Cool Kgosi

I received a really nice surprise a couple of days ago. Kgosimontle the Bushman representative and interpreter I met at Parliament a few weeks ago (his other picture is further back on the Blog) sent me this picture of him holding the copy I sent to him. When I told him about Max's adventures in Namibia and how a San Bushman boy helps him survive in the wilderness, he was keen to read it. The Bushmen have a tradition going back thousands of years of telling stories around their camp fire, and of course it was from these traditions that I took the story of BaKoko, a shaman and shapeshifter - it was their tribal Dance of Blood that Max had to endure in the story. I hope my book is passed around as were tales of the great hunt in days gone by. I can't tell you how pleased I am to think of my book being read by a Bushman.

But I also know their days are still hard and difficult, they face an ongoing struggle to live where they choose. Survival International follows any progress being made. Cheers Kgosi.

Time to Play!

I've been sitting in this room for months - with an occasional blast out into the wide world to visit various schools and talk about Max Gordon and Danger Zone. It takes a long time (usually several months) to get the story in a fairly decent shape, so as any writer will tell you - you have to put your bum in the chair and keep going. But last Sunday was brilliant weather. As I live barely a few hundred metres from the River Dart, it was kayak on the car and down for a couple of hours R&R (Rest & Recuperation). Well, not much rest, but a great bit of exercise. Don't know if you can zoom in on this, (with a double-click) if you can you'll see me grinning - or is that gritted teeth just to keep going? Right, back to Chapter 25... Max Gordon is betrayed and ...