Festival Issue One: The Great Writers.
Hunter S Thompson, by Christine Blake
In our Great Writers series we have a brilliantly concise introduction to Hunter S Thompson. Christine Blake, the author of the exquisitely researched, A Woman Redeemed, gives a master class in rendering the works of a great author into a vanishingly small space of eight hundred words, for our festival's submission requirements. Christine explores Gonzo Journalism, Thompson's evident character flaws, both in himself and others, his groundbreaking work for Rolling Stone Magazine and how he arrested an entire nation. This article sets the pace for Litarena Magazine Festival writers. It's a "must read" piece.
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, by Lloyd Lofthouse
Next in our Great Writers series we've an introduction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, along with Ernest Hemingway. Now, this introduction has been written by one of my favourite writers, Lloyd Lofthouse. Lloyd's book can be found in the book review section. And his piece on the two great writers ought to be read by anyone who would write a novel today. Although Lloyd's piece is extremely short it contains a very salutary note on patience and writing. These two things went together in the age of great writers. They may not go together any more. And perhaps that's not a good thing. I urge you to read Lloyd's contribution. What he writes may stay with you for quite a while.
Editorial: Did Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett hate Agatha Christie?
Did Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett hate Agatha Christie? You might have thought that this would be another literary joke. It isn't. Well, not really. There is a serious point here, and that is, did the blood-and-gutsy, American authors with their Chicago mobsters and blonde dolls hate the English Miss Marples, with their cups of tea and endless successions of vicars? In short, the answer is: Some of them did, yes. But who did and why might surprise you.
Did Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett hate Agatha Christie?
Cinthya: Beric the Briton who Defied the Will of Ancient Rome.
The most unusual topic so far that we've had is a superb essay on Ancient Britain by an English teacher from Mexico. I kid you not. Cinthya, from Puebla, has written a fantastic review of GA Henty's classic story of the Roman Invasion of Britain in AD 43. I don't want to spoil her contribution by giving too much away here, but it contains Britain's greatest warrior queen, lion-to-man combat, and slavery. (Oh, and Russell Crowe.)
Three Terrific Thrillers
The first two are written by Claude Bouchard and Jeanette McCarthy. First let me say how well both of them write. Both writers produce very fine pieces of work indeed. Both writers use an eye for detail in their cover designs. Claude's covers are stark and so are his books. They're pared down. They're simple and they're raw. His writing is just as direct. Claude and his killers rampage through each of his fast-paced stories leaving the all the readers, the police and the captivated media too dizzy and on tenterhooks. Jeanette is more graceful. Her covers are more wistful. Her books play on feelings as well as betrayal, abuse, murder, and the kind of beastliness that you almost only ever find in fiction. In the book that our festival concentrates on she shows us how one woman survives on a remote island. But it's not an ordinary island. Jeanette has studied its horror and its fascination. This story is disturbing. It's also very good indeed.
Editorial: Friedrich Nietzsche in Five Minutes.
Friedrich Nietzsche in Five Minutes. This is a brief look at the work of a great thinker. It delves into some of reasons why there is no single common style to Nietzsche's work. Friedrich Nietzsche wasn't consistently cryptic, strident, opaque or just plain odd. Sometimes he was all of those things, and at other times he was none of them. Sometimes, (when he felt like it,) Nietzsche wrote in the kind of straight, plain German that anybody and everybody could understand! Who would have thought it?
Submissions Wanted! Write About a Great Writer for Litarena Magazine!
If you've written a publishable article about any of the classic authors, or any of America's hard-boiled fiction writers, and you'd like to put it to good use, then we'd love to hear from you.
