tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361894013528096182024-03-13T15:10:10.021-07:00Stuart Campbell's BooksAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-17291285949817799822014-01-29T20:21:00.000-08:002014-04-06T03:41:38.721-07:00A new website for 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After a very busy blogging year in 2013, I've put Stuart Campbell's Books into mothballs and consolidated all my writing at <a href="http://www.stuartcampbellauthor.com/">Stuart Campbell author</a>.<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-89399726660842176472013-12-17T20:32:00.000-08:002013-12-17T20:39:30.441-08:00Never trust a geek!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xa-7j_Kjqm0/UrEmxVX_xeI/AAAAAAAAANM/ZcDDKSfVsig/s1600/lemon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xa-7j_Kjqm0/UrEmxVX_xeI/AAAAAAAAANM/ZcDDKSfVsig/s200/lemon.jpg" width="200" /></a>What happens when IT geeks get together on discussion sites? Here's a salutary lesson.<br />
<br />
Some months ago I bought a very beautiful and sleek ultrabook. I won't mention the brand, for reasons that will shortly become clear. It was a superb piece of engineering, except it wouldn't connect to my server for more than a few minutes at a time. Meanwhile I invested a couple of days setting it up, transferring files, setting passwords, and even switching my cloud storage to a system that the computer liked better. I assumed that the connectivity problem would settle down and that the time and the opportunity cost already sunk would be repaid in higher personal productivity.<br />
<br />
No such luck. <br />
<br />
After a week of gnashing, I took the thing back to the store, where it was tested and - of course - worked perfectly. I walked out of the store several hundred dollars down, clutching a new wireless modem; my new ultrabook was apparently far too advanced to work with my current modem, which quite easily serves two smartphones, a Mac, a PC, and various Kindles.<br />
<br />
The problem was 90% resolved with the server, so I was gnashing at only 10% of the previous rate. Oddly I got used to restarting the ultrabook three or four times a day to reset the wifi adaptor - this narky bit of evil electronica evidently being the problem.<br />
<br />
But enough was enough. A few weeks ago I started to haunt the online forums, where I found dozens of complaints about my XYZ Utrabook and the useless PQR chip that jokingly passed for the brains of this benighted piece of junk. There was a huge conspiracy in the tech department of XYZ and PQR: Why couldn't they just fess up and admit that the chip just couldn't hold a wifi connection? Who'd ever be so dumb to buy a XYZ ultrabook? I pondered over suggested fixes that entailed downloaded dangerous sounding patches from sinister looking sites, but I was always too scared to try them.<br />
<br />
I had to admit it. I had bought a lemon.<br />
<br />
But then I found that the PQR chip is used in lots of other brands of computer and - lo! - there are forums dedicated to slagging off every brand in the shop ... they are all lemons!<br />
<br />
I took a deep breath and went exploring inside the machine's system. I eventually found myself inside (metaphorically speaking) the wifi adaptor, where I discovered a button in the Power Management department; did I want to allow the ultrabook to turn off the wifi adaptor to save power? No, of course I didn't; everyone knows that computers that aren't bolted to desks are always shutting themselves down. "No!" I said (or pressed, actually) and the problem was instantly solved. Pity the guy in the store didn't know about this. And the geeks? Well, why find a solution when you can crowdgeek a problem?<br />
<br />
The lesson is, of course, the same one that applies to illness; if you think you're sick, don't read online forums.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-83562584472892572582013-11-24T21:48:00.002-08:002013-11-24T21:48:56.051-08:00Belated farewell to author and teacher Alex Auswaks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The name <strong>Alex Auswaks</strong> came up over dinner with friends this
week. The context was discontented adults, and I mentioned that I always
remembered a friend saying that once you get to twenty one, it's time to stop
blaming your parents for your troubles.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">T</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">hat friend was Alex Auswaks, my first linguistics teacher.
I hadn't seen him for nearly forty years, so later I googled him only to learn in
a brief </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Auswaks"><span style="font-size: large;">Wikipedia </span></a><span style="font-size: large;">entry that he passed away in Israel last April. I hadn't known
that he wrote detective novels and was shortlisted for several awards.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Alex taught on the Modern Languages degree at the
Polytechnic of Central London in the early seventies, along with a band of
characters straight out of Eccentric Casting Inc. He was rotund and
florid, and taught in baggy hand-knitted pullovers, speaking in posh Australian.
He had studied at The University of Sydney, but was born into the Russian
community in Tientsin in China.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">His instructional style was of the 'pontificate with a
sardonic smile' variety, and I do recall somebody telling me in later years
that he was an awful teacher. Well, he wasn't: He sparked in me a lifetime
fascination with linguistics, and he almost certainly played a part in my
getting a PhD and becoming a professor. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">His secret was to impart a fascination
for seminal books: Malinovski's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coral
Gardens and their Magic</i>, Levi-Strauss's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Structural Anthropology</i>, Chomsky's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aspects of the Theory of Syntax</i>. He made knowledge look interesting,
and I wanted to know what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i> knew, so
I devoured the books that he talked about. We became friends when I joined the circle
of students who met him most mornings in a cafe in Red Lion Square to discuss the
latest in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Monde </i>amid clouds of Gauloises smoke.
He liked to open a conversation with 'as my uncle Noam Chomsky said the other day
...' but then, perhaps Chomsky <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>
his uncle ...<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">My other teachers included Edgar Farag, the diminutive wrinkled
Copt who wore immaculate suits and smoked cigarettes as if they were scrumptious
food. There was a story that this urbane and charming Egyptian had made a good
deal of money by translating the Benson and Hedges advertising slogan 'Yes'
into Arabic. And there was Gerald Brooke, who had spent four years in a Soviet
prison camp until being returned home in a Cold War spy swap. He taught us Russian gulag
slang. Professor Peter Newmark, born as he told me in the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
was a lifelong inspiration. He tore me to shreds at a research seminar in the
nineties when I presented a silly pretentious paper at Surry University; good
on him. There was a summer term teacher who was supposed to teach us advanced Russian conversation, but instead lectured us on the painter Ilya Repin and showed us how to read between the lines of <em>Pravda</em>. The cast of characters who worked at the Poly deserve their own novel,
and I might write it one day. Their like could not be found in the standardised,
digitized, industrialised higher education systems of today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So a belated farewell, dear Alex Auswaks. I'd like to think
that you are reading one of your uncle Noam's books in some celestial coral
garden.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-88312735042078851812013-11-10T23:32:00.001-08:002013-11-10T23:32:12.118-08:00Would you like to be a character in my next novel?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=e12049f015&view=att&th=14245d539410961a&attid=0.1.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="GH" height="150" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=e12049f015&view=att&th=14245d539410961a&attid=0.1.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1" width="200" /></a> I've signed up two Beta readers for my novel <em>Forty Apple Trees</em>, and want to recruit at least four more. I plan to complete the book by mid-2014.<br />
<br />
What's a Beta reader? It's somebody who's prepared to read chapters of a novel in progress, and to give frank feedback. The author uses the feedback to fine tune the work.<br />
<br />
What's special about <strong>my</strong> Beta readers? They get to appear in a special chapter that I'll slip into the novel. The special chapter describes a lunch which one of my characters attends. The lunch is thrown by a writer who wants to thank his or her Beta readers in person. Naturally the party will turn out to be a disaster.<br />
<br />
To protect the reputations of my Beta readers I'll give you a pseudonym. I'll also ask your permission to quote bits of your comments in my social media posts leading up to publication, using your pseudonym.<br />
<br />
<em>Forty Apple Trees</em> will be published initially as an independent e-book under the editorial eyes of my fellow writers at <strong>That Authors Collective</strong>. If I'm lucky enough to get a mainstream publisher the Beta character chapter might be cut, but I'll still acknowledge you.<br />
<br />
So here's the deal: Let me know by the end of November if you are interested, and I will select four or possibly more Beta readers. I will send you up to three chapters a month in PDF format and ask you to email me comments within two weeks. If you respond to me at least three times during the writing of the book, then you'll get into my special chapter! <br />
<br />
This post is distributed via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so contact me through any of those media if you fancy being larger than life!<br />
<br />
<em>Forty Apple Trees</em> is a black comedy about a middle class family who slide into genteel criminality. I've posted a whole chapter that can be downloaded free at <a href="http://www.stuartcampbellconsulting.com/downloads/">http://www.stuartcampbellconsulting.com/downloads/</a> .<br />
<br />
You can also download <em>First Press</em> by That Authors Collective, a free sampler of our work that includes an extract from <em>Forty Apple Trees</em> at <u><span style="color: #0066cc;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/360625">https://www.smashwo</a><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/360625">rds.com/books/view/360625</a> .</span></u><br />
<br />
And not to forget of course <em>The Play's the Thing</em>, available for a mere $1.25 at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-44991184905979625272013-10-14T15:04:00.001-07:002013-10-14T15:15:48.410-07:00Mr Abbott, please get off your bike and learn an Asian language<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With new Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott freshly back from
his visit to Indonesia, I recalled my </span><a href="http://www.stuartcampbellconsulting.com/2013/02/26/why-the-bldy-hell-wont-language-policies-survive-australias-coming-election/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">blog
post</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> from February 2013 when I predicted that the ambitious language
policies of neither major party would survive the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">''We are supposed to be adapting to the Asian century, yet
Australians' study of foreign languages, especially Asian languages, is in
precipitous decline,'' Mr Abbottt </span></span><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/educators-cost-abbotts-asian-language-push-at-1-billion-20120511-1yi1a.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">said</span></span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> in May 2013, promising that forty percent of high school
students would be studying languages within ten years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the
election neared, we had the depressing news that the University of Canberra was
</span></span><a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/students-protest-language-loss-20130712-2ptkv.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">axing</span></span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> its languages program; would a Liberal victory turn the
decline around?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So imagine
my thrill recently when I checked the Liberal Party website and saw in the 'our
plan' drop-down menu the word 'languages', only to be crestfallen when I found
that these simply led to versions of 'our plan' in Arabic, Chinese, Greek,
Italian, Korean, and Vietnamese. Probing further into the list of 2013 policies
I searched in vain for some mention of language learning - Asian or otherwise.
Nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A</span>
dispiriting feature of Australia's political leadership is its dogged
monolingualism. Kevin Rudd was a rare exception, but Alexander Downer's sour </span><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/bit-of-a-downer-on-speaking-mandarin/2007/09/07/1188783466709.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">comments</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> about Rudd's Mandarin
skills in 2007 were perhaps symptomatic of an ingrained fear of stepping
outside the cosy sphere of English. What we lack in Australia is role models
and champions of bilingualism among our political leaders; multilingual </span><a href="http://www.financeminister.gov.au/biography.shtml"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Mathias Cormann</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
provides a possible spark of hope here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The distinguished Vice Chancellor Peter Høy warned of the
risks of a monolingual Australia in his recent </span><a href="http://www.lcnau.org/pdfs/Triebel2009.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">article</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Can We Afford to be Without Multilingualism?
A Scientist’s Lay Perspective.</i> Høy's paper is especially important because
he is not a languages cheer leader defending a funds-starved university course,
but a scientist articulating a commonsense case based on his personal and
professional experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If Mr Abbott's cycling activity is as extensive as the
current travel expenses furore seems to indicate, then our PM might want to
devote some pedal time to studying an Asian language. Does the PM want to be
seen as a sportsman or a statesman? I thought hard to come up with world
leaders who flaunt their athleticism and could only come up with Vladimir
Putin, topless horseman and wrestler of monster fish. But as Putin demonstrated
at a judo contest in Vienna in 2010, he </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqAFO7RJeg"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">can make a speech in English</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> be a sport fanatic at the same
time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So will Mr Abbott lope across the world stage as yet
another rusted-on Australian adherent of English or bust, or will he adopt a
more urbane and diplomatic persona? Could he become a role model for those
thousands of school children who may (or may not) study languages within a
decade?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here are my language learning tips for the PM:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Choose Indonesian: You don't have to learn a new
script and you can learn some basics quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Start with a few hours of study a week, but be
modest in your expectations; you're too busy to develop more than elementary
skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Skim the Indonesian press online when you have spare
minutes, and paste the headlines into Google Translate. Soon you'll be able to
read some simple sentences unaided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have someone write some simple speeches for you,
and learn to read them aloud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you visit a school where Indonesian is taught,
make a speech in Indonesian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you are next at an official function in
Indonesia, make a short speech in Indonesian; you can rehearse it beforehand
and simply read it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mr Abbott, it's that simple for you to give language
learners in Australia the mainstream role model they need and at the same time to
hone your image as a statesman. Just get off your bike!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">© Stuart Campbell<br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download THAT Authors Collective free sampler <em>First Press</em> at </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective">https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-83615409806938505612013-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:002013-10-12T18:42:43.232-07:00On not being No.1, and a glimpse of deity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am still floating in space, having seen <em>Gravity</em> last night. I am content at last to know that God looks like George Clooney, and that I will never refer to Sandra Bullock as Sandra B****cks again after her literally stellar performance. I thought until now that <em>Solaris</em> (the 1972 Soviet original) was the best space movie ever made, but I think I'm drifting weightlessly towards this new film. The only thing that's holding me back is the divine ending to <em>Solaris</em>: What do you think?<br />
<br />
Meanwhile back on Earth, I was startled to receive an email from an e-book retailer a few months ago that listed things I might like to read. My book was at No.1! I checked my sales over the next few days and didn't notice any dramatic rise in my trajectory to literary stardom, and forgot about it. Some weeks later I got a similar email, checked again, found no noticeable improvement, and forgot about it again.<br />
<br />
Then a writing friend received a similar email. She wrote to me in excitement and I checked my sales - again no effect. And yesterday she got the same email, I checked, and no result. I had no option but to conclude that this must be a wicked artifice of the company's marketing engine. Some Heath Robinsonish gormogon has figured out that I actually wrote my own book and that my friend actually bought it and we have been linked in some diabolical concrete bunker next to a hydro electric dam in Alaska that cools the data centres that churn our writing, our souls and our relationships into trite junk emails.<br />
<br />
Or perhaps someone up there is thinking about me?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">© Stuart Campbell<br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download THAT Authors Collective free sampler <em>First Press</em> at </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective">https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-29484075318557609382013-10-07T02:05:00.001-07:002013-10-07T02:05:21.663-07:00Book club and public reading: A big thank you, and a special present<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week your faithful blogger exposed all, facing the sophisticated and intelligent members of the Highgate Book Club and reading to the literati and cultural denizens of the Balmain Institute. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For an indie author, nothing substitutes for generous and critical feedback, and the chance to show one's writing to an audience of book lovers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks so much for your feedback and generosity. You've spurred me on to greater things. And thanks to my mates Sarah, Garry and Helena of THAT Authors Collective, who read with me at Balmain on 3 October.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a thank you gift, I've copied below my latest, <em>amour</em> scene. I've striven to pare it back to the absolute basics of inference and obfuscation:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Thea sat up, flushed and tousled, and
pulled the covers around her.<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>I laid back and mentally smoked a Gauloise.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">© Stuart Campbell<br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download THAT Authors Collective free sampler <em>First Press</em> at </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective">https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/THATAuthorsCollective</a></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-70350199352031061692013-09-24T01:41:00.000-07:002013-09-24T01:41:32.651-07:00First Press: Download free sample of writing by Stuart Campbell and friends at THAT Authors Collective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oPBJmp51ZFQ/UkFPetRPGSI/AAAAAAAAAKU/Onxs3q1zu80/s1600/FirstPressCover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oPBJmp51ZFQ/UkFPetRPGSI/AAAAAAAAAKU/Onxs3q1zu80/s320/FirstPressCover1.jpg" width="240" /></a>
THAT Authors Collective has published <em>First Press</em>, a free downloadable ebook of samples of our writing. You can download it <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/360625">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Our collective comprises Sydney writers Helena Ameisen, Sarah Bourne, Stuart Campbell and Garry McDougall. We came together in 2013 as a breakaway group from the <em>Write On!</em> writers group founded by Sarah under the umbrella of the NSW Writers Centre in Sydney.<br />
<br />
By some alchemy that none of us can explain, we found common cause – a speech pathologist, a tour operator, a professor of linguistics and a counsellor. <br />
<br />
What binds us is an addiction to writing and a conviction that four brains are better than one when it comes to literary and technical quality. <br />
<br />
<em>First Press</em> features extracts of published and unpublished works, ranging from Helena's poignant memoir of an Egyptian marriage, Sarah's story of love and tragedy set in England and Uganda, Garry's tales of Australian historical mayhem, and Stuart's quirky story of genteel criminality. <br />
<br />
Read. Enjoy. Seek out our members’ works at our websites and associated events.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">© Stuart Campbell<br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-58874951384495883202013-09-12T23:59:00.002-07:002014-01-29T17:01:34.240-08:00Sydney author develops mild case of aptronymia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-33897174937094982292013-09-06T15:41:00.000-07:002013-09-06T15:41:30.316-07:00Surviving the 'how to vote' card line<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This little extract from my novel <em>The Play's the Thing</em> might be of help today:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">One
of the rituals of Australian elections is dealing with the how-to-vote card. On
polling day the voters must run the gauntlet of half a dozen or so party
workers handing out the cheap coloured flyers that contain instructions on how
to fill out the ballot paper so that preferences are properly directed
according to the wishes of each party. The atmosphere around the polling
stations is generally cheerful but purposeful; the party workers often look
slightly embarrassed, and they spruik in a half-hearted way that ensures that
nobody disturbs anyone else. A gent dressed for an afternoon stroll will
say from the corner of his mouth “Vote Green, keep the Libs out.” as if he is
in training to sell copy watches. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">For the voter
there is a dilemma, solved through three different strategies. For the
committed 'I've voted XYZ all my life and I don't care who knows' voter, the
routine is to approach the line confidently while spying out their party
person, and to walk directly up to them without showing any awareness of the
existence of the other party persons. Our voter takes the how-to-vote card and
the deed is done. For the 'it's my flaming business who I vote for' person, the
trick is to pass along the entire line stony faced, taking a paper from each
party, although even this voter might baulk at the most rabid party and
decline their how-to-vote card. The 'haven't made my mind up yet' person is in
the third category. This voter passes along the line looking nervously between
the face of the party official and their paper, taking some and declining
others, until they emerge at the end with a random collection of how-to-vote
cards. With one of these strategies implemented, the rest is between the voter
and the ballot paper inside the cardboard voting booth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© Stuart Campbell</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-74679656664628103402013-09-03T05:10:00.000-07:002013-09-06T14:32:01.413-07:00That Authors Collective: Public reading, Balmain, Sydney, 3 October 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Balmain Institute has generously offered to hold a public reading by </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Helena Ameisen, Stuart Campbell, Sarah Bourne and Garry McDougall</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
of <em>That Authors Collective</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Details: doors open 6.30pm for 7pm start, Thursday, October 3, 2013, Balmain
Town Hall Meeting Room, behind Balmain Library, Darling St, Balmain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>That Authors Collective</em></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> was established to pool our expertise in the
artistic and technical aspects of writing to ensure that our output is as good
as it can possibly be. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>TAC</em></span>
is a spin-off from the <em>Write On!</em> group of the <a href="http://www.nswwc.org.au/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">NSW Writers
Centre</span></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stuart Campbell</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is an
ex-academic writing about middle class characters falling into criminality. His
current novel, The Play’s the Thing<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">,</span> is available as an e-book on Kindle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah Bourne</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is a
counsellor writing on women’s struggles around social and psychological
disadvantage. Her current novel is Never Laugh at Shadows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Helena Ameisen</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is a speech
pathologist writing on cultural and religious conflict & harmony, in her
soon-to-be published memoir, Forbidden Territory<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Garry McDougall</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is a
photographer exploring the uneven battles of race, personal ambitions and
historical forces. His recent works include Belonging, Forgetting and
Remembering<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>and Pilgrimage
(five e-books on Spain and France), available at <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.smashwords.com</span></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Please RSVP <span style="color: blue;">garimac9@icloud.com</span><span style="color: #0000f7;">
</span>02 9810 3695</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To read the authors' work before the event,
go to<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.garrymcdougall.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.garrymcdougall.com</span></a></span><span style="color: #0000fc;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.smashwords.com</span></a> <</span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.smashwords.com</span></a></span><span style="color: #0000fc;">> (for <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Pilgrimage</span>,
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Belonging </span>and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Forgetting and Remembering</span>)</span><span style="color: #0000fb; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/535976469757492" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.facebook.com/groups/<wbr></wbr>535976469757492</span></a> <</span><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/535976469757492" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>groups/535976469757492</span></a></span><span style="color: #0000fb; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">> /</span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://stubooks.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://stubooks.blogspot.com.<wbr></wbr>au/</span></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span><span style="color: #0000fb;"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #780000;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br /></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br /></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-87418139376645916722013-08-23T04:40:00.001-07:002014-01-29T17:02:39.437-08:00Thought followers find true romance in key deliverables!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-83525836745728098512013-08-11T21:13:00.001-07:002014-01-29T17:03:02.525-08:00Folk publishing – you heard about it here first!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-22343709708645904952013-07-27T22:32:00.000-07:002014-01-29T17:03:26.324-08:00Time to fall out of love with the Nazis?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-22626978126625857902013-07-22T00:10:00.000-07:002013-07-22T00:10:56.165-07:00Extract from a novel in progress: Forty Apple Trees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UakoQFUIt9g/UeXwVJIhBVI/AAAAAAAAAIs/TVVZXdXMW9w/s1600/stu+with+cap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UakoQFUIt9g/UeXwVJIhBVI/AAAAAAAAAIs/TVVZXdXMW9w/s200/stu+with+cap.JPG" title="" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author at work*</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The manuscript of my second novel</em> Forty Apple Trees <em>is well under way. My fellow writers at</em> That Authors Collective<em> (see side panel story) are giving me feedback; it's tremendous to have the support of a small network of colleagues who aren't afraid to frankly critique your work. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forty Apple Trees <em>is a darkly comic story about the descent of a middle class family into criminality. Unlike</em> The Play's the Thing<em>, this novel is set in England and drawn entirely from imagination (well, perhaps). I plan to release an e-book version in 2014. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Below is an extract from the opening chapter. Let me know if it piques your interest!</em></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You get used to prison after a while. You look forward to
the dreary food because there’s nothing else to eat. You forget the smell of
the place - urine, cigarette smoke and bleach - because there's nothing else to
smell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Someone like me becomes invisible after a few weeks. There
was the initial curiosity from some men who were frightening and pathetic at
the same time, but they soon became bored with me; we came from different
social universes, we didn't speak the same argot and I wasn’t <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>young enough to be the plaything of some thug
with a big hairy belly. I fell in with a group of other misfits, among whom the
common factor was that we were educated to a level that would be measured in
the stratospheric in comparison with the rest of our fellows. The four of us ate
together, exercised together and always tried to appear as no more than four
smudges on the wall. My three friends were all in for financial fraud of one
variety or another. Me, well I was in a different league altogether. We had
fourteen university degrees among us - I say had, because one day the oldest of
us didn't wake up, died of a brain aneurysm during the night, and we were down
to eleven degrees and three smudges. <o:p></o:p></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here I am then, stuck for quite a few years in gaol in a
forlorn field in the Midlands, miles from the pretty cathedral town where Thea
and I broke the mold cast for us by family, school, university, and the law of
the land. Here I am, forty, getting portly on cheap stodge, half way through an
online bachelor of something or other that I don't need except as an antidote
to brain rot, and becoming even more vastly overqualified for my prison job as
mopper of floors and duster of handrails.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two years earlier ...<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
It was a summer Saturday, Thea's day, when she would absent
herself from the house while I ran William and Zita from one sporting or
artistic activity to another, using the wait times to park the car and jog
around a convenient park. The family reformed late in the afternoon on the back
lawn, me in my running gear making mocktails on the garden bench, and Zita
climbing over Thea and sniffing her neck and wrists, guessing the names of the
perfumes she'd sampled at the shopping mall in the New Town. The baby sitter
was booked for seven, and I had already called Rima at the shop three times to
make sure that all was well. All fine, Rima said, not bad for a Saturday. I
pushed aside the little niggle of anxiety; I wasn’t looking forward to letting
Rima go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thea looked lovely, lounging in the deckchair in a white
summer dress against her tanned skin, sipping a green drink piled high with
orange fruit, a woman of forty at the peak of her dark mature beauty. She
didn’t look like any of the university lecturers I’d been taught by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d booked the restaurant and I had a small
piece of expensive jewelry secreted in my linen suit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We fed the children at the big table in the kitchen, the
afternoon breeze bringing the scent of roses from the tiny walled garden that
Thea had claimed as her territory. A little plaque on the doorway said ‘No
children past this point’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At six the
neighbour’s daughter arrived to take over William and Zita, and we retreated to
the bedroom.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I never tired of watching Thea getting ready for a night
out: The expensive unguents and delicate implements of beautification, dressing
and undressing as she approached – by some logic I didn’t understand – the
final choice of outfit; trying on heels and swirling her hips in front of the
mirror. And finally the laying out of jewelry, matching the pieces with clothes,
bag, shoes, make-up, mood, occasion. But tonight was somehow different. She
seemed curiously animated, nervous, like a cat before a thunderstorm. I
showered, lounged on the bed in a robe and watched her begin the ritual at the
dressing table, but she said “Get dressed and come back later. I don’t want you
watching me.” I tried a clumsy manouevre, sidling up to her and kneading her
shoulders, but she stiffened, raised her hands like semaphore flags and said
“Just go”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Downstairs the children were playing with the babysitter’s
body piercings. She taken her nose stud out and William was prodding it with a
spoon. Zita was trying to get one of the teenager’s earrings into her unpierced
lobe. “Can we all wash our hands after this game please?” I said. I hung around
in the garden reading the paper until it was ten minutes before the arrival of
the taxi and then went upstairs. I knocked gently on the bedroom door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "Not long." she said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a minute I knocked again and gingerly pushed the door.
Thea did a swirl for me and I was transfixed by the dress - the muted sheen of
the fabric, the deep harmony of magenta and charcoal grey, the way it hugged
her body like a second skin, accentuating the lines of her shoulders and legs.
I must have had my mouth open because she said “No need to look like a
goldfish. What do you think, gold or silver jewelry with it?” I recovered
myself: “Silver of course, something discreet.” Thea said: “Right answer,
clever boy”, and kissed me deeply.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While she chose the jewelry I saw the glossy carrier bag. As
the owner of a select bookshop in the most upmarket shopping street of a
wealthy cathedral town, I know that you don’t buy a Jules Hector in British
Home Stores. “I’ll just check whether the taxi’s here.” I said. I went into the
vestibule and stabbed my phone to log on to our credit card account – no sign
of a thousand pound purchase. Thea caught me up: “Stop fiddling with that
phone. This is our anniversary dinner. In fact I want you to leave it at home.”
I made a face but she gently took the phone from me with one hand and slid the
other inside my jacket, caressing my chest: “Just leave it.”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">©</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Stu</span>art Campbell</div>
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">* Actually, the photograph was taken in John Knox's House in Edinburgh.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime you can enjoy <em>The Play's the Thing</em>! It's available as an e-book on Amazon at <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0"><span style="color: #b92300; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-12709866089984776692013-07-12T14:16:00.001-07:002013-07-12T14:16:14.891-07:00Download The Play's the Thing free on Kindle this weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-4307330491367333752013-07-11T23:11:00.000-07:002014-01-29T17:04:13.668-08:00On wearing socks with sandals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-6553678280983584502013-07-04T13:04:00.000-07:002014-01-29T17:04:32.043-08:00How I learned to love the shockjocks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span><br />
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-31146577980933797122013-06-23T13:21:00.000-07:002013-06-23T13:21:44.149-07:00ABC's The Drum publishes one of my blog pieces<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
See http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4771612.html - especially the very interesting responses.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-69134804875563544342013-06-16T11:16:00.001-07:002014-01-29T17:04:53.707-08:00On becoming a butcher in Paris<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span><!--EndFragment--></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-24785298249822150582013-06-14T08:36:00.000-07:002013-06-14T08:36:10.523-07:00Feedback on my Vietnam piece - heartfelt thanksI have been really gratified at the thoughtful and universally supportive comments on my post about the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. My faith in human nature has been ever so slightly restored, despite the daily onslaught of muck from the Australian political scene.<br />
<br />
My <i>stubooks</i> blog posts go out on Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Please keep reading, whichever medium you see me on, and I'll try to keep writing pieces that (I hope) will stimulate thought, that precious commodity that our leaders seem bent on turning into knee-jerk responses to ever more banal stimuli.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-80331010167340727592013-06-10T13:17:00.001-07:002014-01-29T17:05:15.656-08:00134 reasons why war reporting should not be censored<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-28931191896112069502013-05-30T00:17:00.000-07:002014-01-29T17:05:44.264-08:00How I learned to love my loathsome literary character!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-55810288302472008572013-05-22T19:53:00.000-07:002013-05-22T20:32:17.582-07:00Why do Danish movies have so much grunt?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My last post ended with a quiz. This time I’m starting with
one:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Q: What is <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">stød ?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">a)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Reindeer
meat jerky</span><span lang="EN"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">b)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A Norwegian male porn star <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">c)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A sacred mountain in Norse mythology<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">d)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A suburb of Copenhagen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">e)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">None of the above<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Watch out for the answer later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s been Danish week at our place. I watched last week’s
episode of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i> on catch-up last Tuesday,
the next episode ‘live’ on Wednesday and then Mads Mikkelsen in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hunt</i> at the movies on Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i> has a
pretty standard TV political drama plot: Against all expectations, politician <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Birgitte Nyborg<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becomes Denmark’s Prime Minister, forming a
centrist coalition by outsmarting the smarmy veterans of the left and right.
Each week she steers a nifty course, never succumbing to venality, coming home
occasionally to her impossibly patient house husband, who has drawn up a
lovemaking schedule (I sense that there is a story arc beginning here). I
flinched a tiny bit at her rapid conversion to the Greenland cause and the slightly
mawkish day-in-a minute scene where she tours the island learning about the
troubles of the inhabitants; we see her talking earnestly to poor Inuit fishermen,
windbeaten housewives, and other unfortunates, with no words audible behind the
musical score. But I’m hanging out for next week!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The feature film<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Hunt</i> is a lot grimmer: Lucas, a
teacher, lives in a small conservative village. When the school closes down, he
takes a job at the kindergarten, but is accused of sexual misconduct towards a
small girl. I won’t spoil it for you, but watch out for performances in a film
that had me welded to my seat; I especially loved Alexandra Rapaport as the
immigrant girlfriend who can see through the hypocrisy and blockheadedness of
the villagers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So what’s special
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hunt</i>? And for that matter
my top-of-the-list Danish films <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Celebration</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Open Hearts</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brothers</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pusher</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The easy answer
is Mads Mikkelsen, but of course he’s not in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i> Danish movie. The next easy answer is directors Susanne Bier
and Lars von Trier, but there are other Danish film directors too. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My yardstick for
analysing non-English language cinemas is to ask the question ‘How would
Hollywood have made this film’. For example try watching Wim Wenders’ divine <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wings of Desire</i> and then gag on the US
remake <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City of Angels</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I suspect that
the answer here might be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">patience</i>:
Danish film makers seem to have a keen sense of restraint in the way that strong
emotional content is delivered. Watch out for the scenes of violence in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hunt</i>; you’ll be caught unawares. I
don’t think a US director would have credited their audience with that much
patience. Or watch the subtly handled reaction of the kindergarten teacher when
she is told of the sticky details of the alleged offense; I’m sure a US
director would not have been able to resist a full-face shot of horror and a
bit of vomit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pusher</i> (yes, Mads Mikkelsen again) the
bungling drug pushers owe money to gang boss Milo, played by the brilliant
Zlatko Buric; violence oozes beneath the surface and you shiver at the
sociopathic Milo’s feigned affection for the terrified Frank and Tonny. Somehow
I think our sorry lads would have had their asses kicked much earlier in the US
remake (Heaven forbid that it will happen!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i> and the quiz. Having said such
complementary things about Danish movies, I have to confess that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i> doesn’t actually come up to the
mark. To use the Hollywood test, there are equally good or much better US TV
series, such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The West Wing</i>. So why
does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i> get under my skin? I have
a suspicion that it is actress Sidse Babett Knudsen’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>enchanting stød. Whoops, I forgot to say that
the correct answer to the quiz is (e), none of the above.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you listen
carefully to Danish, you’ll hear frequent little grunts or ‘creaky voice’ as
linguists call it, a pronunciation feature known as stød. This is strictly
speaking a suprasegmental<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>feature, that
is a little overlay of sound used to distinguish meanings. So while, the Danish
words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hun</i> (she) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hunt</i> (dog) are pronounced with the same
consonants and vowels, the dog word carries a little grunt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m intrigued by this example, and I wonder
if it is a source of mother in law jokes in Denmark. The rules for using stød
are terrifyingly complex and would deter any foreigner from ever attempting to
speak the language authentically (or acquiring a Danish mother in law). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They all do it:
Mads and his brother Lars stød like champions. For all I know the
Tasmanian-born Mary Crown Princess of Denmark practices it in a gilded mirror
nightly, and has nightmares about grunting in the wrong places at balls. But no
one gives stød so minxily as Sidse Babett Knudsen playing Birgitte Nyborg . <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So let’s get to the heart of it: I’ve fallen in love with
Prime Minister <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Birgitte Nyborg ‘</span>s
grunt. I can excuse the holes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borgen</i>’s
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plot, the lack of patience, the
full-face emotion shots and even the soft focus Inuits: Just give me my weekly
dose of Birgitte and her <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">stød!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #333333;">Buy Stuart's e-book novel 'The Play's the Thing' for US$1.25 with one click at </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMIF0J0</a></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536189401352809618.post-6652006306636867492013-05-15T02:13:00.000-07:002014-01-29T17:06:26.573-08:00From Bandicoot Ridge to Nicosia’s Green Line with a detour via Byron Bay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post has been edited and included in my new Kindle e-book anthology 'Becoming a Butcher in Paris and other short essays'.</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07086654384782656748noreply@blogger.com0