Relationships!

Relationships! relationships! relationships!

That's what it's all about

Love stories where the lovers don't even touch? Oh yeah!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Love is in the air but it's more mental/spiritual than physical- but not any less real or intense.

Check it here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

A very good read as the reviews reveal

“ They are all love stories in some sort of way and, though short, relationships between the characters are clearly defined. ” StephiiStephii  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement

“ Brilliantly written, with strong characters, and although short, well crafted. ” yaz  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement

“ These are stories of love, hope, promise and sexuality. ” Sandy Bose    
go there now http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

A different read!

Read outside the box today 

Buy a copy

like and review

It's good!

Read the reviews

Check my ebook at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Dangerous Words

The Internet is a strange country. I put up a post about my favourite story in my ebook collection of short stories and I am now getting hits from porn sites. Here's the post about the statues in Emancipation Park
http://hazeldeebooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-favourite-story-in-my-darling-you-4.html

I can only imagine that the persons searching must be very disappointed when they reach my post seeing that they are using search words like

black male penis
jamaican penis
nude vagina&peins (sic)
I suppose it didn't help that I also posted Ban 'vagina' and 'penis' - Censorship in Christian literature

 quite innocuous articles.

Here's the thing I hope the searchers stay to explore more of my articles AND buy a book. I could dream not so!!!!!!!

This might offend some of my friends. So be it It's the INTERNET!!

My ebook

reviews on amazon

Extracts from reviews of My Darling You

“ They are all love stories in some sort of way and, though short, relationships between the characters are clearly defined. ” StephiiStephii  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement

“ Brilliantly written, with strong characters, and although short, well crafted. ” yaz  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement

“ These are stories of love, hope, promise and sexuality. ” Sandy Bose     

Get your copy and add your reviews 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

 

The stories in My Darling YOU

These are the titles of the stories in my ebook My Darling You. Read some comments I have made on the stories by clicking on the links

The Santa Picture 

First Love

Emancipation Park

The Empty Jam Jar

A Caribbean Princess

The Search

Now you may well ask why I have not commented on the other stories.

I have no answer to that. If you have read the stories and would like to interview me I'll gladly answer your questions. Meanwhile, I continue to wonder about their genesis. The muse is very fickle and sometimes obscure

Read some good (unsolicited ) reviews of the book on the page
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Please support me by buying  a copy. I think you will enjoy the stories
Thanks

History anyone?

I am having a bit of trouble deciding whether some of my stories set in the 70s and 80s qualify as 'historical'. What exactly is the time frame for historical? Anything happening in time past is history, so when can a story be classified as historical?

Realistically, when we see that classification, we think of time long past with characters in history books and significant world periods, like: medieval, Elizabethan or Victorian times. Or, in the Caribbean, we think of  Tainos (Arawaks), pirates, slavery, maroons and sugar plantations. People must be dressed in old time clothing and speak old fashioned language.

In researching this topic on the Internet, I saw one suggestion that a historical setting is anything before World War one. Another suggestion was anything before 1950, it being the halfway mark in the last century. That would make anything after that modern, I suppose. Of course, the next period would be contemporary meaning up to date with all the things that are happening around us now.

So, I suppose my 70s and 80s stories would be modern, but definitely not contemporary as there are no cellphones nor the host of other technological devices which are now so commonplace.

My ebook My Darling You  Get it on amazon

Who Are These People?

Like many other persons who teach writing fiction courses, I advise my students to make detailed character sketches for the persons they put in their stories. This is a must for the protagonists and any other significant characters in the story.
We go down the usual check lists : name (nickname if any); age; physical description; primary relationship(s) MOTIVATION etc

You know the list. As a writer/creator you should know every aspect of your characters' lives. This will help if you run into a roadblock in the story-knowing how your character responds to various situations etc.

Good advice, but not all writers write in the same way.

My characters tend to be born whole. I don't have to work at creating a back story, they come with it. I often find that as I write I am following the character with great interest to find out just what it is they are planning and will get up to next and they tell me why. Once I know what it is I want to say, I can start writing and trust the characters to do their thing. Characters even force their way into my stories. I find that these are usually very interesting persons. They very often add another dimension to the story. (see my earlier post on this blog at http://hazeldeebooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-favourite-story-in-my-darling-you-4.html

I tell my students that they need to know the 'rules'  - i.e. what usually works for writers, but not to be so hard bound by the 'lessons' that they stifle their own creativity. The guidelines work for some, but not for everybody.

See my ebook of short stories My Darling You at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Appreciate your support Please buy a copy

BACK to normal

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

My two days free download of my ebook My Darling You have ended. Thanks to all who took the time to get a copy.I hope you like the stories. If you read AND liked the stories, please consider writing a review, clicking the 'like' button and telling others about it.
If you scroll down this blog you will find some insights as to how some of the stories in this ebook came to be written, as well as a couple of free stories. 
My favourtie story in the ebook is Emancipation Park. Here's why.
http://hazeldeebooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-favourite-story-in-my-darling-you-4.html

My ebook is available.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/

B007U78HEC

My ebook My Darling You (love stories - sort of )  Short stories from Jamaica. Please help me get into the top 100.  Please buy  a copy and write a review.Thank you.  

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Some great reviews on the page. Check it

You don't need to own a kindle to read ebooks on your PC.Check the right side of the page for a free app which allows you to download the ebook and read it on your PC.

I didn't know it took so much work

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

When I published my ebook  My Darling You (love stories -sort of) I didn't realize it would take so much work to get people to go to the amazon page and most of all purchase a copy. Four months later, I am learning that it takes a lot of work, especially as a new comer, to get noticed. I am now knee deep in using social media, making contacts here and there, writing blog entries, begging sites to list my book etc.  -  all of which takes away time from writing. But that's life. If I succeed, my pocket will be heavier and perhaps, next book, I can hire a service to do some of  this for me.

Most useful have been the writers groups on Linkedin. I have got very solid advice from my groups about what to do to promote my ebook 
ALSO
Here's very useful advice from smashwords for writers wanting to publish an ebook at www.smashwords.com. 


Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (Smashwords Guides) is also available freee at amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Publishing-Success-Smashwords-ebook/dp/B007P8H80A/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1344939941&sr=1-1&keywords=Secrets+to+Ebook+Publishing 

Check it. It's free and remember you don't need to own a kindle to read ebooks. Check the amazon page for a free app which allows you to read ebooks on your PC

Another way to sell/buy ebooks

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Here's how you could get to buy my 'ebook' if you do not have a USA credit card facility to order online.

 

Some days ago ,I posted on Linkedin my frustration at poor sales of my ebook despite very good reviews. There were many useful replies suggesting ways of finding my niche and getting more contacts and sales.

In response to one of the suggestions to sell to friends, acquaintances, church buddies etc, I had responded that I live in Jamaica and many persons had said to me that although they would love to buy the ebook, they did not have the foreign credit facility to purchase books via a USA credit card.

Here is my respondent's great reply:

"To get over the problem of foreign credit facilities (if you have access to foreign credit facilities) have you considered taking orders yourself and then via amazon.com you can 'buy' a copy as a gift for someone else!"

Very good idea, IF I myself had a credit card facility BUT it occurred to me that this is something a book store like Bookophilia in Jamaica could take on.

Persons could go to the bookstores and ask them to order Hazel Campbell's ebook ,My Darling You (love stories –sort of ), pay them what they work out as the cost and they would then order it from amazon and 'gift' it to the person ordering. On the amazon page, the purchaser is allowed to send the book as a gift to someone's kindle or computer You don't have to own a Kindle to read the ebook since there is a free download which allows you to read ebooks on your computer. Instant download,by the time you get home the book would be there for you to read.

This is just one step up from ordering physical books.(cheaper too) I wonder if anybody has thought of this possibility. Please let me know if it exists.

Another great review for my ebook

Read another great review for my ebook My Darling You (love stories-sort of ) here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darling-YOU-love-stories-ebook/dp/B007U78HEC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343915464&sr=1-1

Also see http://hazeldeebooks.blogspot.com/2012/05/getting-some-good-reviews-on-my-new.html

Left or right brain? Find out

Which side of your brain do you use more? Take this test, it may help you determine how to approach writing. I am definitely on the right.Click on the link at the end of the box.

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: Right Brain Dominance: Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

see my ebook here

You don't need a kindle to read 'e' published books

You can read dozens of free books or buy what interests you without having a kindle. You can read these on your computer
check this page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311 


an invitation to purchase my ebook My Darling YOU ( love stories-sort of) at 


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

First story free to read
 

Ban 'vagina' and 'penis' - Censorship in Christian lit

 I found this article on  Rachel Held Evans's blog.from which I have quoted below:

A lot of folks have been expressing outrage and surprise over the fact that LifeWay Christian bookstores recently banned the movie "The Blind Side" from their shelves due to language and objectionable content.  The 2009 biographical film about a black high school student adopted by a white Christian family is rated PG-13 and became something of an evangelical darling when it released, receiving endorsements from Christianity Today and Focus on the Family.

But Florida pastor Rodney Baker of Hopeful Baptist Church submitted a resolution to the Southern Baptist Convention, demanding that LifeWay pull the film. Lifeway bowed to the pressure from Baker, and removed the movie from their shelves—a response that Baker saw as obedient yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Those of you who followed “vaginagate”—in which I was asked to remove the word “vagina” from my upcoming book in deference to Christian bookstore standards—will know that I’m not at all surprised by this story.

For all the amazing people who work in Christian publishing, and for all the amazing books they produce every year, there is this undercurrent of fear and insecurity that undoubtedly stifles our collective creativity. And this fear and insecurity is a direct result of the unreasonable standards held up by Christian bookstores.
But here's the thing...
Christians are not called to create a subculture untouched by the beauty and ugliness of this world. No, Christians are called to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable....especially when it is uncomfortable.

 Here's another comment form another blog   her.meneutics  at    http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2012/03/when_christian_bookstores_ban.html

The problem with Vagina-gate and similar forms of “censorship” is that, in an attempt to protect customers, publishers and bookstores are making it a lot harder for writers to tell the stories God has called them to write. And when Christians are barred by other Christians from serving God, it dishonors God. In fact, it’s sin.

I found the arguments interesting because I am in the process of writing what I would describe as a Christian novel. I plan to put it out as an ebook on Amazon, so I won't get into any hassles with bookstores, but presumably I would want to attract a Christian readership and if censorship is such a strong part of the culture,(the articles mention other taboos) then I know I won't be getting any readers there.

Strangely, I didn't see 'penis' mentioned. Presumably Cristian writers don't write about penises OR maybe only vaginas are evil.

Anyway, the argument reminded me of a personal experience.

Many years ago, when he was alive, my husband developed a problem with haemorrhoids.Too embarrassed to go to the doctor, he asked me, when I was going in for my checkup, to ask our family doctor to send a prescription for him.

I duly made the request and the doctor was immediately annoyed. I still remember his response. "If his elbow was hurting him he would come in. I don't understand why people behave as if God made only some parts of the body and Satan the rest."

He gave me the interim prescription with a strong message to tell my husband to "get his___ into the office for examination and treatment."

The doc's statement stayed with me and with this as the premise, I wrote a story which I called Version OR the Devil Made Some Parts published in my collection of short stories  Singerman by Peepal Tree Press some years ago.

It is a version of the Adam and Eve story. If you are squeamish don't read it. Naturally, some readers were not happy with it.One man observed: why does it always have to be sex. You couldn't choose something else? Others simply said that it gave them a problem. Really, it calls for an examination of this attitude that makes parts of our bodies taboo and unmentionable . It's not as if we are using street names or writing pornography.

Anyway, if I am fearfully and wonderfully made; if I am made in God's image; if He knew me before I was born and in my mother's womb, how come He used these parts to initiate me. Are we saying He should have chosen some other way of getting us here OR some other parts? (which we would then have quickly made unmentionable anyway).

Found this listing for the genre on Amazon

• Christian Romance
• Christian Fiction
• Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy

• Children's Christian Fiction Books
• Christian Mysteries
• Christian Poetry

  buy a copy of my ebook on amazon My Darling You (love stories-sort of) by Hazel Campbell

First Love from My Darling You ebook

First love sweet so till

First love! Sometimes it mek you bawl

First love’s joy lingers through a lifetime of memories

It mek them say ‘ole firestick easy fi ketch up’

Handle first love with a great deal of care

Like a pressed flower, even when color and smell are gone

Its brown age keeps the secret that once it bloomed.

This poem introduces this story about two late teens falling in love but having to postpone a relationship. 

See this page for more about this story

Buy a copy of My Darling You (love stories-sort of)  my first ebook venture at 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

New Story 'A Man of Vision'

disclaimer - It didn't happen - this is fiction

                                          

                                     A MAN OF VISION  

    
       ©2012 Hazel D.Campbell    

The Jamaican flag

    
    
"Wake up! Wake up! David nudged his companion.    
    
"Tief! Tief!" Daggerman responded as he struggled to get from under his rags and cardboard cover.    
    
"No! No!" David reassured him. "Is not thief. I get the dream! I get the dream at last!"    
    
"Dream?" Daggerman sighed..     
    
David poked the others lying on similar improvised beds around him, but they only mumbled and shifted positions, so he blew his whistle. The shrieking yanked them from sleep and they hurriedly prepared to flee, for the whistle was the ultimate warning of - Gunman! Police! Thief! - the enemies which caused them to huddle together at nights for protection.    
    
"Calm down," David's voice still held the authority of his university lecturer days. " I get the vision!"    
    
The others grumbled as they remade their beds, for David was a man of many visions.     
    
"Listen nuh! I know what to do now."    
    
"Is midnight, man. Tell we later."    
    
"The real problem," David persisted, " is that nobody never claim this island for black people!"    
    
"What?"    
    
"Don't you see? When Columbus came, he stuck a flag in the ground and claimed the island for Spain. Penn and Venables planted the Union Flag and claimed the island  for England. When we say we get Independence in 1962 them just string up a flag and never claim nothing. Them even use the same flag pole that the British used. Them never plant the flag. Them never claim nothing for us. So how we expect anything could change? If things to change, we have to plant a flag and claim the island for the sufferers who make up the majority of this country."    
    
"What kinda flag?" Daggerman asked. He was resigned to losing the rest of his night's sleep. When David got one of his brilliant ideas, he could talk for hours. "What kinda flag?" he asked again.    
      
"The same one, but with red in it."

"I see it in my vision. Red in the middle for all the blood that fatten the land for the oppressors."    
    
"Where we gwine get a flag?" Maudie grumbled.    
    
"Plenty flag pon the pole them. Nobody no tek them down at night."    
    
"You have red cloth?" Maudie asked, knowing that she would be the one chosen to alter the flag.    
    
David grew impatient. " Details! Details!' He started giving orders " Daggerman,  go raid a flag pole. Wildman go find a good long stick. Maudie, tear off piece of your blouse....."    
                
Later that August morning, a small band of street people trudged single file up Duke Street.  A rag tag bunch of idlers soon joined the procession as it made its way past Gordon House, the seat of Parliament, past other government buildings and into the National Heroes Park. The park was the site of the monuments for others who in their day had also sought to make things better for the majority and were now honoured as heroes.    
     
David and his band stopped in front of Marcus Garvey's shrine. David solemnly unfurled his flag, a large one taken from a ministry building.  The centre where the black, green and gold met was covered with a rough red circle torn from Maudie's red blouse and tacked on with the few common pins she could find.    
    
"We are here this morning to plant a new flag and claim this land for black people," David began his oration. "We're claiming it for all who have to beg to get something to eat; for all who have to capture land because them can't rent or buy house; for all who can't get work; who can't send them pickney to school; who cyan drive big car......."    
           
His rabble audience interrupted him with loud clapping and cheers. The cheering attracted more people and the crowd quickly swelled to a mob. The park began to assume a carnival air with hastily assembled food and other vendors hustling business. Some people were ridiculing David and his decrepit followers; but some were listening. The noise irritated David, but he pressed on with his mission.    
    
"Poor people pay for this land with them sweat and blood. This land and its riches belong to us. Let us claim it NOW!"    
    
The cheering and jeering continued as Daggerman and Wildman ceremoniously dug a hole and planted the flag.    
    
"I, David Traffico, Defender of the Rights of Poor People, Rejecter of Every Colonial Connection, Anointed Visionary of the New Millennium for Jamaica now claim this land for the people of Jamaica and you are all witnesses to this act this Day of our Lord August, in the year two thousand and one.    
    
Inspector Whitmannore grumbled as he gave his orders. " I tell unoo long time that that madass David Traffico was going to mek big trouble one of these days. Who let him out again?"    
    
The persistent squawking of the sirens began to irritate the crowd even before the team of police cars raced to a halt at the entrance to the park. Stones and bottles materialized in frustrated hands fanned to fury by David's garbled rhetoric. Popular discontent which had been smouldering for some time flamed into rebellion. Amidst the barrage of makeshift weapons, jeers and taunts a frightened rookie reached for his teargas canister.     
    
The crowd fled leaving David's flag to be ripped from its lopsided stance by an indignant policeman. But David's speech had settled in fertile soil. The mob regrouped and spread out through the city angrily destroying the very inheritance David had sought to claim for them. One madman with a vision had started the revolution.

Check my ebook My Darling You at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC
Would love you to buy a copy

I don't go to movies made from books I love

You gotta read this

11 Authors Who Hated the Movie Versions of Their Books

 

Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/131167#ixzz1yuoFcdcY
--brought to you by mental_floss!

 I had a mini similar experience locally when a camera buff 'friend' got a 'producer' interested in one of my stories.I was kinda horrified at the changes made. I have come to realize that writing a story is different from writing for a movie. Some of the things that work in words alone don't work as drama. Hence " Cut to the chase" "Put in a fight scene" "More steam in the love scenes" etc.

I was shown the script from my story, but it was mere courtesy, the producer nodded politely at my suggestions and knew he didn't intend to listen to anything I said. I was present at the first auditioning session, and that was the end of my involvement .The scenes were shot and I think it was edited, and never went further. I never found out why, and never saw the completed thing although my 'friend' kept promising to send me a dvd copy. But what could I expect from a movie titled 'Goathead'!!!!!!!!!!!by the producer

That was not a good experience. I was sent a contract which offered me J$100 upfront and I can't recall what percentage. AMATEURS !!!

On another occasion I was paid to write a script from scratch. This went much better and I think it would have worked, but it wasn't taken any further by the person who commissioned it. Ah well!!

check my ebook My darling You at  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

Why is it not working?

Okay! So why is this not working. I am doing all the recommended things.( except paying for advertising- no funds ) Persons are clicking on my blog (can't tell if  they are actually reading it, though) and sales are almost nil for my ebook,up on Kindle from April14. My Darling You ( love stories-sort of) 

I have a couple of good reviews and I am using social media as recommended. Any ideas, anyone? And yes - the stories are worth reading.

If  you are curious as to why I used the subtitle love stories-sort of, scroll down and read my other blog entries.
Help!

see my other blog for writing for children http://jambooks-fiction.blogspot.com/

Why I dedicated my stories to Whitney Houston

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

The stories in My Darling You ( love stories-sort of) are dedicated to Whitney Houston. I have been asked why. There is more than one answer.

First, I was completing putting them together in February 2012 when she died, and everybody was playing her music. I started listening keenly and fell in love with her voice and personality. The title, My Darling You, comes from I Will Always Love You. Nobody can sing that song like she does, even if they copy the range of her voice, her timing,control and emotion elude all imitators. The emotion she puts into that song reaches every woman who has had to step away from love. At one of her performances, I  watched a woman in the audience re-living her personal experience while Whitney sang. When she holds on to 'I' and 'You' as her voice climbs up and down the notes one understands why they are called personal pronouns.

Listening to her recordings is great, but her performances were outstanding.(Thanks Youtube)  She was bubbly, charming, witty, graceful, beautiful – one could go on and on. The comments on Youtube, for example, show how overwhelmingly she was loved, despite the relatively few disgruntled idiots who must always give vent to their negative feelings.

So after watching those performances (as well as the many interviews), she didn't feel like a stranger any more. My favourite performance is Live in Washington 1997 (the second performance).

Then there were the songs like: All at Once, Heartbreak Hotel, Where do Broken Hearts Go? Didn't We Almost Have it All – If there is a theme for the six stories in this collection, My Darling You, it is that love is a choice and sometimes the main characters (as in real life) do not get to choose. Some of Whitney's songs reflect that theme.

So there you have it.

It's only $2.99. Hop across and buy a copy http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

THE SEARCH from My Darling You

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC

I had started exploring the thinking behind the stories in my ebook My Darling You (love stories-sort of) and this is the continuation of that exercise. The last story is titled The Search, and is perhaps the most enigmatic as it suggests rather than spells out what happened. My stories are usually event driven (the influence of writing for children) but this one is an encounter between lovers long after the affair ended.She had disappeared after an accident and he had spent quite some time trying to find her. When he does, she tells him “I have a new lover, you know.”

What is he to make of this? She has moved on to a place he cannot follow. He is probably the least pro-active of my hero types. Usually they are very sure of themselves and laugh a lot. (as in Emancipation Park, another of the stories) I was sorry for him. 
Once, there was a lady who appeared in one of the videos I produced and she wanted to send a copy to a male friend in another Caribbean country. Then she hesitated and admitted that he was a former lover from her younger days and she didn't think she wanted him to see her as she looked now. I think that conversation stuck. It's one to which  many women can relate. That partly influenced this story, I think. One can never really be sure. There are so many echoes. 

Buy a copy of My Darling You on Amazon . Only 2.99 and tell me what you think. ( There's a free app which will allow you to read kindle books on your PC)

Singerman published by Peepal Tree Press

A couple of years back I had a website with geocities. They discontinued their free service and since then I haven't had the energy to make a new website, instead I have been concentrating on my blogs. Here's one of the entries I had on the website. It's an an extract from Singerman my book of short stories published by Peepal  Tree Press. Still available here. 

This extract is actually from the title story and my favourite in the collection.

http://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/singerman

SINGERMAN (extract)

Once there was a black Starliner, a floating ship in the Caribbean Sea to which history gave power long before anybody in western seas would think that power could be black.

The Starliner sailed proudly, flying its black flag. But it had to make its way in a hostile white-foamed sea. Its course was a lonely one and its isolated existence helped to breed excesses among certain of its officers.

Successive captains lost their way in the uncharted waters of the Caribbean. From time to time the crew mutinied. Once or twice pirates plundered the Starliner, and as the years passed the ship grew shabbier and shabbier, and the crew got poorer and poorer. Nothing, not even the the proud memory of the ancient black moorings from which it had been so crudely cut off; not even the beauty of the ancestral art; not even the mixed-up memory worship of the gods of the forefathers could save them from the storms which the sea god put in their path year after year after year.

One day, after a long spell of foul weather,the crew mutinied again,and the baby-faced captain was forced to abandon ship.

As the ship seemed to be floundering , once again on the brink of disaster, other ships surrounded it and threw leaky rafts and bad rations to the crew.

"Steer this way," some of the onlookers shouted.

"No! That way," others directed.

Some only looked on, because they thought they had no right to interfere in the ancient Starliner's business. But some modern day pirates watched in the hope that,although it was only a very poor ship flying a black flag, perhaps, just perhaps, there might be booty.

 Haiti, I'm sorry,
We've misunderstood you,
One day we'll turn our heads
And look inside you ......... (chorus from Haiti by David Rudder 1987)


From the Peepal Tree Press website 

"Realistic and magical, sombre and deeply comic, heroic and full of ironies, these stories explore the complexities of Caribbean reality through a variety of voices and forms."
http://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/singerman