed “noble” savages were really just a bunch of brats threatening to destabilise an entire region because, well, they’re brats? (And before you ask, yes, I think the Vikings were really just the outlaw
motorcycle clubs of their time.) This brings us to “The Incredible Prophecy of Doom” or “The Underdog Will Bite your Ankle”. Many fantasy novels feature some sort of prophecy. One was central to David Eddings’ The Belgariad, in which the ubiquitous farm boy is – gee golly gosh – actually a prince. Star Wars too, had its prophecy. Um, hello, Anakin Skywalker brings balance to the Force… (Well, I always maintain there were too many Jedi to start with in episodes I to III.) I guarantee you will find prophecies without too much effort, and that many of them will point to some sort of grand showdown between Light and Dark, as well as talk about the Great Saviour who’s going to lead us all from/banish the Darkness. Prophecies have been done. Unto death. Think twice before you make a prophecy the underlying premise of your novel and, if you do, ask yourself how you can make it different. The days of the damsel existing purely as the prize for the hero, to give him motivation to fight the Big Bad belong to the mid-1900s. Really, boys, women are people too. The “Damsel in Distress vs. Damsel who kicks too much a**” however, still need to be mentioned. It sucks that there are still authors out there who blithely ignore that half the population does indeed exist beyond providing a convenient spot to park a pecker. Yet, on the other end of the scale, authors sometimes create female characters who are basically just men without the dangly bits. Men and women *are* wired differently. I don’t deny that. But I beg of you, use those nuances. Women, though physically not as robust as men, *do* often play pivotal roles in turning the tides of history. They may not always be the damage sponge in the front lines, but didn’t Samson fall to Delilah? Hatshepsut was pharaoh,
not queen of Egypt. Queen Elizabeth laid the foundations for an empire. Good examples from fantasy would be the female characters written by the likes of Kate Elliot, Mary Gentle, CJ Cherryh, Katharine Kerr and Jacqueline Carey. Do yourself a favour, and go discover their worlds. We’re back at the “Chosen One with an extra side order of Orphan”. Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Garion, The Dark Crystal, Harry Potter… and often their prophecies go hand in hand with another trope of “So Actually the King/God/Supernatural Being Couldn’t Keep his Pecker in his Pants” or “His/ Her Parents Died Tragically When S/he Was A Baby”. I don’t need to elaborate. You have a desire to make your main character extra special, so you concoct a fabulous, secret back story. And no, “Because Midichlorians” is not an excuse either. The One Ring, The Magic Singing Sword, Ye Glowing Gemstone … the “McGuffin rules all”. Yes, it’s called a McGuffin. Many, many novels feature a sometimes seemingly innocuous object that threatens the continued existence of everything. Sometimes these objects are employed masterfully. Other times they’re just a crutch to prop up a weak plot. If you’re going to have some Object of Power, take time to think it through. Magical, and indeed magical systems, a staple of the fantasy genre, need to have limits and consequences. All-powerful solutions kill the excitement and make readers cry “Deus ex Machina!” Our last two tropes are fairly similar. “Rome by another name is still Rome” is the failsafe many fantasy authors fall back on when creating their cultures. Hell, I’m guilty of it myself. It’s safe and familiar to have a culture that is recognisably Roman or Celtic or Norse.
You’re not being clever by basing your culture on a pre-existing culture, no matter how much you pat yourself on the back. The Riders of Rohan were basically Vikings on horseback. But ask yourself this: how can you make it different? *Where* can you take your culture? Readers do have expectations, but don’t you think it’s also time that we begin to push those boundaries? Lastly, we’re still dealing with the tired old chestnut of “Ye Olde World Charm” or rampant Eurocentrism and/or Orientalism in our fantasy. While there’s nothing wrong with a good storming of the castle, I’d like to think that we can create fantasy worlds that do not rely on the European Dark Ages, feudal Japan or Renaissance as source material for our fantasy worlds. What about a fantasy world that is recognisably modern? With skyscrapers, magic and elves? I am aware of reader resistance to unusual settings, but by equal measure I’d like to encourage authors to push the boundaries so that readers learn to enjoy novelty. While mythologists like Joseph Campbell did a wonderful job of summing up the Story of Everything in his conceptualising of the Monomyth, which you can see echoed in nearly every iconic fantasy tale out there, there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to the fantasy genre – only conventions (and the Greeks did it thousands of years ago). It’s your job, if you’re going to embark on an illustrious career as the next Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling, to be aware of those conventions. You may want to reference them, slightly tongue-in-cheek or you may overturn them completely. But I beg of you, to always ask yourself this one question: “How can I do things differently?”
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AUTHOR PROFILE
Joan
FUN FACTS
Tea or coffee? Coffee and wine! Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate Your favourite book? The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas Best form of exercise? Running or walking depending on how lazy I’m feeling Apple or Windows? Windows. I’m an android girl.
n de la Haye HORROR AUTHOR by Melissa Delport
Joan De La Haye writes horror and some very twisted thrillers. She invariably wakes up in the middle of the night, because she’s figured out yet another freaky way to mess with her already screwed-up characters. Joan is interested in some seriously weird stuff. That’s probably also one of the reasons she writes horror. Joan was born in Pretoria on the 17th of January 1977 at 7pm. The youngest of three children raised by parents in the Diplomatic service, Joan was educated abroad, finally completing her education in Vienna. She speaks three languages, is qualified in clinical hypnotherapy and also has a diploma in Fine Art and Creative Design. Joan began her writing career at the tender of age of ten, when she spent
the duration of her school holidays camped in her mother’s office, driving her crazy. Joan’s mother, out of sheer desperation, handed Joan a pen and some paper and instructed her to “do something constructive”. Never one to back down from a challenge, young Joan took one look at the faded fairy poster taped to her mother’s office wall and wrote a story called “The Wonderful World of Candyfloss.” On her return to school, Joan made everyone in her class read her masterpiece. Multiple times. She’s been writing ever since. Over the past four years, Joan has released four books: Oasis (Novella, 2012), Requiem in E Sharp (novel, 2012), Shadows (novel, 2013), and Burning (novella, 2014). She is currently working on her third novel, Fury, which
is scheduled for release in 2016. She has also had short stories published on Wily Writers and in Graveyard Rendezvous, Jozi: Reflections on Johannesburg, Bloody Parchment Vol 2, Tales from the Nun and Dragon, Afro Sci-Fi, Noir Carnival, Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets, European Monsters, and Tales from the Lake Vol 1. Joan has also written a non-fiction article for Horror 101: The way forward. Joan currently resides in Pretoria, South Africa. For more information please contact Joan De La Haye on joang_sa@ hotmail.com or have a look at her website: http://joandelahaye.com/ You can also find more information on the Fox Spirit website: http://www. foxspirit.co.uk/
AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 27
Excerpt from
The rite was ended.
Burning
by Joan de la Haye
The moon hung on a black blanket of sky, peppered by hundreds of bright stars that were not visible in the city. The air felt electric against their skin as the naked coven filed out of the sacred circle and congregated inside the warm farm house situated north of Pretoria. The coven was always more energised and more connected after a ritual. They believed that these rituals made them more psychically connected and in tune with each other’s minds and bodies. The sound of beating drums drifted across the fields from the shanty town located two farms away. Once they’d put their clothes back on, they would add the sounds of their own drumming circle to those of the townships’. The full moon ritual had been conducted to attract wealth. They’d each empowered a two rand coin and tied a green piece of ribbon around it. The coin would be stored in their purses with all their other coins, but would never be given as legal tender. It was a relatively simple ritual, although one they’d never done before and like most of their spells was unlikely to actually work. They’d each held the coin in their hands and chanted. The chant got louder and louder until they were shouting it out and their voices were hoarse. Their shouting had probably been heard by the inhabitants of the informal settlement. They were thirteen women – a full coven. They were, what some would call, a Dianic coven. But they were, in truth, a bunch of kitchen witches who practised most of their spellcraft on the stove top. They had been practising together for close on three years now and there wasn’t anything they didn’t know about each other. They were so in-tune with one another that their periods had synchronised. Over the years they’d seen each other through breakups, marriages, child birth, extra-marital affairs, and even a divorce or two. They were a close-knit family that would do anything for each other, even kill or dispose of a body. But that particular bond had never actually been tested. As Marcie put the coin in her purse she couldn’t help but wonder if these small rituals were all there was to being a
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witch. There had to be more than just sympathetic magic. Tarot readings, candle spells, their monthly rituals, it all seemed so mundane. Dabbling had gotten tiresome. She wanted to feel the presence of great power. She wanted to experience the real thing. She’d had glimpses of it over the years. You couldn’t have a dinner party with a coven of witches without a ghost or two showing up and having their translucent figures floating around the room, trying to communicate. At first they’d used a Ouija board, but then after a rather strange event involving a previous tenant of the farm house, they’d discovered they no longer needed the board.
Couch on the
The corner couch focuses on celebrities - their reading habits and the books that have shaped their lives.
with Tumi ‘Miza’ Modibedi
They say dynamite comes in small packages and it’s particularly true in the case of Tumi Modibedi. Popularly known as “Miza” by his peers and fans countrywide, this renowned musician is also an actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He has acted in some of the biggest TV shows of the past few years, including Muvhango, Generations and Binnelanders.
Here is what Miza had to say... prestigious Miami Music Conference and South By South West (SXSW) in 2015. The warmth and optimism of this young man is displayed in his philosophy - “The only purpose in life is giving back to the world. If you happen to have a lot, then give a lot!” Authors Magazine sat down with the talented star, to find out what books commonly adorn his bedside table. What is your earliest “bookish” memory? I’ve loved books from a very young age. Back then I loved colouring and animation, so books were an exciting, different, colourful world. Miza’s success has led to bookings of many international DJ appointments including Brazil and the CMJ Music Marathon in October 2014; and the
Which book(s) would you say have had an impact on your life and why? I enjoyed reading Animal Farm by George Orwell in high school. I enjoyed
by Dineo Mahloele
this book as it taught me a lot about corruption, power, morals and how history repeats itself. The most recent book I enjoyed is Family Wisdom from the author of “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,” Robin Sharma. This is a very inspiring book. It’s helped me become a better, happier person. It also taught me about balance, joy and inner peace. What book(s) are you reading at the moment? Believe You Can - the Power of a Positive Attitude by John Mason, The Power is Within You by Louise L. Hay and Building Strong Families - Biblical Principles for Successful Families by Andre Olivier What are your favourite books of alltime? Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe Animal Farm - George Orwell Family Wisdom - Robin Sharma The Power is Within You - Louise L. Hay If you were stranded alone on an island and given a choice of only one book to read, which book would it be? If I were stranded on an island I think is the book I’m currently reading Believe You Can - the Power of a Positive attitude by John Mason. This is my get up and go book. Whenever I feel down or lack the drive for something, I just page through it and I’m sure to find some sort of inspiration.
AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 29
ARTICLE
Stephe SABF2015
#DiscoverYourBookself
my
experience by Melissa Delport
30 | AUTHORS MAGAZINE
en KING by Ian Tennent
With over 200 short stories, more than 50 international best-selling novels, 100 or so feature films, tv programmes and plays, and a plethora of other works to his name, Stephen King is a literary mnumzane; a boss, a man amongst men! As Jane Ciabattari puts it, in an article she wrote for the BBC, he is an industry all on his own!
About 350 million copies of his books haunt our planet. If Mr King were to follow Wes Craven to the grave, today, to lurk wherever it is horror writers go to lurk in the afterlife, he would leave behind an estimated whopping $400 million to his wife, his three children and his pet corgi, Molly, aka “The thing of evil”. Yes, the King of horror has a cute and cuddly corgi. Cujo must be howling to the moon in hell.
His legion of readers bow down and worship him while writers across the globe (myself included) look up to him in rapturous wonder. His award count alone is spectacular and includes multiple Bram Stoker Awards, The British Fantasy Awards, The Hugo Award, The Los Angeles Book Prize, The O. Henry Award, The American Mystery Writers award. The list goes on and on, and yet, a large chunk of the literati consider him to be inferior. To quote one Harold Bloom he is, “not a real writer”… “what he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraphby-paragraph, book-by-book basis”… “a writer of penny dreadfuls” … “beneath the notice of any serious reader.”
To counter this, Jane Ciabattari credits Peter Straub, himself a current master
of horror, with comparing King to Charles Dickens, the greatest novelist of the Victorian era: Dickens was also reviled by the literati during his lifetime. At the time of his writings Dickens was accused of “enjoying an extravagantly high reputation” and “being rewarded for his labours, both in purse and in credit, at an extravagantly high rate.” Ciabattari concludes her article with the fact that Dickens has stood the test of time. She suspects the best works of Stephen King will enjoy the same fate and I wholeheartedly agree. Stephen King may be labelled as a writer of horror fiction by most, yet he is infinitely more than that. As big as his horror fiction repertoire is with mega-hits such as The Stand, IT, The Shining and Misery, to name a few, he has found massive success within other genres and is not afraid to cross-breed genres either. And so he effortlessly produces masterful human dramas such as Dolores Claiborne, spellbinding magical realism such as The Green Mile, sweeping Science Fantasy Westerns such as the Dark Tower series and intriguing historical fiction such as 11/22/63. Of course, like all authors, he misses the mark from time to time but his good stuff is exceptional. And his
AUTHORS MAGAZINE | 31
best stuff is quite simply exquisite. So what makes his best stuff so good? To my mind it boils down to three things: jugs of adrenalin; stunningly believable characterizations – especially when events go the way of the pear and, probably most alluring of all, his ‘voice’, most prevalent in his coming of age works where he just seems to nail the pitch-perfect tone every time. If you’ve never experienced the Maestro’s ‘voice’ before, then do yourself a favour and read his memoir-cum-craft book, On Writing. Settle back into your sofa, scrunch your toes beneath your fleece blanket, take a sip of your cappuccino - then turn the page and feel yourself drift away under the spell of that laid back, mesmerizing, campfire story drawl. However, as brilliant as most of his full-length novels are, if you find yourself balking at the sheer size of some of them, then I can confidently recommend some of his novellas and short stories. Although, by his own admission, he suffers from literary elephantiasis and his novellas can be quite substantial beasts in their own right. But, for starters, pick up a copy of Night Shift or Skeleton Crew, both collections of short stories which showcase the depth and breadth of his colossal imagination. Inside you’ll find such gems as: Graveyard Shift, The Ledge, Quitters Inc, The Mist, The Raft, The Jaunt and, my personal favourite, the truly grisly Survivor Type. Each of these stories hang, spread-out like bloody, gutted carcasses on trip-wires of tension; the raw ingredients alone get the adrenalin pumping but it’s the way that the stories are told that elevates them above the competition. Having whetted your appetite with those, you might think you’ve seen it all, heard it
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all, experienced everything Mr King has to throw at you. Trust me, you haven’t. In my humble opinion his novellas are where Mr King is at his pulse-pounding, brain-bending best! Works such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Body, Apt Pupil (from his collection entitled Different Seasons); or The Langoliers and The Sun Dog (from Four Past Midnight); or, my personal favourites The Running Man, The Long Walk and, the all too chilling, Rage (written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman in The Bachman Books). This last story, Rage, centres around a school shooting and ensuing hostage drama, where a seemingly logical, nice guy, schoolboy goes ape with a gun and yet somehow, believably, seems to win the respect, even adoration, of his classmates. They don’t come more twisted than this. The story is incredibly powerful but comes with a dark legacy, having been associated with actual high school shootings since its release. So much so that, in as many as four instances, high-school shooters have been confirmed as being devotees of the story, strongly identifying with the main character, leading investigators to believe their actions were thus inspired. The links were so strong that King has now allowed Rage to go out of print and openly states that it should never have been written. Dark history aside, it remains an utterly compelling read where King masterfully manipulates the emotions of his reader. Much has been made of his fight with alcoholism and substance abuse. But, for many years now, it’s a fight he seems to be winning. Outside of his writings, Mr King has a philanthropic nature (he donates $4million to charity every year) and is also not afraid to rock the boat on occasion with his views and
opinions. He openly supports the idea that rich people should be taxed more, for example. A notion that has put him at odds with many of America’s well heeled. But it’s his writing that people admire most. And now, finally, it seems he is getting the recognition he deserves. As recently as the tenth of September this year, Stephen King paid a trip to the White House to collect his National Medal of Arts award from President Obama himself, in recognition of his huge contribution to the literary sphere. Whether the literati like it or not, this award places him, deservedly in my view, on a pedestal where he will be a lot harder to hit with thrown stones. Stephen King fun facts. He sometimes makes cameo appearances in the movies that are based on his books. For example, he played the part of Teddy Weiszack in The Stand, a minister at a funeral in Pet Cemetery, the pizza delivery guy in Rose Red, a band member in The Shining and a cemetery caretaker in Sleepwalkers. He’s not afraid to endorse talent when he sees it. Recently two South African authors made it onto a list of books that scared Stephen King: Sarah Lotz with Day Four and Lauren Beukes with Broken Monsters! Stephen King was terrified as a child when he saw the movie Bambi, calling it the first horror movie he saw. Stephen King’s Molly, aka “the Thing of Evil!”
International
Focus
AUTHOR: David P Permutter by Melissa Delport
English author and father of four and grandfather of one, David P Perlmutter once left London. He headed for Marbella, Spain, where he met a host of people, including Elvis Presley’s son. Yes, apparently Elvis had an illegitimate son. One night, a fire broke out in a local hotel and David risked his own life to save the lives of two complete strangers. As a reward, he was arrested for arson and wrongfully accused of manslaughter. David was awarded bail and rather than stick around, he fled the country. He hasn’t been to Spain since. David’s debut novel, WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME! is based on these events, and made the kindle bestseller list in True Crime in America, Spain, France and Australia. It is currently the #1 biography in the United Kingdom. Since Wrong Place Wrong Time’s release in 2013, David has written three other novels. Five Weeks and My Way are available on Amazon Kindle and My Way Too! will be released later this year. David is a fulltime author, but he also puts his incredible marketing skills to good use by promoting other authors. His novel writing stemmed from his blog, which he used as a creative outlet to tell his side of the Marbella story. As the blog’s popularity grew, David realised the potential for a marketable novel and this is how Wrong Place Wrong Time came about. David is an avid football fan, and once had trials for both Chelsea and Leyton Orient. He currently resides in the United Kingdom, and he plans to stay there, at least until the smok clears. To find out more about David and his books, please visit: http://thewrongplaceatthewrongtime.blogspot.co.uk/ EXCERPT: Wrong Place Wrong Time
EXCERPT: Wrong Place Wrong Time THE SON OF ELVIS The sound of the bells made me jump. Twice they rang. I’d fallen asleep on the bench facing the entrance to the church and when I woke up with the sun beating down on me, my shirt was clinging to my skin. I sat up, wiped the sleep from my eyes and tried to moisten my mouth, but my tongue felt too fat for it, my lips were cracked and I was seriously dehydrated. Remembering the fountain I’d passed on my way to the church, I decided to retrace my steps. The small, cobble-stoned square, which was closely hemmed in by Georgian style buildings, was bustling with people. I glanced across at the café in the corner where families and couples were sheltering under umbrellas and protecting themselves from the scorching afternoon sun. They were talking and laughing, sipping their coffee and beer, and I tried to ignore the sudden stab of envy in my chest. The water in the fountain swirled around a carved stone basin, trickling over a handful of coins which had been tossed in by visitors. For a moment I contemplated scooping them out but they amounted to little more than a few pence at the most. I cupped the cold water in both hands, splashed my face a few times and drank until my thirst had been quenched. Standing up, I felt a little more human. I heard the church bells chime again in the distance and it struck me how strange it felt to have no time restraints or schedule. With no money or belongings and no place to call home, the town was just a vast, lonely space of possible opportunities. I could have gone anywhere, but the beach seemed like my best option.
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ARTICLE
Allow me to weep
Authors caught up with Lucas ‘Styles’ Ledwaba. He is a renowned Journalist, Writer and Photographer who brought the stories of the Marikana Miners from the Rustenburg Koppie to the world and later contributed to the famous book “Today we are going to kill each other”. The book gave birth to the deeply emotional stage play which has been hailed by audiences across all walks of life locally and abroad. There is a sudden deafening silence. It is only the sound of ‘lifelessness’ that is screaming in the packed auditorium. After almost a minute later, the soft sobs from the audience join in the tune. The lady in a blue denim pull-over pants reaches out to her clutch bag for a piece of tissue to wipe her tears. She is not the only person that is weeping. The rattling sounds of the “machine guns” brought the stage performance to a dead silence, just like it did near Koppie at a remote small dusty town called Marikana in the North-West, South Africa. It is the third ‘anniversary’ since demise of the striking miners. The show is delayed due to last minute
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ticket sales and the long queue at the booth. Ironically, the show starts at the same time at which the gunshots were fired back then. In the absence of the official commemoration from the state, this seems befitting to remember the compatriots that lost their lives in a quest for a decent life. The ‘real-life-scene’ It took a stage scene from Marikana: The Musical which was recently performed at The State Theatre, to bring the society few metres away to the dreadful deed that took away the lives of 34 miners in a matter of minutes. Styles was there at the Koppie. He saw it all. He was among
for m
the group of five journalists to approach the striking miners two days before the massacre, despite the disapproval of the police. He spoke to Mgcineni Noki, who became widely known as “The man in the green blanket”, who also brace the cover of the book. “He was calm, suspicious but very determined. I spoke to him again on the Wednesday, when police were denying us media access to the koppie. So Noki and another worker left the Koppie to come and speak to me and Poloko Tau who worked for The Star newspaper. He was calm, didn’t really trust us but wanted to know what it was the police were planning”, he confirmed. Pushing the boundaries
Styles have covered the Marikana strike and subsequently the massacre in depth for the City Press weekend newspaper. However, these experiences had a deep impact in his career and personal life. “There has never been a day that I don’t think about Marikana. Having been witness to this brutality, it has made me appreciate the power and role of media. If we hadn’t been there with our cameras and notepads, the world would have never known what exactly happened in Marikana. It was not something that we expected to happen in the democracy that was built on the bodies of thousands of African people who were jailed, tortured and killed. So, this means, as journalists we have a responsibility to remain the eyes
my Son by Shalate Portia Davhana
and ears of society and tell the story without fear or favour. We have to push the boundaries in our quest to get the story”, he added. The Marikana 44 Faces Project
Styles participated in the Marikana 44 Faces Project which highlighted the lives of the victims of the strike, which includes the story of The man in the green blanket. “We needed to tell the story of Noki, he was not just a statistic. He was a man with a family, he came from somewhere. Through him, we wanted to share the experience of the men who were on strike. They were not just statistics, they are people with a
story behind each of them”, he adds. In the firing line
Even though he does not point fingers at anyone, Styles believes that someone has to take responsibility for what occurred at the Koppie that dreadful August afternoon. He said: “So, 44 people were killed in a space of seven days. In any democratic society, people should be punished for breaking the law. It doesn’t matter what their status is in society. No one has the right to take a life. For every life lost, someone should be held accountable. Miners hacked and killed their colleagues, police officers and security guards. They
should be prosecuted. Police opened fire on miners with automatic weapons. The miners carried dangerous weapons and even one of them fired at the police. But, was the force applied by the police proportionate to the threat posed by the miners? Were their methods in line with legal standing orders? At scene two, where 18 miners were killed, police shot at people hiding among the rocks, they went on a killing frenzy, a sort of competition on who could kill more people best, from many metres away where the people posed absolutely no danger. Not only that, they went to the commission and lied about events there. It would be a great injustice if no one is charged and prosecuted for the killings”. Are we an ignorant society? As someone who has witnessed the plight of the miners, Styles says that the reaction from the general public was quite disappointing. “I expected South Africans, with the country’s culture of struggle against abuse of human rights
Continued on page 40
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TRAVEL
A CITY BUILT OF
Word Justin Fox takes to the streets of Dublin in the company of literary ghosts.
Some cities are made of words, crafted in our imaginations from the building blocks of literature. In Dublin, the pavements are heavy underfoot with its literary past. At every turn, you encounter the living words of James Joyce, Samuel Becket or WB Yeats.
36 | AUTHORS MAGAZINE
Justin Fox takes to the streets of Dublin in the company of literary ghosts. Some cities are made of words, crafted in our imaginations from the building blocks of literature. In Dublin, the pavements are heavy underfoot with its literary past. At every turn, you encounter the living words of James Joyce, Samuel Becket or WB Yeats. My first morning in Dublin found me south of the city in the village of Sandycove. On a bluff overlooking the ocean stands a Martello Tower, one of the many fortifications built to repel Napoleon’s fleet. More than a century ago, James Joyce stayed here and the tower provides the setting for the opening scene of his most famous work. ‘Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed,’ writes Joyce. And thus begins Ulysses, one of the greatest novels in the English language.
ds
Today, the round tower is a museum celebrating the life of the writer. His room on the second floor has a humble, unadorned interior. There’s a hammock, a table, chair, bed and gun slit providing light by which to write.
Back in Dublin, the best way to get to know the city through the eyes of its writers is a walking tour, on your own with a literary map, or with a guide. I started at the Dublin Writer’s Museum on Parnell Square. The museum occupies a lovely 18thcentury townhouse and focuses on Irish literature in all its forms from the 10th century to the present. The exhibits include manuscripts, letters, rare editions and mementos of famous Irish authors. There’s also a lavishly decorated Gallery of Writers upstairs with stucco ceilings, chandeliers and the great men of letters staring down imposingly from the walls. Also on Parnell Square is the James Joyce Cultural Centre, dedicated to promoting an understanding of the life and works of the author. The restored 1784 Georgian townhouse has literary displays, an archive and a reference library. On permanent exhibit is furniture from Paul Leon’s apartment in Paris, where Joyce wrote much of Finnegans Wake, and the door to number 7 Eccles Street — home to Leopold Bloom, one of the most illustrious addresses in literature. I ambled north a few blocks to 35b Mountjoy Square, once home to Seán O’Casey, the first major Irish dramatist to write about Dublin’s working classes. On I walked down Gardiner Street, along the route taken by Leopold Bloom in Ulysses. Strolling towards the River Liffey, I came to the Abbey Theatre, founded by WB Yeats. Many important plays were first staged here, including Seán O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars and John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World.
One block west on O’Connell Street stands the General Post Office, site of the 1916 Rebellion and inspiration for countless works of Irish literature. I crossed the Liffey on the Ha’penny Bridge of filigreed iron and walked through Temple Bar with its dark taverns and cobbled lanes filled with the lilting strains of Irish folk music. My walk ended at Trinity College, the city’s university and intellectual heart. It’s been the nurturing ground for countless Irish writers, from Jonathan Swift to Oscar Wilde. Entering the great courtyard, I veered right and into the Old Library. In a darkened room lay the famed Book of Kells, its illuminated script glowing downing the centuries in a tourist-thronged crypt. I rounded off my day with a literary pub crawl. This show-on-the-hoof goes from pub to pub with professional actors performing from the works of Dublin’s famous scribes. Our group of word junkies gathered in an upstairs room of the Duke Pub, a pint of Guinness in hand. The show kicked off with an introduction to Dublin’s literary characters. Then we set off on foot, trawling past and through pubs and important sites, such as the Molly Malone statue and Trinity College. Here were Estragon and Vladimir on a nameless road from Waiting for Godot, there was Leopold Bloom shambling home. A Goldsmith sonnet, a Swift anecdote, a Heaney poem … and finally back to my B&B and to bed, a few pints the worse for wear and a literary cast come to colourful life in my head.
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LIFENox
COLUMN
according to My Sunday Stories
by Noxolo Chalale
Burns
We’ve tried.
My make-up was proper, except for my eyebrows which wouldn’t allow me to be great. My smoky eyes blinked as my cherry pink lips mimed the incorrect lyrics to that song I liked.
I shifted in my seat and wanted to apologise to This guy for whatever happened to him.
Somewhere between the first verse and the closed robot, the taxi door opened and This guy started piling his bags onto the front seat. The chorus began, the robot opened and he closed the door. He glanced over at me and didn’t notice my cherry lips, or else he would’ve greeted me, right. But my smoky eyes noticed him. He was severely burnt. We skipped a red robot, our taxi driver swore at someone, but I was bothered by This guy, his bags and his burns. I didn’t know how he was burnt but I knew we all had our scars. Life has burnt us in many brutal ways. The abortions we have and the fathers we don’t, leave their marks on our souls. We are expected to compartmentalise pain in years and move on. But time hurts as much as it heals, and even though blood is thicker than water, our tears still threaten to drown us. We cry when our friends are murdered in their own homes and our children are raped before they can read. We cry when we have to be out of the house before the sun rises just to be labelled as lazy by the very people we cook and clean for. We cry because our scars can’t be covered with blush.
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I opened my mouth and could only say “after robot.” I had almost missed the lesson. His burns were a tragedy but his bags were a testimony. He was going somewhere. Too often we stay where we are because we are waiting to be healed first. Someone once said “life becomes easier when we learn to accept the apology we never got.” That means packing our bags and moving forward, one step at a time. Some of our bags are filled with more disappointments than smiles, more heartaches than hopes, and very little strength to carry them. Let’s pack anyway, let’s keep moving one step at a time no matter how heavy the load. We should continue to be diligent in our duties despite being told we are lazy. We should continue to protect our children even though some will get hurt, and celebrate life even when our friends lose theirs. Like This guy, we should face the world despite our scars and go to where we need to be. Some people will criticise, others won’t understand but many will want to help us. The taxi stopped, the song had changed and my smoky eyes were teary. I got out and walked to get my eyebrows tweezed because that was all I was brave enough to fix at that moment.
Dirty Sneakers
Stop Running
“I don’t have anything to wear” is something I say at least twice a day. In the morning when I need to get dressed and in the evening when I’m thinking about the next morning.
The music was loud, the lady at the back was still asking for her R2 change, and the taxi driver was ignoring red robots. Just another typical morning.
That day wasn’t any different. I eventually wore my trusted jean, that top that always looks good and those sneakers. Those dirty sneakers that I should’ve washed last Sunday. But I was late. So, I ran out the door, impatiently waited for the gate to close behind me and jogged to the main road.
Of course traffic was a mess. We were crawling towards the robot, when the guy in the red pants opened the door, got out and started running. He was obviously late. We all watched him run past the next street. The robot opened and we slowly drove past him.
I looked at my refection in the windows of the car parked on the side of the road. For someone who didn’t have anything to wear, I didn’t look too shabby.
He kept running.
A mother and her very active daughter were walking ahead of me in the same direction.
Soon we were driving past him again.
I greeted as I hurried past. Ignoring my greeting, Daughter said “tsele mama, ke batla tsele” to Mom. The little girl wanted my dirty sneakers! Embarrassed by the unwanted attention, I smiled (cringed on the inside) and walked a bit faster. “O batla ho ba motle jwalo ka wena” Mom shouted back. I guess she was trying to make me feel better, but telling me her daughter wanted to be beautiful like me, made me very uncomfortable. It also made me realise that I wasn’t only wearing dirty sneakers. They were just part of a trusted-jean-prettytop-great-hair-clean-nails outfit. How often do we only see our dirty sneakers? We focus so much on what’s wrong with ourselves that we don’t see what’s good? We are bothered so much by where we aren’t that we fail to see where we have come from. Yet, someone wants what we have, wants to be more like us, and believes in who we have the potential to be.
He passed the second street, and the third, crossed another robot and kept running. I wondered if I was the only passenger wondering why this guy in the red pants, formal shoes and knitted tie got out of the taxi to begin with. Traffic was slow but he was slower. Shame. Finally, he reached his destination, a few seconds after we drove past it. Had he stayed in the taxi, he would’ve saved himself an uncomfortable jog, unnecessary morning sweat and his pointy shoes wouldn’t be dusty. But I guess looking at the traffic and time, he assumed he would get there before the taxi. He was wrong. We often are too. In our impatience, we sometimes do more harm than good. Impatient for marriage, you commit to the wrong person. Had you waited a little bit longer, you’d have that ring without the abuse blisters and perpetual unhappiness. Impatient for wealth, we lie, cheat and steal, but had we waited a little bit longer, we’d be able to sleep without a guilty conscience in our penthouse suites. Just wait a little bit longer.
Be better, do better and remember you always have something to give, even when you think you don’t.
That jog might embarrass you, it might hurt you, but it is definitely unnecessary.
Also, don’t throw away your dirty sneakers… wash them.
If you’re on the right road, moving forward, you’ll get there. Just wait a little bit longer.
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Runaway Taxi This was the same taxi I was in a few days ago when I realised I might not love myself enough because I was willing to get inside it again. I could see the road from the holes in the floor, the door couldn’t close properly and the brakes didn’t seem to work either. My leg was burning from scraping it against the rusty chairs, and as I thought about whether I had disinfectant at home, I prayed I’d actually get there. I was suffocating in this engine-fume death-trap. Finally we turned the corner and I could see my destination. Two streets... one street... “sho’t right”... he wasn’t stopping... “sho’t right”... He kept going... “SHO’T RIGHT!”... one street, two streets... “STOOOOP! HOOOO!” My hostage drama came to an end 1 000 meters later (okay maybe only 100m). As I was getting out, the driver shouted at me for not being audible enough, as if there weren’t 14 other passengers who should’ve cared enough to say something. Maybe they thought there was comfort in numbers. We seem to think that being in situations together is better even if those situations are the worst. Ever been happy because someone else failed an exam? Their failure doesn’t take you any closer to a pass but you’re happy because you are not alone. I’ve heard guys say they want to quit drinking but their friends will hand them a shot and laugh. I’ve wanted to stop a bad habit and someone will say “nah buddy, for what?” And even that friend who convinces you to watch one more episode when you should be studying. Sometimes, you just have to be bold. TELL THEM YOU ARE LEAVING... and go to where you know you are supposed to be, even if it means closing the door behind you with your friends and family still suffocating in those fumefilled situations.
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Continued on page 35
Allow me to weep
for my
and oppression, to react with much vigour and more action after the Marikana massacre. But instead people just expressed their outrage on social media and that was it. Life went on as if nothing of significance had happened and that was disappointing to see. There were no mass marches, protests or even “stay-aways”. Even today, I speak to many people who still don’t know the real story of Marikana. And I’m talking about literate people who have access to media and so on”, he said disappointingly. The Marikana Commission – Has the truth been “unearthed?” Even though there has been some dissatisfaction from some families of the victims about the Commission’s report, Styles is of the view that the commission tried its best to unearth the truth. He however believes it had its own shortcomings. “Almost all the parties who testified there didn’t disclose all which I guess reflects what eventually ended up in the commission’s report. I feel it could have been more-hard hitting against the clear collusion between state and business to supress a strike by workers. It has made recommendations that miners and police officers who committed murder should be criminally charged, which I feel would go a long way in disclosing the truth and giving the families of all 44 people who were killed, closure and sense of justice being done” he elaborates. The book comes alive A year after the book was published, the story was converted into a world class musical that has attracted large audiences, year after year, to the State Theatre. “I approached Aubrey Sekhabi of the SA State Theatre with the idea of doing a musical. He read the book in one night and the next morning he called to say he was doing it. So he did most of the creative work and Leon Sadiki and I advised here and there on other things”, Styles elaborated. He also believes that the musical brings the audience vividly very close to the real scene at the Koppie. The story of Marikana has to be told on as
Son
many platforms as possible. It needs to reach as many people as it possibly can. It shows us what can go wrong if the state and capital are too cosy with one another. The theatrical play brings the book alive, and the book brings events of Marikana alive. To those who don’t love reading and prefer the performing arts, the musical is the right platform to
tell this story�, he adds. The final curtain call The last scene of Marikana: The Musical is overflowing with deep emotion. The cast play the characters of the remaining family members of the victims of the killings, explicitly portraying the effects of the deaths on their lives and
livelihood. The rest of the cast, the band members and the producers join them for the final bow. The crowd gives them a standing ovation, coupled with ululating and whistles. Most of them are sobbing and smiling at the same time. The mixed emotions are evident - a beautiful play, a very painful story.
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Reads recommended
Title: Gray Mountain Author: John Grisham Political thriller, suspense Description: America’s greatest storyteller brings us a new masterpiece of legal courage and gripping suspense - and his finest heroine since The Pelican Brief. Donovan Gray is ruthless and fearless. Just the kind of lawyer you need, deep in small-town Appalachia. Samantha Kofer is a world away from her former life at New York’s biggest law firm. If she is going to survive in coal country, she needs to start learning fast. Because as Donovan knows only too well, the mountains have their own laws. And standing up for the truth means putting your life on the line . . .
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Title: Undercover Author: Danielle Steel Romantic Suspense Description: Marshall Everett and Ariana Gregory are about to collide, and life will never be the same again. Marshall is an ex-undercover agent who has just survived the toughest assignment of his career amidst the jungles of Colombia, and is happy to put living in danger behind him. Then a routine job gone wrong shatters his world, and Marshall flees to Paris in search of peace. Ariana knows that as the daughter of an American Ambassador, her safety is always at risk. When one close call put her in more danger than ever, Ariana is relocated to Paris - but trouble is never far behind her. Paired together, both Marshall and Ariana must trust each other if they are to ever find freedom from their past...
Title: Purity Author: Jonathan Franzen Contemporary Fiction Description: Young Pip Tyler doesn’t know who she is. She knows that her real name is Purity, that she’s saddled with $130,000 in student debt, that she’s squatting with anarchists in Oakland, and that her relationship with her mother – her only family – is hazardous. But she doesn’t have a clue who her father is, why her mother chose to live as a recluse with an invented name, or how she’ll ever have a normal life. Enter the Germans. A glancing encounter with a German peace activist leads Pip to an internship in South America with the Sunlight Project, an organization that traffics in all the secrets of the world – including, Pip hopes, the secret of her origins. TSP is the brainchild of Andreas Wolf, a charismatic provocateur who rose to fame in the chaos following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now on the lam in Bolivia, Andreas is drawn to Pip for reasons she doesn’t understand, and the intensity of her response to him upends her conventional ideas of right and wrong. Jonathan Franzen’s Purity is a grand story of youthful idealism, extreme fidelity, and murder. The author of The Corrections and Freedom has imagined a world of vividly original characters – Californians and East Germans, good parents and bad parents, journalists and leakers – and he follows their intertwining paths through landscapes as contemporary as the omnipresent Internet and as ancient as the war between the sexes. Purity is the most daring and penetrating book yet by one of the major writers of our time.
Title: The Martian Author: Andy Weir Science Fiction, Adventure Description: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plainold “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
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ARTICLE
FROM INDIE TO PUBLISHED: Part 3
Self-Publishing experiences My
by Melissa Delport
In week one, I mentioned that I opted to self-publish my first book, The Legacy, while at the same time submitting to publishing house. In South Africa, it is not necessary to have an agent in order to submit to publishers. You can submit directly, however it is important that you submit only to the imprints that deal with your genre of book and that you adhere to the submission guidelines of each particular publishing house. The Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) has a concise list of publishers on their website. In the US and UK, however, publishers generally do not accept unsolicited manuscripts and in order to submit to these publishers, you first need to find representation in the form of a literary agent. I found an extensive list of U.S literary agents here: http://www. literaryrejections.com/us-literaryagencies but it is imperative that you visit each individual agent’s website in order to follow their prescribed submission guidelines. Self-publishing does not hurt your chances of being offered a publishing deal. In fact, publishers monitor the digital market and a surge of ebook sales can only increase your chances of being offered a publishing contract. Note: I am not talking a few hundred copies, I mean thousands of downloads. Tracey Gravis-Graves, who is a self-publishing success story, sold over 45000 copies of
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her book “On The Isalnd” in ten days, and proceeded to sell over 360,000 copies over a 6 month period before she was picked up by Penguin. Sadly, the same does not apply to the printed book. Outstanding sales in your own country mean very little and will not guarantee you an international offer, particularly if your book is geared toward your local market. It can take anything between 4 – 8 months before you can expect an answer from a mainstream publisher, although a negative response will come back a little quicker. If an editor feels your book is worthy of a publishing offer, they have to wait for the next acquisitions meeting, where they will pitch it to the department. At this stage a lot of discussion takes place and the job of the editor is to persuade everyone that to not make an offer would be the biggest mistake the company has ever made. Eighty per cent of the time a book gets shot to flames in this acquisition meeting. If it passes this stage, financials are done on the book – what to offer, expected sales projections, production costs, etc. Another 10% of books fall out at this stage. The remaining 10% get discussed again, in depth, and if everyone gives it the green light then an offer will be forthcoming. I would like to make mention of the importance of an editor here. Even if
you are not planning on self-publishing, but rather submitting to mainstream publishers, you should have your book edited. The capital outlay is well worth it, as the more polished your manuscript is, the more likely it is to be taken seriously by the publisher. When I submitted my manuscript to U.S agents, I was delighted to hear back from one in particular who said she felt that the project was commercially viable but that it required further editing and that should I choose to do this, she would reconsider her position and would be happy for me to resubmit. This book was the one project for which I used a vanity publisher and they would allow only one round of editing which, as discussed in Week 1 and 2, hindered the edit process. Obviously I would have jumped at the chance to be reconsidered, but as it so happened, I was offered a publishing contract for this trilogy and so I did not follow it up. In December 2013, I was signed by Tracey McDonald Publishers (http:// www.traceymcdonaldpublishers.com) in a 3-book deal for The Legacy Trilogy, which I originally self-published. I had contacted Tracey, ex Sales & marketing Director of Penguin SA, through her “I love Books” division (http://www. ilovebooks.co.za), hoping to possibly get some form of promotion or, at the very least, another review. I did not
think to submit to her publishing imprint – Tracey McDonald Publishers, because they specialized in non-fiction. I sent along a copy of The Legacy and waited to hear back, although I did not hold my breath. By this stage I had begun to realize that I was in for the long haul. I will never forget Tracey’s return email, which stated: “I have just finished your book, and to sum it up in one rather silly word, all I can say is ‘wow’. It is not even in the genre that I like to read, and yet I compulsively turned the pages to see what would happen next.” I may have printed that mail and framed it. What followed were a series of negotiations which ultimately led to a publishing contract. I count myself incredibly lucky that I have not only a publisher who believes in my book, but one that allows me to be involved in every step of the process, and takes my opinion into account. Next week, I will be discussing the importance of social media and how all writers, both traditionally and selfpublished need an online platform. ** originally published on Allaboutwritingcourses.com
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NOVEMBER 2015
Phuti Mahanyele