>>>BOOK NOTES

Poet Ann-Margaret Lim stopped by the National Library of Jamaica on June 25, 2014 to donate a copy of her debut collection of verse The Festival of Wild Orchid (Peepal Tree Press, 2012). The book “explores the contradictions and beauty of Jamaica’s history and landscape”.

The presentation was made to Dawnette Phillips, research officer in the Research and Information Department of the library, and Lim (pictured here) read the title poem from the collection, ‘The Festival of Wild Orchid.’

The Festival of Wild Orchid received a UK Guardian First Book nomination two months after its publication, and in February of 2013 made the prestigious Bocas Prize long list. It was among four publications in the poetry category receiving the Honourable Mention nod. Lim was most recently commissioned to write the ode to Jamaican Poet Laureate Prof Mervyn Morris, which she read at his King’s House investiture ceremony in May of this year.

Copies of the book are available for purchase at Bookophilia, Bookland and major supermarkets and pharmacies in the island.

>>>BOOK NEWS:

George Orwell estate accuses Amazon of doublespeak in quoting 1984 author to support its case in Hachette dispute

The literary executor of George Orwell’s estate is accusing Amazon.com of committing an Orwellian crime: doublespeak.

In a letter published recently in The New York Times, Bill Hamilton criticised the online retailer for “turning the facts inside out” by alleging that the British author known for the novels 1984 and Animal Farm had urged publishers in the 1930s to join together and stop the rise of paperbacks.

“I’m both appalled and wryly amused that Amazon’s tactics should come straight out of Orwell’s own nightmare dystopia, 1984,” Hamilton wrote.

Amazon and Hachette Book Group have been locked in a nasty stand-off over terms for e-book sales, with Amazon removing pre-order buttons, reducing discounts and slowing deliveries for many Hachette releases. Amazon has defended its actions, saying that it is fighting to keep e-book prices low, ideally around $9.99 for new releases, a rate Hachette and other publishers fear is unsustainable.

Hamilton and others say that Amazon quoted Orwell out of context, and that his words were meant ironically.

In a message posted recently on its website, Amazon likened publishers’ objections to concerns about paperbacks in the 1930s. The retailer cited a 1936 Orwell essay in which he wrote of paperbacks that if “publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them”.

Amazon stated: “George Orwell was suggesting collusion,” a reference to the 2012 government lawsuit alleging that Apple and five publishers, including Hachette, had conspired to raise e-book prices. All five publishers settled out of court and a federal judge in 2013 ruled against Apple.

But Hamilton and others say that Amazon quoted Orwell out of context, and that his words were meant ironically. Orwell had been praising some new releases from Penguin, which had recently launched its now-famous line of paperbacks.

“The Penguin Books are splendid value for sixpence, so splendid that if the other publishers had any sense they would combine against them and suppress them,” Orwell wrote.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment.

Orwell’s admiration of paperbacks was tempered by the kinds of misgivings writers and publishers today have about e-books, a market dominated by the Seattle-based retailer. Orwell called it “a great mistake to imagine that cheap books are good for the book trade” and worried that a “flood of cheap reprints” might “cripple the lending libraries” and “check the output of new novels”.

Hachette authors JK Rowling, James Patterson and Sherman Alexie and non-Hachette author John Green are among those who have strongly criticised the Seattle-based online retailer. Amazon has suggested negotiations will be prolonged and customers in the meantime can buy Hachette books from its competitors.

Meanwhile, Amazon is rolling out a new subscription service that will allow unlimited access to thousands of electronic books and audiobooks for $9.99 a month in the online giant’s latest effort to expand its services to attract more users.

The seattle-based company said that the Kindle Unlimited service will give users the ability to read as much as they want from more than 600,000 Kindle titles such as The Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They can also listen to as much as they want to of thousands of Audible audiobooks, including Water for Elephants.

About 2,000 audiobooks from Audible with Whispersync for Voice, which lets users switch between reading and listening to books, will be available through the service. Subscribers will get a free three-month membership to the broader Audible service, which has 150,000 titles.

Amazon is offering a free 30-day trial to entice users to try the service. Kindle Unlimited is for anyone with a Kindle device or app who wants to subscribe.

Because of the public squabble with Hachette, the timing for the move is awkward given the uneasiness the company faces with publishers. The terms that Amazon worked out with the publishers who are part of Kindle Unlimited, however, were not made known.

Las’ Lick

As summer slowly drains away, Bookends highlights 10 great summer reads to get lost in during the hot hazy days and nights before the crush of the busy back-to-school season arrives.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they’ve heard.

The Undertaking by Audrey Magee

In a desperate bid to escape the trenches of the Eastern front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met, in a marriage of convenience that promises ‘honeymoon’ leave for him and a pension for her should he die in the war. With 10 days’ leave secured, Peter visits his new wife in Berlin and both are surprised by the passion that develops between them.

When Peter returns to the horror of the front, it is only the dream of Katharina that sustains him as he approaches Stalingrad. Back in Berlin, Katharina, goaded on by her desperate and delusional parents, ruthlessly works her way into Nazi high society, wedding herself, her young husband, and her unborn child to the regime. But when the tide of war turns and Berlin falls, Peter and Katharina find their simple dream of family cast in tragic light and increasingly hard to hold on to.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives – meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before…

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed people are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver ploughs through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; 15 are wounded. The killer escapes.

In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

There’s something special about a beach read that takes place at the beach, and this one hits all the right marks…

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their 35th wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

Summer affords the perfect opportunity like no other season to become absorbed in a foreign culture. Cristina Henriquez’s newest promises to be compulsively readable.

A boy and a girl who fall in love. Two immigrant families whose hopes collide with destiny.

Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in Mexico. One day, their beautiful 15-year-old daughter, Maribel, sustains a terrible injury, one that casts doubt on whether she’ll ever be the same. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better.

When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core.

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

Because we loved his immensely entertaining debut The Imperfectionists so much, this latest from Rachman was an automatic shoe-in on the summer reading list. Plus, it’s a deliciously intricate and well-plotted story for readers interested in substantive literary reads.

Taken from home as a girl, Tooly found herself spirited away by a group of seductive outsiders, implicated in capers from Asia to Europe to the United States. But who were her abductors? Why did they take her? What did they really want? There was Humphrey, the curmudgeonly Russian with a passion for reading; there was the charming but tempestuous Sarah, who sowed chaos in her wake; and there was Venn, the charismatic leader whose worldview transformed Tooly forever. Until, quite suddenly, he disappeared.

Years later, Tooly believes she will never understand the true story of her own life. Then startling news arrives from a long-lost boyfriend in New York, raising old mysteries and propelling her on a quest around the world in search of answers.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn’t show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia’s life since Colin’s job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. Mia’s mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family’s world to shatter.

China Dolls by Lisa See

It’s 1938 in San Francisco: a world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Grace, Helen, and Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub. Grace Lee, an American-born Chinese girl, has fled the Midwest with nothing but heartache, talent, and a pair of dancing shoes. Helen Fong lives with her extended family in Chinatown, where her traditional parents insist that she guard her reputation like a piece of jade. The stunning Ruby Tom challenges the boundaries of convention at every turn with her defiant attitude and no-holds-barred ambition.

The girls become fast friends, relying on one another through unexpected challenges and shifting fortunes. When their dark secrets are exposed and the invisible thread of fate binds them even tighter, they find the strength and resilience to reach for their dreams. But after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour, paranoia and suspicion threaten to destroy their lives, and a shocking act of betrayal changes everything.

Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

When a medical procedure goes horribly wrong and famous actor Ralph Meier winds up dead, Dr Marc Schlosser needs to come up with some answers. After all, reputation is everything in this business. Personally, he’s not exactly upset that Ralph is gone, but as a high profile doctor to the stars, Marc can’t hide from the truth forever.

It all started the previous summer. Marc, his wife, and their two beautiful teenage daughters agreed to spend a week at the Meier’s extravagant summer home on the Mediterranean. Joined by Ralph and his striking wife Judith, her mother, and film director Stanley Forbes and his much younger girlfriend, the large group settles in for days of sunshine, wine tasting, and trips to the beach. But when a violent incident disrupts the idyll, darker motivations are revealed, and suddenly no one can be trusted. As the ultimate holiday soon turns into a nightmare, the circumstances surrounding Ralph’s later death begin to reveal the disturbing reality behind that summer’s tragedy.

PAGE THREE:

Shelf Life:

Jamaican teenaged twins publish first novel [2 pics: Jhada, Fallen Empire]

In an age in which young people seem increasingly un-predisposed to reading, two intelligent, articulate and inspirational sisters, twins Jhada and Jonadee Martin, have accomplished something not quite run-of-the-mill. They’ve co-written and self-published a book, The Fallen Empire, what they categorise as mythical fantasy, an offering that transports readers, “from 16 to 60, as long as you love to read”, to a whole different dimension.

Bookends was duly impressed, and checked in with the girls, who list among the things they love sports, watching TV and listening to music.

First, how old are you young ladies?

We have recently turned 18 years old.

You’re both studying science and law. Where? What high school do you both attend?

We currently attend the Convent of Mercy ‘Alpha’ Academy and we are embarking on our second year of sixth form.

Our readers may find it a bit strange that young people such as yourselves are interested in reading and writing, let alone writing this hybrid genre of mythical fantasy. How did the interest come about?

Yes it is odd, but we have always had a passion for the written word. The idea of creating a world, a reality that can be bent to your own will and desire is extremely fascinating. We have always had a way with words, and writing is our medium of expressing something that seems to be illusive in our generation today: The imagination.

What’s the book about?

The Fallen Empire is the first instalment in the Cradle of the Sands Series. It tells the story of an age-old battle between good and evil, light and dark. It follows an ancient race destined by the gods to be the protectors of mankind, and through a horrid series of events they were left annihilated. All but one child, an infant whose descendants will rise and rekindle their purpose.

How long did it take you to write it? What was the collaborative process like?

The book was first conceptualised when we were around 10 or 18 years old. However, pen was put to paper when we were 15 years old. The collaborative process was an experience. Like every accomplishment it had its ups and downs, from bouncing ideas off each other, to the extensive researching of our facts. Let’s just say it was interesting.

Was it your first attempt at story-telling?

Yes, this was a first time attempt at writing something of this magnitude.

How does author figure into your long-term career plans?

We don’t see being an author as a career, but instead as a passion. One that will not soon be extinguished, regardless of whatever path our future takes.

Who are your favourite authors?

Well, it varies based on the genre, but our top four are; F. Scott Fitzgerald, George R Martin, K Sean Harris and Dan Brown.

Do you have plans to write more books?

Most definitely. Cradle of the Sands has at least five volumes in the series, plus we have two or three other projects working on, so we have a very full plate.

Where are copies of the book available for purchase?

We are currently in negotiations with some distributors; however, if anyone e-mails us at jhadamartin@yahoo.com or martinjonadee@yahoo.com, a copy for purchase will be made available.

The Fallen Empire

Excerpt

Nathaniel had returned to his camp a few kilometres away from Engurra. He went straight to his quarters and donned his armour. Forged in the breath of the devil’s dragon, and the blood of the conquered, it would grant him the strength of his ancestors, the powers of warlocks now trapped in spiritual purgatory by the curse of the Guerro tribe. He donned the cloak of darkness, and in one sweeping turn, evaporated into thin air.

Back at the tomb, the group stood awe struck. At the foot of the spiralling staircase laid a seemingly endless chamber with a roof that seemed to go on forever. The chamber was arrayed in beautiful colours and precious jewels, with life-sized clay statues depicting sleeping warriors spread out in a strange array, with one hand across their chest and the other gripping the sheath of their sword. The sleeping army of the Menhiti.

They were the ancient soldiers and devoted followers of Kamenwati placed there to protect him even in the slumber of death. Natheniel materialized a few feet outside the main chamber’s entrance, lurking in the shadows at the foot of the stairwell. The main chamber was a breathtaking beauty even for a fiend such as himself, but time was sparing and he had to make good of what he had. He quickly faded into the shadows and materialized at the sarcophagus doorway. Carved into its stone face was the inscription of the Necrolord in bold letters ENGURRA. Ancient Sumerian meaning “House of the lord, whose return is triumphant.” This was it; this was what he had been preparing for. Before him lay his true army, deathless warriors he would raise from slumber and bring the world to see the dawn of this new age. And he would be the one that finished the task many of his kind had tried for hundreds of years to accomplish. At the door of the sarcophagus he murmured, “Eli Baltuti Ima Idu Mituti.” The stone door slide away and he entered, murmuring the same words to close it. He smiled as he stared at Kamenwati’s dusted, mummified corpse.

“Now we begin.”

The Pleasure Spot

CHAPTER FOUR

Maxine pushed a handful of her blonde dreadlocks over her shoulder and adjusted the strap of her nightdress, which was long, black and see-through. Underneath it she was completely naked. She wondered if she should take off the garment. She touched her breasts, teasing at their nipples. Adrenaline-filled days like this one always made her feel horny, and she wondered if sex was in the cards for her tonight.

She could hear Jacob, the man she was currently in a relationship with, singing in the shower. She sighed impatiently, threw herself onto the bed. It was probably time to acknowledge that something had gone sideways with her relationship, she thought. But this wasn’t something she was ready to do. She was Maxine Miller, after all. The Sex Goddess. The Vamp. The Free Spirit. The one all her friends wanted to pattern their lives off. Her girlfriend Delia had once, during a toast at a party she’d thrown for her, said, “Maxie, you’re the girl we all want to grow up to be!” to rousing cheers and cat-calls from all the guests.

It had always been that way. Everybody thought of her as Good Time Max, who was always getting laid. Even when she’d gotten married she’d discovered some of her girlfriends had bet that it wouldn’t last. When she confronted Delia, Delia had sheepishly reasoned, “Max, has one man ever been able to satisfy you?”

So what had happened? How was it that she’d become a woman with a less-than-satisfactory sex life? At least she had her shop. She was still dazed that the Pleasure Spot had opened without major incident. The biggest snafu occurred on the first day, when her sister Margaret kept answering the phone and saying, “Hello, Pleasure Box,” instead of using the correct name – The Pleasure Spot. “Why would you name a salon Pleasure Spot?” Mags had argued, somewhat defensively, when Maxine tried to talk to her about it. “That sounds like sex. Like G-spot, or something.”

But as snafus went, that wasn’t so bad, Maxine had to concede. Besides, by the end of the day Mags had gotten the name right. Once she finally was able to convince her sister that, yes, she’d deliberately incorporated an element of sex into the name because as far as she was concerned, looking good made people get in touch with their inner sexual being, Margaret had seen the light. Mags had always been that kind of person, even as a child: she had a keen sense of logic that she was committed to and never did anything until it made sense to her. Which puzzled her when Mags had embraced the Christian way of life – as Mags’s church saw it, at any rate – since that entailed, to a large extent, the suspension of logic and reason.

Of course, Maxine was relieved that her sister was involved in the business; there was nobody she trusted to have her best interests at heart. But she was aware there was that old saying about friends and business, not to mention family and business, and she’d begun to wonder if she’d done the right thing to hire Mags to work for her. And there was that niggling little point too: did she want Mags to be simply a member of staff? Or did she want to take her on as a partner? All their lives Maxine had been the ‘big sister’. Now she thought she might want them to be more equal partners, and wouldn’t the business be the perfect opportunity to level the playing field, so to speak? The spa was still basically unclosed, yes, but the good thing was that nobody had requested the services. But Mags had taken over the responsibility of finding the right person or persons to staff it and she was close to getting it off the ground. So some of that stress had been taken off Maxine’s shoulders.

But apart from that, everything had gone more or less smoothly. Well, there had been a nuisance client, that first day, who’d kept talking loudly into her cell phone and disturbing the other clients. When Maxine eventually went over to her and asked her to be more considerate, the young woman, who was known to be a romantic interest of a junior government minister, had snapped at her and threatened to never return to the salon.

Yes, there were worse things that could have happened, Maxine thought, sighing as she lay in bed that night reflecting on the day. Like nobody turning up, for instance, and the salon being a flop.

But this hadn’t happened, thank God. The day had been fairly busy with a busy stream of people flowing in to both the men’s and women’s sections. The chief barber and the head hairdresser had showed her their respective sales receipts and the figures had been good, more than her accountant had projected for the first day, in a new business, in a bad economy. Yes, all things considered, the opening had been a success; the salon seemed destined to be a hit.

The shower in the next room stopped abruptly. Jacob appeared in the doorway after a while, wearing royal blue silk pyjamas and smelling of the Lever 2000 he insisted she buy. He kicked off his leather bedroom slippers and climbed into bed beside her. He was a retired politician she’d met at an exhibition she mounted at a small, new, Kingston gallery a year-and-a-half ago. Jacob – Jake, as she called him – was fun to be around; he was a larger-than-life storyteller with over 40 years’ worth of exciting political anecdotes to call on. But, at 70-something years old, and after living life in the fast lane, his health was seriously compromised. His blood pressure was high and he had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. Looking at him, no-one could tell he was unhealthy. He was tall and solidly built, good-looking. He had a leonine head of silver-grey hair and dressed sharply, shirts outside his pants to conceal his slight paunch and the revolver he kept in his waist. Whenever he and Maxine went out women constantly threw themselves at him. It didn’t hurt that it was evident from his demeanour that he was wealthy. Still, he was a sick man. And sadly, although he met her emotional needs, there was an area in their relationship that was not up to par. The truth was he had to take medication for all these ailments, and consequently erections were more difficult to come by. Viagra, however, was out of the picture because of these medical complications.

“Phew,” he said. His pyjamas made a shushing sound as he situated himself against the sheets. “That shower was refreshing.”

He leaned over to the bedside table and turned off the lamp and settled back against the cool sheets. “Days are so frigging hot,” he grunted with the effort.

Maxine waited a beat then squeezed his penis.

Jake gently removed her hand. “So Maggie is doing OK? I can’t believe she just quit her job like that. To work for you.”

Maxine put back her hand on his member. “She’s not working for me. We’re working together. Anyway, she’s just reinventing herself. It’s not as if working as a secretary at a law firm was a big career deal.”

Jake released his hold on Maxine and turned to face her in the half light. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” He could see the outline of her face, the smoky look of desire softening the edges.

“I can’t tonight, baby. I’m sorry.”

Maxine sighed and rolled over onto her side. Jake kissed her on her back. “I’m sorry,” he said, his words muffled by the fabric of her nightdress.

To be continued next week

The fisherman

By Jean Goulbourne

Sacred locks

Frame

The sacred blackness

Of his skin

This mystic Galilean

Who mocks Galilee

He stands within

His life’s vessel

With his life’s paddle

In his hands

Moving closer

To his heaven

His Ethiopian heaven

Ready fisherman

Upon a rusty sea

Brown paddle

In black hands

Sturdy vessel

With time’s notes

Playing upon its sides

Move inwards

To its close