The International Writer's Magazine: Our Eleventh Year - December 2010 - Welcome

Destinations: Travel stories & guides

Opinion: Politics & Issues

Lifestyles: Ways of living

Thoughts In The Ceasing Rain: Jim-jil-bangs & Mountain Temples in South Korea - Fiona Marion Tonight I'm going to go to the jim-jil-bang, which is my favourite evening place to be during the rains. A jim-jil-bang is a Korean bath house. It is a very special experience An 18th century watch in Jaipur - Sumeet Lakhotia “Tu toh Hrithik Roshan dikhe hai” (You look like Hrithik Roshan). In India you always know which hero is ruling the roost based on beggars, especially hijras (transgenders) likening you to him Caodai Calling John M Edwards I had come to Vietnam to investigate a weird supernatural religion called Caodaism, an attempt to fuse the ideal faith, “a universal religion,” from a potboiled spiritual pho centered on Spiritism Rock of Ages: a first time trip to Gibraltar - Chris Mills Gibraltar was swelteringly hot. We should have expected heat - it was mid August after all Turkmenbashi’s Land of Fairy Tales - Tom Coote I got lost on my way to the land of fairy tales. I had confidently followed the road to the Promised Land, to find that it led to ruins The Importance of a Spoon David Russell Little did I know when leaving Mainland China’s Hung Hom Rail Station for Hong Kong, that a spoon would be my hero in what was obviously a Chop Stick city Jamaica - Once you go, you’ll know - Jennifer J. Beaumont You are on the run, in the midst of guerilla warfare, centuries before granola bars and beef jerky, up in the heavily wooded mountains, pimiento groves mostly, and, the pigs are plentiful Riga: The past meets the Future Ieva Lakute For 15 years it was my home. I have lived in England for over four years now and my image of Latvia has been put into a perspective Cloak & dagger in Cuba Ruby Weldon We wanted to see some Cuban countryside, so we decided to take a bus from Havana to Santa Clara, a trip of around 6 hours – give or take.

Citizen Health Care James Campion The new year will begin for the federal government in the courts, where the Health Care Law, derisively dubbed Obamacare, will be deconstructed and hammered about, as it should be. Spain Needs Statesmenship James Skinner Amidst campaign propaganda using porn, Pac Man computer games gobbling up illegal immigrants and one showing a man dressed as Mainland Spain running through the streets stealing the wallets of innocent bystanders Catalonian citizens finally went to the polls China in Jordan Marwan Asmar The China Products Fair has taken Amman by storm underlining Jordan's ability in attracting international business Spelling Words with Words Antonio Graceffo Here is a linguistic exercise for you. Try to spell the name of a famous person, using English words, rather than letters. For example Michael Huntington would be “my call hunt in ton” Brooklyn Nets and Nutz Dean Borok Make way for the next Sports Capital of the World, ladies and gentlemen, and I ain’t talkin’ about Rio de Janeiro or even freakin London, England. I’m talking about Brooklyn! Romance in the Euro Zone John M. Edwards Can't buy me love on the Reeperbahn. There has been a lingering suspicion that evil bankers attend multilateral gatherings more for the after-hours thrills than for the joy of listening to the setpiece speeches What future for Arts Degrees? Sam North It's not just fees that need that rethinking, courses need to be shaped around potential earnings.

Can and Can't in Casablanca Nichol Wilmor After a four-week teacher training course here I am in Casablanca ready to perform in the classroom — en principe at least. Fake Christmas Amanda Callendrier At a time when most of my neighbors and friends bustle about in the frenzy of mailing Christmas cards, choosing trees, and shopping for gifts, my mind is elsewhere Not So Pretty in Pink: A Mother’s Angst Over Princess Syndrome - Maija Barnett Not only is their princess obsession the main focus of their pretend play, but it raises its hairy tresses each morning when we get ready for school Meeting a Modern Day Che Ruby Weldon One tends to meet highly educated Cubans in the most unlikely places.  We were staying at a 'casa particular,' a Cuban bed and breakfast, in a small town known mostly for it's relaxed, convivial atmosphere.  My First Car Austin Muckinhaupt Sitting in Finck's Tire waiting area the first you notice is all the magazine's are about hunting.  Tumbleweed Journey Mia Efantis Russian thistle is what drove me to the Grand Canyon this time. That big, bushy weed you’ve seen bouncing across the silver screen in old western films.  Visiting Uncle Ho David Calleja Hanoi at 7am is buzzing. The narrow streets near Hoan Kiem Lake are alive with the sound of civilian life revving at full throttle. Horatio Quiroga's San Ignacio Marc d'Entremont San Ignacio probably would no longer exist if it were not for the ruins of the great Jesuit mission, San Ignacio Mini (1696-1768), a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts thousands of tourists each year Secrets of the Vatican Michelle Lynch I’m driving around in Rome, which is a nightmare under the best of circumstances, but when you’re trying to make a circle to get back to the right street you feel like pulling out your hair São Miguel's Volcanic Lakes Dene Bebbington A picture in a brochure was all it took. I had to go and see the Sete Cidades caldera.

FICTION plus

REVIEWS Plus

REVIEWS Film & Books

Resolution Tessa Foley So I sat there on my time and a half minutes. I sat in garish light and cool colours waiting for the night to end and the year to begin. It was misery, but there was nothing else to do. Revolution Starts at Dawn Nick Lewandowski Ramon chomped down on the end of his cigar. “Will your guerillas have plenty of coffee?” he asked. “Since they’ll be up so early?” Uncle Pringle & the Larsen Gang Martin Green “They’ve taken all my money,” said Mrs. Harrison.  “I don’t know what to do.  Can you help me?” My wife Ellen handed her a tissue.  Babbish Michael Batton Kaput Price turned over the corpse sprawled on the I-44. The body was a young woman's, slim, white and beautiful. She probably had the face of a prom queen, before her makeover with a .44 Magnum Golf Ball Head Tessa Foley I'm only my mother's girl right now. I stretch and yawn and I'm patted every morning and I grow a little more eyelid every day.

Frozen Out by Quentin Bates Robinson Publishing (27 Jan 2011) Sam North review This is the first in a brilliant new detective series set in Iceland and featuring police sergeant Gunnhildur of Hvalvik’s small police force.  A body found washed up on a beach at her fishing village sparks a nationwide investigation that grows in proportions and national importance Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer Callie Wallace Usually averse to military sagas, and certainly not expecting to be captivated by Pat Tillman’s story, I nonetheless decided to give this book a chance. After all, Krakauer’s other books are full of remarkable storytelling and compelling characters Sobre Las Olas and Latin Film Dean Borok review Of all the world’s language groups, the most fascinating and sophisticated film output derives from the Spanish-speaking countries of Europe and Latin America, with their diverse and unique historical experiences and cultural points of view Movies without frontiers in Asia Jules Kay Thailand attracted plenty of Hollywood stars in 2010 with some of next year's top movies being filmed in the Kingdom

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu Sam North review This a novel about the perfect time you will never have with the perfect girl you will never meet, in a life never lived in a time that never happened and a dog called Ed I Vitelloni Dan Schneider Sometimes, after achieving a certain level, an artist makes a slight regression before hitting the heights of greatness. Such an arc is apparent to me after having watched Federico Fellini’s 1953, black and white Neo-Realist film,I Vitelloni Sometimes it Takes a Death: Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona Tichaona Chinyelu review Drawing from the 1993 killing of Amy Biehl in apartheid-era South Africa, Mother to Mother, a novel by Sindiwe Magona, shares with us a different perspective Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith Nick Lewandowski review Here is a murder mystery set in a society where murder does not officially exist. Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 takes place in the Soviet Union in 1953, beginning in the final weeks of the Stalin era. A child’s mutilated body is found near a set of train tracks. The State calls it an accident, the child’s family insists it was murder.

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em and little fleas have lesser fleas ...ad infinitum Augustus de Morgan Share |	Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind   Site search Web search	Hackwriters exploring life or its approximation Want to submit something to us? go to submissions

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