July 21, 2009
Yellowcake Conspiracy now available as epub e-book
It's not long since I recommended the Sony Reader for expats or travellers. I still rely on it myself for 95% of the things I read. I've just loaded onto it the two sequels to King Solomon's Mines (I hadn't realised until today that there WERE sequels to it!) - looking forward to reading them on the plane (travelling back to England overnight).
As of today one of my books 'The Yellowcake Conspiracy' is also available in the two main e-book formats, epub and pdf. You have a choice of two online stores, Waterstones or WHSmiths.
The Yellowcake Conspiracy from Waterstones
The Yellowcake Conspiracy from WHSmiths
Smiths is a bit cheaper and their site is easier to navigate as well.
Posted by sahelsteve at 07:11 PM
January 30, 2009
Calling all Teachers
The student edition of the Yellowcake Conspiracy is now out. It has a new cover and lots of natty footnotes.
And if you're a secondary-level (high school) teacher, you can also get hold of a Yellowcake Conspiracy Teaching and Assessment Pack, full of lesson plans and video clips and useful bits and bobs.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:58 AM
October 21, 2008
Update on the Tuareg Rebellion
This is an extract from a newsletter I received recently from a friend in Niger. It contains an update on the current Tuareg rebellion, and some thoughts about the problem of corruption in Africa.
Despite the lull in action over the past month of Ramadan, the rebellion in the north of Niger continues unabated. Whilst we continue to pray for peace it seems very unikely that it will come anytime soon. Unfortunately it seems that this situation of unrest is to the advantage of everybody concerned, and so the poor and the innocent will continue to suffer at the hands of the corrupted system which prevails in the country. The rebels are unlikely to lay down their arms anytime soon unless their outrageous demands are met. (The newsflash from the BBC and Reuters in august was false, they have not laid down their arms). Apparently the fat cats who run this country do not want the situation to end, as every month that passes means another month of them filling their pockets with the money which they steal from the national defense budget; and with an army which is sent out drugged and drunk whenever they go out on missions, it seems that the insecurity is here to stay for another couple of years at least.
What is more, there are supposed to be national elections at the end of this year, and as the current president has served his two terms he is obliged to step down. So long as the insecurity remains however, the government can judge it too dangerous to run an election and he is able to remain in power (without having to change the constitution at the last minute which so many african leaders end up doing!).
It is a sad time for Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, to see how the poor are exploited and denied justice whilst the corrupt leaders fill their pockets. For example, when we drive to Agadez we have to do the last 350km in the military convoy, supposedly for our protection from rebels. I heard recently that, on paper, the daily convoy has an escort of twenty army vehicles accompanying it. In reality however I have never seen more than five or six. This means that the budget for the other fourteen vehicles, the fuel and salaries for the non-existent soldiers, is magically disappearing into thin air (aka someone's pocket). What is more, the last time we were with the convoy one of the army trucks broke down and they had to borrow a jack from one of the civilian vehicles, since they didnt have one of their own. Funny that, I bet that on paper each of the “twenty” trucks has its own jack and toolkit!
Whilst the world sends money to Africa in an effort borne of guilt, trying to 'eliminate poverty', they seem oblivious to the lies and outright corruption that exist in this continent. Every new aid initiative must fill the minds of the fat cats with glee, as they invent new ways to embezzle and steal as much as they possibly can, whilst the poor continue to die of malnutrition and lack of simple health care. Its quite normal here to go to the market and see sacks of rice or grain for sale, whilst clearly labeled 'Free gift from the People of Japan. NOT TO BE SOLD'.
Posted by sahelsteve at 07:27 PM
February 21, 2008
Yellowcake Conspiracy review
Nice review of The Yellowcake Conspiracy over at Under the Acacias today. Thanks, Keith.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:43 AM
December 20, 2007
Yellowcake Conspiracy announcement
Had a bit of good news today. Andersen Press have just sold 'world educational rights' in The Yellowcake Conspiracy. Apparently this means that the Fulani spy Diallo Haroun could soon be coming to a classroom near you. But not literally, of course.
Note for teachers: The special editions are to be published by Pearson and will contain lots of footnotes and irritating end-of-chapter questions for use in class. You will also be sent a photocopiable teachers pack and CD.
Posted by sahelsteve at 07:03 PM
October 24, 2007
The Radioactive Rebellion
ABC did a feature recently about Niger's uranium and the related shenannigans. They interviewed me for some background colour and also included readings from The Yellowcake Conspiracy. You can listen to the program in full or read the transcript by following the link below.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2007/2061062.htm
The program focussed on the security (or lack of it) of uranium mines and convoys. Here are some of the bits I found particularly interesting:
Igor Khripunov: Uranium coexists in many mines with copper, with platinum, and it's very hard to sort it out, which amount goes for uranium and which amount goes for platinum, copper, cobalt, you know. So it's a very complicated procedure of accounting, and it requires a sense of responsibility and a security culture. I strongly believe that we need to use this concept of security culture at uranium mines now.
Stan Correy: By security culture, Dr Khripunov means a commitment to the idea that uranium and everything else in the nuclear cycle, is very tightly controlled, wherever it is. That's not happening at the moment, and the International Atomic Energy Agency doesn't have much of a chance of making sure of it in the near future. It will require enormous international co-operation and a lot of money. There's a database which has a record of global trafficking incidents since the early 1990s. It records all trafficking in everything, from raw uranium ore to highly enriched uranium ready to be used in weapons. The database shows that about 20% of all trafficking involves uranium in quite low potency, as ore, yellowcake, or only low-enriched uranium.
Freidrich Steinhausler: It is not that difficult if you think of the remoteness of many of the uranium mines; if you think of the relatively difficult meteorological issue we have in measuring it, it's low activity, natural uranium, and it is technically not very difficult to blend it with other materials to camouflage it or to hide it from detection.
Stan Correy: For example, the crushed and milled ore can be mixed with sand and the load delivered as construction material. Yellowcake can be mixed with chemicals of the same colour as a disguise.
Freidrich Steinhausler: There are other ways where people have been very successful in falsifying the weight of trucks as they go into the facility, and then being able to transport material out with the false gross weight of the vehicle. So it has happened, and it's not difficult to envisage how it could happen in the future, unless we really review the accounting and control procedures we have currently in place.
--
Freidrich Steinhausler: The actual uranium exploration area traverses through these areas of unrest, and not only do you have the physical danger to the transport of the uranium ore, you have the physical threats to the officials who are supposed to be inspecting these areas. I can recall that the supervision of these areas out of the capital is very difficult. You're talking about 1,000 kilometre road leading through the desert, leading through these areas with political upheaval, and so government officials of course, are exposed to an added physical security risk on their lives if they go and inspect these areas.
--
Stan Correy: A month ago, The Economist magazine called what's happening in Niger: A radioactive rebellion, a combustible mix of nomads, uranium, oil and poverty. And it's definitely now a hot zone. US Special Forces troops are stationed in Mali, and last month, a US military plane had been shot at by Tuareg rebels there. Because these people, the people of Niger and Mali, are Muslims, the area is being called the Sahelian front of the war on terror. This has also been called the Banana Theory of Terrorism. What that refers to is the shape of the line drawn from Afghanistan to countries like Niger and Mali. It's got a wide curve, like a banana. The theory is that al-Qa'eda in Afghanistan will want to infiltrate the Sahel on the edges of the Sahara, in order to take control of the oil and uranium.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2007/2061062.htm
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:53 AM
September 18, 2007
Their mine isn't theirs
I posted something the other day about the Tuareg grievance in Niger. There are big uranium mines on 'their' land, but they feel they are not reaping the rewards of it.
Well, it seems that Keith Smith is dealing with a very similar issues in the north of Burkina Faso:
"I go over to Essakane occasionally, about 40km from Gorom-Gorom, to visit the pastor there. It is one of those bizarre and disturbing paradoxes: the least developed region of the 4th poorest country in the world – and there is a rich deposit of gold there. The question is whether that gold will bring any joy or blessing to the region. Or whether – as so often in such cases – it will only be a cause of grief, conflict, degradation and immorality."
You can read the whole post here; it's well worth it.
And on a lighter note, here is a little poem which I wrote way back in 2003 about the gold mine in Monde So, near Djibo.
Posted by sahelsteve at 03:27 PM
September 10, 2007
Stranger than fiction
Well, The Yellowcake Conspiracy (an African spy thriller for 11 to 14 year-old boys) has launched. This nice man enjoyed reading it, and I hope that others will too.
For the launch event, I had proposed to Andersen Press that we convert a Soho basement bar into an African uranium mine. Invites would be radioactivity stickers, and head-torches would be distributed to guests on entrance (only two of many ideas I floated). The publisher responded to these ideas very graciously, beginning with the words 'We don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but...'
Anyway, the book is out now. If you live in the UK (and if the Random House distribution machine has worked) you should be able to get it in your local bookshop. Otherwise it is available on Amazon.
The Yellowcake Conspiracy is about a group of malcontent Tuareg fighters mounting a 'second rebellion' in Niger under the leadership of a man known only as 'the Teacher' (the first rebellion ended back in 1995). They intimidate workers at a uranium mine in the north of the country, and exploit uranium in their bid for political power. Despite issuing from tiny towns in the Sahara desert, these second-wave rebels are extremely savvy in their use of technology, using the internet to communicate with each other and with the outside world.
I finished writing the book in November last year (although it has only now been published), stressing in the foreword that the story is fiction. But an email from France this morning has alerted me to current events in Niger, which seem to be mirroring fiction to an uncanny degree.
In February of this year (after twelve years of tenuous peace) the Second Rebellion started in the north of Niger. A group of malcontent Tuareg fighters (now thought to number over 2000) has formed the Niger Movement for Justice under the leadership of folk hero Aghaly Ag Alambo. They have mounted attacks on the Niger military and on various foreign economic interests, including the uranium mines. Despite issuing from tiny towns in the Sahara desert, the rebels are extremely savvy in their use of technology, using the internet to communicate with each other and with the outside world. They even have a blog, which is updated three to ten times each week (if only we were all so assiduous in posting new material).
In my first children's book Sophie and the Albino Camel, the baddie Moussa ag Litni happens to be a Tuareg. He could just as well have been a different ethnicity - Tuaregs certainly do not have a monopoly on banditry in the Sahel. As for the Tuaregs who make up the Niger Movement for Justice, are they terrorists or freedom fighters? The line is a fine one, as explained in Sam Urquhart's excellent article for Dissident Voice, Fake Terror and Instability in North Africa.
Urquhart believes that some of the Tuareg grievances are legitimate.
"Uranium dust from foreign owned mines, such as that run by the French group Areva, has dispersed across huge areas of Tuareg grazing lands that lie downwind from them. Efforts by local people and NGOs to monitor the environmental and health effects of the mining have been obstructed and prevented by the government in Niamey, which fears the withdrawal of investment in the mines, with the collusion of the French. As a result, local people continue to drink water poisoned by the mines and graze their animals on contaminated lands. At present, with the uranium sector undergoing an expansion in Niger, Tuareg concerns are rising, feeding anti-government sentiment. 30 new projects are slated for exploration and development, with Chinese, Indian and Canadian firms leading the way. Tuaregs know that they will suffer the consequences of these projects and receive few of the benefits."
In the midst of this Second Tuareg Rebellion, please pray for Niger. Pray that the Niger government would respond wisely to the uprising and that civilian casualties would be minimal. Tuareg dissatisfaction in the north of the country has never been properly addressed. Here's hoping it gets properly addressed now.
Posted by sahelsteve at 01:00 PM
August 08, 2007
The Yellowcake Conspiracy Extract
It is now less than a month until publication of The Yellowcake Conspiracy. Here is chapter one as a taster.
(Free copy of the book to the first person to point out the accidental continuity error on page 6! - luckily it was spotted before the book went to print - submit answers via 'comments' below)
Posted by sahelsteve at 11:32 AM
April 23, 2007
Yellowcake Conspiracy update
Received the 'Yellowcake Conspiracy' proofs last week, and they're looking good. The story is interspersed with screenshots of various websites where terrorists meet to plot and to buy/sell uranium. The designer has done a brilliant job on replicating these websites in the pages of the book, graphics and all, and I am very pleased with the result. I think boys will like it.
The publishers will be at the Bologna Book Fair as from tomorrow to try and sell foreign rights to Yellowcake.
A couple days ago, Tuareg rebels attacked French uranium prospectors near Arlit, the first such raid for many years. So this book is nothing if not topical.
The Yellowcake Conspiracy will be on the shelves in September.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:52 AM
March 29, 2007
Yellowcake Legalese
----------------------------------
From: Editor
To: Random House Legal Director
Date: 27 March
Re: Use of domain names in fiction
In one of our children's fiction titles for autumn, a group of terrorists first auction and then sell yellowcake (a key ingredient in making a nuclear bomb) on e-bay to a rogue state. The author wrote to e-bay some time ago asking if they have any objection to him using their site name in this context, but hasn't heard back from them. Do you think it would be OK to go ahead as there is nothing derogatory directly implied towards e-bay - the terrorists simply use the site to communicate with international rogue states and sell the yellowcake - or do you think it would be safer if we change the domain name to something else, e.g. b-bay or something? Would be grateful for your advice, please.
---------------
From: Random House Legal Director
To: Editor
Date: 28 March
Re: Use of domain names in fiction
An interesting one. At first sight, there would seem to be no objection BUT there is the possible inference that eBay would connive at such activity, and this could well spark a letter of complaint if nothing more. Since eBay don't generally exercise editorial control over adverts unless warned they offend, they might not be able to claim that the first advert would be libellous, but any subsequent in action by them might be a cause for action and thus an effective defamatory allegation. I suggest therefore re-naming the domain name - even b-bay is a bit too close to the mark!
--------------------
I'm not sure I understand the whole of the legal director's reply, but the conclusion at least is clear. Don't use ebay (or bbay or ubay or bomb-bay).
So: your ideas in the 'Comments' section, please, as to what to call our 'not ebay' company. The best suggestion will be used in the book. (Deadline: 10am Saturday)
Posted by sahelsteve at 08:38 AM
February 13, 2007
Yellowcake Back Cover
Currently working on the back-cover blurb for Yellowcake. Important things, blurbs, and not to be sneezed at.
I have linked to this before, but I must do so again, because John Warner's Blurb-O-Matic never fails to make me laugh out loud.
Anyway, here is the back cover in it's being-worked-on state. Click to enlarge.
What percentage of 10-14 year-old boys know what 'the sword of Damocles' is, would you say?
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:03 AM
February 07, 2007
Yellowcake Conspiracy Revised Cover
Here is the revised Yellowcake Conspiracy cover (140KB).
TJ will be relieved to see that the jaggedy edges have gone! The whole design is smoother and brighter now, and I like it.
Posted by sahelsteve at 08:19 PM
January 26, 2007
The Yellowcake Conspiracy draft cover
Here is the first draft of the cover. Click on it for a larger image.
‘The Yellowcake Mystery’ is no longer a Mystery. Andersen Press decided that the word ‘Mystery’ was far too Famous-Five-ish. Not a bad thing if you’re writing about ginger beer and smugglers, but not quite right for this one. For a while we wavered on the word ‘Yellowcake’ as well, but that has survived our wavering.
A cover design usually bounces back and forth for a while between artist/designer/publisher/author, before a final version is adopted. So I’d like to include you in the loop as well. What do you think of the lettering, the design and the colours? What strikes you as right/wrong about it? Bear in mind that ‘The Yellowcake Conspiracy’ is a nuclear spy thriller set on the edge of the Sahara desert and that it is aimed at 11-14 year old boys, the same age-group as the Alex Rider books.
All comments appreciated. No need to be polite – this is only a draft, remember.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:37 PM
November 26, 2006
The Yellowcake Mystery is finished
I am very happy and relieved. Yellowcake is finished.
No doubt there will be some editing/tweaking in the weeks to come, but the basic story is complete and it's 50,000 words long.
I know a lot more about nuclear science than I used to, and a lot more about surveillance equipment. And ferrets. And ancient Tifinagh script. And Kalashnikovs.
It's strictly for boys, this one. 11-14s, probably. I'll let you know when it comes out.
Posted by sahelsteve at 11:01 PM
November 19, 2006
National Novel Writing Month
As you may be aware, November is National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write a 50,000 word novel by midnight on 30 November.
By uncanny coincidence, my contract for 'The Yellowcake Mystery' states that I must submit the 50,000 word manuscript by 1 December 2006. So I have signed up to NaNoWriMo - it would have been rude not to. (Besides, they email you a weekly pep talk and keep track of your wordcount for you and generally shower you with motivational gimmicks).
These days I tend to do the day job in the mornings and writing in the afternoons and evenings.
Current wordcount will be displayed automatically by the widget on the right of the screen there. Haha, funny old world.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:29 PM
September 19, 2006
Yellowcake research
I have started work on The Yellowcake Mystery, and Andersen Press have suggested a deadline of 1 December, so I need to get a move on.
I have been able to do most of the research online, but here are a few questions which are still unresolved. Can anyone help?
- Is there a VISA cash dispenser at Jeddah airport?
- What does C4 explosive look like?
- What kind of sound does a ferret make if you kick it?
- Example of a car number plate in Niger?
- Maximum range for a transmitter bug the size of a button?
Thanks.
Posted by sahelsteve at 08:44 AM
January 23, 2006
Richard Tomlinson and the Big Breach
These two breaking stories are a bizarre throwback to Cold War days.
Firstly Richard Tomlinson is going to get his book 'The Big Breach' published in Moscow. I have been reading it in English recently (you can download it free online) and it is interesting stuff. The best bit is about MI6 gadgets, which include the PETTLE cassette recorder, which records on a hidden track in the middle of a cassette reel (just press stop and record simultaneously), and shoes with an inbuilt GPS/distress signal.
Second, the news is breaking on the BBC site at the moment that British agents have been accused of spying in Russia - downloading information stored in a spy rock on the streets of Moscow. Fake rocks, indeed. Uncannily, I wrote a similar scene for 'The Yellowcake Mystery' the other night involving a fake cow-skull. Funny old world.
richard tomlinson, The Big Breach, spy rock
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:16 AM
December 06, 2005
Yellowcake Niger
I've just been looking at some yellow cake. Or rather yellowcake - low-grade uranium. The director of Cominak took me around the mine (referred to affectionately as 'la zone') in his lovely air-conditioned Toyota, and even let me take photos. The Cominak mine is underground (as opposed to the open pit over at Somair) but unfortunately there was no one free to take me down there to see 'les galleries'. Today there is a problem with the Crusher so production has temporarily stopped.
I am extremely grateful to Mr Gilbert for rescuing me from the over-enthusiastic guards at the entrance to 'la zone' and for his thorough and informative tour.
Meanwhile, the FBI has reopened the investigation into the yellowcake documents, just to see if there is something they missed the first time round. Before going to 'la zone' I talked to a worker on his way home from the mine and he made various dark-sounding comments about there being something in the conspiracy theories (French involvement in getting uranium to Iraq), but I sincerely believe that he is just venting frustration at his (in his opinion) low pay.
And even if I didn't, I would certainly not say so here.
Posted by sahelsteve at 04:59 PM
December 05, 2005
Adventures in Arlit
It was worth the seventeen hour bus-ride just to see this place. Arlit is the last town in the north of Niger, a shanty-town which grew up on account of the uranium mines which started operating in the late 1960’s.
I am staying with Anout, a Tuareg silversmith with a large and friendly family. His is the last house on the north side of Arlit, beyond which the Sahara stretches away to a flat horizon. The border with Algeria is 200k away.
I saw my first genuine mirage yesterday, amongst other things.
Between 1991 and 1995 there was a massive Tuareg rebellion in the north here. It resurged last year when the Minister of Tourism (the only Tuareg in the Niger government) was arrested and held in prison without trial for thirteen months, suspected of having arranged an assassination. Now things are quieter here, but there are still occasional hold-ups of vehicles travelling on the Agadez-Arlit road. On the day before I travelled here a French tourist was shot and killed by Tuareg bandits on the road east of Agadez (his driver had refused to stop).
As for the mines, I have an appointment to go and see them tomorrow. I have Anout to thank for that - he has the ear of the French directors because he makes silver necklaces for their wives. Here in Africa it's who you know that counts.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:42 AM
December 02, 2005
Spies, Lies and Yellowcake
I have a few days holiday in Niger at the mo, and during the past week I have become hopelessly fascinated by uranium. I have been reading about the element itself and its military uses and the mines here in Niger, and especially about the so-called Yellowcake documents - evidence cited by Blair and Bush to prove that Saddam was after Nigerien uranium, which turned out to be fakes emanating from an Italian spy called Rocco Martino. It is a great story, and I would really like to go and see the Arlit mine which is at the centre of the whole Hullaballoo. I would even more like to write an Alex-Rider-esque children's story set there. Spies, Tuaregs and International Intrigue - Perfect.
My story, like Blair's accusation of Niger, would of course be mostly fiction, but a bit of research can not do any harm.
The Arlit mine is guarded by Nigerien soldiers and private security personnel and the surrounding desert is so flat that intruders are visible for miles around. So I did the Ministry Dance in Niamey this morning, visiting The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Mines and the base of the French mining company Sofair, seeking permission to visit the mine. I got passed from office to office and desk to desk like a bottle of Tipex, and eventually ran into a deadend - in the form of a smiling 'Come back on Tuesday and we'll see what we can do.'
I'll go back on Tuesday and see what they can do.