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February 27, 2008
Four Weddings and a Fanta
I got married again on Sunday. Keith tells the story in today's post Four Weddings and a Fanta.
Posted by sahelsteve at 01:04 PM
February 26, 2008
Pancake Plot Jigsaw
The Albino Camel jigsaw was well-received so here's a 'Sophie and the Pancake Plot' jigsaw.
Click on the link below, and when prompted click on Open/Run.
Caveat: Mac users will find they are unable to open the file. Sorry.
Posted by sahelsteve at 05:28 PM
February 21, 2008
Hacking Timbuktu taster
Extract from a work in progress - Hacking Timbuktu - a parkour and hacking fest set in London and Timbuktu.
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At the point where the bridge crossed the embankment walk, Danny Temple stopped, stood up on the rail, swung his arms and jumped. The time in the air, 'hang-time' as his teacher called it, was as euphoric as ever.
The huge antique lamppost did not even sway when Danny landed on it. He adjusted his grip, slid down, landed lightly on the concrete footpath and ran. Pedestrians on the bridge gasped in admiration. Adrenalin coursed through Danny's body. Obstacles stretched out in front of him, all of them surmountable.
The embankment walk is parkour paradise - along its length are walls, railings, steps, hedges, bollards and trees. Open your mind to parkour vision; flow like water over your course. Kong vault, dash vault, tic-tac, kash vault, cat pass, gap jump, dismount, drop. Your will chooses your path, your feeling guides you, your energy propels you.
Parkour is not so very different from hacking. The traceur and the hacker both require special techniques, special vision. Both move freely to surpass the barriers erected by man to enclose and restrict. The electron jungle of cyberspace and the concrete jungle of the city are both there for the exploring - there for the overcoming. As far as Danny is concerned, parkour and hacking are about one thing only: freedom.
Danny resists any big gap jumps on the embankment path. Big jumps mean hard landings so you need to dissipate the shock with a forward roll - left forearm, upper back, lower back, right foot - 'la roulade' as his teacher calls it. An important technique but hardly laptop-friendly. Today the smaller, more technical jumps will have to do.
He is approaching Battersea High Street. He runs full pelt towards the apartment block on the corner, kicks up off the wall, reaches for the railing of a first-floor balcony, pulls himself up, hops onto the rail, precision jumps onto a fire-escape and heads for the roof.
Urban monkey. Traceur extraordinaire. Master of all I survey. I stand on the roofs of Battersea High Street and before me stretches half a mile of concrete, walls, rails and chimneys. Chelsea Harbour down to my left, London Eye away to my right. How many days have I run this roof, and in how many different ways? How many nights has my dream self flowed across the city skyline, swan dived over chimney stacks, cat jumped from one skyscraper to the next? How many mornings have I pulled on my trainers and felt the dizzy thrill of freedom? I'm alive and I'm coming out to play!
Danny sets his stopwatch and runs across the roofs, vaulting the low walls which separate one flat from the next. If martial arts teach you fight, parkour teaches you flight - an efficient way of evading pursuers and moving smoothly over obstacles in your path. Kong vault, dash vault, tic-tac, kash vault, cat pass, gap jump, dismount, drop. Danny runs quickly and silently, imagining, just for kicks, that he is being pursued.
Little does he know, he is.
Posted by sahelsteve at 05:45 PM
Yellowcake Conspiracy review
Nice review of The Yellowcake Conspiracy over at Under the Acacias today. Thanks, Keith.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:43 AM
February 20, 2008
Look Back in Wonder
Just to let you know that Charlie's February newsletter is up!
Posted by sahelsteve at 06:07 PM
Norfolk Shorts
'Hmmm,' said my lovely wife on learning of the Norfolk Shorts shortlist, 'Does that mean you have to wear shorts at the award ceremony?'
Let's hope not, for everyone's sake.
Here is the list of shortlisted books. I see that little albino camel is up against the funniest children's book in the history of the world, that Bad Man Mr Gum. Oh goodie.
The Norfolk Shorts Award is a celebration of SHORT BOOKS (150 pages or less). I love writing short books for three reasons:
1) Novella sounds nicer than novel.
2) My writing style has always been on the lean/chiselled/tonguetied side.
3) You can write a short book in less than a month.
The award ceremony is on 16 April, and due to factors outside of my control (like living in Africa) I'm afraid I'm not going to be there, not even in trousers. But I'll certainly post something about the result, so watch this space.
Posted by sahelsteve at 04:18 PM
February 16, 2008
Crocodile Lake
Rotha is the girl at the helm of Precious Girl Magazine in Cambodia. She is turning into an excellent writer, and I've pasted below a love story which she has written for the latest issue. Some of the dialogue is absolutely sparkling!
Could she be Cambodia's answer to Barbara Cartland?
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The crocodiles have long left Crocodile Lake in Cambodia. Now it's full of factories, offering employment to the local people.
A man of 28 drove into one of these factories and got out of his car. A girl ran up to him and smiled.
'Good morning, sir! You have two meetings this morning, first with the staff, and then with an American client.'
Continue reading "Crocodile Lake"
Posted by sahelsteve at 02:03 PM
Final cover
This is pretty much the final version of the Pancake Plot cover.
Nice one, Dave!
Posted by sahelsteve at 01:53 PM
Mother Theresa quotation
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, People may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people may forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.