I once saw a picture of an imagined futuristic image of how people would evolve; how they’d look in years to come judging by human behaviour. Essentially it involved alarmingly long fingers, a deeply curved spine, and a seriously overweight body – a future born from sitting hunched over a screen, typing. When I thought of my daily life, much of it sitting at a computer, it got me thinking – I have to get out more!
It’s a matter of opinion, but I was fairly amazed with what could be accomplished with coffee, masking tape, toilet paper, paint, glue, tinfoil and a batman mask.The fate of the natural world of Shendi is controversial, as history turned to legend and myth. Which story you believe depends on where your loyalties lie: with the old ways or with the King. It was the question I pondered as I prepared my two relics, straight out of the book
It is years in the making, this creature called the debut novel; a creature that has lived safely hidden within the walls of my writing room. For long enough it followed the plan I laid out, until it started to take on a life of its own.
With the impending publication of ‘Return of the Mantra’ (coming out this spring!!!), I’m in a reflective mood. Seeing the cover for the first time, it really hit home: the novel that has lived in the safety of my writing room is about to walk out into the world.
I had an early morning start, chopping garlic and ginger, adding spices, slowly layering up what would be a vegetable curry. With the warming aromas of cumin and coriander permeating through the house, I’m thinking of smells that diffuse back and forth across the boundary of fiction and non-fiction.
It starts with inspiration; a character, a setting, a theme. After that, pen and paper will suffice. My pen first hit the paper while I was in South Africa, a three year stint in the rainbow nation that followed a year in hot, arid Sudan. Sweeping deserts and lush green bushlands, after such stunning landscapes it wasn’t difficult to find inspiration for a whole new world. The land of Shendi was born, a land that would be the setting for my first novel.
