Sunday, 20 May 2007
Chuck is out there!
As you may know from my consatnt reminders, I talk about extraordinary moments in history on Graeme Hill's Radio Live show, Sundays at 2.15. This week we were talking about a Devonport mechanic inventing a death ray, maybe, before the First Labour Govt sacked him, end of 1935. Graeme was good enough to mention that I had just launched my thriller 'From My Cold, Dead Hands', a quote from Charlton Heston which ties in to story I have written about the dire repercussions of a masive oil strike off the coast of Northland, something that the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences says is a matetr of when not if. My theme is based on the recent Times of London review of 'the age-old curse of oil' in Sudan, Russian, Iran etc. This time it is our turn. My maverick scientist Dr Ben Duffie is trying to warn the government of the apocalyptic implications of drilling into an area of volcanic activity such as off the coast of Northland. He is an expert on seismic indicators, but he is also worried about drilling triggering an undergound volcanic explosion where magma reacts with water, as it did in the cataclysmic Tarawera eruption. He predicts a tsunami that would sweep away Auckland. Are the government and the oil folk listening? Only to the extent of trying to shut up Dr Ben Duffie. Read on. Well, once you get the book from your bookshop or local library. If they don't have it, ask them. Charlton 'Chuck' Heston is prominent in the prologue, playing tennis in Wellington with Peter Snell. That is true. I saw them. 1966. The rest of the story is about now, with Chuck's words regarding his constitutional right to bear arms coming back to haunt the characters in my book.
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Cold, Dead Hands Progress
Hi, Readers
Last Tuesday upwards of 60 people, a packed house for the occasion, turned up at 7.30pm to the Friends of Kapiti Library occasion where I spoke for an hour about my new thriller 'From My Cold, Dead Hands' and the 37 other social histories I have written, some like this fictional.
It was nice so many forswore Coro St and Dancing with the Stars to venture forth from Wellington, Otaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekakariki to listen to me rave on about my books. Some brought trays of finger food to add to what the hosts generously provided. Guru was there for the Kapiti Observer, a man with a family. Kay Blundell was out of town but we met up next day at Coastlands Paperplus to photograph the story board and talk about my Kiwi version of what the Times of London last Friday called 'the age-old curse of oil'. The venerable Thunderer was referring to Sudan, Russian, Iran, Iraq etc. My scenario is not so far-fetched, for the NZ Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences says a strike off Northland is a matter of when, and it is also concerned in the same press release about the lack of mapping of undersea volcanoes. There is in my book an oil strike off Northland and warnings of the dangers of drilling in the area from my main character, a geologist with expertise in seismic indicators of oil-bearing deposits. He is working for the Institute but is sacked and then his troubles really begin, as he is atatcked and pursued up and down the Kapiti Coast with only a few Climate Science sceptics as allies. His nephew is an accidental participant and narrates the yarn, refrring in the process to the Institute of Geeks and Nukes. That is my background of five Kiwi slang collections will out.
There is a BUT. Will the print media review the book? Not if my last 20 books are anything to go by. Is it me or them? They always say there are 400 other books clamouring for attention. So who would be a social historian, eh?
Request: Ask your local bookshop for the book.
Last Tuesday upwards of 60 people, a packed house for the occasion, turned up at 7.30pm to the Friends of Kapiti Library occasion where I spoke for an hour about my new thriller 'From My Cold, Dead Hands' and the 37 other social histories I have written, some like this fictional.
It was nice so many forswore Coro St and Dancing with the Stars to venture forth from Wellington, Otaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekakariki to listen to me rave on about my books. Some brought trays of finger food to add to what the hosts generously provided. Guru was there for the Kapiti Observer, a man with a family. Kay Blundell was out of town but we met up next day at Coastlands Paperplus to photograph the story board and talk about my Kiwi version of what the Times of London last Friday called 'the age-old curse of oil'. The venerable Thunderer was referring to Sudan, Russian, Iran, Iraq etc. My scenario is not so far-fetched, for the NZ Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences says a strike off Northland is a matter of when, and it is also concerned in the same press release about the lack of mapping of undersea volcanoes. There is in my book an oil strike off Northland and warnings of the dangers of drilling in the area from my main character, a geologist with expertise in seismic indicators of oil-bearing deposits. He is working for the Institute but is sacked and then his troubles really begin, as he is atatcked and pursued up and down the Kapiti Coast with only a few Climate Science sceptics as allies. His nephew is an accidental participant and narrates the yarn, refrring in the process to the Institute of Geeks and Nukes. That is my background of five Kiwi slang collections will out.
There is a BUT. Will the print media review the book? Not if my last 20 books are anything to go by. Is it me or them? They always say there are 400 other books clamouring for attention. So who would be a social historian, eh?
Request: Ask your local bookshop for the book.
My Cold, Dead Hands
Hi Guys,
Tonight I launch at Paraparaumu Library on the Kapiti Coast of NZ my new thriller 'From My Cold, Dead Hands'. You probably recognsie the quote from Charlton Heston, holding a musket aloft in 2001 to defy Al Gore to restrict the NRA's constitutional right to bear arms. You may not know that Charlton came to NZ in 1966 to play tennis with rgeat NZ runner Peter Snell and lecture on movies. I saw and met the then top movie star in world, Oscar for 'Ben Hur' not long before. I interviewed him for a local magazine. The prologue to my thriller recreates that period when LBJ also came here a few months later druming up support for the Vietnam war. The thriller is set in the present day, with a local oil lobbyist still collecting Heston memorabilia after meeting him back then. NZ is on the verge of a major oil strike and the lobbyist is acting for a big international oil company. His cousin is a professor of geomorphology who has warned against the dangers of drilling into supposed dead submarine volcanoes. The lobbyist's son tells the story, caught in the middle of this eco pursuit thriller which follows the age-old curse of opil on a national and family level. Sudan of course is the latest casualty of finding oil, but think Russia, China, US, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, anywhere that the oil find curse strikes. I hearby announce I have launched my first blog.
Tonight I launch at Paraparaumu Library on the Kapiti Coast of NZ my new thriller 'From My Cold, Dead Hands'. You probably recognsie the quote from Charlton Heston, holding a musket aloft in 2001 to defy Al Gore to restrict the NRA's constitutional right to bear arms. You may not know that Charlton came to NZ in 1966 to play tennis with rgeat NZ runner Peter Snell and lecture on movies. I saw and met the then top movie star in world, Oscar for 'Ben Hur' not long before. I interviewed him for a local magazine. The prologue to my thriller recreates that period when LBJ also came here a few months later druming up support for the Vietnam war. The thriller is set in the present day, with a local oil lobbyist still collecting Heston memorabilia after meeting him back then. NZ is on the verge of a major oil strike and the lobbyist is acting for a big international oil company. His cousin is a professor of geomorphology who has warned against the dangers of drilling into supposed dead submarine volcanoes. The lobbyist's son tells the story, caught in the middle of this eco pursuit thriller which follows the age-old curse of opil on a national and family level. Sudan of course is the latest casualty of finding oil, but think Russia, China, US, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, anywhere that the oil find curse strikes. I hearby announce I have launched my first blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
