Don't Forget Rachel's and Helen's Next Big Things!!

Take a look at these two writers Next Big Things!!

 

Rachel Zadok:

Exploring the themes of superstition and taboo, Sister-Sister is the story of twins, Thulisile and Sindisiwe Nxumalo. In childhood, the gregarious bright Thuli and her stuttering introverted twin, Sindi, are inseparable, but the arrival of an uncle they never knew they had sets into motion a course of events that will destroy their relationship and, eventually, their lives.

 Sister-Sister will be published by Kwela next year in April. 
Read about it HERE.

Helen Ginger:
 Dismembering the Past is Helen's next book and here's how she describes it: The Texas Butcher has killed twelve women around the state, dismembering them and displaying the body pieces. He'll add three more in Mesquite Cove if the FBI and Hallie can't stop him -- unless he kills her first. 
Read about it HERE.

What did Tania Hershman say about my short story collection???

The print edition of my short story collection, In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata and Other Stories, is out, published by Hands-On Books.

At the back you'll find a blurb from, Tania Hershman author of My Mother Was an Upright Piano. Here's what she had to say:

"Lauri Kubuitsile's stories are sweet, salty, colourful, hot, and unforgettable. Botswana-flavoured and pregnant with atmosphere, Kubuitsile's writing slips easily between the real and the magical, between death and life, love and sex, humour and darkness, friendship and family. Just as McPhineas Lata wove his seductive spell on the village women, so too will these stories bewitch and enchant."

The ebook is also available at Amazon, though let me tell you a secret...the print book has one extra story in it! Included in the print edition is my story from this year's Caine Workshop, Moving Forward.

My Next Big Thing

Writers in the blogsphere have been passing The Next Big Thing around cyberspace for us to hear about what writers have in their pipeline, to tell us about their Next Big Thing. I was invited by UK based writer Sue Guiney whose Next Big Thing can be seen HERE. Sue Guiney is the author of A Clash of the Innocents and Tangled Roots (both novels), a collection of poetry, Her Life Collected, and a poetry play,  Dreams of May.

Now for My Next Big Thing.... 
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What is the working title of your book? 

 If Not For This

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

 This book is mostly motivated by guilt. It involves a couple who have survived the German genocide in Namibia and they are trying to make a new life in Botswana. The wife was a prisoner on Shark Island, a concentration camp at the coast. Some years ago my family camped at Shark Island. There are no signs to tell you what it was, that thousands of bodies are buried under your tent. I only realised what we’d done years later when a Namibian friend told me. I felt awful, complicit in some way. After that, things kept happening, I’d meet people, or I’d run across stories that kept pointing to me writing this book. But the beginning is the guilt that we didn’t know, that we were part of the attempt to forget.

What genre does your book fall under? 

Literary, historical fiction, I hope.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

For the man, Idris Elba, mostly because I think he is fabulously hot, but also slightly tortured, as my lead man in the story is. I’m not sure about the woman. She needs to be a certain way, proud and beautiful, tough and damaged. Maybe Sophie Okonedo or Pam Grier, if she was a bit younger.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

How do two people find love and kindness again when all that they’ve been through taught them only evil and hate?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

 I hope to find an agent for this book, hopefully get it published off the continent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

 I don’t know because I’ve barely started writing. I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching, I’m still researching actually but because the story refused to wait I’m writing a very rough draft at the same time. This is not my normal process at all. Almost everything about this book is not my normal process. It makes it quite exciting for me.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

 I’d hate to even compare the book with anything for fear I’ll let people down which is likely, but my hope is to write a book in the same line as Memory of Love or Half of a Yellow Sun in the way that Chimamanda and Aminatta took historical events and showed the impact of those events on the personal lives of a few people.  I feel history is made more real in an emotional way when it can be made personal, when it can be happening to people we know, not famous people in the midst of it, but just people who that was their life. This is my hope. I realise the shoes are very big.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

 Well, I’m primarily a good storyteller, not always the best writer. I’m trying my best to push my writing to a place it rarely goes. I’m attempting some experimental things with this book too. Without a doubt I’m punching above my weight class. So we’ll see how it goes.
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And I'm passing The Next Big Thing onto South African based author Rachel Zadok and Texas based author and former mermaid, Helen Ginger. Here's what they have to say about their Next Big Things:

Rachel Zadok:

Exploring the themes of superstition and taboo, Sister-Sister is the story of twins, Thulisile and Sindisiwe Nxumalo. In childhood, the gregarious bright Thuli and her stuttering introverted twin, Sindi, are inseparable, but the arrival of an uncle they never knew they had sets into motion a course of events that will destroy their relationship and, eventually, their lives.

 Sister-Sister will be published by Kwela next year in April. 

Read all about Rachel's Next Big Thing- HERE next week on the 28th November! Don't worry I'll remind you. 

Helen Ginger:
 Dismembering the Past is Helen's next book and here's how she describes it: The Texas Butcher has killed twelve women around the state, dismembering them and displaying the body pieces. He'll add three more in Mesquite Cove if the FBI and Hallie can't stop him -- unless he kills her first. 

Read all about Helen's Next Big Thing Here.

Their posts will be up on the 28th November, don't worry I'll remind you.  

Behind the Shadows- an African/Asian Anthology

I am very lucky to have my story "The Last Rhino in Mutare" in the new Asian/African anthology Behind the Shadows. The main theme of the anthology is fitting in. 

Ellaine Pillay, one of the contributors, has a lovely post up at her blog in which she interviews the compilers of the book and a few of the writers, myself included, about our stories.

If you want to get the ebook for your Kindle, you can buy it here.

Claws of a Killer Serialised in Jungle Jim!!

I just received my copy of the fantastic pulp fiction magazine from South Africa, Jungle Jim #18 and inside is the first instalment of Claws of a Killer which is being serialised in the magazine for the next few issues. How cool is that!

Other pieces included in this issue is a story from  Kenyan writer, "Laki" Mark Muthiora, a book excerpt from the prolific Arabic sci-fi and horror writer, Ahmed Khaled Towfik, and a story from South African Phillip Vermaas. I only got the issue this morning but can't wait to get stuck in.

Jungle Jim is available on the Kindle through Amazon, though issue 18 is not yet up there. Also readers in America can buy Jungle Jim HERE.

If you want to read Claws of a Killer all in one go you can buy the ebook here.

The New Perspective by K. Arnold Price

About a month ago or so my friend Sue Guiney gave away this book, The New Perspective by K. Arnold Price on her blog. I was lucky enough to be the winner.

The book is about Pattie and Cormac, a long married couple. The book starts as they return from the wedding of their last born son to, who Pattie calls, "a dull girl". They are now free of the responsibilities of parenting, a task Pattie (who tells the story) has found perfunctory. She is happy to be back again. alone with Cormac but still upon returning to their home she feels suddenly annoyed and unsettled.

She has spent 26 years married to Cormac and yet, slowly, she discovers tiny but important details about him that shake her foundations of assumptions. He finds drama and acting "the lowest form of art", for example. One day he decides they should buy a different house. This helps Pattie with her sense of ennui as she and Cormac busy themselves making the new house a home.

Then Cormac buys a violin. This seems an odd purchase to Patti, until she discovers that he knows how to play. Not only does he know how, he adores it, but for all of the years of his marriage and some before he was denied because he needed to take up the responsibility of running the family antiques business when his father died.

Patti knows Cormac as an even tempered man. She can't remember him ever adoring anything, ever missing something "terribly". This troubles her. It makes her wonder about all of the years that they've been together, the honesty of those years. The purchase of the violin leads Patti into a downward spiral.

There are many things I loved about this book. In only 85, sparsely printed pages, the author, is able to simply but truthfully get to the crux of many long term relationships, especially ones with children. That time when the children go off on their own can be a difficult time. Suddenly the noise subsides and the partners, often buffered by the busyness of raising children, are alone with the other who in some cases has become a stranger.

This was K.Arnold Price's first novel which was published when she was 84. This tells an important story in and of itself. It is never too late. And sometimes it really is about experience. Lastly, that sometimes genius gets lost in the crowd, or, in this case,  behind a very terrible cover.

This is not an easy book to get a hold of, and not cheap either. I found it here and here.
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Since I received my copy of the book through the goodwill of the blogsphere, it is only right that I pass on the present. Please leave a comment below explaining why you would like me to send you this copy of the book. In two weeks, on the 19th of November, I will pick a winner.

Good Luck!!