Archive - 2014

The King History Forgot: Makikele, The 19th Century Legend of Phalaborwa, South Africa (Novel) Robert T.K. Scully (Kenya 1965-66) Two Harbors Press $16.95 (paperback), $5.99 (Kindle) 380 pages 2013 Reviewed by Robert E. Hamilton (Ethiopia:  1965-67) This is not your conventional African historical, political, biographical novel.  (Try saying that tongue-twister rapidly three times.)  Dr. Robert T. K. Scully has drawn extensively upon his own collection of oral history and oral tradition in the 1970s among “the people of” (Ba-) Phalaborwa (pronounced “Palaborwa)-North Sotho-speaking residents of the Lowveld of Northeastern South Africa.  Much of this area of Limpopo Province was incorporated in 1926 into the present Kruger National Park. Many readers-like this one-personally unfamiliar with this area of South Africa will benefit from reading the “Author’s Notes” at the end of the novel (pages 361-372) for a description of the larger historical context. The book “is the story of a talented . . .

Last Sunday  The Seattle Times ran an ad about Collin’s new book Into the Storm: Journeys with Alzheimer’s in the Arts [Books] section. It will run again on February 23rd in the Sunday New York Times Book Review. The Christian Century, a biweekly national journal, will run a half-page color ad in its March 19th edition. KPLU, 88.5 FM, one of Seattle’s local NPR affiliates is doing an interview with Collin, as well as The Stranger. The University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle University, and University of Redlands alumni magazines are doing announcements and/or feature stories.  Crosscut News,  The International Examiner, and Peace Corps Writers are coming out with reviews. Collin will do a reading and have a book signing at Elliott Bay Book Co., on Sunday, 3:00 pm, March 16.

How a Vanity Fair profile revived 22-year-old allegations of abuse by Woody Allen By Paul Farhi The Washington Post February 13, 2014 Early last year, writer Maureen Orth learned an intriguing bit of trivia: A story she had written for Vanity Fair about Mia Farrow and Woody Allen at the height of their headline-grabbing breakup in 1992 was the fifth-most-read story in the magazine’s archives. Orth also noticed that Farrow and her son Ronan were active on Twitter. Perhaps, she said, it would be “interesting” to revisit Farrow and her family and find out how they’d fared since the tumultuous events of nearly 22 years earlier. The Farrows agreed, and in April, Orth began her reporting, which culminated in an October piece about the family. That simple sequence set in motion a chain of events that ended up propelling a sensational but long-dormant news story back into prominence, as a . . .

How One Interview with Shirley Temple Black Led to a Years-Long Friendship with the Former Child Star By Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) Former People Senior Writer and author of one of the first Peace Corps novels: The Road to Tamazunchale, (1975) as well as other books of non-fiction. This article appeared recently in People Premium (digital) and is used with the permission of the publication and Ron. Celebrities were never my main beat. So in 1998 when I was tapped to interview Shirley Temple Black, then 70, for a lengthy story on her life, I assumed I got the assignment because I was the oldest staffer in People‘s Los Angeles bureau – 57 at the time. I assumed some editor thought I’d relate to her more than one of my under-40 colleagues, who were used to chatting with much younger, current stars. Of course, we all knew the phenomenal, singing-and-dancing . . .

How to Write a Novel in 100 Days: With Tips about Agents, Editors, Publishers and Self-Publishing by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64). A Peace Corps Writers Book $12.39 (paperback), $6.00 (Kindle) 238 pages 2013 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) John Coyne knows how to write books. He has published 25 of them, including novels, nonfiction, collections, guide books and others. Several of his novels are award-winners and best-sellers, on sports, historical fiction, mystery, horror and romance. He’s a writing teacher and mentor, and keeps us all up to date on what PCVs and RPCVs are publishing here at peacecorpsworldwide.org/pc-writers. You can read more at johncoynebooks.com. In short, he’s well qualified to write a book about writing a book, and more than one writer will wish they’d had How to Write a Novel in 100 Days before they started their latest masterpiece. Ideally, to review his insightful and informative how-to book, . . .

So, you have just finished your book…a memoir of the Peace Corps, a novel, a YA romance…whatever! Before you self-publish your book, get an editor. Get a line editor, a copy editor, a proof reader….. Writing the book is step #1. Now you have to prepare your book for publication. If you don’t have top-rate editors in your town, here are two professionals editors I can suggest you might hire. One is a seasoned copy editor who works free-lance for publishing houses. The second person is a nonfiction writer and editor who also does editing on the side. If you decide to contact either of these individuals, do it in this order, as you should hire them both! First Lisa Skelton Her email is: lbskelton@optonline.net I’ve worked with Lisa. She is charming and nice and very, very good. Tell I suggested you contact her. You can email her your material . . .

In November, 2013, Maureen wrote “Momma Mia” an article in Vanity Fair on Mia Farrow. Maureen wrote about Farrow’s loving home she created for 14 adopted and biological children and also how she had to deal with the sensational scandal that almost rent it apart 20 years ago. Recently, as we know, Mia’s daughter Dylan wrote her letter that appeared in the New York Times. Now Maureen is back with 10 “undeniable facts” about the allegation and Woody Allen’s reply, also in The New York Times, this weekend. 5:15 PM, February 7 2014 10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation By Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) This week, a number of commentators have published articles containing incorrect and irresponsible claims regarding the allegation of Woody Allen’s having sexually abused his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow. As the author of two lengthy, heavily researched and thoroughly fact-checked articles that deal with . . .

Joshua A.H. Harris spent, as he wrote me, “two life-altering years” (1996-98) in Mali as a PCV before attending the University of California, Davis School of Law. Earning his degree in 2003, he went to work as a lawyer for ten years at a public-interest, environmental firm in Oakland, California. Today, Josh is pursuing a Master’s Degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing at San Francisco State University. He is now writing a ‘serialized novel’ entitled Out of the Fog where every Friday he posts a new chapter, in the fashion Charles Dickens first achieved in the Victorian age. You can read Joshua novel at: http://outofthefogjh.blogspot.com Out of the Fog takes place in San Francisco in 2091 in a world radically altered by climate change. His first post (up now) is an open letter to Congress asking it to take action on climate change before the end of the year. The end . . .