Three years gone

March 11 was the third anniversary of the 8.9 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake that killed almost 16,000 people and devastated whole cities.

Like a number of writers, I wanted to do something to contribute to the aid, even if only in some small way. My publisher Solstice agreed to publish a book of my short stories, and all my royalties would go towards the survivors’ fund. The book of sixteen prize-winning stories was When the Flowers are in Bloom.  It was published on May 4 and gained a modicum of publicity, but the sales never really took off.

 

A mere week later, May 11, Lorca in Spain – not far from where I live – suffered an earthquake. The death and destruction were not on the same scale – nine dead, dozens injured.

I don’t know why the sales of the book have been low. It’s possible that in people’s minds the earthquake nearer to home overshadowed the Japanese event.

The beginning of 2011 was still deep in the recession; perhaps people were watching their pennies and cents.

I don’t think it can be the cost: on the UK Amazon site the paperback is only £3.75; on the Com site the paperback is $5.69 (e-book $3.67).

Perhaps people thought the book was an opportunist exercise and wanted no part of it. Fair enough. (On the back pages four other Solstice books by other authors were promoted, not just my work). This wasn’t the first or only book to come out to gain financial aid for charitable purposes; it won’t be the last, in all probability.

Maybe the sale of books of short stories doesn’t capture the public imagination? That may be true for print books, but sales of e-reader short stories tend to give the lie to that old chestnut.

***

As I stated in the front of the book:
‘This work is dedicated to the people of Japan, of all nationalities. Through their continued fortitude and hard work, may they overcome the horrendous tragedy and destruction thrust upon them by earthquake and tsunami March 11, 2011.

This collection © 2011 Nik Morton.

‘When the flowers are in bloom’ © 2007 published in Torrevieja, Another Look III.
‘The Busker of Torrevieja’ © 2007 published in Torrevieja, Another Look III.
‘Duty Bound’ © 2007 published in The Coastal Press.
‘Grave Concerns’ © 2007 published in The Coastal Press.
‘An Act of Witness’© 2009 published in The Costa TV Times.
‘Codename Gaby’ © 2010 published in the Bookawards website.
‘The Proper thing to do’ © 2010 published in The Costa TV Times.
‘One Day, We’ll Walk Through’ © 2004 published in The Costa Blanca News.
‘Always the innocent’ © 2010 published in The New Coastal Press.
‘Nourish a blind life’ © 2009 published in The New Coastal Press.
‘A Reed Shaken by the Wind’ © 2010 published in The New Coastal Press.
‘I Celebrate Myself’ © 2009 published in The Beat to a Pulp webzine.
‘A Gigantic Leap’ © 2009 published in Midnight Street.
‘The Geordie Flier’ © 2009 published in Costa TV Times
‘Hammer and Honey’ © 2007 published in The Coastal Press
‘The Trilby Hat’ © 2003 published in The Portsmouth Post
 
It’s quite rare for short stories to pick up any kind of review. The following appear to be exceptions:

Nik Morton is a pulp master of extraordinary originality.  – David Cranmer, Editor, Beat to a Pulp

 
An Act of Witness. It has character, action, and that extra dimension which brought a familiar theme up to date, showing what can be done within the limitations of a 1,000 word story. – David Campton, Playwright.
 
Nourish a blind life
I read a lot and like to think that I’m fairly hardened to the human experience. Your story, however, moved me enormously. With a powerful understanding you avoided any mawkish melodrama. The ending, although sad, gave satisfaction knowing the narrator was soon to be free! Thank you.' – Eve Blizzard, dramatist and author, competition judge
 
Codename Gaby
It is a tale of betrayal and extreme courage in the face of overwhelming adversity, written with great insight and sensitivity. The emotional conclusion is well crafted, leaving the reader bruised but relieved, just as it should for such an intense period of wartime history. – Award Organiser’s comments
 
This short story captures suspense, drama and wonderful character depiction. In less than 2,500 words, we know and relate to our heroine, the period and her situation. The story is complete and compelling. It is a remarkable achievement and demonstrates this author’s outstanding writing skills. – Kate Cavendish, Book Awards reviewer
 
Foreword
Reading about the cataclysmic devastation that hit Japan in March, I was greatly moved by the attitude of the survivors. People of all ages went out of their way to help each other. Looting seemed a rare event. There was a determination to overcome this terrible adversity. Lives and towns would be rebuilt, eventually, even if it would take years. The people would endure.

It is this theme, the strength of the human spirit that I have attempted to capture over the years in many of my short stories. Some of these tales may seem sad or traumatic but, despite that, I trust that hope, love, honour and integrity shine through, transcending the blight of evildoers, disability and natural disaster.

 
As writers, we strive to walk in the shoes of our characters. Fiction writers lie in order to grasp the truth. In some small way, I hope these stories reveal truths about the human condition.

Thank you for purchasing this book.’

 

***

The contract for When the Flowers are in Bloom expires on 4 May 2014. It will then be out of print; maybe it will become a collectors’ item, maybe not.

Anyway, this was a final push in the hope of accruing further sales. In May I shall then pass on the royalties, as promised.

5 May 2014 - Sorry, these stories are no longer available in this format.

 

On a pinnacle - Guadalest, Spain

About 25km inland from Benidorm is the enchanting town and castle of Guadalest. If you’ve never been there, it’s really worth a visit, as it has one of the most photogenic views in the Costa Blanca area. You can get there by car or an organised coach trip, travelling past lush and fertile valleys originally terraced and irrigated by the Moors. The best view of the craggy fortress and village is from the almond terraces and olive groves on either side of the twisting road.

Hundreds of people go time and again, and yet it never seems overly crowded; I’m speaking from experience, we take our visitors regularly, and they never seem to tire of the place. Its popularity is understandable when you realise that Guadalest is the second-most visited place in Spain for tourists, after Madrid’s Prado Museum - over two million visitors in all.

Strangely, if you watch the film My Life in Ruins, which is set entirely in Greece, you’ll catch some views of Guadalest, and other nearby parts of the Costa Blanca!

The water used in Benidorm’s many hotels actually comes from Guadalest; one of its main attractions is the breath-taking idyllic reservoir viewed from the castle walls.

 

 

By rights Guadalest should be an expensive tourist trap, with plenty of shops selling the whole spectrum of keepsakes and ornaments, from the ridiculous to the sublime. Yet it’s still magical and the prices, surprisingly, are better than you will find on the coast.

Like an eagle’s nest on a pinnacle, Guadalest stands out like no other Spanish town. There are countless attractive mountainside villages, and both Ronda and Cuenca are spectacular in their own way, but Guadalest is one of a kind.

Surrounded yet not dwarfed by the Aitana, Serella and Xorta mountain ranges, Guadalest has been named as a ‘Monument of Historical and Artistic Value.’

Way back in AD 715 the Moors settled here, endowing the place with its name. They didn’t plunder or molest the inhabitants in the area but lived alongside them, as was their way for hundreds of years until the Christian kings in the north started to fight their way south to eject them.

Jaime I conquered Guadalest in 1238 but it wasn’t actually occupied until 1245. There were ongoing battles with the Moors until their leader’s expulsion in 1275 and the ruling that no Moor could change his dwelling-place without the permission of Christians. Yet more uprisings of Moors occurred – even after their final expulsion in 1492 – by those who had stayed on. One of the bloodiest and last uprisings was as late as 1609; these battles are celebrated boisterously and noisily every year, particularly in nearby Alcoy.

In 1644 and 1748 Guadalest suffered earthquakes. The ground here trembled yet again during the War of the Spanish Succession when the town’s powder reserves blew up – whether accidentally or deliberately isn’t known – which prompted the place to be abandoned as a stronghold in 1848.

In its day it was quite formidable, the local population living within the castle walls, with only the single access through the gate of St José. The narrow streets are typical, providing shade in the sweltering long summer months and shelter in the blessedly short cold winters. The two hundred inhabitants devote their lives to tourism and agriculture.

Wend your way through the quaint shop-filled streets up the steps and through the St José Gate and immediately opposite is the entrance to the Orduña House which charges a modest entrance fee. Here you can view original and interesting furniture, paintings and kitchen utensils. Perched on and overlapping the rock edifice, the house offers some spectacular panoramic views. The library is perhaps the most attractive feature, with over 1,200 volumes. The house also provides the only access to the castle above, which is definitely worth venturing for the added perspective the viewpoints provide.

Next to this house is the church where scrolls were found mentioning the baptism of 190 Moors. The watch tower – Peñon de Alcalà – perched on the top of this rock could only be reached by a rope-ladder. The town square has the small but imposing town hall and below it a twelfth century dungeon, which is open to the public. You will also encounter several museums, ranging from modern sculpture to designs on pin-heads, from belens to torture chambers!

There are plenty of cafés and restaurants where you can stop and eat, all reasonably priced, the favourite meals being paella, stuffed peppers, rabbit in garlic mayonnaise and oven-cooked vegetables. The shops offer an amazing choice – beautiful local handicrafts, ponchos, shawls, stoles, china, porcelain and fine lace-work. These colourful shops stretch from the lower, outer part of the town all the way up to the high square, some 590 metres above sea-level.

The Guadalest dam is 73 metres high and 270 metres long and was built between 1953 and 1964. Nearby, and usually part of any organised tour to Guadalest, is the Algar river and waterfalls, both of which are refreshing and attractive and most certainly worth a visit while you’re in the area.

Strangely, I haven’t included Guadalest in my fiction yet. This is clearly an oversight. I feel that Leon Cazador will be called to resolve one of his cases here soon.

Spanish Eye - first 22 cases of Leon Cazador, Private Eye

due out from Crooked Cat Publishing 29 November 2013

 NB – ‘belen’ – nativity tableau

 

 

54 nuclear reactors speckling the coast

Contamination 6 months after the double whammy that hit Japan. It won't go away.


Food contamination from the nuclear plant is a big worry, besides affecting a lot of farmers’ businesses. Yet perhaps there’s good news too. Rice harvested this year in the Fukushima Prefecture went on sale this month, with farmers reassuring customers that it’s free from contamination...

I've been in contact with Yuri, an AP journalist and she has produced a very thoughtful and interesting despatch on this subject. There's no real alternative to nuclear energy for Japan. Here's the link to Yuri’s story:

http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/post-tsunami-japan-sticking-nuclear-power-012524603.html?back=%2Fworld%2F%3Fpage%3D3&.ts=1315621902&.intl=us&.lang=en&.ysid=2zRmu_94Ws0bsfRnRhDdZUnz

You can also gain further insight by reading Charlie Whipple's blog at
http://chucktyrell-outlawjournal.blogspot.com/

Hubris or political expediency?

The future has arrived. Threat of nuclear meltdown was all too real in the last six months...

Japan’s heavy reliance on nuclear power is now seen as a serious mistake. Naturally, it’s easy to be wise after the event. And, to be fair, the damage sustained by the Fukushima nuclear plant was not in the Chernobyl league, serious though it is. Considering the tremendous forces that the plant withstood, the engineering safeguards seem to have worked – if only just. Hubris prompted siting many nuclear power stations on the cusp of the quake-prone archipelago. Maybe financial and political expediency had something to do with it.


Near the Fukishima Daiichi plant is the ghost town of Minamisoma, which suffered the loss of several hundred residents during the disaster. Then the remaining thousands were evacuated. Their lives and livelihoods are on hold until something can be resolved. How many more lives are in stasis – perhaps due to government intransigence?

See Charlie Whipple's website http://chucktyrell-outlawjournal.blogspot.com/ for a lot of detailed background and even moving images.

Japan's tragedy six months on

September 9 is remembered for many deaths


9/11 is significant as the tenth anniversary of the mass murders of almost 3,000 people from many nations and religions perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists. This terrible loss of life was due to man’s inhumanity to man.

As there are plenty of natural disasters that cut a swathe through countless innocent lives, it seems deplorable that anyone could contemplate killing innocent people simply because of a different value system. The terrorists’ twisted logic probably argues that no westerner is innocent, since they don’t follow a certain strict code of behaviour. Wars and conflicts happen for a variety of reasons, too complex to go into here; whether a quest for power or resources, or the imposition of ideals and beliefs. But there's another conflict - against nature...

9/11 also marks the six-month point of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, a devastating double whammy from Nature against the islands of Japan that claimed over 20,000 missing or dead. In those months, like many, I’ve been moved by the resilience of the Japanese, particularly the many orphaned children, who strive against formidable odds to rebuild not only their lives but their nation.

I thought that in the lead up to this six-month marker, I’d open up some discussion on the effects and consequences of this natural catastrophe.

All author and publisher royalties go toward aid of the Japanese earthquake/tsunami survivors for these 2 e-books: WHEN THE FLOWERS ARE IN BLOOM by Nik Morton and A MATTER OF TEA and other stories by Charles T Whipple.

When the Flowers are in Bloom

I've taken a leaf out of Charles Whipple's book (see A Matter of Tea below) and will be donating all my royalties from this e-book to the survivors of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. As will the publisher, Solstice Publishing.

My Foreword says, ‘Reading about the cataclysmic devastation that hit Japan in March, I was greatly moved by the attitude of the survivors. People of all ages went out of their way to help each other. Looting seemed a rare event. There was a determination to overcome this terrible adversity. Lives and towns would be rebuilt, eventually, even if it would take years. The people would endure.


‘It is this theme, the strength of the human spirit that I have attempted to capture over the years in many of my short stories. Some of these tales may seem sad or traumatic but, despite that, I trust that hope, love, honor and integrity shine through, transcending the blight of evildoers, disability and natural disaster.

‘As writers, we strive to walk in the shoes of our characters. Fiction writers lie in order to grasp the truth. In some small way, I hope these stories reveal truths about the human condition.’

Blurb

These twelve diverse stories travel far and wide, over the globe and through history, to examine the human condition. Whether a quest for atonement decades after the Second World War, or to repay a debt of honor, Japanese characters reveal their fragility. In Sarajevo, Bosnia or the grim projects of New York, life must go on.

Characters show us that disability is not a handicap. Forgiveness and redemption are human qualities the world is short of today, perhaps. They’re needed by those who disinter the past and graves from an old war in Spain. Birth and death – they’re here. So is honor, duty, courage and love.

All royalties which would normally go to the author and the publisher will go directly to help the Earthquake and tsunami victims.

The e-book can be ordered from the Solstice Publishing site (http://www.solsticepublishing.com/) or other online outlets, including Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/When-Flowers-are-Bloom-ebook/dp/B004ZG6IXS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A317O7WZ1CN6AQ&s=books&qid=1304685711&sr=8-1

A Matter of Tea and other stories

An e-book in aid of the Earthquake victims.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52655

"Delicate as bisque china, dangerous as a snake den, Charles T. Whipple's writing resonates across the seven seas. Tales of sacrifice and honor that flick at the heart and encircle the soul." – Marsha Ward. Stories include: A Matter of Tea, The Dragon of Torigoe, The Floating World, Kamo Ike, From Chojagasaki Bay, Masakado's Revenge, and Bonus Sections.

Royalties are for relief efforts in Japan.

Charlie says:

"The title story of this collection is the same story that won the 2010 Oaxaca International Literature Competition. This is the first time the story has ever been published. And with it, other stories I have written that are set in Japan, plus a look at a brand new series called Chronicles of the Dark Mirror. A full chapter of the first book, The Seeker.

The only thing I do well is write. When the earthquake hit Kobe in 1995, friends and I hauled food and necessities from Tokyo to Kobe. But this time, the damage and the suffering makes Kobe look like a picnic. (I apologize to the people in Kobe for that simile but the destruction and the death toll and the homelessness in Tohoku is so vast, it defies description.) Aerial comparisons of before and after are shocking to say the least. And the only thing I can do is write.

So I decided to let you read these stories and help the people in Tohoku at the same time. Buy this book for a buck -- well, for 99 cents -- and I and my publisher will give all the income we receive from your purchases to worthy charities that are helping in Tohoku. I will personally pick the charities and I will personally report to you about what has been or is being done.

Help me out. Buy this book of stories about Japan. Get your friends to buy a copy, too. Spread the word. Help me help the victims of Japan's horrendous earthquake and tsunami."

You can also access it on Amazon, of course.

Dateline Sendai, Japan

This is a letter of thanks and rather uplifting news from a friend of a friend, which deserves a wider readership. The writer teaches English in Sendai.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, and share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly, where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.

No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses are a mess in some places, yet then there’s a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. And all happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty: the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains at Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them magnificently silhouetted against the sky. And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entrance-way. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door, checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers, asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, up to now, this area is better off than others. Last night, my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me, with Love in return, to you all...