Today We Welcome the New Roaring 20s

Jeff—Saturday

At midnight on the Continent today, Brexit formally arrived.

For those off-Continent one time zone to the west, it arrived yesterday at 23:00 (GMT). 

For those incontinent, does time really matter?

If you think there’s been a lot of wild-eyed speculative coverage about potential Brexit consequences up to now, just you wait Henry Higgins, just you wait!

The Republic of Ireland is now the last bastion of English as a national language in the EU, though officially second to Irish—putting aside the yet unresolved question of Gibralter.

Though the EU has announced it will retain English, along with French and German, as its official “working languages,” I wonder just how long that accommodation will be graciously observed. 

For sure the EU wants to maintain good relations with the United duo of States and Kingdom, and English is one of the top two languages spoken in the world, only a hundred million or so speakers behind Mandarin Chinese.  But what about Spanish, which ranks #4 behind Hindustani and ahead of #6 Arabic, and has more than twice the number of speakers as French at #10. All of that according to the website “Swedish Nomad.” 

Nah, no chance the EU would ever shove aside English, for let’s say #1 Chinese.  After all, what could the EU possibly gain sidling up to China and neglecting its English-speaking allies and NATO compatriots’ wishes and desires?

True, some might say the UK, in adopting a “business is business” approach in resisting American opposition to its dealings with China’s Huawei Technologies, has blazed a path to China for the EU to follow.

On a more personal level, it could also be said, that when you walk out of a marriage don’t expect to have a say in choosing your ex’s new suitors.

As I see it, the West is in for a very interesting 2020, and quite a few years beyond.

In other words, Welcome to the 21^st Century’s Roaring 20s. 

May we survive them.

—Jeff

Jeff's 2020 Speaking Engagements and Signings (in formation):

Friday, March 13, 10:15AM

San Diego, CA

LEFT COAST CRIME—San Diego Marriott Mission Valley—(Sierra 5-6)

Moderating “Tipping the Scales: The criminal justice system,” with Teresa Burrell, Keenan Powell, L.F. Robertson, and Karen Stefano.

Saturday, March 14, 2:45PM

San Diego, CA

LEFT COAST CRIME—San Diego Marriott Mission Valley—(Rio Vista F-H)

Panelist, “Murder Goes Global: International Mysteries and Thrillers,” with Annamaria Alfieri, Ana Manwaring, and Greg Randall, moderated by Jane Stillwater.

Monday, March 16, 2020, 11AM-2PM

Saddlebrooke, Arizona 85739

FRIENDS OF SADDLEBROOKE LIBRARIES 

30th Anniversary Authors Luncheon

SaddleBrooke Clubhouse

40010 S. Ridgeview Blvd.

Author Speaking and Signing

Thursday, June 4--Sunday, June 7, 2020

BRISTOL, UK

CRIMEFEST—Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel

Panels yet to be announced 

Thursday, October 15—Sunday, October 18

SACRAMENTO, CA

BOUCHERCON

Panels yet to be announced

Brexit—A Dystopian Take

Zoë Sharp

I am not noted for my ability to look on the bright side of things. In fact, sometimes it might be said that my glass is not only half empty, but I’ve just dropped and smashed said glass, then either lacerated myself on the broken shards, or used one of them as an improvised weapon.

If you lean towards the noir end of the crime writing spectrum rather than the rosy end, this can be an advantage, however. Most story ideas come to me when I take a snippet of news, a piece of information, or an obscure fact, and go “But what if it all went Horribly Wrong…?”

Mix the increasing popularity of dystopian fiction together with the farce that is the current process of the UK trying to extricate itself from the European Union, and the creative wheels start to spin so fast they threaten to burn out the bearings.

When the referendum was held back in 2016, 72.2% of those who were eligible to vote actually did so. Of those, 52% voted to leave. It has to be agreed that this made it a pretty close run thing. Even in the comedy madhouse that is, currently, the House of Commons, I understand that a ‘supermajority’ is required for changes to important legislation such as the constitution. A supermajority is generally taken to be two-thirds.

As with all things, there will be some members of the population who have no particular feelings one way or the other on the matter, and those who are absolutely passionate supporters of their own stance. So far, we’ve had protests and marches and petitions. The BBC Parliament channel has never had so many new viewers tuned in. The machinations enacted in the chamber have been likened to a season of Game of Thrones.

As I write this, Brexit has been delayed but we’re not quite sure for how long. More chaos reigns, as the Passport Office were geared up to start issuing non-EU passports from March 29th.

So, if I was exploring the situation with a view to writing a dystopian novel, there are so many angles of approach I’d be spoilt for choice which road to go down. Social unrest, rioting in the streets, breakaway republics being formed by Wales, Scotland and even Cornwall, quite apart from the situation between the north and the south in Ireland. Sea blockades, shortages, a thriving black market, poverty, corruption, and crime. 

Of course, things may go through and all turn out wonderfully, but where’s the decent dystopian novel synopsis in that?

This week’s Word of the Weekis chronophobia, which means fear of the future or of the passing of time. From the Greek chronos, meaning time, and phobos, meaning flight. From the same rootswe also have chronomentrophobia, which is the fear of clocks and watches.

May 2

NOIR AT THE BAR NEWCASTLE—the Town Wall pub, Pink Lane, Newcastle NE1 5HX

Doors open 19:00

Organised by the inimitable Vic Watson, the line-up is Neil Broadfoot, Mik Brown, Ashley Erwin, Derek Farrell, Jónína Leósdóttir, Gytha Lodge, Judith O’Reilly, Zoë Sharp, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, plus a wildcard chosen on the night.

May 9-12

CRIMEFEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION CONVENTION—Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, Bristol

Friday, May 10, 13:40-14:30 Contemporary Issues: Reflecting How We Live Candy Denman, Paul Gitsham, Cara Hunter, Amanda Robson, Zoë Sharp (Participating Moderator)

Saturday, May 11, 11:20-12:10 Ten Year Stretch: The CrimeFest Short Story Anthology Peter Guttridge, Caro Ramsay, Zoë Sharp, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip), Kate Ellis (Participating Moderator)

Sunday, May 12, 09:30-10:20 The Indie Alternative Beate Boeker, Adam Croft, Barry Faulkner, Lynn Florkiewicz, Zoë Sharp (Participating Moderator)

June 7

Meet the Author—Thornton Library, Victoria Road East, Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire FY5 3SZ

Friday, June 07, 10:30-11:30

Post Brexit Chaos, 1970s’ Style

Zoë Sharp

Keeping up with the UK news every day, it’s been hard to avoid the latest creaking and groaning of the Brexit debate. Deals crafted at Chequers and destroyed in Salzburg, dire warnings of businesses leaving the country for mainland Europe, and a falling pound.

I feared when the ‘Yes’ vote came in after the referendum that it might prove an impossible mess to disentangle the UK from Europe after 40+ years of union. But any time of upheaval is a rich seam for a writer to mine.

It’s hard not to have your imagination prodded by the possibilities. After all, when you’re constructing a story idea you tend to take a basic concept and give it the ‘what if…’ treatment. Things will certainly change after Brexit, but what if they changed far more than anybody expected?

What if, for example, the UK should collapse into economic chaos and bankruptcy after Brexit. What if the United States, always seen as our ally, decided that this group of islands parked conveniently off the coast of mainland Europe would be better under more direct control. (And, let’s face it, with the present administration in power, almost anything is possible.)

And what if, having come to such a conclusion, the US decided to enforce it by means of military occupation?

Daphne du Maurier

Farfetched? Probably, but don’t look at me. This is the storyline of a book called RULE BRITANNIA. It was the last novel written by Daphne du Maurier, and published by Victor Gollancz in 1972, more as a satire of the increasing dominance of America in British affairs than a treatise against the UK becoming too involved in Europe.

the original 1972 Victor Gollancz edition

RULE BRITANNIA follows Emma, who lives with her grandmother, Mad, and Mad’s adopted children in Cornwall, when radio and TV communication are lost and an American warship suddenly appears off the coast.

All the more remarkable, when you consider it, as back in 1972, Britain had yet to join the Common Market, let alone join and then decide to leave again…

I only made the discovery about du Maurier’s final novel a few days ago, but I’m intrigued enough to start reading it.

the latest Virago modern classics edition, with introduction by Ella Westland

This week’s Word of the Week is euphony, meaning a literary device of words formed or combined so they are sweet sounding or pleasing to the ear. From the Greek meaning ‘sweet-voiced’.

The news

Stanley - Thursday

My mind has been overflowing for the past seven weeks. We rewrote the manuscript for Dead of Night from first person to third person in about four sleepless weeks. We dealt with the edits of that, and we started the seventh Kubu mystery, due to the publishers in mid-December. In addition, I have a commitment to write a golf article for the Minnesota Golf Magazine. Needless to say normal STUFF has been largely neglected.

So as I started to look around for a topic for this week's blog, I found it really difficult. Not because there are so few, rather there are so many, most of which I'd paid scant attention to.

What has taken centre stage here in the USA is Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy that purposefully separates children from their parents as a deterrent to future immigrants. The situation has been so sickening that not only did the spineless Republican elected representatives actually stand up to Trump, but some of his political base did also. That is what tipped the scales, in my opinion. It wasn’t any softening of his attitude that made him sign an executive order yesterday doing away with child separation. It was his recognition that he was losing support of his strongest supporters.

The run up to his change of position was astonishing. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was quoting the bible as justification for what the Trump administration was doing. Secretary for Homeland Security, Kjersten Nielsen (no relative to Mette, I’m pleased to report), flat out lied by saying no children were being separated from their parents. Period. That despite records showing over 2000 had already been taken and the daily number was increasing rapidly. I suppose she would argue that the photographs of it happening had been photoshopped. Both she and Trump insisted that the problem had been created by the Democrats, and that it was up to them to fix it. This lie continued even on Tuesday, the day before Trump signed his executive order, which he had repeatedly stated, he wasn’t able to do. 

Kjersten Nielsen lying.

However, the executive order fails to address how the kids already separated are going to be reunited with their parents. Many people believe that many will never be reunited either because their parent or parents have already been deported or because the federal bureaucracy won’t be able to match parents with children. Sickening.

Secretary Nielsen decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant near the White House on Tuesday evening. Bad idea! She was loudly booed by protesters. Good for them.

Kudos have to go to the press, both print and electronic, for picking up this horrendous story and running with it. There’s no doubt in my mind that the photographs and sound clips had a profound impact on the country – to such an extent that a variety of polls showed that two thirds of the country opposed what was happening.

I think this is the end of the beginning of the story, not the beginning of the end. There are going to be many more horror stories as time passes.

On a totally different topic, my interest in football (soccer) is minimal at best, even when the World Cup is being played. Neither of my two countries are in Russia – South Africa and the USA failing to qualify. Today Denmark plays Australia. Of course, I am sticking up for Denmark, both because of Mette, but also because South Africans support any team playing against Australia! The only good thing about the Cup is that it provides a mindless diversion from politics.

Russia's strange World Cup symbol.

Finally, did you read that the mighty De Beers, for years the monopoly controlling the sale of diamonds worldwide, has just announced that it is going to make and sell artificial diamonds for about $800 a carat, considerably undercutting its competitors? Huh? How does that make any sense when it mines millions of carats of gem quality stones? From what I can read, the idea is to get the public to equate artificial diamonds with costume jewelry. The idea is that no self-respecting woman would then want an engagement ring made from costume jewelry. Will it work? I don’t know, but then the value of a real diamond is not intrinsic, but merely what someone will pay for it.

And then there is the upcoming trade war: the USA versus its closest allies. My mind is too boggled to think of that. But also the USA versus China. I think Trump may have miscalculated here (if he thought at all about it) because the USA's leaders are elected. If midwest farmers start losing their export markets, their votes will move to someone who will improve trading relations.

And then there's Brexit and the rebels, who seem to have capitulated.

And Canada legalising recreational marijuana.

And did you read that Trump wants the USA to have space police? 

Vice-President Pence talking at a meeting of the Space Council. Looks as though he's shouting, trying to be heard.  And is that the Space Police's cruiser?

And that the USA withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, citing its bias against Israel.

Nothing is simple anymore. Unless you are Mike Pence, Vice-President of the USA, who is Trump's lap dog mimicking everything he does. Watch here: you can't make this stuff up.

Upcoming event:

July 15: release by Orenda Books in the UK of our stand-alone thriller DEAD OF NIGHT. Not available in the USA at the moment.

How Theresa May can save the day

Leye - Every other Wednesday

By HM Government - https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/theresa-mays-speech-to-the-un-general-assembly, OGL 3, Link

When Her Majesty the Queen asked me to form a new government and I accepted, I promised that as we leave the European Union, we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us.

Even though I campaigned to remain, following our vote to leave, I promised to deliver on the promises of the other side because I believe in the opportunities now open to our great nation and because BREXIT means BREXIT.

As Prime Minister I served the withdrawal notice under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. I created the Department for Exiting the European Union and I appointed the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

I led the government in negotiating a BREXIT deal for us that will ensure our continued prosperity, strengthen our leadership role in the global community, and deliver on the promises of BREXIT while remaining a united Kingdom.

Together with my ministers, and in pursuant to our goal of a prosperous United Kingdom outside the EU, I have had positive discussions with governments in the European Union, and with allies outside the union.

In those discussions and negotiations, I have consistently and assertively laid down our position while negotiating our exit from the union, guided always by the promise I made to you as your Prime Minister, and the promise of prosperity we made to you as a party.

Following months of debate, discussions, analysis, and negotiations, it has now become clear to me that the only way the United Kingdom can remain united and prosperous is by remaining in the European Union.

The promises we made to you are simply impossible to deliver through an exit from the union. BREXIT will make is worse off.

It is for this reason that I, as your Prime Minister, …

The end.

Sparks of Hope

Sujata Massey

 Speaking to supporters for his presidential in Iowa in 2008, Barack Obama said: "Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead, or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shoring from the fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it."

30 days after our election, I can see a number of things that give me hope.

First is 'Old Friends,' an Amazon Prime commercial that began running in the UK, Germany and the US last week to mark the holiday season. The advertisement features an Episcopal priest and a Muslim cleric in Britain who are faith leaders, rather than actors. This fact probably explains how beautiful the men's connection is. I could watch this ad time and again and still tear up. Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon, made a powerful, quiet statement of hope to all. This commercial may be the first ever to feature a Muslim cleric. The risks taken by running 'Old Friends' closes the deal for me regarding Amazon. I am happy to shop from Amazon--just as I'm really pleased Bezos has owned and expanded the subscriber base of the Washington Post. 

Teamwork and forgiveness have also turned around the dire situation at the Standing Rock Reservation. To summarize a very complicated situation, the US government was planning to run part of the Dakota Access Pipeline for natural gas through a burial ground on a Sioux reservation in North Dakota. Hundreds of Indians and their friends stayed present at Standing Rock in bitter cold to keep the digging from beginning. They were abused by the police. Some military veterans pledged to come to the reservation to protect the protestors from the police, and but a serious confrontation was averted. Last Sunday night, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it will not approve an easement allowing the DAP to run through the reservation. The leader of the Sioux community was asking protestors to return home with the hope that the situation will continue toward peaceful resolution. A moving forgiveness ceremony in which military veterans acknowledged their past role in oppressing Indians and taking land took place this past Monday, with Chief Leonard Crow Dog telling Wesley Clark Jr., "We do not own the land. The land owns us."

tru2u design on Etsy is giving 25% of profits to Amnesty International

Without a word, but a sign, people can show solidarity. The Safety Pin Solidarity Movement began a few months ago, following the U.K's vote to leave the European Union. Since then, violent acts against immigrants and people of color have risen. British people spread the tradition of wearing safety pins on their coats or sweaters to publicly signify that they are "safe" people who will support anyone being marginalized. I loved the idea, and to make my symbol stand out, I bought my own colorful safety pins on Amazon Prime (of course, given the 'Old Friends' commerical.) However, artistic safety pin jewelry is popping up everywhere, including in wonderful jewelry form from Etsy artists such as  tru2u jewelry, sometimes with some portion of proceeds going to a human rights organization.

The last thing bringing me hope is the sun. Autumn really has not ended in Maryland. The weather is warm,  the crimson maples are holding their leaves, and the earth is still soft enough for planting. So I finally got down to business. I never get around to planting bulbs in the fall, but since Thanksgiving, I've planted 100 daffodils, 100 Narcissus Thalia, and 100  muscari latifolium. No matter what happens this winter, I'm sure I'll see some flowers in the spring. The cycle of nature is the strongest proof that hope has a reward.

Crime in the time of Brexit

Murder is Everywhere is delighted to welcome Leye Adenle as a regular blogger every other Wednesday.  

I met him at Harrogate this year, where Michael and I were on the same panel about African crime writing.  It didn't take more than the snap of a hyena's jaw to ask him to join our blog.  I had already read his jarring novel, Easy Motion Tourist, so I knew what a fine writer he was, and the contributions he made to the panel convinced me that he would bring fascinating and different perspectives to our readers.  My opinion was reinforced when I read his short story for Sunshine Noir.

So please welcome Leye to our merry band.  I know you are going to enjoy what he has to say.  You can read more about him here.
Stanley
_________________________________
Leye - every other Wednesday

As a Nigerian living in the UK, that strange thing called a British Nigerian or a Nigerian British, I had a massive stake in the now historical Brexit vote. I woke up on the morning of the 24^th of June, at about 5 am, and on my laptop that watches over my sleep from the side table, I watched the last few minutes of the announcements of the referendum results. The Brexiters had won. Cut to Nigel Farage, that most obnoxious, most uncomfortable-to-comprehend of all Brexiters, beaming and grinning, declaring the day as Independence Day, and boasting that ‘they’ had achieved the feat '...without a single bullet being fired.'

Photo by Dweller

I’d never felt foreboding as I did, spreading through my cranium to every one of my bones, that morning on my bed.

In a few hours I would be on that technological symbol of European partnership, the Eurostar, on my way to Toulouse to attend the Marathon des Mots, a literary festival where I would have the honour of watching a French actor dramatically read from my crime novel.

Photo 0x010C

Crime. That was what was taking me to France, howbeit the type committed by homo-fictus on the pages of a book. But all through that journey to France, my mind was consumed by another type of crime, a great crime that had been committed by real people, real men, real women, real politicians, who lied and obscured their way to victory.

Hardly hours after the win, the leading figures of Brexit were backing away from promises made for votes. The morning was hardly over before it became apparent that more money wasn't going to be saved to go into funding the NHS, migrant figures were not going to reduced, and article 50, the exit button from the European union, was not going to be automatically invoked. As I write, a date is still to be set for this monumental feat. 

But this is not a blog about politics or the Brexit vote, or Mr Farage, as completing a Machiavellian character as he would make. This is a post about crime - more precisely about writing crime fiction in a post Brexit world.

Without Euro villains free to move in and out of the UK, authors will be forced to brush up on immigration procedures, visa statuses, and implications of committing crime in the UK while not a UK citizen, and being nicked by the British Police. Ditto for other authors in EU Europe. Far-fetched, maybe, but things have changed. The stories will have to change to.

What of past works, published books that took for granted the free movement of Europeans? Will they suddenly become dated now? Worse still, manuscripts written and edited and proofed and readied before the vote. Are editors demanding rewrites now?

A single slight change in a technical detail can necessitate a total rethink and reworking of an entire plot, or a premise, or even a character; a train station that has recently undergone a refurbishment, a notorious neighbourhood afflicted with gentrification. Even a new streetlamp on the corner of the street can derail an entire plot - because now the villain could have been seen as he buried the keepsake trinket he stole from his victim. The tiny details matter.

Tiny changes are amplified into big rewrites. Slight changes send ripples of destruction through our carefully pruned storylines, how much more an unprecedented event like the UK exiting the European union?

What if the colour of the British passport reverts to blue? What if Scotland and Northern Ireland break away? What if the monarchy becomes the biggest casualty? (Some fool leaked to the press that the Queen was for Brexit.) What if hate crime, geometrically increased in the time since the vote, reaches a height so unimaginable, so un-anticipatable, from which the nation never recovers? What if this newly prominent type of crime becomes so, so dominant that to write of crime in the UK without dealing with hate crime would make your entire plot implausible? 

Photo  Edwardx 

Implausible? I think not. In my 17 years in London, and my 40 years upon terra firma, only in the days after the outcome of the Brexit referendum did I first experience physical hate crime. It happened in Clapham Junction Station, in the underpass, the busiest station in terms of rail traffic in Europe. A well timed, well planted shoulder into my chest. And when I turned round to accept an apology, the much smaller man squared up to me, poked his finger at my face and through gritted teeth told me to ‘Go home.’

Photo: Tagishsimon

The vote, it seems, has legitimised hate.

Personally, and I think prudently, I will continue to set my books in Nigeria where things are constant and there is no threat of change: there’s still no steady supply of electricity, the police force is still under paid, under trained, under equipped, and under motivated, thieving politicians still make the laws, billionaire pastors are still profiting from fear of God that permeates everything, and the boarders remain as porous as the day they were drawn in pencil across paper maps.