The International Writer's Magazine: Our Tenth Year - MAY 2009 - Welcome

Destinations: Travel stories & guides

Opinion: Politics & Issues

Lifestyles: Ways of living

Finding Joy in Sucre Mark Kennedy How a backpacker couple turned a local watering hole into a nationally known restaurant and tour company Beautiful Bonn Marianne de Nazareth My invitation to the UNFCCC conference on Climate Change had me scuttling around for my visa at the last minute Cut Price Kilimanjaro Loree Westron Half way up Kilimanjaro I found myself abandoned, first by the fleet-footed porters, then by my guide, and finally by my own mother. Beyond the Valley of the Hippies Andy Redwood How easily the spell of civilization is broken, and how easily this void is filled. In Taghazoute a few yards walk suffice to carry you away, the hustle of a weekend market immediately fading to cactus strewn hills... That Kid could sure eat David Russell We were headed from Los Angeles to Islamabad, Pakistan, with a planned stop in Manchester... Fear of Flying - Bucket Shop Blues John M. Edwards John M. Edwards tries a risky “bucket shop” for cheapo airfare to Amsterdam, ending up on a white-knuckles charter flight from hell. A Long Farewell to Oz Tabytha Towe Landing in Australia I knew immediately there was a special voyage ahead of me... A Lesson Within the City Walls Beth A. Prazenica in China "Friends, my friends, you are welcome. Acceptance, support. That is all I understand," our tour guide declares Contrasts in Canada Jane Anderson There were no cowboys at Calgary Airport...important to travellers like us, whose total experience of Canada was gleaned from books in which the Mountie always got his man.

Power Grab Dean Borok The U.S. press corps is pathetically myopic. They have the depth and consistency of processed cheese slices, knowing nothing of American history and even less than nothing about the lessons of world history The Century Mark James Campion on Obama's first 100 days + Readers Responses Latin Love Dean Borok One thing I enjoy is reminding people of inconvenient things that they have done that they would prefer to ignore. Should the Aid plug to Africa be pulled out? A critical response Ronald Elly Wanda Dambisa Moyo with her new book Dead Aid: How Aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa, has become a star The Bodyguard of Aung San Suu Kyi David Calleja Injustice takes place in Burma every day, I know that I am safe in Australia, but I cannot forget what has happened to me Some New Concept of Home Megan Welch We ended up together in Madrid from different schools, for different reasons. Some of us to escape our university campuses, some to seek adventure... A Rare Wildflower Floyd Frank When I first came to the Northwest at the age of twenty I was introduced to lots of animals and plants that I had never seen. Marmots, mountain goats, skunk cabbage, blue grouse … Ticket Please Paul Haire The huge New Delhi train station towers ahead of me but before I reach that I have to cross the ocean of bright yellow auto rickshaws that form a fat snake on the road in front of me

Last of the Mohicans James Skinner I asked my wife if she thought going back to college in the UK was a good idea. ‘Send me a postcard,’ she answered without hesitation New York Manners Dean Borok New York City has got the loudest, pushiest women in the world How to make sense in the Caribbean John M. Edwards The General was running down the beach like an Olympic athlete on steroids, closely pursued by two policemen, who tackled the General and handcuffed him. As they hauled him away, he bawled out, "I’m innocent!" Putting in Earth Time Christina Baldwin      My main spiritual practice this past weekend has been largely focused on gardening. Humanity or Bust: Why the Carbon Footprint Threatens More Than Just the Future - Benjamin Frew I would like to declare that it is a statement of personal opinion and not a carefully deducted and objectively reached conclusion Sessions with Sigmund James Morford It was to Freud’s Vienna home/office that in October of l934, a 28 year old American psychiatrist, Doctor Joseph Wortis, came to begin a 4 month "didactic psychoanalysis" (teaching analysis) with the 77 year old Freud. T.S. Eliot Goes to London Sitting in a room when in comes some guy brandishing a syringe and shouting, ‘yum yum yum’. Everyone gets up and screams but I’m thinking hang on a minute this is silly Who's afraid of History? Rama Varma The other day, as I was idly surfing channels, I chanced upon a historical film about the British invasion of Zululand.

FICTION plus

More Reviews

REVIEWS Film & Books

Come to the 29th Winchester Writers' Conference July 3rd/4th 2009 - www.writersconference.co.uk Still time to book a place and meet authors & agents and 600 writers in one venue Joe the Bear Adam Graupe Joe, a 500-pound Brown Bear, worked for Pine Tech Incorporated. He plodded away from the time clock, down the hallway and slumped down into the chair in his cubicle. It Was Just Another Manic Monday Randall W. Pretzer It was just another day at work she thought. A typical Monday. No customers. She had four more hours before her shift ended. It was days like these that she begged for a customer. Events of the Day Martin Green The alarm rang. 6:45. Arnold Gray reached over and turned it off. His wife Mary stirred slightly but remained asleep. How many days since they’d done it now? 23 and counting. Seeking Happiness Maria Dastolfo It wasn’t like someone drawing the words on your back with a finger while you tried to spell it out in your head. I was definitely trying to spell out the words in my head, "Seek Happiness" A Junk Story Aram McLean The man who opened the building’s front door for us looked to be in his late eighties. Grizzled whiskers sprouted from a lined face beneath a black old-fashioned cap. Bill and I stepped up to shake his hand. Taxicabs and Burger Vans Steve Slatter I still wake up with a start whenever I hear a door slam in the dead of night. I listen without breathing for as long as I can, hoping I won’t detect the diesel throb of a taxi drawing up, or hear a familiar deep voice asking to go to the Central Rail Station The Positive of Negative Karen Murray Gow Bang, bang, thud, "hurry up," a deep satanic voice bellows from the other side of the toilet door. Squatting over the stench, of the well soiled bowl, pigeon toed around an incontinent puddle; I manage to un-wrap the stick.

Let the Right One In Directed by Tomas Alfredson Aby Davis review Something spooky has come over me, in recent months I have found myself cautiously peering into the genre of horror and being pleasantly thrilled with the results. Weighing it up by Ali Valenzuela Alana Hebenton review Weighing it up follows Ali Valenzuela’s frank account of being anorexic with diary extracts, from her point of view when she was suffering from the disease The Collected Stories Of Carson McCullers Dan Schneider In reading The Collected Stories Of Carson McCullers I was expecting good, and possibly great, things. After all, her first published novel, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is a near great novel. The Texas Stories Of Nelson Algren Dan Schneider Reading The Texas Stories Of Nelson Algren, a 1995 book from The University Of Texas Press, and edited and introduced by Bettina Drew, was an odd experience because a) the quality of the tales was very hit and miss and b) the book was not really a book, at all Aung San Suu Kyi: The Voice of Hope by Alan Clements - Ebury Press - Reviewed by David Calleja The political, social and economic tragedy that exists in present day Burma is a permanent stain on humanity. Burma is a prison within a prison

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness Walker Books - Pub May 2009 Sam North review The sequel to the award winning 'Knife of Never letting go' continues to be highly original, brilliant writing about Todd and Viola's struggle to survive against Mayor Prentiss's vicious army in a world filled with vivid intense frontier people clinging to life and honour in total insanity. Stunning reading for all. Star Trek (2009) Dan Cann review I held my breath waiting for lots of exposition and a plodding story but was pleasantly surprised when the film unrolling before me became a fast-paced, action-packed, adrenalin rush Gran Torino Directed and Starring Clint Eastwood Michael Webb v Josef Fiser reviews Two reviewers fight it out over the new Clint Eastwood movie Bonechiller by Graham McNamee Sam North review Bonechiller is an exciting Canadian thriller about an ice monster that stings and steals children that is pretty damn scary and all too real

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em and little fleas have lesser fleas ...ad infinitum - Augustus de Morgan

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