Monday, August 30, 2021

Dawn Knox: The Great War

Hawaii Fiction Writers welcomes its newest member, Dawn Knox!  Dawn lives and writes in the UK (we may have to change our name to Hawaii Fiction Writers International).  We asked Dawn to share her experience writing about World War One.  The Great War (2016, available on Amazon) is a well researched, remarkable collection of 100 stories.  Each story is exactly 100 words, a prose narrative with the emotional power of poetry.

Thank you, Dawn, for this gift, and for sharing your experience!


The Great War – 100 Stories of 100 Words Honouring Those Who Lived and Died 100 Years Ago wasn’t a book I set out to publish – it came about by accident. If anyone had suggested it to me, I’d have doubted I’d be able to write 100 stories of exactly 100 words. I actually intended to write about two or three 100 word stories – or drabbles – to give to some friends who ran the Forget Never Project which was set up in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the Great War but the ideas flowed and the more I wrote, the more ideas I had.

I thought I’d simply pick those I liked best to give to my friends. However, once I’d written about fifty, it occurred to me it would be interesting if I could make it to one hundred. To my amazement, I achieved that.

I set out to write about various aspects of the war, both abroad and at home from different viewpoints – male, female, young and old. I wanted to show that ordinary people of all sides shared the same horrors and pain and so, as often as I could, I didn’t reveal the nationality of people in the stories. The agony of a mother losing a son would have been the same wherever she lived and for whichever country her son had fought.

Some of the stories are based on real events, such as ‘Outstanding Courage’ which I think is my favourite. I like it because it shows the bravery of the British officer and the compassion of the Germans who applauded his courage. This true story reminds me that despite the killing and savagery, the goodness of humanity was not extinguished.

Outstanding Courage

 Armed with a revolver, the officer climbs over the parapet and marches, as if on parade, across the ravages of No Man’s Land.

Friendly eyes follow his progress, wide in disbelief, whilst enemy eyes line him up in their rifle sights.

He’s aware of the danger, but bravely strides towards the injured infantryman, hanging wounded and broken on the barbed wire.

Such an easy target.

But as the officer disentangles the soldier and carries him to safety on his shoulder, cheering is heard from the enemy lines.

And there, amidst the slaughter, enemies forget their differences and salute outstanding courage.

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The book has been a finalist in three book awards: Readers Favorite 2016, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2017 and The Independent Author Network 2018

The Great War – 100 Stories of 100 Words Honouring Those Who Lived and Died 100 Years Ago - mybook.to/TheGreatWar100

Friday, August 20, 2021

John E. Simonds: "In a Roundabout Way"

With In a Roundabout Way: Quick Words, Curious Years, Long Miles (2021), available on Amazon, Hawaii Fiction Writers member John Simonds gives us a look at the world and events of our times. 

As I read these poems I imagined a voice reading aloud to us, word by word, line by line, at a slow pace, letting each image and each thought settle in our ears and in our minds. 

When I reached my favorite poem in the collection, "RFK's Last Ride," I did stop and reread it aloud, slowly, mournfully, as it told the story of Bobby Kennedy's funeral train arriving in D.C.'s Union Station as the speaker waits for its arrival. 

The final stanza is perfect: "Vehicles of sympathy move slowly/ with the famous and comforted/ sharing tragedy from inside./ Strangers on the outside wave/ signs of hope, their faces of sorrow/ bearing trust in a journey's message." 

Thank you, John!

And here are some of John's thoughts on the book:

As in my two earlier books of poetry, “In a Roundabout Way” shares a writer’s eclectic thoughts about the big and small universes in which his personal planet travels and twirls. And, like previous efforts, it combines current observations, past reflections and suggested links from headline topics to ordinary moments. 

The prospect of a life-ending health crisis with its prescribed solitude added urgency to getting this book published while both history and its survivors were sill warm and breathing. Anyone reading these words hopefully has had much the same good fortune as this writer (sound of knuckles on koa) and may sense my gratitude on every page. 

Also evident in many of the poems is a continuing quest for meaning among competing values and random forces, as in the lines from "Objects in Motion." 


…”Which stone to choose,

which token to mount or cradle,

loom into view as Earth approaches.

The person browsing beliefs

may value rocks’ roots as remnants of fortune

anchored as links to soil within us,

as the planet we open to mine

yields fragments of light everlasting.”



Sunday, August 15, 2021

Gail M. Baugniet: Developing Traits For a Novel Character

 

Hawaii Fiction Writers member Gail M. Baugniet shares her experience on developing traits for a novel character.  Her blog post also includes an excerpt from her latest book, Shards of Memory: Oral History In a Heartbeat.  Congratulations, Gail!

Here's the blog post and excerpt:  
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9106887476964048342/6892205085140706408

And here's the description of the book on Amazon:  

A novel based on family history research: SHARDS OF MEMORY - Oral History in a Heartbeat presents a heartwarming experience of emotional healing through storytelling, with a touch of romance and mystery woven throughout. Four grandparents offer an eclectic variety of tales to a grandchild healing from a tragic accident. As they relate tales concerning the hardships of ancestors in homelands across the Atlantic - Belgium, Ireland to Quebec, Bavaria and Prussia and Bohemia - each adult comes to accept the unpredictability of life.

 A touching travelogue, tender romances, a bit of mystery, with intent to entertain, and to entice others to record their own histories. Young Gahlen spends an inordinate amount of time with both sets of grandparents after a tragic accident permanently disfigures the child's leg. Eager to assure their grandchild of the lasting bonds of heritage, each grandparent shares tales of ancestors from Europe, Ireland, or Quebec, Canada. Their stories reveal hardships and joys along several branches of two families, from life in their homelands before 1838 and emigration, to a 1938 wedding uniting the two families. A plan designed to entertain and educate Gahlen brings solace to the grandparents as they relate family stories, recall poignant memories, and ultimately come to terms with grief in their own lives.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

DRABBLE WRITING CONTEST


WINNER NAMED!

To celebrate the publication of Kissing Frogs and Other Quirky Fairy Tales, Hawaii Fiction Writers announces the winner and runner-up in the Super Bowl Drabble Contest.  The challenge was to write the opening of a familiar fairy tale as told by a famous writer.  The two finalists were asked to write one more drabble (exactly 100 words), the opening of a familiar fairy tale as told by a famous writer.  The winner, in advance of Super Bowl Sunday, will receive (1) a copy of Fractured Fairy Tales, by A.J. Jacobs, as featured on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show; and (2) bragging rights.

Congratulations to our winner, Laureen Kwock!  Laureen warmed up for the Super Bowl with her earlier entry of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as told by Mickey Spillane.''  Her overtime-winning drabble, which appears below, is "Little Red Riding Hood, as told by Agatha Christie."

Congratulations also to our Super Bowl runner-up, J.T. Page Jr., who qualified for the contest final with his "Hansel and Gretel, as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."  His Super Bowl overtime entry, which appears below, is "Little Red Riding Hood, as told by Edgar Allen Poe." 


Laureen Kwock:  "Little Red Riding Hood, as told by Agatha Christie"

Clients call me old, mon cher Hastings, but the little grey cells continue their work.
You ask about this last case, the missing child. The mother herself came to my office in tears, asking for help. Such a foolish tale she told.

What kind of woman sends a child out in a forest to deliver food to her grand-mère? Why did the mother not go herself? And dressing la petite in red. Was she trying to attract wolves?

My advice was clear.
Cherchez le woodsman. He and his ax know what happened to the old woman and the little girl. 


J.T. Page Jr.:  "Little Red Riding Hood, as told by Edgar Allen Poe"

Once upon a dreary time, lived Wolfie the wolf who planned a crime.

The deed involved a maid in red and a grandma in her bed.

Before the maid could do some good, Wolfie slunk into the wood.

Suddenly there came a tapping as grandma was gently napping, napping in her forest home.

Heartless Wolfie broke the door and then grandma was no more.

Once the maid arrived, so did a woodsman to Wolfie’s surprise.

Ghastly was the scene as that creature lost spine and spleen.

Horrified, the maid implored “Can Wolfie ever darken my door?”

Quote the woodsman, “Nevermore!”



Wednesday, January 20, 2021

DRABBLE WRITING CONTEST: 

FINALISTS NAMED


To celebrate the publication of Kissing Frogs and Other Quirky Fairy Tales, Hawaii Fiction Writers announce the two finalists in the Super Bowl Drabble Contest.  The challenge was to write the opening of a familiar fairy tale as told by a famous writer.  The two finalists will write one more drabble (exactly 100 words, the opening of a familiar fairy tale as told by a famous writer.  The winner, to be announced on February 7, Super Bowl Sunday, will receive (1) a copy of Fractured Fairy Tales, by A.J. Jacobs, as featured on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show; and (2) bragging rights.

Honorable mention to Lizbeth Hartz for "Hansel and Gretel, as told by Ray Bradbury", and to Kent Reinker for "The Turtle Prince, as told by Ernest Hemingway."

Congratulations to the two finalists:  Laureen Kwock for "Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as told by Mickey Spillane" and J.T. Page Jr.  for "Hansel and Gretel, as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."  And here are the two drabbles that are headed to the Super Bowl:


Laureen Kwock:  "Goldilocks and the Three Bears,
as told by Mickey Spillane"

I told the blonde not to do it. She didn’t listen. Blondes never do.

Her first mistake was breaking and entering. She claimed the coast was clear. The Baers out for the day. Just enough time to look around.

Things got bad fast. Never mess with someone else’s porridge. And did she need to sample all three? Too hot, too cold. Just right.

Mistakes piled up. Trying out the furniture, breaking that chair and getting caught in Baby Baer’s bed.

I made sure they didn’t press charges. Money talks. And Goldie? She’s grounded for life. Not going anywhere ever again. 


J.T. Page Jr.:  "Hansel and Gretel,
as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle"

It was bitterly cold outside.

A thick fog settled over the woodcutter’s impoverished hut near the edge of the great forest.

He had a singular dilemma. His family was starving.

However, the woodcutter’s new wife, stepmother to his two children, had an elementary but sinister solution: take Hansel and Gretel into the forest and abandon them.

Hansel observed the situation was dire after overhearing his father and stepmother arguing. Gretel was fearful but Hansel calmed her by saying he had a plan.

Early the next morning, their father led his innocent children deep into the forest.

The shame was afoot.